You Know You Missed Us

We're back!  We landed at Ohare this morning at about 10:30!  Yesterday was a simple day - hence the no blog post.  We read our books in Starbucks for most of the morning to avoid lugging around our big bookbags.  Then we checked in at our new hostel and made a quick trip to the Ugg store to buy shoes we'd picked out the day before.  We ended the evening in the pub below our bedroom watching the USA vs. Germany soccer game.  This morning, we were up at 4:40am London time to catch the express train to the airport.  Once there, we decided to finally check our bags so that we didn't have to worry about carrying them around before and after the flight.  We grabbed breakfast, and hurried over to the gate just in time to start boarding.  We also had the good fortune of having ONE person in front of us at security, yes ONE, it is possible.  The almost nine hour flight was easier than the way to Europe.  Despite our expectations that we were too awake to sleep, both of us ended up asleep for almost 6 of the 9 hours!  What a welcome surprise that was, because even just the final two hours we were awake seemed to drag by.  When we landed, we went through customs.  It's true, the USA is ridiculous compared to other countries (this is considering the fact that Italy, Spain, and France didn't even bother checking our passports when we arrived).  We went through the first line to get the machine questions over with.  Then the machine printed us a receipt.  We took that to another line where boarder control police checked our passports and receipts and travel cards.  Then we picked up our bags and went through ANOTHER line where another police man checked everything once more.  Finally, we were in Chicago!  My dad met us at the airport to bring us back to my place, because, even though we have landed in the country, our adventure continues into tomorrow when we celebrate our friend Autumn's wedding in Fort Wayne, Indiana!!!!

For our final conclusion, here are some fun facts/things we learned or saw while abroad:

1.  Exit signs are indicated by little green running men
2.  In Paris, lane lines on the roads basically don't exist except to divide traffic going opposite ways, and even then it's questionable
3.  In Rome, due to the tight roads, mopeds are the primary choice of travel - including for business men in suits
4.  London was the only place we went where cars drive on the opposite sides of the road
5.  In Zurich they speak Swiss-German
6.  When riding escalators, stand to the right so that anyone wishing to climb up or down can pass you
7.  In Europe, pedestrian crossing signals include a green walking man and a red standing man.  In London, these signals fade so you know time is running out.  In Rome, the green man blinks when the light is close to changing.  In Paris, it goes straight to red - hopefully you aren't in the middle of the road because drivers (hence the no lane lines) will just swerve around you.
8.  In London especially, but most of the other places as well, they call "lines" that you would wait in "queues"
9.  One in three people smoke (or atleast thats what it seemed like), and they don't care about blowing the smoke in your face
10.  Waffles are sold at every food stand in London

Hogwarts Awaits!

Today was a simple, relaxing day in London.  We started it off by grabbing breakfast and eating outside Buckingham Palace while waiting to see the changing of the guards.  Although we saw the bands and guards approach, we were too far away to see what was actually going on inside the gates.  We hadn't realized how many people would show up to see the tradition.  Afterwards, we wandered to a new area of the city to find a bookstore, both in need of new books for the final days and plane ride home.  After shopping for awhile, we settled in a Starbucks to charge our phones and read.  We ate lunch there and then left to fully shop.  We found quite a few cute shops along the way, spending a couple hours exploring the area.  We finally settled at a diner to eat burgers and milkshakes, very American, but something we hadn't had yet on this trip.  We ended the night at Kings Cross Station, getting tickets for our express train to the airport in two days and then taking pictures at platform 9 and 3/4.  So goodbye London, we're off to Hogwarts!  Tomorrow we plan to read in the park some more and catch the USA vs. Germany game at a bar or pub for dinner.  Then we'll pack up and turn in early to depart for home Friday morning.

