Bears, Chocolate and Beer!

Yesterday we left the hostel and headed on a walking tour of Bern. With our handy map we visited Bern's bear garden first! The bears weren't out yet so we watched the keepers and listened to the bears throw themselves againt their cage doors. When the keepers let them our into the enclosures the cubs came barreling out at full speed with momma close behind. The male had his own enclosure and he came out and immediately started eating all the apples he could find from his variety of foods. We ended up spending much longer watching the bears than we meant to!

Next stop was the clock tower, which was lack-luster from what our guide book described. We walked through the old town passing the parliment building and fountains galore. Then headed to Zurich.

In Zurich we had to go on a hot chocolate treasure hunt for this tiny cafe Sam Brown went to on "Sam Brown Europe". It supposedly had amazing hot chocolate, the best in Switzerland! So we grabbed a city map from the tourist office circled the street we needed and started the expedition.

Luckily the city's main street was closed for a bicycle festival! So it made our walking time super quick. We took a few side streets and back allies then tucked away in a corner was Chocolatier Shober. We order 2 of their classic hot chocolates with cream. They were GREAT! BEST HOT CHOCOLATE EVER. We both were making those little "yummy" noises the whole time! Totally worth the hunt!

From Zurich we spent 4 hours on a train to Munich. We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Munich because all of the hostels were booked for Oktoberfest. It was ok though, because our hotel was very nice! We tried to go to Oktoberfest, but silly us...it was the weekend. All of the beer tents were booked up. So we settled for the next best thing, the beer hall of Hofbrauhaus! (Also a Sam Brown reccomendation) the beer hall can hold 3500 people and esentially is set up like Hogwarts' main hall. Long wooden tables and benches, where you slide in anywhere there is room. We each ordered a stein of beer (1.5 litres!), Heather had the Radler (lemonade beer) and I had the Weiss Radler (white lemonade). We also had some typical German foods: brautwurst, potato salad, bavarian pretzels, and strudel!

We made some Spanish friends at the table next to us, they named Other Bunny "Joseph" and took a picture with him. Then some nice Polish guys sat next to us, who didn't speak a lick of English. We got along fine though and had lots of toasts and laughs and an overall good time. We got pictures with them too. As far as we could tell they were on a man-cation. They both had wedding rings on, but no wives to be found (but possibly they were married to each other?). I taught the guy next to me to spell my name and he taught me his (which I have since forgotten). We joined in the beer hall singing and table banging. And it was just an amazing experience!!

After we were thouroughly buzzed we went back to our hotel and slept the best sleep of the trip. We didn't get up until 9:00 today!!!! We showered and got to the station by noon. We had some lunch and booked tickets to Paris. We sat outside Starbucks for a while and used their wi-fi, and now we're on the train to Frankfurt. Final destination, Paris. (And yes I did make that joke on purpose)

Safe Travels!
- Kit & Heather

Swiss Alps

This morning we got up early (its a common theme) and had breakfast at our hostel. We're staying at the Youth Hostel Bern which is part of Hostels International. HI offers affordable, reliable hostels almost everwhere in the world. Our hostel has over 200 rooms!!! And lots of ammenities including free lockers, breakfast, a laundry room, pool, and key card for the front door and your room.

We're staying in a 6 bed female dorm, with two other girls. The breakfast this morning we buffet style with cereal, oatmeals, toasts and fresh jam. 'Twas delicious!

After a filling breakfast we went to Interlaken and caught a few trains til we reached Jungfrau- Top of Europe. It took about 2 hours from Interlaken to climb up the mountain on 3 different trains! Jungfrau is 11,333 ft and is the tallest peak in Europe and the highest train station. It cost 140 SCF (Swiss Franc) per person to go to the summit.

Once at Jungfrau we got to explore an ice palace with cool scenes cut out of a glacier in the side of the mountain!! That alone was worth the fee, but there was more. We also go to go out on the plateau and take pictures of the Swiss Alps, play a little in the snow and simply enjoy the breath taking view from 11,333 ft!!! Past the plateau we went to the Sphinx observatory which was another 108m up. It was so amazing! They even had a "snow fun" center. It had snow tubing, sleding, and more! That part cost extra so we didn't go.

