Welcome!

Mission Statement:

In September 2010, I will be going on a three month extravaganza/vacation across Europe. By my side, I'll have my boyfriend Andy, a sturdy backpack, and a Eurail pass. Thousands of people do it every year, so what makes this blog worth reading? Well, no guarantees, but we are going to be doing things a little bit differently. Mainly, the fact that instead of staying in hotels, hostels, and b+b's, our plan is to couchsurf our way across the continent.

I recommend visiting the link above, but here is a brief description of what I've learned about the organization. Couchsurfing.org, basically, is a network of people who want to travel the world (or maybe just a small corner of the world) by staying on peoples couches in the location of their choice rather than reserving a hotel room. By doing this, you accomplish two things. First, it cuts down on your expenses, a lot. A LOT. Which is awesome in and of itself, but there's more. By staying on couches, you are immediately immersed in that city in a way that is very different from the p.o.v. of a hotel or even a hostel room. Off the bat, you know someone who lives in the city. For a few days you can live the way they live. You can make friends, they can recommend the best authentic French, Welsh, German, (etc.) joint in town. In return, you cook a meal that reflects your own cultural background (or clean up, or buy drinks at a bar, or send a postcard from your next city, etc.)

Of course there is also a drawback. We will be sacrificing privacy, something we haven't had a whole lot in the past few years anyway (living with families and/or large number of roommates). Although we've never done anything like this before*, for what we will be taking from the experience, I'm content that it's a sacrifice we won't regret making (not to say we won't spend a few nights in hotels).

So that's the plan. For the next several months we'll be in the planning/saving stages of this trip. (Admittedly we've been in the planning states for YEARS, and the saving stages for MONTHS.) Starting in September we'll be in the doing/spending stage, which I'm slightly more excited about (!!!!).

Until September, this is sort of going to be my forum for planning, and once we depart hopefully I'll be able to continue to update this so our family and friends can keep track of where we are and what we are up to while we're away.

And now I'm going to leave you with a few images of some must-see and must-do places/activities on our list:

Gondola Ride in Venice

Hiking the Alps

Eating a *REAL* Belgian Waffle




Flamenco Dancing in Spain

And there is so, SO, SOOO much more.....

*Okay, maybe I've done something a LITTLE like this before. When I was 19 I did fly to Florida to meet a stranger that I met on the internet. That said, I'm 25 now, his name is Andy, we're still together, and it was the best decision that I ever made. :)