Let the countdown begin...

It may be cheesy and cliche, but I am going to start a blog (obviously if you're reading this). It's intended purpose is for my upcoming travel plans. Hopefully, this will be a good diary of sorts. Plus, to confirm this idea, my Dad just walked by asking what I was working on and he thinks it's a good idea too. So, why not? Yet, I didn't want to start it off with our touchdown in Athens. There has been a lot of planning, daydreaming, and anxiety leading up to this trip so far so, I feel like there should be an "introduction" of somewhat. So, here it goes...:

I leave for my European-Dream-Spoil-Myself-Silly-Trip with Elise in T minus 2 days. My plane ticket is sitting in my email inbox waiting to be printed; my Eurail pass arrived in the mail last week ready to be riddled with dates & destinations; and my backpack was pulled out of the garage to be mended and stuffed to the brim with clothes, travel books, and camera memory cards. July 20th feels so close I can almost taste the salty Mediterranean air and yet the reality that I am actually traveling for more than a month still hasn't completely wrapped itself around my brain.

I've been on long vacations before without knowing hardly anyone- no problem!- I don't mind living out of a suitcase with wrinkled clothes or sharing a cabin with people I just met or going (many) days without a hot shower. These are not new experiences for me (Thank you, wonderful childhood memories of summer camp & Baja, Mexico). However, I've never done any travel like this before! Bouncing from country to country seems so foreign to me (literally) and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. However, the excitement greatly out weighs the nerves and all I can think about right now is how many wonderful things I am going to be able to cross off of my Bucket List this summer! Swim in the Mediterranean Sea: check; Toast with limoncello in a piazza: check; Walk the corridors of the Colosseum like a gladiator: check; Earn a kink in my neck from gazing at Michelangelo's masterpiece in the Sistine Chapel: check; Dance till four in the morning on a Barcelonian dance floor: check. I can hardly wait!

So, this will be my travel blog. Hopefully, every few days while I'm abroad, I will be able to keep updates of our trip via an internet cafe. Now, Mom and Dad, you can be rest assured that I am A-okay and living out my dream safely. I will try to post pictures as often as I can too.

If anyone other than my parents actually reads this, it would be awesome to see comments of what you all are up to also. Tell me everything!