"Hello to all my friends! I'm glad you came to play. The fun and learning never ends and here's what we did today..." - Barney.
Please don't ask why I quoted Barney. I don't know either. In the last 48 hours, I have gotten approximately 8 hours of sleep. Partly because I'm hoping that I will be so tired when I climb on the plane that I will just pass out for most of it and wake up and be in Ireland. I even bought (per recommendation of my Facebook friends) some Advil PM stuff to help knock me out. I don't know if I will actually need it but every little bit helps. My current lack of sleep mostly relates to all the stuff I had to get done in the last two days.
I have been on a lot of trips in my lifetime but none quite so daunting as jumping the pond (I've wanted to say that for the last week!). I had to call the bank and let them know, I had to call the credit card company, I had to have the post office hold the mail, I have to put a hold on my Netflix account. Oh and I made a side trip to Gary, IN to drop my dads car off in case he decides to come home while we're gone.
Today my to do list is fairly short, confirm we have all the hostel reservations, make sure we all have passports, mow the lawn, run to the bank (1 last time) and finish packing. Kristin and I bought really cheap queen size flat sheets and turned them into mini sleeping bags in case the hostel beds are gross or they charge for linens. Those just came out of the dryer. (Side note: I REALLY need a sewing machine). We hand sewed those and it took FOREVER! I think I spent like 3 hours last night just finishing up my sheet thing.
Our flight leaves at 6:45 p.m. so we'll probably leave for the airport around 1ish. I know that gives a ton of time but my leg always sets off the metal detector. The TSA people are usually super nice to me, probably because I don't complain and I usually smile and chat with them. They're probably told during training to be intimidating but I guess I don't give the threatening vibe. Now that I say all this, today I will get some super grumpy lady who is mean to me. Oddly enough, I get more nervous about going through security than the actual flying apart.
I'm not normally a nervous traveler but I have been SUPER nervous for the last 48 hours. Almost to the point that it made me sick and it's a very odd feeling for me. I did expect to be nervous but not frightened out of my mind. Most of it is the 7 hour flight I have to be on later tonight. Oh and the fact that when I get off in Ireland (OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!) it will be 8:25 a.m. It's also supposed to be like 60 degrees and rainy. I wonder if it will seem as gloomy there. Then there's also the language barrier! But! I know how to say... I'm sorry. My Italian is really bad. Do you speak English? And I know how to count to 10! And I can say Champs-Elysee! I'm very proud of the phrases I've learned in like 3 days. And now I really need to go mow the lawn.
I promise I will try and blog while I'm across the pond but I can't guarantee anything. My internet access will be sort of limited and I may just be having so much fun that I just forget. But I will do my best to keep you updated and that we are still all alive. Plus I know everyone is saying that wish to live vicariously... so I will start letting you be vicarious as soon as I can!
Now I'm going to use my manliest voice and shout Peace!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
I've got a big dilemma about my big leg Emma... oh yea...
In case you didn't know or can't see or just don't care, I am an amputee. Now please... don't feel bad or sad or hurt or whatever because I'm perfectly fine. I'm a perfectly healthy 22-year-old who has a slight mobility malfunction. Or I could give the medical version which is Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency (or PFFD if you're lazy).
I want give you a short education on this malfunction of mine. PFFD is a rare (apparently I'm rare... OOOoooOOO) birth defect that affects the leg (hence... Femoral). If you need a short anatomy lesson... the average adult has 3 major leg bones, the femor, fibula and tibia. The femor is the long bone in your thigh and the other two are in your calf. PFFD always affects the femor... normally shortened femors or some people have no femor at all. It's also very common to have deformed hips with PFFD since the major leg bone connecting to the hip bone is messed up.
Now like every medical condition, PFFD affects each person differently. In my case, I have a shortened femor and by my estimates it's only about 4 inches from my hip to my knee on my right leg. Compare that to my left leg where my femor is like 18 inches. That's a huge difference! In fact, my ENTIRE right leg is shorter than my left femor bone. I also have no knee cap on my right leg, which I found out recently is fairly normal.
In terms of hip deformities, I probably do have one just because of my shortened leg but I'm not sure how noticeable it would be. I don't check out my butt very often so someone else will have to tell me. I do, however, have a dimple on my hip that I believe is a result of having a short femur bone.