The City of Romance

Okay, yea it's a weird title considering we're two friends traveling together, but it's also hard to ignore reality when between yesterday and today we saw four different wedding shoots going on at different locations throughout Paris.  Brides and grooms smiling with the beautiful scenes in the background.  Plus, we visited the bridge with all the locks today, Pont des Arts.  It was covered, but along the edges the locks were sparse, so I made sure to get a picture of that in case I ever return, so I can compare!  Before that we also visited the Lourve, thought apparently it is closed on Tuesdays - weird.  Either way, we got quite a few pictures outside before leaving and had been told by another girl traveling at one of our hostels that she hadn't enjoyed it as much as she expected to anyway.  After walking across the bridge, we made our way to the senate building and Luxemburg Gardens, but not before stopping to try a macaroon each.  Once at the gardens, we lounged in chairs and read our books for about an hour and a half while giving our feet a rest.  We then slowly made our way back, stopping in souvenir shops and passing by Notre Dame Cathedral.  Once on the other side of the river, we found a place to est dinner and collected our luggage from our hotel.  We then hopped on the subway - amid more confusion because of the French - and rode it to the main station.  Before catching our train to London, we sat and read in a small restaurant by the train station.  Finally, we made our way to the Eurostar train, where we went through a security check and two sets of Customs Officers to make sure we were cleared to leave France and enter the UK.  After a little over two hours on the train, we are at our hostels, exhausted, and ready for bed.  Tomorrow we'll try to catch the Changing of the Guards and get a picture at Platform 9 3/4!

Abercrombie and Fitch Megasized

We are in Paris!  Home to the Eiffel Tower and the most ridiculous Abercrombie and Fitch store you've ever seen.  With boys wearing denim jackets and matching slicked back hairstyles, the store opens with giant black and gold gates that lead through a large hedge-walled pathway and then to even bigger black and gold doors into the actual store.  Besides that though, today we landed in Paris ahead of schedule.  Like normal, we had to bide time until check-in, so we found the usual Starbucks. This one didn't have good wifi, but we were both content to relax and read our books for awhile.  After checking in, we dropped our stuff and left to explore.  We saw many important buildings on the way to the arch and then stopped for a quick early dinner before making our way to the Eiffel Tower.  It w beautiful out, great for taking pictures and exploring.  It was also pretty easy to walk around the city, though the subway system that morning took some getting use to since it is all in French.  After the Eiffel Tower, we wandered back to our hotel, stopping to grab some more food along the way.  We're now getting ready for bed and to catch up on some of the sleep we lost last night after having to be up at 5am.  Tomorrow we plan to go to the art museum and grab some. Final souvenirs before we catch the train to London in the evening (and ride it under the ocean!).  For now, off to bed to rest our legs and feet that start hurting earlier and earlier in the day as our trip winds to a close!

Catalonia

Oops, I forgot to post last night, but it's early this morning still, so this can kind of count.   Yesterday started off with a free walking tour around Barcelona that our hostel offered.  We had a really good guide who was very knowledgeable about the city's history.  He took us to many historical churches and walls throughout Barcelona and explained their significance back when the Romans were conquering the land and Barcelona and Madrid considered themselves separate states.  We also learned about the different flags we could see flying throughout the area.  Along with the Barcelona and Spain flags, there were two for Catalonia.  Catalonia is the area/county that surrounds Barcelona.  It currently is trying to fight the monarchy to become independent from Spain.  Therefore, there was the normal Catalonia flag, and then another with a blue triangle and star on it to represent their fight for independence.  This explained the shirts that street venders were selling that said "Catalonia is not Spain" and other variations of the statement.  After the walking tour, we made out way back to the hostel slowly, stopping for lunch on the way.  Once back, we checked in for our flight (to avoid another fiasco) and located the bus stop we thought (we were wrong) that we needed to be at in the morning.  We also located the Plaza Catalunya where the buses start their routes, just in case we were wrong about the other stop.  The fountain above is at that plaza.  After that we shopped a little more at the craft fair along the street that we had visited yesterday and then went to dinner at a tapas place.  That was closely followed by ice cream cones of course.  When we returned, all of our roommates were also back, so we spent a decent amount of time all just talking and sharing stories.  Most of the other girls are going to be or have been in Europe for a month or two atleast.  They were all also Americans, three younger than us and one older.  After they left to watch the USA soccer game, we turned off the lights and went to bed, since once again we had an early flight.  Now we're at the airport getting breakfast and waiting to find out what gate our flight is at.  Security took all of 5 minutes to get through, so we're very early this time - and much more relaxed!

