6 Days And 23 Hours

It's now just over 6 days before we jet off to the UK - our gateway to Europe.  There are a whole bunch of things to get ready before we go - and time seems like it's running short.  There are those last minute things to make sure that you have ready regarding ones clothing.  Were were told by the tour company that we should plan to have a bout 5 days worth of clothes available.  Of course, there is laundry service at many of the places we will be staying - so the trick is to ensure that you get stuff in the Laundry the day that you arrive so that you can get those things cleaned.

I'm of the opinion that one can get extra life out of the clothing by turning it inside out.  Stains are neatly hidden this way - and having tags showing is very trendy right now.  I believe it would even be harder for pick-pockets given that my pockets would be on the inside of my pants.

I've also been doing a bit of research about the history of some of the places we'll be going.  For instance, I learned a thing or two about William the Conqueror (a Normand) who crossed the English channel in the 12th century with the intent of taking over England.  He was successful and was crowned King.  William built the impressive Tower of London as a show of his incredible power.  The structure is amazing and would have struck fear in the residents of the day given it's massive size and proportions.

I was thinking about what I could bring along that would represent the era of William the Conqueror, so I figured I would try this:

(Yes, I own a sword)

Curt

9 Days - Brexit Winfall & Suitcase Items

We are down to 9 days before we leave for Europe.  It seems like it's approaching very fast (as I guess it should given that we booked it nearly 6 months ago.  When you book a trip that far in advance, you kind of loose sight of it.  Well, it's nearly here and we are getting REALLY excited.

With the recent results from the BREXIT vote, the British Pound has dropped in value compared to the Canadian dollar.  This is not so good for those of us who were on the ball and bought our British Pounds already (there is something to be said for procrastination on occasion), however we will benefit slightly with any purchases that we make on plastic while we are there.  See Margaret, you should have voted!

Also, I've dragged up the suitcases and got them set out and ready so that we can start putting things that we will need inside them.  I've already dropped in my transformer, with all of the fancy adapters, so that charging up items while we travel should be good.  I've also added another necessity of travel out of the country...but you'll have to watch the video to see what that is.

Nine days and counting...

Curt

15 Days And Counting

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” 

~ Lao Tzu

We Can Hardly Wait! Six months ago we made the decision to book it.  A trip of a lifetime really.  13 countries in Western Europe over a period of approximately 30 days.  It's hard to describe the excitement that we both are starring to feel.  As of this moment, we leave in 15 days, 21 hours, 41 minutes and 49 seconds (that should give you some idea how anticipated this is for us).





Why are we doing this?  Well, that's an easy one to answer.  This summer we both experience a big birthday.  A really big birthday!  If you add both our ages together you'll need three digits.  That's how big.  Now we're not all down and dreary because we've hit this milestone (or are about to), on the contrary, we're super excited.

What really helped us make up our mind about taking a trip like this was one little event that I experienced in 2012/2013.  I received a phone call telling me that my biopsy results came back positive for cancer.  Prostate cancer to be exact.  At the age of 46 (roughly 20 years before I should have got something like this), I became a cancer patient.  In 2013 I had surgery to remove the offending organ.  Today I remain cancer free, and, Lord willing, I hope it stays that way.  But when something like this happens to you, you are changed.  You realize that you may not have all the time in this world that you think you are going to have.  So, you have to LIVE ever day.  Because tomorrow could be you last.

So, with our impending half century birthdays looming - we decided to go see Europe.  And not for any other reason than we can.  We both have our health (again Lord willing that continues) and we have the time (I'm off contract right now and Laureen is off for the summers due to the nature of her work).  So...we booked it.  And let me tell you - we are so pumped!

Last year in the April/May time frame, I undertook a powerful and somewhat life changing trip.  I went and walked a 300 KM portion of the Camino de Santiago in Spain.  What an amazing journey that was.  It opened my eyes a little to what Europe has to offer; and since I went without my better half, this time we are going to go enjoy more of it together.  My Camino trip was not really the kind of experience that Laureen would have enjoyed.  For one thing, I stayed in a few hostels and other communal type accommodations.  I also walked for 300 KM's, which again is not exactly her cup of tea (however, I would love to go back and walk all 800 KM's sometime in the not too distant future).  If you want to get a sense for what my experience was like - you can check out the blog I kept for that trip here: Curt's Camino .

So now we are going together and we're going to see a whole bunch of Europe.  We have also planned a pre-trip experience where we will visit Wales, Stonehenge and manage to meet up with a couple that I met on the Camino (Andrew and Sarah) who live in West England.  We are also planning to check out the city of Bath - which contain (as one might expect) a large Roman bath area from the time of the Roman occupation of the Area.  

Our post-trip experience was going to be a trip to Scotland somewhere - but the pricing in the area around this time of year is very high.  If we were to go there - a close friend of ours lives in a place called Walls End, and we were going to surprise her by driving to he actual house and taking some video in front of her place showing that her garbage cans were actually put away.  I can only imagine what she'll be thinking when she reads this.

Since that did not work out, we booked a flight to Dublin, Ireland and will spend a few days there checking out the sights.  One thing on the list is to head to the famous birthplace of Guinness beer, where if all things work out, I'll have my first Guinness.  How many people can say that they had their first one at the actual factory in Ireland?

Once again, we are very excited about being able to go, and are looking forward to seeing some of the things we've only read/heard about throughout our lives.  We hope to share as much of that as we an with those of you who follow along with this blog.  Maybe it will inspire you to take a trip of your own somewhere where you have always wanted to go because you are not guaranteed tomorrow - so live every day as if it will be your last.

 Welcome aboard the Curtis & Laureen, Euro 2016!