Now this may surprise some of you... but I was actually born with a right foot! My right foot is the only thing I'm actually missing. If you look at really early baby photos of me, you see TWO feet. I usually think they're my sisters because I'm like "I don't have a right foot." See even I forget that I once had a right foot but in my defense, they removed it when I was 10 months. So I have no recollection of ever having a foot.
I also, another surprising fact, have no fibula. The two calf bones I mentioned earlier... I have one! And you all have two! I guess that just makes me so much cooler! I might apologize if that sounded racist but since race is about skin color but I guess I could say it's handicapist (according to Alison's dictionary handicapist means discrimination against those without handicaps!). So I apologize for being handicapist. Kind of.
I'm allowed to make jokes about my own malfunctions, it's part of the contract. Before I left heaven, God asked if I wouldn't mind being different and I said "Sure God, anything for you!" He handed me this contract to sign and all it said was simply, "By signing on the line, you are officially allowed to make fun of your difference." So I signed and I'm allowed to make fun. If you got a problem with it, then go talk to God.
Now as I continue to make fun of my technical difficulties, you should know I am extraordinarily lucky. A lot of people with PFFD (though our numbers be small) are born with other complications, primarily organs. Organs are deformed or, in extreme cases, missing. God luckily granted me all of my organs and all are in working order.
Now treatment is also different for each person. Some people go through this painful process of bone lengthening. They have surgery to have screws put in while their growing to lengthen the bone so it matches the other leg. OUCH! No thank you... just hand me a bone saw and I will do the amputation myself. Now in my case, bone lengthening wouldn't have worked. There was too much difference in the lengths of my femurs. And my right foot was extremely deformed and held no real use to me. So my parents made the painful decision to amputate.
Now I must pause and give a shout out to my parents. It cannot be easy for any parent to be stuck with the decision of allowing a doctor to remove a body part. All they could do was hope they made the right decision and I would understand when I grew up. Welp, mom and dad... I think you made the right choice. So from the bottom of my heart... thank you. Thank you for allowing me to lead a very normal life and I hope I didn't cause you too many problems.
You might wonder why I'm not a God-hater and I'm sure there are people in my position who are. I do occasionally wake up and wish I had two legs but the way I see it, God has to exist. I couldn't have made it this far in my life, with very little trouble, without there being a God. Look at what could have happened, I could be missing a kidney or need a liver transplant. God knew I needed to be born with PFFD and he knew that I would be able to handle it with finesse. I had to be an inspiration to someone. He created me so I could help someone else out there similar to me. To show people that adversity is truly what you make of it.
By all means, I should hate God. I should loathe God. If there's anyone out of the people I know who wanted God to not exist, it would be me. I wouldn't wish being an amputee on anybody. There are days when it sucks and I would give anything to have two real usable human legs. I get tired faster than others and yea... it's annoying as heck to walk around with an extra 10 pounds attached to your body. But thinking about what could be and what is in my life... God exists. I had excellent doctors who watched my growth carefully and I had a prosthetist who cared more about how the leg fit me than the bottom line. I had two wonderful parents who didn't make me the family poster child or treat me differently because I was missing a foot. I had friends who didn't even question the fact I was different. I found a boyfriend (who apparently didn't even know about my leg until after we were dating) who could care less.
So don't give me some bull crap about how I'm God's punishment to an evil world. If you truly think that my leg is some sort of punishment.... then you really need to start seeing a therapist. And I'm starting a rant and I apologize. And whatever you do... whatever you think... don't you DARE feel sorry for me. If there's one thing I HATE... It's "Alison, I'm so sorry." Sorry about what? What in my life are you apologizing about? I mean, seriously people... I don't WANT your pity. There's nothing to pity. Heck... my life could be richer than yours. Maybe I need to feel sorry for you! I've built houses, I've gone hiking in the mountains... in the dark!, I go roller blading, ride roller coasters, go swimming, do cannonballs off a FREAKIN' diving board! I'VE EVEN GONE SKIING!!!!! So no feeling sorry for me. No sorrow. Whatsoever.