From Stressful to Relaxing

Today we arrived in Barcelona, but it was no easy feat.  After confusion at the train station this morning, we not only had to buy two tickets after purchasing a wrong one, but then we missed the earlier train we had planned on taking.  Problem 1.  The train arrived at the airport with an hour til take-off, leaving us to run to the Ryanair check-in area, where there are no automatic machines.  After reaching the front of the line, the clerk was able to point to the fine print on our confirmation email that said if we did not check in online, we would be charged a fee.  Problem 2.  This meant we had to go over to the ticket counter and pay and then come back over and get our boarding tickets.  Problem 3. Now we have approximately 30 minutes to go until take off (had we been 2 more minutes later paying, our tickets would've locked at the start of the boarding call and we would've been out of luck).  We ran to security and chose our line, only to be delayed first by a family with small children having some kind of issue, then by two men traveling by instruments that the guards seemed to want to run through the scanning machine 2-3 times minimum.  The only consolation was that there was another man trying the catch the same flight as us and he wasn't getting through much faster.  Luckily, neither of our bags were tagged and we grabbed them, already running towards the gates.  We arrived with 15 minutes to spare at our gate, where a long line was still waiting to board.  Though we missed breakfast, we made the flight somehow, despite everything going against us.  After landing in Barcelona, we grabbed breakfast at the airport and bought a bus ticket to a stop near our hostel.  We then sat at a Starbucks and went shopping before checking in and receiving our room keys.  After that, we wandered around downtown, shopping more and finding a little market and very busy street with people shopping and just walking around.  We also found a food market of sorts, where anything from raw animal meats - and all sorts of kinds - to chocolate candy to fruits and vegies was being sold.  There, we bought empanadas and ate as we shopped.  After exploring a small craft/handmade fair, we sat down and had giant glasses of tasty sangria!  We finished the night with more shopping and snacks/reading and are now back at the hostel waiting as most of our roommates get ready to head out to bars for the night so we can go to bed.  Tomorrow we're planning on taking a free walking tour so we can see some of the popular landmarks and then we are going to hit the beach and relax!  We've agreed these two days are about walking slow, taking breaks, and sleeping off the last few.  This will hopefully prepare us for the very short amount of time we'll be spending exploring Paris!

Roma!

Today we explored the rest of Rome!  We started off with the Vatican, printing our tickets from our hotel's computer and getting to skip the line that wrapped around multiple sides of the building.  We went inside and explored multiple museums within, seeing famous paintings of biblical scenes, past pope mobiles, busts of previous popes, and then exploring the gardens as well.  After that, we headed towards the Sistene Chapel, which had many more rooms than I had realized and many lengthy hallways as well.  This part of the exploration was the coolest, as well as the most annoying considering the crowds.  There were points that I realized if something were to happen like a fire, none of us would get out!  We were very jammed into the hallways and rooms and with the sun beating down through the windows and everyone (well mostly) dressed appropriately in pants, long skirts, and shoulder-covering tops, it was quite hot.  However, the artwork along the way was amazing and incredibly intricate.  After grabbing lunch at the pizzeria inside, we grabbed some souvenirs and left.  We headed around more of Rome then, trying to hit as many landmarks as we could.  This included the capital building, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Stairs to name a few.  Sadly, many of the structures seemed to be under construction, or cleaning.  Trevi Fountain was barely visible behind all the metal bars an structures built around it, and the fountain and major part of the Spanish Stairs were as well.  That was very disappointing, and considering tourist season is starting right about now,be don't quite understand why - there weren't even any workers at either of the fountains!  Either way, we got to see many other Rome sites and do a little bit of shopping on the side.  We ended the evening eating ravioli and watching the beginning of the Italy vs. Costa Rica World Cup game.  Now we've packed up and arranged for tomorrow's early start.  Once again we'll be up at the crack of dawn to catch a train to the airport and fly into Barcelona.  As our trip goes on, our flights are getting earlier and we've found trains don't run continuously!  Tomorrow we have a slightly shorter time to get through security, and when we fly out of London for home, it'll be even less.  Good thing we're getting the hang of this constant traveling let's hope it continues to go as smoothly!!

