One Week Away...

So this time next week I will sailing on the Rhine River looking at castles drinking wine and eating great food. Sorry to rub it in guys ;) We leave Monday around 11:30 from Chicago O'Hare which means that we're going to have get up and leave Milwaukee around 7:00. Luckily we have a lot of traveling so I can sleep a lot. I am a fortunate person that when I'm on a plane I usually fall asleep as soon as it's in the air. There are a lot of last minute things being done. Yesterday I went to the doctor to get new Epipens (i'm allergic to beesting for those who didn't know) just in case. I dont want to get stung over there and be completely screwed. We have rented a lot of books from the library and since we can't take them with us we are just going to make copies of sections that we want so it's less books we have to bring. Its a good idea to bring as few books as possible. I'm bringing my Europe on a budget book and maybe one other that's an all around book that I can get a lot of information out of. The most important thing I'm bringing is I think the eurail train timetable. Its a book completely full of train schedules so it will be easier to determine which trains I can take. I can't believe its already here. This is an experience of a lifetime and I hope that I can really enjoy everything I can out of it :).

"the best has yet to come" ~DMB~

Alpine Valley

Now this doesn't really have anything to do with my trip but I need to share the experience I had this weekend. So as many know I'm kind of obsessed w/ this band known as Dave Matthews Band. Well they played at the local value Alpine Valley this past Sat/Sun. I babysat for some family friends on Friday night and went downtown Milwaukee to meet some of my Warehouse (DMB fan club) friends. Some I knew and some I had never met. I got down there around 12:30 am and people that I didn't even know who I had talked to on the message boards just came up to me introduced themselves and gave me huge hugs. That is what I love about the community. It was as if we were all good friends for years and just hadn't seen each other in a while. I'm always up to meeting new people especially when we are all together for the same reason. Saturday I did not go to the show but Sunday a friend did an amazing thing and offered me a FREE ticket. I couldn't turn it down and they know who they are and they know how much it meant to me.

I rode out to the venue with my friends Jacci and Mat who I met last year at the tailgate that I put together and we rode out to meet up with some other cars to drive into the venue together. We had 11 cars in our caravan and somehow we managed to get everyone in there together in the same row and no one got lost. This group of people were so amazing. There was no drama, no problems and everyone just had a great time. Some of these people I met are the coolest people ever. We may have age differences but at these concerts we're little kids together. People came form Indiana, Arizona, Florida, New York, Minnesota and many more because this venue is just magical. Well 7:30 rolls and around I'm going to get ready to get my ticket and lone behold it's locked in the CAR!!!! We figure it a friend spots me some money to buy a lawn ticket. I get into the venue and my kickass friends brought me down to their seats so I didn't have to sit alone. The show was freaking awesome and then energy was out of control. I did some seat hopping and wound up on the other side of the venue with some new friends. I've never danced my ass off so hard in my life. After the show we hung around and just grilled some more before we decided to leave once the traffic died down.

All in all, I love my DMB family. You guys are the greatest and make my experiences so great at every show I go to. I wish I could see you all more often. You guys are ALL amazing people. I love you!

Getting a little nervous... but excited at the same time

So as my trip gets closer I'm getting a little more nervous to be in a different country on my own. I've traveled all over the U.S. by myself but when I arrived at my destination there was someone there that I knew and was planning to meet. In Europe, I'm on my own. I like that I'll get to set my own itinerary and go at my own pace but at the same time I think trips like this are nice to have someone there with you. So once I'm on my own my trip thus far is this:

After Paris I'm going to go north to Bruges/Brussels for a few days and spend time there. Then I will take my trip to Italy staring with Florence then Rome and going down to Naples to see Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius. I am going to get on a train and head north on the west coast of Italy into Southern France. Specifically I would like to visit Nice, Avignon, Arles, and Aix en Provence. From Nice it is an 8.5 hour train ride to Barcelona where I will spend a few days then head north up the west coast of France. My final stop will be the D-Day beaches at Normandy.

Hopefully this will all work out and I have enough time to see it all.

Trying this whole blogging thing out.

I've never done this blog thing before, not sure how I feel about it, however while I'm in Europe this is the best way to keep in touch with people at home. Since I will not be bringing a cell phone I'm going to update my blog when i arrive at a new city and while I'm there.

Preliminary planning has been underway for a while. Hostels are booked in Prague, Paris and Bruges. I've changed my basic plan a little and have decided not to go down into the south of Spain and instead I'm going to head to Normandy to see the D-Day beaches.

I'm so excited for this trip. I have the coolest mom ever.