My Adventures Began Yesterday

Figuring out the next step is hard. I planned and researched and wrote a general idea of my travel route. I even bought a few supplies for my car! But a nagging voice kept telling me that this wasn't my path. This wasn't going to be my time. Something was off. Maybe it was the timing (Winter is Coming) or maybe the people telling me I'm crazy (thanks mom). Telling me they would prefer I not travel by myself; it's not safe. Take someone with me. Do I even have enough money? What about my apartment? Am I going to leave my roommate to cover the rent? What about my furniture?  All valid questions.  I decided I wasn't going to quit my day job and travel the USA. At least not today. I'm still on a mission to find my peaceful place, a place to bring me joy, contentment, and feelings of home, but the discovery of said place must (hopefully) be accomplished through quick weekend trips. Hop on a plane, take a short drive, maybe jump on a train.  Am I the only one th...

It's happening again, I'm feeling the urge to uproot my life and travel. This time the USA is calling to me. I envision State Parks and National Monuments, friends meeting me in random cities, hundreds of beautiful sunsets, and the time to explore my innermost thoughts, delve into writing full time, and discover America’s historical cities and landmarks. Money is saved but I will most likely supplement my savings with random jobs (did you know that you can work for a week or so on a farm and they’ll provide you with free room and board, while teaching you about organic farming?). Perhaps I will write a few articles to sell to travel magazines/websites. Or maybe my network of family/friends is broad enough that a couch/spare bedroom will be available in each city that I choose to visit. I’m a firm believer in planning and knowing what will happen next. When I planned this trip for a friend and me to take after college, I had the route, stops, and mileage written down a...

It’s been almost a month since I found out they are selling my property and I’m no closer to choosing my next path. Having to figure out what to do for work come January is making my head spin. Heck, figuring out what to do for the rest of my life has always been difficult. Not knowing if a master’s degree is worth the time and money. Wondering if it’d be easier to write a book and build up a clientele? Or if I have enough blarney in me to fake it until I learn it? The questions are endless, yet the answers always remain out of reach. On a positive note, it's football season, so I’ll be happily distracted with Aggie games. Whoop! BTHO ‘bama! We’re driving to College Station in three hours. I’ve heard that CS is already a madhouse with Aggie and ‘bama fans. I’m excited! It’s going to be an epic weekend. Do you ever experience those moments when your chest overfills with expectancy? You don’t know what’s going to happen, but you know something IS? The anticipation and ex...

Took a night train to Bruges, Belgium. Have you been there, know anything about it? Oh, you saw a movie with Collin Farrel? Ahh, yes, that movie is the reason we traveled to Bruges. Meghan fell in love with the movie and FORCED us to go there. She tied us up, put bandanas in our mouths, and refused to let us say any differently. Okay, not really. The entire time we are walking around the town, Meghs is asking herself, 'oh! is this where....happened. I think it is" and "oh! this must be where they ran through the....take a picture of me please!" haha. Good times. We climbed up the Bellfry (that was in the movie, yes), except there were barricades on the windows and plexiglass around the bells. Hmm, i wonder if the window barricades were there BEFORE the movie? Ate our first REAL, delicious dinner. Oh my. The hostel we stayed in had a restaurant, bar AND club (three different areas). AND if you ate in the restaurant, you received a free sampler of beer (wheat, ch...

Took a fast train from Germany to France. Had previously booked a hostel so we just had to find our way to it. Hopped on the metro. But wait, halfway to our stop, the train stops and someone tells us we have to leave because the train can go no further. BUT theres a bus to catch upstairs. Okaaayyy. After walking around for 5 minutes we find the bus stop (essentially directly in front of us), and ride the bus for 20 minutes, get out and just start walking in the general direction we suspect to find our hostel. We turn the corner, and BAM! There she is: The Eiffel Tower, lit up and beautiful. We find a map of the city and make our way to our hostel. There we find a sign that tells us about the Eiffel Tower light show at 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, 10pm, and 11pm. Voila! We know what we are doing for the evening. :) We grab our cameras and head towards the World Famous Tower. Ahhhhh! It's silly, to feel such excitement and joy at a structure the french people do not even enjoy. But I did....

Germany...LOVED germany. We were lucky enough to stay with Meghan's sister's german college friend who spent one year studying in Canada (yay us). Thanks Julia! After taking a train from Switzerland into Germany, we were exhausted. Made it to Julia's apartment and she starts making us spaghetti. BUT not just any spaghetti, oh no. She adds SPICE. and Uses healthy guten free pasta. De-LISH. PB&J can only cut it for so long. But you do start to appreciate the little things. (spice and free toilets!) After using the internet, we crashed. Did a free walking tour of Munich. Learned a lot about the city (such as the fact that before WWII, the people of munich took detailed accounts of all the buildings/structures, so that after the war - they knew they would be bombed - they could rebuild munich as it was). Wonderful. The church that beer built, hitler's history, memorials in the city, the clock tower/plague, etc. Explored Munich on our own afterwards. Home, made som...

Switzland.... Beau. I am moving here. Its official. I alreadz told amber that we are going in 6 months and she said shed buy the ticket for the day after she walks across the stage. The alps, the snow, the lakes, rivers, people. All beautiful. The cars STOPPED before we even decided to cross the road. In Bern - we spent the day walking up a little hill that took us a few hours. Took a ton of photos at the top, with the view of the city on one side and the view of the alps on the other. The next day, we took a train to Luzern, then took a 2.5 hr BOAT across Lake Luzern to BRUNNEN. Ahhh....much better than what we see on the ships. Okay. In a way. Alaska IS beautiful. But my goodness. This was so peaceful and beautiful and i keep using the same words but the peace i felt (and a little bit chilly)....magnificent. Then train to Zurich and on to Munchen. Train activity: mainly playing cards....oh my i am additcted to Extreme crayz 8s. Its a great game. Honest. You should try it...