The view from Jungfrau was simply amazing. I've been on top on many mountains, but the Alps are just sheer awe-inspiring. It was an amazing journey.

After our day atop Europe's highest peak we took the trains back down the mountain into Interlaken. We walked around and found a resteraunt that we both agreed on called "Des Alps". Heather had a potato dish with mushrooms, bacon, and Swiss cheese. It looked like stir fry. I had a sausage dinner with two sausage links warpped in Swiss cheese and bacon with fries on the side. We also each had a local beer. Everything was delicious!! I'm so glad to have tried some Swiss cuisine! We were going to try dessert but our waitress took 30 minutes just to bring out the bill. So we paid and left.

We came across a chocolate shop and each of us had a truffle for dessert. I tried the Bailey's truffle and Heather had the honey one. Both were covered in Swiss chocolate and both hit the spot. Nothing better than Swiss cheese and chocolate!

Today we decided on our souveniers! We had been debating what to do because we don't want to haul a lot with us, but we want something to remember each country. I came up with the idea of buying a patch to put on our back pack from each country we visit! This way over the years they will be covered in memories. And patches don't take up room or weight for us to lug around. The only bad thing is we didn't get patchs from Spain! Perhaps we will order some online. Luckily we will be back in France before we leave! Heather got a Bern patch with the bear of the Bern flag and I got the Swiss flag!

We are on the train back to Bern now. We are going to do laundry and shower tonight then do a walking tour of the city tomorrow before departing for Germany for Oktoberfest!

So far Switzerland is definately our favorite country. Everyone here is so nice and everyone we have encountered has spoken perfect English. Switzerland doesn't actually have one national language, they have four! German, French, Italian and Romansch. Most Swiss can speak all 4 PLUS English! Its very impressive. It did however make for a fun day, listening to cashiers or train workers switch in and out of each language flawlessly.

Tomorrow night at this time we'll be in Munich!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Safety First

It occured to us yesterday that we should have a plan in case we get seperated. Some trains in Europe split cars and each car heads a different way. If you're not careful you could end up at the wrong destination simply by being on the wrobg car.

Although we try our best to get where we're going we needed a back-up plan in case we became seperated. Here are our safety rules:

1) Always carry your day pack! If for any reason we seperate you HAVE to keep your day pack with you. Even if you go to the restroom at the train station, or stop by a cafe on the platform. We survived with only our day packs for almost 3 days, so it can be done. We each have our passport wallets with Eurail passes, money, train timetables, map of Europe, and credit card in our day packs. I have our European cell phone, so Heather has the phone number written down...should we get seperated.

2) If seperated on a train, we meet in Bern. In the event that one of us gets seperated on a train (say the food car decides to redirect to a different city) then we will meet in Bern. Its a central location and only has one train station. We will meet at platform #1.

3) If seperated in a city, meet at our hostel/hotel. This assures we each know where to meet up in case we get lost in the throngs of people!

With these plans laid out if, for whatever reason, we became seperated we would know exactly what to do. The odds of being seperated are small, but if it did happen and we didn't have plans it could be more terrifying than it should be.

One of the first times my family went to Six Flags when I was a kid my mom took me to the Lost Child station and said "If you ever get lost you find someone in a Six Flags shirt and you come to this building. I will meet you here" I always thought she was overprotective, until one time my mom had to pick me up from the Lost Child station. ;) All I'm saying is Safety First can prove for a stressfree trip!

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Lyon & Vienne

Well our attempts to handwash our clothes didn't work out so well, seeing as they were all still damp this morning. Oh well, guess they will have to air dry. At least they are clean and smell pleasent.

We check out first thing this morning and caught the Metro to Lyon's second train station. From there we took a trip to Vienne, a city that dates back to ancient Roman times around first century BD!

