Staging Area

So....I'M GOING TO EUROPE. For you, this might not be such a big deal. But for me...wowza. Not so much that I'm traveling somewhere, because I go places all the time. It's the whole I'm going to a totally different continent without parental (or psuedo-parental) supervision for the first time.

Now, most people get over the handholding stages in their teens.

My mom, however, is a little more paranoid than most.

I mean, I grew up literally thinking that a rapist or kidnapper or child slaver was going to burst through my window some night when I was sound asleep and steal me away. I survey the exits to pretty much any room before I enter...because my mom told me that some day I might get trapped in a room and need to know an alternate way out.

So here I am, 23 years old and I've always had some sort of supervisor to report to on a trip. Parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, teachers...the only places I've gone entirely alone are places like Disneyland and Las Vegas (because really, who wants to take their mom to Vegas?That's just a BAD idea).

And I'm over it.

So right after Thanksgiving my friend, Ashley, and I decided we were going to assert our independence in a cultural experience -- three weeks of a European summer adventure.

At first we thought about maybe going on one of those you-don't-need-to-think-about-anything tours. We hop on a bus, hop of where they tell us, take a few pictures, and move on to the next place. I've had friends who have gone on and loved these tours. But then I realized, "What kind of independence is that? That's not a post-college adventure! We should be backpacking and staying in hostels and meeting cool people! Let's do this RIGHT."

Turns out Ashley is not the "hostel" kind of girl.

(It's okay, I'm fine not getting on a first-name basis with any bedbugs, personally)

So rather than follow some guide with a smile superglued to their face through the European "wilderness," we decided to do this on our own.

Now, I'm a planner. I've always been a planner. I like having things sewn up nice and neat know where I"m going and what time I'll get there, and have at least three emergency contact numbers in the area (well, I am my mother's daughter). And it turns out that a trip to Europe makes me even MORE intense.

So that's what this blog is about. It's about research I'll be doing, places I'll be staying, sights I'll be seeing, and the new experience I'll be having. I'll update from the road (once I get out there, I mean, it's still two months away), and I'll make sure to take LOTS pictures!