Trip Updates

I’m in the 3rd week of my European adventure and it’s been quite a trip so far to say the least!

The first few stops in Spain were a good introduction to hostel life, living out of a backpack, and being in a new city. It was especially helpful that I chose a place where I could at least manage to communicate when necessary to start out. I couldn’t imagine starting this trip in a place like Denmark or Prague.

Copenhagen and Palermo were tough for me. They were the first cities I did on my own and I didn’t particularly like them. At that point I was about a week into my trip and the combination of being on my own in strange places where I didn’t speak the language and being in two cities that I just really didn’t enjoy in hotels rather than hostels (they were the cheapest option) made me consider booking a flight home right then and there.

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Planning: The Itinerary (Finally!)

t wasn’t easy, but after many, many hours of staring at maps, reading through travel books, looking at airfares, scouring flickr, talking to friends, and just plain ole daydreaming, I’ve finally nailed down a working itinerary!

I have to say, it took a lot for me to cut out places like Glasgow and Stockholm, but when it came down to which places had to get the axe, I tried to pick groupings that would logically form into a future trip: a trip to Scandinavia, for instance, would let me cover Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki and a bunch of other places instead of just the first two. Same goes for the UK. The UK seems like the easiest trip to make somewhere down the line and dedicating an entire trip to the UK would let me cover the more rural parts of England and also fit in Wales and a lot more of Ireland.

So, with the exception of London, none of those places will be included in my trip this summer.

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Planning: Mapping It Out

I’m slightly geographically challenged. I have an excellent sense of direction (if I do say so myself), but when it comes to being able to place things on a map, well let’s just say it’s not exactly my forte.

That posed a bit of a problem when it came to figuring out my itinerary. I had a list of cities that I rattled off, but I couldn’t really tell you how far apart they are or where a good number of them are in relation to each other. I needed a map. A good one. Off to the book store I went, but to my surprise, price tags were upwards of $20. $20! For a map! No thanks. That’s why we have the internet. After a little poking around I found a decent, grammar school geography class map that was perfect for my needs (like I said, I’m a bit geographically challenged). I needed a way to “stick pins” in the map so I could see if any logical patterns would emerge that would help me to decide where to fly in and where to fly out. Using my trusty list, I marked down the cities on the map in 3 colors: definitely, hopefully, and possibly. (And yes, I realize those aren’t colors).

With all of the points laid out before my eyes, it finally hit me: holy crap there’s no way I’m going to cover all of this.

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Planning: Where to?

I have a very long list of places I’d like to go. I know that realistically I won’t be able to cover very many of these, but I figure it’s better to get an “ideal” list down and then pick from there. Here’s a list of places I’d like to see just off the top of my head:

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