Next Steps

After a brief 2-day stint in the town I grew up in, with a friend I've known since I was 3.5, I'm more excited than ever for this trip! I shared my adventure itinerary with at least a half a dozen people (former neighbours, old friends, my friend's boyfriend...) and the more I share what the plan is, the more real it becomes. Don't get me wrong, I definitely have noticed a drop in my bank account after paying for flights and making deposits on hostels, but I don't honestly think it'll be truly real until we're on the plane! (But that's not surprising as every trip I've taken has been like that!). And Jeff's excited regardless.

Some of the planning I last wrote about has come together; we've asked Jeff's dad if he'll drive us to the airport on departure day in September and then we'll book Airways Transit from the airport home in October (it's not cheap, one way for the two of us is $123... yeesh).

I've also figured out our insurance and cash accessing situation - nothing a half our phone call with the bank (and lots of emails with my mom!) can't figure out :)

We haven't figured out exactly how we're going to travel throughout Europe yet but at least we're familiar with the ways that we can... as dad always says, "You can't make decisions without choices!" And we are now aware of our choices!

One of the other things we're thinking about (and please share if you have any ideas!) is whether or not we should get a Hostelling International Card (http://www.hihostels.com/web/m-faq.en.htm) We just don't know if it's worth it, if we'll use enough HI hostels in our travels.

Lots to do but I'd say the majority of it is to be done in August... so, we've still got time :)

We hope though, that our airline flight attendants don't strike in July or at the very least, don't strike for long... and we're also hoping that the E. coli problem in Northern Germany is under better control by the time we get there! No fresh vegetables for us or we're washing all of our own! We're keeping an eye on both issues and hope that they don't negatively impact our trip, but the world keeps going regardless of our plans. I'm sure it'll work out; might as well be optimistic!