eurotrip 2011

Well, I think we've come to a decision on our end of the season trip!  We have such a long list of places that we want to see in Europe... and only so much time (and money!) to do it.  So, we narrowed it down to two separate trips that we want to take by the time our contract is up in 2013. 

Trip A:  A Mediterranean cruise around Spain, Italy, Greece and that general area.  There are lots of other places that the cruises stop, including Portugal, southern France, Monaco, Croatia, Turkey, etc.  so we'll see when it comes time to book it which one we pick.  It also depends on how long we go for. 

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Trip B:  Travel throughout Western/Central Europe, including (at least some combination of) the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland & Austria.  We will probably fly from Finland to one of these places, take a train around (J found this fabulous site that seems to have great train multi-day/country train passes), and then fly back to Finland when we're done.  We're hoping to make it to all of those countries in one trip, but as we plan out the logisitics, we'll see if that's realistic or not.  We want to see as much as we can, but don't want to feel rushed in and out of cities either! 

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and the winner this year is......

TRIP B!

We figure that this is the best option for us at this time, for a lot of reasons.  We've started to research into places to go  and things to see.  I think our biggest challenge will be making the actual travel plans- what hotels to stay in, getting from place to place/when, etc.  We want to have things farily planned out, but at the same time don't want to have too tight of a schedule.  If we're really enjoying one place, we don't want to have to only spend one day there.  Or if we hate another, we'll move on to the next.  We want to take full advantage of our ability to be young and spontaneous while we can! :)

So many of you passed on some great tips of things to do and places to see when I first posted about the trip, and they have come in very handy so far and they will all be put to good use!!  THANK YOU!!

If anyone has any more tips to share, particularly pertaining to any of the countries on our trip (Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria) feel free to keep 'em coming!  I am a person who much prefers personal references and experiences over something that I read on a Google search :) 

Of course, there are many other places still on our list.  I think these will be our "big trips" that we can only do at the end of the season, but hopefully we can squeeze some other little shorter trips in here and there.  It's such a wonderful opportunity to be over here... we want to take full advantage of it! :)

On a different note... only 3 more hockey games left in the regular season!  Can't believe how fast it has flown.  Of course I am getting super excited for not only our trip... but to GO HOME!!  I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to do such simple things like drive a car, eat a good meal out, wander aimlessly down the aisles of Target, and SEE FAMILY and FRIENDS!  Ahh, the simple joys in life :)  However, first the team's gotta take care of business here, and hopefully that means a good playoff run!
 

HAPPY FRIDAY!