And another reason why you can never feel sorry for me. I can have kids. That's right. I can repopulate the world with little Alison's and they will not have PFFD because it's not hereditary. So I'm not worried about potential little Alison's. So here's my offer to you.... if you have a question about my mobility malfunction, ask me. Any question at all. Post it, text it, e-mail it... I will answer them all on my blog. Every single one of them. And if you have no questions, I won't be offended I promise. But everyone I know has that one single question about my leg they are afraid to ask. Don't be afraid to ask. Any question at all! Let your curiosity get the best of you!!!!!!!!!!!
I want give you a short education on this malfunction of mine. PFFD is a rare (apparently I'm rare... OOOoooOOO) birth defect that affects the leg (hence... Femoral). If you need a short anatomy lesson... the average adult has 3 major leg bones, the femor, fibula and tibia. The femor is the long bone in your thigh and the other two are in your calf. PFFD always affects the femor... normally shortened femors or some people have no femor at all. It's also very common to have deformed hips with PFFD since the major leg bone connecting to the hip bone is messed up.
Now like every medical condition, PFFD affects each person differently. In my case, I have a shortened femor and by my estimates it's only about 4 inches from my hip to my knee on my right leg. Compare that to my left leg where my femor is like 18 inches. That's a huge difference! In fact, my ENTIRE right leg is shorter than my left femor bone. I also have no knee cap on my right leg, which I found out recently is fairly normal.
In terms of hip deformities, I probably do have one just because of my shortened leg but I'm not sure how noticeable it would be. I don't check out my butt very often so someone else will have to tell me. I do, however, have a dimple on my hip that I believe is a result of having a short femur bone.
Now this may surprise some of you... but I was actually born with a right foot! My right foot is the only thing I'm actually missing. If you look at really early baby photos of me, you see TWO feet. I usually think they're my sisters because I'm like "I don't have a right foot." See even I forget that I once had a right foot but in my defense, they removed it when I was 10 months. So I have no recollection of ever having a foot.
I also, another surprising fact, have no fibula. The two calf bones I mentioned earlier... I have one! And you all have two! I guess that just makes me so much cooler! I might apologize if that sounded racist but since race is about skin color but I guess I could say it's handicapist (according to Alison's dictionary handicapist means discrimination against those without handicaps!). So I apologize for being handicapist. Kind of.
I'm allowed to make jokes about my own malfunctions, it's part of the contract. Before I left heaven, God asked if I wouldn't mind being different and I said "Sure God, anything for you!" He handed me this contract to sign and all it said was simply, "By signing on the line, you are officially allowed to make fun of your difference." So I signed and I'm allowed to make fun. If you got a problem with it, then go talk to God.
Now as I continue to make fun of my technical difficulties, you should know I am extraordinarily lucky. A lot of people with PFFD (though our numbers be small) are born with other complications, primarily organs. Organs are deformed or, in extreme cases, missing. God luckily granted me all of my organs and all are in working order.
Now treatment is also different for each person. Some people go through this painful process of bone lengthening. They have surgery to have screws put in while their growing to lengthen the bone so it matches the other leg. OUCH! No thank you... just hand me a bone saw and I will do the amputation myself. Now in my case, bone lengthening wouldn't have worked. There was too much difference in the lengths of my femurs. And my right foot was extremely deformed and held no real use to me. So my parents made the painful decision to amputate.
Now I must pause and give a shout out to my parents. It cannot be easy for any parent to be stuck with the decision of allowing a doctor to remove a body part. All they could do was hope they made the right decision and I would understand when I grew up. Welp, mom and dad... I think you made the right choice. So from the bottom of my heart... thank you. Thank you for allowing me to lead a very normal life and I hope I didn't cause you too many problems.
You might wonder why I'm not a God-hater and I'm sure there are people in my position who are. I do occasionally wake up and wish I had two legs but the way I see it, God has to exist. I couldn't have made it this far in my life, with very little trouble, without there being a God. Look at what could have happened, I could be missing a kidney or need a liver transplant. God knew I needed to be born with PFFD and he knew that I would be able to handle it with finesse. I had to be an inspiration to someone. He created me so I could help someone else out there similar to me. To show people that adversity is truly what you make of it.
