I swear I am not one of those "cat people"

Hello, hello!

It is finally here. Yes, we are leaving on a plane in less than 24 hours. Quite exciting considering how long we have been planning!

This morning was a little rush, rush, but all in all we are pretty relaxed.

We took Jude to Brenda and Bryan's place. They were quite excited to see her and take care of the little beast for a month. (I think Bryan wants one for himself!) But, it was a little hard to say goodbye since she was being so cute this morning! (hence, the picture)

We stored our car (which is still for sale) with Heather at the apartment complex where she lives and works, and she brought us back home. We spent the day cleaning and doing laundry. I even had time to take a nap, and we are going to a movie tonight as well. How's that for planning!

I feel like I might be bringing too little with me, but I just keep telling myself "if I 'might' use it, I really do not want to carry it around on my back for a month". Plus, if we absolutely need something, we will just buy it when we are there.

More soon...

The Trip

Backpack…check
Eurail pass…check
Hosteling International membership…check
Airline tickets…check
Will still have a job after a month of absence…???

Darcy and I have been talking about backpacking Europe for several years now, and finally, it is upon us. We leave for Amsterdam two weeks from tomorrow and will not return until May 2. The only thing left to do is decide if we want to be the “ugly Americans” or if we should claim we are from Canada. Minnesota is close enough, right?

Following is our tentative itinerary. We want to remain flexible, so there is no guarantee that we will stick to any part of this plan. Who knows, we may not even make it out of Amsterdam ;)

Tentative Itinerary

1. Amsterdam, Netherlands
2. Haarlem, Netherlands
3. Brussels, Belgium
4. Paris, France
5. Sarlat, France
6. Nice, France
7. Interlaken, Switzerland
8. Venice, Italy
9. Salzburg, Austria
10. Munich, Germany
11. Vienna, Austria
12. Budapest, Hungary
13. Frankfurt, Germany
14. Bacharach, Germany
15. Amsterdam, Netherlands
16. Manchester, England