We had a very French breakfast at the cafe by the train station. Heather had quiche and I had a delicious crouqe monsuier, a traditional French ham and cheese sandwich. From there we headed to the tourist center, but first we got distracted by the post office. We sent out post cards to Lorrie & Bill, The Purcell family and Erin & Chelsea may even get one from Other Bunny. ;)

When we found the tourist office it was situated in a gorgeous park with 100 year old trees that seemed to stretch forever. The tourist office gave us a map of the city and told us to follow the brass Elm tree emblems that lined the streets. It made it very easy to navigate the city and see everything that we needed to see. Plus I made a game of it, I would step on each emblem and declare "a tree!" So we knew we were on the right path.

Our first stop was at the church of Saint Pierre, which was constructed from 5th -6th century AD. Making it one of the oldest churches in France!

Past that was Saint-Maurice cathedral which was erected between the 11th and 16th century AD. It was huge! I love all of the cathedrals of Europe. They just don't build buildings this grand anymore.

Continuing on the route of trees, we found Augustus and Livia temple. This temple dates back to 20 -10 BC. It is essentially perfectly preserved and in the middle of town! There are modern buildings on all sides, then positioned in the center is this beautiful ancient wonder. It was a surreal site for sure.

Trekking along we discovered Saint-Andre le Bas church and cloister, then we crossed the Rhone river to play at the Archaeological site of Saint Romain en Gal Vienne. This site is a neighborhood of ancient Vienne. They have uncovered houses, stores, workshops, warehouses, public baths and roads. There is so much to explore! This ancient neighborhood covers probably 2 square miles (if not more) and you get to wonder freely for only 4 euro/person! We paid our dues and walked around for about 2 hours.

Once we finished at Saint Romain we went back towards the central part of town and checked out their enourmous ampitheatre which can seat 13,000 people!!! Its massive size reminds me of Red Rocks in Colorado.

Our final ancient find was that of Cybele's archaeological garden. It contains the remins of the old Gallo-Roman town, including the archways from a portico that was past of the forum.

After we had finished the 3.5km "Heritage Trail" we headed back to the station. Had a quick snack then caught a train back to Lyon. From Lyon we exchanged euro to Swiss Francs and caught a train to Bern via Geneva.

Currently on that train, and soooo excited for Switzerland!! We're going to an ice palace at the highest train station in the Alps, Jungfrau!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Travel Day

This morning we checked out of our hostel around 8:00am, from there we caught the Metro to Barcelona-Sants train station (estachio). We got on the 9:00 train to Figures, then switched to the train to Montpellier. When we arrived at Montpellier we suddenly switched into French mode! Heather and I each took French for 3 years in high school, but suddenly we crossed into France and we are getting along great!

We have only talked to the train attendants, information attendants, cashiers, etc en Francais. We reserved seats on our next two trains from Montpellier, then sat down for a refreshing Orangina.

We took the commuter train to Marseille and finally had 2 hours to stretch our legs. Got a couple of Metro tickets and hit the city center. We had our daypacks and backpacks, but still hiked 1.5 miles toward the beach and up 126 stairs to get a view of the city from Ft. Nicholas. We enjoyed the sea breeze for a bit then turned around and trekked back to the station.

We are on our final train for the evening, heading for Lyon. We are simply stopping over in Lyon for the night. Tomorrow we are going to Switzerland!

I forgot how much I love France. :) Its the only European country I had been to prior to this trip! And although today was mostly just travel, and tonight we are stopping over....we will be back in France later in our journey. We can't wait to visit Paris together! We have both been seperately, but nothing says romance like a date on the Eiffel Tower with your wife!

