Europe here we come!

It is official - we are going to Europe! We finally are debt free (good-bye students loans and car payments!) and are now free to move about the world. I have always dreamed of traveling across Europe and God has now made that possible. I joke with Phil that that was one thing that attracted me to him - he was going to be my ticket outta here! Well, looks like I was right.

We bought the plane tickets thanks to air miles and a little air mile advance from the in-laws. This trip wouldn't be possible without them. We are set to leave August 21 and arrive in Amsterdam on August 22. We will return to the US Sept. 14. We planned the leaving date around Momentum Weekend with our church, Crossbridge. We are such nerdy leader people. We can't miss a leadership retreat!! Plus, do you think I could really pull Phil away from all that social interaction?! Sadly, we will be missing Crossbridge's 5 year birthday bash - but something had to give.

Here is a quick run-down of where we will be on our European World Tour: Amsterdam - Bacharach - Munich - Interlaken, Switzerland - Milan - Venice - Rome - Florence - Pisa (just a quick train stop) - Cinque Terra - Monaco - Nice - Paris - Brussels - Amsterdam. Whew! I know it is a lot and it will be a busy trip. We are learning to pack light and smart thanks to help from our trusty friend Rick Steves and real live friends Katie, Mimi and Eric. We are also borrowing a lot of backpackers gear from them, so the trip is much more manageable.

Here's the tricky part - we are staying in Hostels. Yes, me. The "awake anxiously from my sleep because the neighbor's a/c turned on" girl. I am believing in faith that God can change me through this trip. I want to come back and sleep through anything - the a/c, Phil talking to me in his sleep (it really scares me to wake up to a man's voice right in my left ear!), etc. I don't know how I ended up being such a light sleeper, but it is a tad bit of a curse. But I will persevere!! Plus, that's pretty much how we are able to travel so much - cheap accomodations please!

I am working on a google map of our trip and will post it up as soon as I am done. Phil's pretty proud that I figured out how to make it all by myself. I love to make him proud. I also learned how to post pictures from Erin Wallace (I know - if I would have just rolled the mouse over some icons I could have found it myself), so I'll be doing that just as soon as I can.