Europe Trip

In four short weeks, we will be heading to Europe for three weeks before moving back to the east coast. I am so excited! I can't begin to explain my feelings about this trip. It has been a long time coming. I have wanted to do this Europe trip for over a decade and am so excited we are making it happen.

First stop is London, followed by Paris, Barcelona, Salzburg and finally Munich.  We will be spending 3-4 days in each location with the exception of Salzburg where we will spend 2 days. I am in love with The Sound of Music and can not wait to do one of the tours in Salzburg!  I am also looking forward to finally getting to set foot in the motherland (England- my dad was born there and moved to the states when he was a kid), macaroons and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, wine and tapas in Spain and watching Sam drink beer in Munich.

We have booked all transportation (two of the flights with vouchers or reward miles) between cities and have booked a place to stay in London. Need to book lodging in the rest of the cities, but have been busy packing for our upcoming move.

More to come as we continue planning!

Learning a new Language

When visiting another country it is a good idea to learn at least some basics of the language. While looking up what to pack on a European trip (Steph Travels -great tips for packing, planning and traveling in Europe), I stumbled across a link to Radio Lingua which does a One Minute Language series in several popular languages. If you are going to be visiting more than one country on a European trip, this would be a great way to learn the basics of a language before or during your trip. The One Minute Language series teaches you greetings and frequently used phrases to give you the basics of the language needed for visiting another country.  You can download each lesson individually for free or download all ten from the iTunes store for $7.99. You can also purchases courses to learn even more. Definitely check them out if you are interested in learning a few basic greetings and phrases in another language.  

Travel Wish List

There are really so many places I'd love to visit, but here are my big wishes (in no particular order) for the next several decades.

1) Visit all 50 states (31 down: check out http://jumpkicker.onamap.net/ for my "jump kick" pictures.  I have been to a few states that aren't on here (Penn, Georgia, West Va to name a few)
2) Canada (next month!)
3) Thailand
4) Europe: England, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain
5) Australia
6) Africa
7) Central & South America
8) Virgin Islands
9) Galapagos Islands

Where do you want to go?  Where have you been that you loved and think I should go?