UPDATE: we wandered around Lyon til we found our hotel. Its only 15 minutes from the train station on foot. Apparently reception closed at 19:00, and we got here at 22:45!! They had text me the code to get in the building and a code for a safe. Come to find out they left our key in a safe by the reception area. So we got into our room and its actually an economy apartment! We have a kitchen, table area, desk, bookshelf, closet, tv and double bed. Plus we have a patio. Only thing is, the laundry room is closed and without the receptionist we can't get wi-fi and we need to look up train schedules for tomorrow. :( (I blog in advance and post when I find wi-fi)

Heather is happy though because there is an awesome bathtub, and she got to take a hot bath. She is very excited to smell nice. I did a load of laundry in the sink with our Tide packets. Then used rope from my pack to create a clothesline on the patio. I'm so handy!

Now we're watching Bones in French! They all sound super silly in French. Good luck translating those anatomy and forensics terms.

Its extremely nice just to lie around. We won't have too much down time the entire trip, so I will enjoy what I can get.

Au revior pour ce moment!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather 

Tarragona

This morning we woke up early and took a train to Tarragona. Its a city once inhabited by the Roman empire. It still has a huge stone wall encompassing its "old town" and people live within its wall! We visited the cathedral, which was gorgeous (like most ancient cathedrals). We only paid a couple of euro a piece because the main cathedral part was closed for construction, however the chapels still open for viewing were awesome. The tour even had an audio device which told you about each section. We looked around the shops for a while and found Spanish Kinderballs!! Kinderballs are these chocolate balls which have a toy inside! They don't sell them in the states, because kids like to choke. And no, its not the same as a Nestle Wonderball. :P

After our snack we adventered around town for a bite to eat. Heather had some pizza which she claims "didn't taste like any pizza I have ever had!" She loved it! I, however, bought a salmi sandwich only to find it was saturated with tomatos. Yucky! Oh well.

We got to play around the Roman forum, or what's left of it. We speelunked through caves, tunnels, chambers, and floor after floor of ancient Roman stones, sculpture, and architecture. My favorite was the view from the 6th floor. The Mediteranean is so gorgous!!

Following our adventure through the ancient playground, we visited the National Museum of Archaeology. It was 4 floors full of Roman artifacts. Heather looked like she was in heaven, being an anthropologist/archeologist and all that.

Finally we went to the ampitheatre on the coast. This was the least impressive of the ruins. Although all Roman ampitheatres are mind-blowing (how did they move those stones!?), this one was well ruin-ed. It was fun to play around, but hardly worth the 3 euro a piece. Especially after seeing everything else Tarragona had to offer.

We made it back to the hostel about 18:00 and found out our packs had (finally) arrived!!! Everything is in its place and we are super grateful to have our stuff back!

We each ate a Fruit Roll-Up out of joy (yeah, we packed 4 boxes.) Then galivanted around Barcelona to see some famous Gaudi works of art. Our first stop was Sagrada Familia. Its an enormous church deisgn by the artist. They broke ground in 1909 and even after Gaudi died in 1926, they still worked on it. 102 years later and its still not done, giving it the nick-name "The Unfinished Church". It was amazing! I can't describe its crazy archetecture. You should probably just look it up online, or plan a trip to Barcelona to see it yourself! :P

We also saw Gaudi's Casa Batllo, or house of bones. It is simply a house on a main thoroughfair where Gaudi was contracted to decorate the interior of a gentlemans home. The man loved it so much he told Gaudi to re-do the outside as well. Now its an eye-sore next to fancy shops along the Passage de Garcia. We loved it! The outside structures look like bones and its so colorful! The roof looks like a dragon and the whole thing is mind blowing.

We came back to the hostel after our tiring day and spent entirely way to long re-packing our back packs for tomorrow. Mainly because we spent 2 hours bantering with each other and laughing to the point of crying out of exhaustion. It was fun!! Now we're all showered, our packs are ready, and we depart for France tomorrow!!

Even though we have only been here 3 days it seems like a week. We have averaged 3-5 miles on foot each day! At this rate we will be slim & fit when we return to the states. :) Hurray European workout!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Barcelona!

Today has been gorgeous. Its beautiful weather outside, we checked in to a really great hostel, and the airline is paying us 100 euro per person/day for still not knowing where our packs are!!

