Euro Trip

As part of Ry's MBA program, he gets to go on an international trip to Paris for 10 days. Being super jealous, I weasled my way into joining him for an extended vacation in Europe following the conclusion of his school trip.

Super excited for this once in a lifetime opportunity, I got straight to making plans. However, in all of my zealousness, I quickly became overwhelmed.

When I go on vacation, I like to plan everything out in detail. (Actually, that's not just how I am with vacations, I'm like that with everything I do.) I like knowing exactly where I'm going, how I'm gonna get there, what we're doing when we arrive, and how much it will cost. And never having been to Europe. there were already tons of things on my to-do list.

Every time I'd sit down at the computer to start planning, my head would explode. There was just too much to organize. Most importantly, I've seen way too many scary movies about travelers getting killed, raped, and abducted abroad, so I was really concerned about planning the safest trip possible. I know hosteling is part of the European backpacking experience, but I prefer to remain unrobbed, unraped, and unkidnapped.

I thought working with a travel agent would help out a bit, but the agent I went to was kinda retarded. He seemed like he had his own agenda and kept pushing things that I didn't really want. So, it was back to the drawing board.

The most frustrating part of trip planning is transportation. Even to and from the airport, we have to take trains, buses, trams...donkeys. It really is a headache trying to coordinate everything. But after weeks of researching, reading, and perusing, I think Ry and I have finally made some concrete plans.

• I fly from SLC to Venice and hop on a bus to the Pizzale RomaTerminal Venezia Passeggeri
• Ry flies from Paris to Milan, takes a bus from the airport to the Milano rail station, takes a train to Venice, then walks from the rail station to the Pizzale Roma
• Together at last, we walk the final way to the Terminal Venezia Passeggeri
• We board the Royal Caribbean's Splendor of the Seas and begin our 11 night cruise through the Greek Isles and Turkey
• We get back to Venice, walk across the canal to Piazzale Roma
  
• Board a bus to the airport
• Fly to Amsterdam
• Take a train to our hotel
• Party it up with the Dutch for 4 days with our IAmsterdam card that gets us free public transportion and admission to over 50 attractions
• Take a train back to the airport
• Fly home to SLC on May 16th
• Run the Ogden marathon on May 21st

THE END

And that was the condensed version!!!

I'm so excited for our trip but still WAY nervous. I know everything won't go according to plan, I just hope Murphy's law won't take affect. I sure as hell don't wanna get locked up abroad. Pray for me!