May 28, 2014
Here we go again. Another adventure awaits us. This time minus Ed. He's staying back to work at his new job (Johnson & Murphy) and taking care of our pets (Lila and Mido). At least we won't have to worry about a pop-up camper breaking down or coming home to a messy home as we did in our US adventure last summer. But, I am sure that there will be some stories (happy, scary, maddening, and delightful) ready to be told for this new vacation.
My mom will be joining us on this trip to Europe. It's taken 5 months of weekends, holidays, and late nights of intense planning. Thank goodness I had some training in travel planning (I have an associate's degree in Transportation) and the world is at my fingertips via the internet.
But here we are at my mom's house in Florida, the night before our flight, and it's all come together. My fingers are crossed that all of the best laid plans will actually come together as I envisioned. The itinerary, boarding passes, reservation confirmations, copies of important documents, etc. are all neatly placed in a Trapper Keeper placed in a tote bag to be brought on board. Travel books (checked out from the library) are also packed, ready to be reviewed in flight. Our very small (more about this later) suitcases are lined up by the front door waiting for the last minute stuffing of toothbrushes, combs, and makeup. At this very moment the clock is chiming midnight behind me, reminding me that morning will be here too soon. It will be hard to sleep. My mind will be racing, trying to think of anything I may have forgotten (as if I couldn't buy or borrow anything when we're overseas!). The house is silent, except for the clock. I wonder if any of us are actually going to sleep well. I wonder how much access to the internet we will have while we're there. Will this blog be just one page? Ha! I wonder if our phones will actually work as we hope they will (without paying the exorbitant costs I've read about in other vacationers' posts). Time will tell, I guess.
I am hoping that whatever happens in Europe that our family will make the most of it. We have proven ourselves in last year's trip across the country and I'd like to think that we'll do the same for this one as well. It's also my hope that my children gain some deeper appreciations about the world that we live in, and even though we're an ocean apart and speak different languages, that we're all much more alike than different.
Ready or not - Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, England and Belgium - here we come!