Suddenly, I'm not too worried. We spent the day in downtown Barcelona. Walking along the La Rambla and around the Gothic Quarter. We also spent time around Catalunya.

With our new budget we each got a new outfit and some basic toiletries. I also got a backpack to tote our new treasures in. We honestly have no idea when we'll be getting our luggage! So perhaps we will have 200 euro to buy clothing tomorrow as well. ;)

Tonight we are going to take the Metro back to our hostel, sleep a little, then get up early to adventure to Tarragona.

The Metro systems is Madrid & Barcelona have been amazing! Simple to navigate and pretty cheap. They also have lots of convienent stops throughout the city.

We must be doing something right to blend in, we have been stopped and mistaken for locals at least 6 times!! Tourists have stopped us and asked for directions or which train goes where! Its awesome to blend in :) Even though we have been doing our fair share of map reading and asking directions too. 

Overall its been a great day!! Tomorrow should be fun to experience the walled city of Tarragona!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Good Thing We Took French in School!

All those times people in Texas told me "Why are you taking French? You should learn Spanish!" May have been right. But they were only right today. Because when we're in France, it'll be a breeze.

This morning we got up and showered, then put our dirty clothes back on. Alas, we still don't have our packs. But I guess we'll be wearing dirties for most of the trip, joys of backpacking.

We had breakfast at the hotel, which the online booking told us was included. Unfortunately, (language barrier #1) it wasn't. So although Heather ate her cost, I did not. I'm not a big breakfast person to begin with. Alas, we paid 27 euro at check out. Womp-womp.

Then we continued to the train station, where we ran around trying to figure out where our platform was. The departure boards only showed 1 train leaving at 10:30 and it did not seem to be going to Barcelona. We finally found a gentleman who spoke enough English to point us to a platform. We realized quickly we were in the wrong place when the train had 4 cars, and we were booked on car 8. We found a woman who spoke English and she told us we were at the entirely wrong train station! She was very nice though, and seemed genuinely concerned that we missed our train.

Now we took the Metro across town to the correct station and are waiting at the ticket office to get a new ticket. I hope they still have some spots open on the next train (which departs in an hour)

We knew there would be a learning curve to this. I just hope we got it all out of our system in Madrid! :P

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Off to a Bumpy Start

First leg of the flight was a blast! KLM is a great airline, with lots of entertainment and food. Lots of food!! The 8.5 hours direct flight went by swimmingly. Arrived in Amsterdam, printed our boarding passes, rushed through customs, and headed out to our final destination of Madrid.

That's where things went wrong. When we got to Madrid we joined the rest of our flight at the baggage claim. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 45 minutes. Nothing. Finally a worker called over the loud system for our flight to go to the lost & found claim window. So for a reason still unknown to us, NONE of the baggage from our flight made it to Madrid!!! Everyone was really pissed, because the airline couldn't even tell us WHERE our baggage was! Not to mention everyone was left without clothes & such!! We were in an especially tough situation because we are hostelling, and don't have 100% set plans. Yet, the airline required an address to send our packs to. After 5 hours of waiting around the airport, we finally just booked a hotel for the night near the main train station. Called home and had H's mom track our stuff down, then booked a hostel for the next two nights in Barcelona to have a semi-permenant address. Here's to hoping we get our stuff tomorrow!! We only have the clothes on our backs, our money & cards, passports & train passes, phones and cameras. So I suppose, it really could be worse.

After finally straightening stuff out with the airline we wandered around the heart of Madrid for the last 5 hours. Which truly brightened up our crappy day!! What a fun city! We wandered aimlessly on/off the Metro and found our way to the Opera, the Crystal Palace and we even managed to find the infamous Chocolatier!!

We stopped and had hot chocolate and churros! :) Sam Brown was not lying, you could set a spoon on top of the chocolate and watch it sink...very...very...slowly. Heather was in heaven! It tasted like dark chocolate and hazelnut, and the churros were splendid!!

