It's a "Leaving on a Jet Plane" moment

It's crunch time, kids! Danielle & I will be boarding the plane about 15 hours from now. My backpack is empty. I've thrown everything in the general direction of the backpack, but that's about as close as I've gotten. Hope it all fits!

I'm super jealous of Carolyn. She gets on her plane three hours after us, and will arrive in London three hours before us. That just gives you an idea of how frickin' huge Canada is. She'll get to sit and listen to cool accents for a couple hours at the airport until we roll in.

Then it's off to the city, where I expect we'll connect with EC (link to his travel blog is on the side) at some point. Then Matty will join us from Wales on Friday for a fun pub-filled visit. Then who knows! I'll try to get this thing updated at some point in London to let you know I've arrived safe-and-sound. And don't forget to check Carolyn's blog too (link also on the side), because she'll have more fun stories and pictures!

Here's a pretty map of our expected route, because no one actually seems to know where Romania is!

Oh, and I'm mostly feeling better, health-wise. Still have a bit of a cold/productive cough, but nothing crazy.

One week left!

And I'm sick. In true Lauren style, my pre-departure stress has turned into a horrible cold/asthma combination. I have so much still to do, but instead I'm lying in bed after taking the morning off work, trying to sleep the sick away.

All I have to say is that I better get better. Because I think that Danielle, Carolyn, the couple hundred people on the plane, and the travellers sharing my hostel rooms will not be too impressed with the incessant coughing and sneezing.

2 weeks and counting

No summer in Vancouver this year!

In exactly two weeks, Danielle and I will be hopping on a plane. We'll meet with Carolyn in London and start our travels around Europe in June and July. August will have Carolyn and I road tripping across Canada from Halifax to Vancouver, picking up Adam along the way. Looks like this is going to be one hell of a summer!!!

Our departure date is May 31, and I have tons to do until then. I find I'm doing something travel-related with almost all of my spare time between jobs, whether it's visiting doctors, picking up last minute things, or writing down as much info as possible from the travel books going back to the library. I'll even be at the passport office tomorrow taking care of a last minute replacement passport (these organizational skills don't bode well for the trip).

The current Europe plan is as follows: London, Brussels (Belgium), Munich (Germany), Prague & Czesky Krumlov (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria), Budapest (Hungary), Brasov & Sinaia, (Romania), Sofia & Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Istanbul, Izmir & Selcuk (Turkey), a couple Greek Islands and Athens (Greece), and Naples, Rome, Venice, Codroipo, Milan (Italy). From Milan we plan to fly back to London to catch the planes back to Canada. Who knows how much we'll actually end up sticking to this plan; that's half the adventure!

Carolyn has created a travel blog too: http://euroboundtraveller.blogspot.com/ I'm sure we wont be telling the same stories, so be sure to visit both sites! Between us, we'll try to keep you rivited with stories and pictures of the misadventures!