Back to the Gladiator Days

Ciao Italia!!!  Today we rode the train into Rome!  We were up at 5 in order to catch a series of trains that after 7 hours of travel pulled into the station in the city.  After exchanging our money to euros and the usual confusion of trying to locate our hotel (a cute bread and breakfast in downtown this time), we dropped our bags and left to explore, but not before having some good ol' Italian pizza.  Due to the excruciating pain of our hip muscles along with others from the hike yesterday, it was slow moving but successful.  We got to see the St Peter in Chains church and then the colleseum.  At the colleseum, we explored old artifacts and other displays explaining the time of the ancient Romans and gladiators.  After that, we wandered farther along the streets, seeing other chapels and ancient buildings (we are going to have to actually figure out what they are later on).  On our way back to the hotel, we both got cones with gelato from one of the many stores along the street - and it was fantastic!  We also bought some fruit from a local vendor to eat as a snack tonight since we decided against a dinner after having lunch at 4 in the afternoon.  After returning to our hotel, we ordered tickets for the Vatican tomorrow in hopes of skipping the line, but are still waiting for the confirmation email saying there was a time slot for us to take.  Otherwise tomorrow we'll just explore other landmarks that friends and family have recommended and that our hotel receptionist gave us a map outlining routes to.  

Above Cloud Cover

Today we went hiking in the Alps.  After a mishap with alarms (forgetting to set one after talking about it so much), we had a later start to the day than we planned, but it all worked out.  We caught two trains to Goldau, Switzerland.  There, we rode a creaky little train up to the top of Mount Rigi.  From the top, we could barely see 20 feet in front of us due to the clouds.  After some confusion and asking questions, we started on a gravel road/path down the side of the mountain to head towards a train station halfway down.  On the way, we followed this road through multiple herds of cows and slowly descended below the cloud cover so we could see the mountains and trees better.  We even had a little nervewrecking moment passing a herd of bulls who seemed to be the only animals without blockage from the path and were a little too interested in us (pictured above right before waking up and spotting us).  After arriving at the train station an hour later, we decided to continue on the hike all the way to the bottom of the mountain (it was marked very well) where we would simply catch the original train back to Zurich.  Once we were on this path, it turned into a real hiking trail - rocks, trees, and little creeks.  Eventually we found the road again, bringing us right back into town.  Total, this hike took us about 2.5 hours during which we descended around 1700 meters - something that our knees and quads will not be forgiving about when we wake up tomorrow.  Once back in town, we caught a train to Zurich and are now hanging out in a Starbucks to get free wifi and relax before heading to dinner.  After that we'll pack up and turn in early because we have a 6:15am train to Rome in the morning!

Switzerland

Today we arrived in Zurich!  We caught a 6am train to the airport where we witnessed the automated security systems that make the USA look way behind the times.  Then, we rode a 9:30 flight out of London and into Switzerland where we added a second stamp to our passports.  After arriving, it took us awhile to get to the train and understand how to get to our hotel.  It is conveniently located 5 minutes down the block from the station, making it once again easy for us to get around.  We checked-in (completely automated again) and rode into downtown to explore.  After Blair askied for ideas of what to see at the Switzerland National Museum that was about to close, the manager ended up giving us free tickets to explore it just for the last half hour!  There we saw old statues of Mary and Baby Jesus, clothing from many times, and a really cool display of the "best of news photography" where photos and quick article summaries were enlarged and displayed for multiple categories that had been own by photographers in 2013.  Afterwards, we got information about hiking in the alps tomorrow (three tries to find someone who could help us), ate dinner at a little pizzeria, and headed back to our hotel.  Here we've just been laying around recouping from our minimal sleep last night and preparing to hike quite a few miles tomorrow.  Not much for the day, but we should easily make up for it tomorrow.  On a side note, Zurich is VERY VERY expensive.  Average sandwiches/meals cost 15 Swiss Francs, good thing we aren't staying for too long!

Alice in Cambridge

Today we explored Cambridge!  Two days ago after posting a Facebook status about being in London, our friend Alice, who ran with us at Purdue and lives in New Zealand, contacted us saying she was currently studying at the university.  We made plans to meet with her today, waking up to check-out of our current hostel, then taking a subway to Kings Cross Station.  There we caught a train out-of-town. When we arrived in Cambridge, Alice let us drop our big bags in her room and then gave us a tour around, showing us inside the major chapel and her college.  We ate lunch at an amazing little Italian cafe that had all kinds of different focaccia and other full sized meals.  It also had the best hot chocolate in the world - basically liquid chocolate chips.  After that we explored a little more and shopped at a few small stores.  But the best experience was punting down the river.  Those little boats where someone stands on the back and pushes the boat along using a tall stick that can touch the bottom of the river.  Alice had done it a few times before, so she started us off, eventually letting Blair and I give it a try.  While Blair was a natural and wanted to continue going, I preferred to do it once and sit back down, confident that my balance was not good enough to handle running into the number of walls and boats I was steering towards.  We then went to a small pub - The Eagle - where the announcement of the discovery of DNA was made many years ago!!  There, we tried pimms, a very popular drink in the area according to Alice.  They were fruity mixed drinks that looked quite pretty.  After the drinks we ate at a nice tapas place, ordering six different options and all trying everything.  When dinner was done, we picked our things back up from Alice's apartment and bid farewell.  We're now back in London, staying at a hostel just down the street from Kings Cross Station where we'll board an early (we're saying 5am-ish) train tomorrow to ride back to Heathrow airport.  There, we'll fly to Zurich to explore the next location on our journey. 