Currently, we're on the Metro heading back to our hotel. Finally time to get some shut eye. (Remember, its 11pm here....so its 4pm at home) A 7 hour time difference, a total of 10 hours in the air, and forever fretting over our bags has wiped me out!

Tomorrow morning we are having breakfast at the hotel then off to Barcelona!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit & Heather

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We have a couple more hours in the states, then its off to Madrid!! I'm so excited, I don't think either of us slept a lot last night. (Which should make sleeping on the plane a breeze)

Alright, so theoretically... most of our hostels have wi-fi. So I will be updating as much as possible. I also have our FB page set up to auto-post from this blog. If you always want to keep up with our posts you should sign up by email on the left of the page.

I cannot believe this is happening! 5 years of dreaming, and 2 years of planning...and here we are. AND I'm feeling MUCH better!!! Hurray!!! I was going to be so pissed if I was still sick when we left.

First stop...Amsterdam. (Silly layover) THEN Madrid!!!!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit

39 Hours!!

We are less than 2 days away from departure. And instead of running around and rushing to get ready... I am sitting on the couch drinking hot tea and PRAYING this cold goes away before Sunday!!

We just got back form Colorado today, and I brought the sniffles home with me. :( Come hell or high water, nothing will keep us from Europe (obviously). But if I don't kick this cold ASAP the first week or so may be exhausting (more so than planned).

Nevertheless, this is going to be the absolute BEST trip EVER!!

Don't forget to check us out on Facebook as well, Europe in 45 Days.

PS. Looks like we may have taken on a stowaway for the trip. You've heard of the roaming gnome... but what about the roaming bunny!?

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Finalizing Plans & Packing!

Well we have 10 days until departure! I completed my last shift at work, making me unemployed for the first time since I was 17! It's amazing to know that we get to go to Europe for a month and a half and not worry about work! I lucky enough to have a job lined up upon our return, so I don't even have to worry about coming home and being broke. :)

With ten days to go we have been kicking it into high-gear. Mostly finalizing our itinerary, checking out train reservations and hostel reservations. There's so much planning that goes into a six-week trip! Even so, we have left space in our itinerary for changes. I mean, no one wants to go on vacation and have an hour-by-hour schedule. Especially not a trip like this one. We know what cities we'll be in on what days and have a list of things to do, but overall it will all come down to how we feel when we get there.

Usually I wouldn't start packing for a trip over a week in advance. However, we leave for Colorado tomorrow and won't be back until the 16th. Which means we will have one full day between before we leave for Europe. So as much packing as we can is a good thing to get done now. We don't want our one day to be stressful, we should relax and enjoy our time in the states before departure.

One thing that we had to get done was our "in case of emergency" file. It's good to leave copies of important documents with a trusted friend or family member in case you run into trouble abroad. We're leaving copies of our passports, bank info, nonliterary, travel insurance, embassy phone list for the countries we will be visiting, Eurail passes, and our loss and theft protection for our passes. This way, worst case scenario, if we loose any valuables it will be easy to get copies faxed to us. It's the little things like this that are important to remember when planning a trip like this. Safety first!

As we pack we are thinking about other logistics. Such as "do we need an extra camera battery or SD card?" Currently, I have a 1GB SD card for my camera and Heather has a 4GB. You would think 4GB would be plenty of space, but you probably haven't seen Heather's travel pictures. ;) Luckily, we have family members who have graciously agreed to let us borrow an extra SD card or two. I suspect we will come home with a ridiculous amount of photos! Photos are free, and the very best souvenir! Specifically, I want some stereotypical tourist shots: trying to push the Tower of Pisa back up, in front of the Eiffel Tower, on a gondola in Venice, up the clock tower in Brugge, drinking a stein of beer at Oktoberfest, etc.

All in all, I think we have planned this trip effortlessly. And I cannot wait to embark! I also can't wait to share our stories with all of you. Stay tuned!

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Two Weeks!

Holy wow, Batman! Only a little over 2 weeks until we depart!

