After planning, changing, and more planning, we have finally settled on a final outline for the trip!  Unfortunately, we had to cut Geneva and Croatia off the end of the trip, and will not have time to visit Drayton Manor, but overall, the trip looks pretty amazing!

 

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As the trip gets closer (just over 18 days left until we leave!), I have been spending hours a day researching, planning, and booking things for our trip.  (Clearly, not worthy of any sympathy, but it has taken A LOT of work to figure everything out!)  I am working through the trip in the order we plan to travel, so we are not stuck with transportation or lodging that doesn't line up.  We've found lots of things to do and see along the way, and plan to do a lot of exploring!

For those of you that know me well, you know that I am an organizing freak.  Planning this trip has been no exception.  I've created a binder, divided into sections for each city we will visit, and have been filing away information so that we are as informed and prepared as possible!  (Although, I still have the feeling we will resemble chickens with our heads cut off once our feet hit the ground!)  I also tried to make a basic itinerary, just so we can tackle each place in sections (which means more walking between places instead of trying to figure out and pay for public transportation).  The itinerary for March (Dublin, Belfast, Manchester, London, and Brussels) is finally done, and I'm excited to start tackling April.

There is so much to consider when planning each part of the trip: for lodging, we have to think about price, location, access to public transit, and reviews.  Transportation has also been very difficult to figure out - but the great thing about Europe is that their public transit system is much better than that in the US - it just means there are a lot of confusing train schedules, bus route maps, and connections to figure out along the way!  We originally considered buying Eurail passes - which allow for unlimited travel throughout most of Europe on a selected number of days within a designated time span - but after doing the math for every single route we were planning to take, and because the Eurail passes don't work in parts of the UK, we decided to forgo the passes and book each route separately.  By doing this, we will be saving over $1,000, but we will have to be on time for all of our trains, ferries, and buses because we now have specific times we have to catch a ride.

Overall, I think we are making good progress, and I am getting really excited to leave.  We just booked a high-rise apartment in the heart of Brussels with skyline views, and we are looking forward to enjoying some of their famous chocolate...  (My Brussels bucket list includes: 1. eat a lot of chocolate, and 2. eat more chocolate!) For now, I will continue my planning and booking until it's time for perhaps the biggest challenge to come: packing!

Love,

Laura

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The next stops on our list to plan are Manchester and London!  We will be leaving Dublin on March 18 (probably still recovering from Saint Patrick's Day) and taking a ferry over to Holyhead in Wales.  From Holyhead, we plan to catch a train to Machester, where we will be stopping for a few nights.  In Manchester, we rented out a studio apartment that looks like the perfect spot to call home while we are there.  It will also be nice to have our own kitchen and laundry for a few days!

We haven't planned too many activities for Manchester.  We figure it will be a good city just to explore by foot.

From Manchester, we will then hop a high-speed train straight into London.  We were also able to score an awesome apartment in the London area for our stay there... It's right on the Thames River, and close to everything.  Check it out!

We will be in London for about a week, so we have been making another 'bucket list' of things we want to see and do! 



1. see or ride on a double-decker bus
2. eat fish and chips
3. visit Saint Paul's Cathedral
4. go on a Pub Crawl
5. see the Marble Arch
6. tour Kensington Palace and Gardens
7. day trip to Amesbury to see Stonehenge
8. ride the London Eye (during the day and at night!)
9. see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus, and Buckingham Palace
10. try to run through the wall at Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station (okay... maybe we'll just get a picture!)


We will also be in London for Bryan's 25th birthday, so we decided to splurge a little to celebrate, and made reservations at the highly recommended (and supposed celebrity hot spot) J. Sheeky. After dinner, we are going to see Wicked at the Appollo Victoria Theater.  It should be a great day and the perfect way to spend our last day in London!

There's lots more planning to do, so we'll post again soon!

Love,

Laura and Bryan

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Over the past few days, we have gotten a lot done!  Our flights are booked, we have places to stay in three cities, and we already have quite the list of things we want to do!

We officially fly out on Tuesday, March 12th from Detroit, and will land in Dulbin early on the 13th.  We will be staying in Dublin until the 18th, and we are excited to be in Ireland for Saint Patrick's Day!  Finding a place to stay in the city during Saint Patrick's Day weekend for a reasonable price was impossible, so we opted to stay at a nicer place just outside the city.  The hotel has a bus that goes into town every 15 minutes, so we should have no problem getting back and fourth, and it should be a nice place to relax after walking around Dublin all day!

While in Dulbin, we plan to take a day trip up to Belfast to see the Giant's Causeway.  All of the pictures I have seen look amazing, and I am really looking forward to seeing it in person.

We made a short 'bucket list' of things to do while we are there, so hopefully we'll be able to fit it all in!

 

As the planning continues, we have realized we will have to cut Croatia off the end of our trip.  We were pretty disappointed, but it makes the most sense with our time, budget, and transportation restraints.  Everything else is looking pretty great!

We will keep you all updated with our plans! Only 22 days left to plan!

Love,

Laura and Bryan

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We decided to set up this blog as a way to keep family and friends updated about our trip through Europe. As most of you know, we were waiting on some decisions to see where our lives would take us, but ultimately things didn't work out as planned, so we decided to ditch our jobs, and head across the ocean to travel across Europe (a trip Laura has been planning since she was twelve years old!)

We hope we are able to spend at least eight weeks all over Europe, and hopefully we'll be able to update this blog regularly so we can keep everyone updated on our trip!

Currently, our estimated date of departure is Tuesday, March 12, 2013.  We are still working out the details of the itinerary, but right now, it's looking pretty great:

Currently, our timetable and budget will most likely shave off a destination or two, but we will be hitting most of the big cities along the way.  Laura will be sure to post a lot of pictures at each stop!

THANK YOU to everyone that has instilled in us the wanderlust that will guide the next few months of our lives... you have given us the best gift of all: the world.  We hope you will all follow us as we travel, to hear all about the sites, food, and experiences.  We are so excited to share this with you!

Love,

Laura and Bryan

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