Cruising Through London

Today we took a boat tour of London.  Two days ago we saw advertisements for it and decided to sign up.  This boat tour allowed us to jump in and off between 4 different piers throughout the day so we could explore other parts of the city.  It also included a ticket for the London Eye, the giant Ferris wheel by Big Ben.  We started the cold windy day by doing just that, a 30 minute ride above the city.  Then we hopped on the boat and rode down to Tower Pier where we got to see the London Bridge, the Tower of London (a giant old castle), and the Tower Bridge, pictured above.  We also jumped into a souvenir shop along the way to grab a few things for family and friends.  After that, we rode downt to Greenwich, where we quickly walked through the Greenwich Market.  There we each boat a small amount of clothing and other little knick knacks (I can't share until I get home!).  We then rode the boat back for over an hour to Westminster where we got a few more pictures of Big Ben then wandered down to a bar to get dinner.  Now, after two rounds of drinks, we're headed back to the hostel finally to get another good night of sleep (because we finally did last night).  Tomorrow we wake up and check out before heading out to Cambridge to visit our friend Alice for the day.  We'll return later that night to stay at a new hostel before a very early morning to catch our flight to Zurich!  

We're Practically Royal

Yes that is the Queen in front of Buckingham Palace, and yes, that is the rest of her family on the balcony.  And then look, there we are!  I mean, we're practically royal!

Yesterday while exploring we saw a sign for the Trooping of the Colours - an annual parade for the Queen.  We looked it up last night to find out that we would be able to see her and then the entire family!  After an hour delay on our planned schedule this morning from bad sleep after adjusting to their schedule and an untimely cleaning lady blocking off the showers, we got to downtown around 9:45.  We followed the crowds and ended up along the road for the procession to the soldier/horses arena for the presentation part of the celebration.  We saw numerous bands and soldiers before waving to the royal family in their carriages and then eventually the queen!!  Afterwards, we wandered to find coffee and were trying to leave the park when we got blocked off and stuck on the wrong side.  Lucky us, that put us in a place where we had almost a front row view to the street where an hour later the parade came back to Buckingham Palace and we could see the entire royal family!!!  After being blocked from crossing for about another hour, we ventured out to Hyde Park, which is HUGE.  There we saw Kensington Palace at a distance, the Princess Diana memorial fountain and other remarkable statues and buildings along with beautiful trees, paths, and a large pond where you could paddle boat or canoe.  On the way we also got to walk under the Wellington Arch.  However, our luck didn't stop with the royal parade.  Before making our way to Hyde Park, we heard sirens and saw people running up to the road.  Not sure what it was, we followed slowly, to eventually find ourselves watching hundreds of nearly or completely naked people riding their bikes and waving to the crowd!  On our way back to the subway station, we ran into the crowd finishing at the park.  One of the officials directing them told us it's called World Naked Bike Ride (the London ride had over 1200 participants) and is to raise awareness for cyclists safety and getting noticed by cars sharing the street.  On top of that it's just to show people who are proud of their body, whatever it may look like.  During it, we tried very hard to imagine how that would be accepted America, while here everyone cheered and waved to the bikers, we aren't sure New York or Chicago would be as thrilled.  Now we're chilling at Starbucks waiting to get hungry enough to go get dinner and giving our legs a much needed break.  After that we'll head back to the hostel and go to bed.  Tomorrow we have a boat tour scheduled that you can hope on and off of all day and during it we get to ride on the London Eye, the large ferris wheel, should be another exciting day!

We Have Arrived!!