I've kicked into stressful/last minute detail mode. It seems like we still have a lot of little things to get done before leaving. Lists are my friend. If I make lists of things to get done I will be able to keep up with the madness. Or, I hope to.

Its surreal really. To plan for something for about two years and then finally its time to just GO! No matter how much you plan and stress and fret...you just have to go, and hope for the best.

Heather and I are both blessed with common sense and intelligence. Armed with cultural knowledge and both with Anthropology backgrounds (her more so than me.) Both will come in handy as we embark to 14 countries all with their own language and cultural entities. My hope is to not completely look like the bumbling tourist everywhere we go. I want to enrich myself with other cultures!

All in all, this could possibly be the most outstanding trip in my life. And I just want to do it right!

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Places I've Been and I'm Going

Heather and I have been updating our "Places I've Been" maps. I cannot wait to add all of European countries to "visited" instead of "want to visit"!! I really hope to make it to all of the other places I've marked as well. Someday, we will. :)

Donations

A huge thanks to the following people who have donated towards our trip:

Lorrie & Bill H
Terry G
Erin P & Chelsea M
Martha L
Joy & Chris P
Monique G
Rachel G
Lindsey J

We truly are gratful for your contributions! And look forward to sending you a post card or two from Europe!

You too can contribute to our Europe fund!

Raise Money Online

Every donation helps! And For every $10 you donate we'll send you a postcard from the trip. :D

Safe Travels,
- Kit

28 days and counting!

Well we're in the homestretch! Only 28 days until we depart to Madrid! Its so exciting that it's so close!

We are in the final stages of planning. We are figuring out what trains need reservations, what attractions we could get tickets in advance and so forth.

With less than a month until our great adventure its easy to start stressing over the little details. It seems like there are so many things we still need to do to maximize the ease of our trip.

I guess its normal to fret before a big trip. I have been having bizarre dreams the last week or so about stupid things like forgetting my passport or not remembering to have someone take care of our pets while we're away. Its ridiculous.

All in all, I am unexplainably excited! This is truly going to be the trip of a lifetime. I'm so excited that Heather and I get to take this trip together.

Its funny because when we tell people about our trip their first reaction is usually "BY YOURSELVES!?" And I guess for most early 20-somethings a 6 week expedition across Europe with nothing but a backpack and a train pass would seem daunting. But Heather and I share a love of travle and our Anthropology backgrounds make us interested in visiting other cultures. I actually feel really proud to be taking this trip. We have been planning and saving for abnout 2 years and we are really making this happen. There is nothing sadder to me than people who talk about traveling but never do. People use so many excuses, but when it comes down to it...the only thing holding you back is yourself. Its not like we had the money to do this, but we saved. We will have some struggles when we get back and have been unemployed for 6 weeks, but we'll overcome. I already have a job lined up upon our return! Its all about planning.

Actually, we have already started discussions about our next great adventure. Looks like 2017 we'll be going on a tour of the UK. Why 2017? Because that is the year that Harry Potter's kids will embark to their first year at Hogwarts. So there is a massive gathering planned at Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross. :) in the meantime we want to go to Orlando (Wizading World of Harry Potter), Hollywood, the Grand Canyon, Washington DC and possible Cancun.

All I'm saying is, life is too short NOT to travel!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Itenerary!

Well, as I briefly mentioned in my last post...our plan to get to Europe and trek around aimlessly did not work out to our benefit. We had to plan things out a lot more than expected. Mainly, because a couple of the things we want to see are time sensitive.

The main two things that are "musts" are Oktoberfest in Munich and this amazing cheese market in Amsterdam! We wanted to also go to Tivoli Gardens (Copenhagen), but they close the amusement park on Sept 25th for the down season.

Our first draft itinerary looks like these are the cities we'll be staying in. There are others we will be visiting on day trips.

