The Trip

Blog post number 2!  I'm already leaps and bounds further than any other attempt I've made!!  I guess I should explain a little bit about the trip that my sister and I are planning.

Well, I graduate from college this May (yayyyyy!!!/OHMYGODWHATAMIGOINGTODONOW) and before I enter into the "real world" or some type of graduate studies program or just doing whatever I can to avoid moving home, I decided that I want to go on a grand, epic adventure throughout Europe.  Backpacking through Europe has been planned in my head for years, but I am determined to now make it a reality.  That's why my sister and I have been slaving away all summer and will continue to work throughout the school year to make sure this happens.


Pre-planning:
Whenever I wanted to buy something when I was younger, my father always said, "do some research, make a budget, and show me."  This method has become instilled in my cranium.

1.  So, first thing first, I looked at a map of Europe.  This may seem stupid, but to see and enjoy all of Europe within a month period of time is just not possible.  Let me warn you, I'm a history major.  Good luck trying to get me to see everything I want to see in one day.  The sister and I made a list of places we would like to visit -- a very, very lengthy list...mainly my fault..sorry not sorry -- and then began the process of elimination.  Arrivederci Italia!  Adios España!  Goodbye Ireland, Scotland, and England! :'( This was a painful process.  So the final route we planned makes a circle through continental Europe: Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Hannover, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Miltenberg, Frankfurt.

2.  Second, and probably the most difficult for us to determine, the budget.  We divided the budget into several sections: transportation (to and in Europe), lodging, food, and liesure (museums passes, souvenirs, etc).  For transport to Europe, we reflected on previous trips abroad to estimate flight costs.  For transport in Europe, we looked at the various Eurrail passes.  To get an idea of lodging, I looked up hostel costs on sites like Hostelbookers.com and Hostelworld.com.  Food -- I think we can survive off of buying bread and sandwich meat at grocery stores for a month.  Let's not forget to add in the cost of gelato!  Mamma Mia!  After adding everything up, we came to a figure around $3500, hopefully less.

Now that we have saved up some $$$, let the serious research of things to do in each city begin!

-E