We have arrived in London!  It was over an eight hour flights.  Leaving home at 6:45 and landing here close to 9am (or 3am Chicago time!). Despite the fact that we barely slept on the plane because planes just aren't comfy, we made it through the day and are now on London's clock.  We got off the plane, exchanged our money, organized our things, and sat in a corner to figure out where we would go.  To get to the hostel, we had to ride two trains, but since we had about 4 hours before check-in, we decided to get off on the first stop and go up and explore the city. After an hour in a little coffee shop gaining energy, we ventured out to Green Park, which turns out to be a short 5ish minute walk from Buckingham Palace and the Queen Victoria statue (pictured above).  After the excitement of that, we just kept wandering, eventually to the Soldier's Museum with horses and soldiers outside and then onto Trafalgar Square which had a beautiful fountain.  After finally getting in touch with our families, we slowly made our way back to the train station and caught it to our hostel.  It's early here, just past 6 here but we're excited.  We wandered around in the sun for a good 2-3 hours when we'd planned on 1.  Now we're at the hostel bar drinking really good Bulmer's cider and eating fish and chips of course.  We'll crash early - though the temperature in our room right now is higher than comfortable, and tomorrow morning we head back into the city to see the changing of the guards and a parade!  It's been a tiring but awesome first day!

3 Days Away!

We leave Thursday, that's three days from now.  It's kind of like graduation, it doesn't feel like it'll actually ever get here, except... I graduated 3 weeks ago.  As of two weeks ago, we booked our hotels and hostels.  Then, a few days later, decided to start our trip earlier, changing flights so we can leave in 3 days as opposed to 7.  With that addition, it becomes exactly 2 weeks that we'll be in Europe.  Now, as I type this, I've just finished typing up the itinerary for my parents (and maybe Blair's) who all can't seem to stop mentioning the movie Taken.  Yea, that's really helped me feel safe - the one sorta scary movie I've ever seen.  With that aside though, we've got it all booked.  Our expenses are paid and the only things we have to worry about now is how to get around each city (mostly trains and busses) and our food/attraction costs.  The plan is to start in London, spend some time exploring before heading over to Zurich where we want to take a day hiking in the beautiful landscape.  After there, we'll head to Rome then Barcelona then Paris before circling back to London a few days before we depart for home.  We're staying in a mix of hostels and hotels, some with private rooms, some shared.  It kind of depended on price, location, and reviews for where I chose in each city.  I'm actually really excited to see what the hostels are like.  The ones we chose in London (the first time) and Barcelona have really great reviews and say they are fantastic places to just sit at the bar and make friends from other countries.  I think that's going to be half this experience, especially since we aren't getting many days in each city.  Otherwise, now that I have the itinerary typed up and have slowly double checked everything, the tickets, hotel stays, and flights all line up like they should, helping me think that maybe, just maybe, I'll rest a little better before it's time to leave.  Now that it's all lined up and I'm checking things off my list of tickets that needed printed and copies of documents that need to come along, as well as charging my camera and saving information to my iPad, I'll end today's preparations there.  Tomorrow, we find out how well a notorious pack-rat can fit two weeks worth of supplies into just a carry-on.

Officially Graduating

Grades came out today, it's official, I can graduate!  With one last (maybe 2) track meet left and a walk across the stage, I'll move back home next week!  And with that, it'll be my last summer break.  The big thing I'm gearing up for is a 12 day trip to Europe with my friend Blair.  As of yesterday night, we have our flights to and from booked, and our flights and train tickets for country-to-country travel within the continent.  Tomorrow we tackle hotels!  I've been saving up for this for years, and it's finally going to happen.  The plan is to hit London, Zurich, Rome, Barcelona, and Paris.  It's going to be a quick, tiring trip, but hey, we don't have to run, so that means we don't really have to sleep! After the trip, I'll attend a friend's wedding and go be a counselor at running camp before work starts.  Even though I'll be a full-time employee come July, it'll be the first time in 8 years I'm not traveling for meets on the weekends and spending 3+ hours practicing a day.  I have triathlons lined up, festivals to go to, and weekend trips to see friends - and for once, it's all up to me!  It's going to be a great summer and transition to adult life, I just can't believe I'm already here.  I'm a college graduate (holy crap when did that happen?), I'm on my own in a matter of weeks (so far I'm hating all the paperwork that accompanies this fact), it's terrifying and exciting all at the same time.  Stay posted for more updates on the next month and most importantly, this is where I'll be posting while we're actually traveling!