Madrid, Spain
Barcelona, Spain
Lyon, France
Bern, Switzerland
Munich, Germany
Frankfurt, Germany
Paris, France
Brussels, Belgium
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Hamburg, Germany
Copenhagen, Denmark
Stockholm, Sweden
Oslo, Norway
Berlin Germany
Prague, Czech Republic
Vienna, Austria
Salzburg, Austria
Venice, Italy
Florence, Italy
Rome, Italy
Patras, Greece
Athens, Greece

Other cities we will be visiting:

Tarragona, Spain
Vienne, France
Interlaken, Switzerland
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Bruges, Belgium
Norrkoping, Sweden
Verona, Italy
Milan, Italy
Bologna, Italy
Pisa, Italy
Vatican City
Capri, Italy
Brindisi, Italy


We have A LOT planned, but we are good on budgeting our time. Plus we will have time to rest on the trains and in the sweet hostels we've found. While Heather has been researching day-trips and sight-seeing opportunities, I have been living on Hostel World, reading reviews and comparing prices/locations/accommodations/etc

Ironically, in some cities it's cheaper to stay in a hotel for a night than a hostel! Which will be nice, because a private shower will be few and far between. Not to mention getting to sleep in the same bed. I mean most of the trip we'll be sleeping in twin sized bunk beds!

I'm really excited! There is just over a month until we depart, and although I know 1 million things could go wrong.... I'm really not worried. We have rail passes, a guide book, a loose plan and 6 weeks in EUROPE! No matter what, this is going to be an amazing trip. Besides, if we don't see everything we wanted to on this trip, we will just have to go back again. :)

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Sightseeing, Hostels, Adventure, Oh My!

We have spent the last 3 days looking through Europe by Eurail to make a list of must-see places, as well as researching hostels all over Europe for the best places to stay at the lowest price. Thanks to Hostel World, for the best reviews and pricing comparisons.

As much as we didn't want to, we have had to plan out a basic route to figure out certain details. Such as, when hostels will be cheapest, will we be in a certain city in time for things we want to do that are date-specific, will there still be political unrest in Greece near the end of our trip? Obviously, that last one is yet to be seen....but we hope for the best. If worse comes to worse we will just back-track up to Amsterdam and catch our connecting flight home. (As of now we fly out of Athens to Amsterdam to return)

Basic route looks a little like this:


View EuroTrip! in a larger map



Cannot believe we are 54 days away!

Safe Travels,
- Kit

TWO Months!

It's getting so close! I cannot believe we are just a little more than two months out from Europtrip 2011! A lot has been going on in the last couple of months, and I have neglected to update the blog as much as I wanted to. So let me catch everyone up!

We moved back to Dallas in April and everything has been a whirl-wind since. I've been really busy at work and Heather got an internship at the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas!! After discussing leave of absence options with my General Manager it came down to the fact that the company couldn't promise I would have a job post-Europe if I took a 6 week leave. So I did the most logical thing.... I put in my notice. My last day with AMC will be 9/8! I've been with them for over 5 and half years, but NOTHING will stand between us and a care-free European adventure. (Don't worry I have a new job lined up for when we return)

We bought and received our Eurail passes, have been scouring our guide book for hot spots, and have started looking into hostels. We're going to get memberships with Hostels International, which will provide us with a discount on over 2000 hostels in Europe! The membership is only $28/person and lasts for a whole year. Not to mention that it's good at almost every hostel in the USA as well. Superb!

We have a flight into Madrid, Spain on 9/18 and a flight out of Athens, Greece on 10/31. In between will be slightly structured, but mainly random adventuring! It's so exciting, yet a little scary. We are compiling a list of "must see" cities and attractions so we can sort of map out our route. There's so much awesomness in Europe it's impossible to squeeze it all into six weeks, but we will do what we can.

I'll be blogging again soon! Don't forget, donations welcome at Our Donation Site! Every $5 donated earns you a postcard from Europe!!

Safe Travels,
- Kit

Flights, check.

As of yesterday we have officially booked flights to and from Europe! We fly into Madrid on September 18th, and fly home from Athens on October 31st.

For the time in between we will have train passes, a hostel card, and a couple of packs. CANNOT WAIT!!