By all means, I should hate God. I should loathe God. If there's anyone out of the people I know who wanted God to not exist, it would be me. I wouldn't wish being an amputee on anybody. There are days when it sucks and I would give anything to have two real usable human legs. I get tired faster than others and yea... it's annoying as heck to walk around with an extra 10 pounds attached to your body. But thinking about what could be and what is in my life... God exists. I had excellent doctors who watched my growth carefully and I had a prosthetist who cared more about how the leg fit me than the bottom line. I had two wonderful parents who didn't make me the family poster child or treat me differently because I was missing a foot. I had friends who didn't even question the fact I was different. I found a boyfriend (who apparently didn't even know about my leg until after we were dating) who could care less.
So don't give me some bull crap about how I'm God's punishment to an evil world. If you truly think that my leg is some sort of punishment.... then you really need to start seeing a therapist. And I'm starting a rant and I apologize. And whatever you do... whatever you think... don't you DARE feel sorry for me. If there's one thing I HATE... It's "Alison, I'm so sorry." Sorry about what? What in my life are you apologizing about? I mean, seriously people... I don't WANT your pity. There's nothing to pity. Heck... my life could be richer than yours. Maybe I need to feel sorry for you! I've built houses, I've gone hiking in the mountains... in the dark!, I go roller blading, ride roller coasters, go swimming, do cannonballs off a FREAKIN' diving board! I'VE EVEN GONE SKIING!!!!! So no feeling sorry for me. No sorrow. Whatsoever.
And another reason why you can never feel sorry for me. I can have kids. That's right. I can repopulate the world with little Alison's and they will not have PFFD because it's not hereditary. So I'm not worried about potential little Alison's. So here's my offer to you.... if you have a question about my mobility malfunction, ask me. Any question at all. Post it, text it, e-mail it... I will answer them all on my blog. Every single one of them. And if you have no questions, I won't be offended I promise. But everyone I know has that one single question about my leg they are afraid to ask. Don't be afraid to ask. Any question at all! Let your curiosity get the best of you!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
It's my party and I'll never cry because I really don't want to.
T-minus 6 days to takeoff, my friends. Over the last two days my older sister and I have been making hostel reservations like it's 1999. I have officially booked all of our hostels in the UK and Ireland. I believe Tracie still has two more cities to book.
The hostel reservation process has been relatively painless. My younger sister got in on the action reserving our hostel in Dublin on the way back. The only complaint I have is that London has way too many options and I felt like most of them were overpriced. However, I do realize that London is INCREDIBLY expensive and therefore most of the hostels are, in fact, overpriced. I did London last because I hate making decisions when there are so many options.
If you really think about it, I'm responsible for our happiness in London. Our entire 3 night stay in London could become a disaster with the wrong hostel. It's a lot of pressure... let me tell ya. Location was incredibly important. Originally the hostel I was looking at was $20 a night but so far out of the city, we'd be paying like $10 a day for tube fare. That didn't make any sort of sense at all. So I looked around the train station where we will arrive from Paris. I found a decently priced hostel at $30 a night but it had abysmal ratings (especially with security) and that made me super nervous.
I was so close to booking it but I had that gut feeling that there had to be something better. So I kept looking. I pulled up the map on Hostelworld.com and looked at the hostels by location. I really wanted something kind of close to all the awesome London stuff... the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament. How cool would it be to wake up every morning walk half a block and see downtown London laid out before me.
I'm all about walking. I absolutely hate trains and buses with a passion of a thousand burning suns. This of course makes no sense since our main mode of transportation through Europe are TRAINS! Imagine my delight when I was able to convince my sisters that we should rent a car to drive around England. If I could have walked the entire trip in Europe, I probably would have. Now understand my hatred of public transportation doesn't prevent me from taking it. My refusal to drive in downtown Chicago is much greater than my hatred of public transportation. But I digress... I apologize...
Anyways, there were hostels close to Hyde Park that didn't look so bad but I didn't want to spend more than $35 a night, which I have decided is a feat especially in downtown London. The hostels in Hyde Park (which is still relatively close to the touristy areas but we'd still have to take the darn train ride) were like $40+ but that was too much.
As I was looking over this map, I felt like it was hopeless. I was either going to have to book the hostel with the bad security or pay more than 40+ a night. But then I'm looking on the map and I see this dot about a block south of Westminster Abbey. I clicked on it and the price was right. So I read the reviews and they were generally very good. It's average rating was 76% and the rating for location was 85%. I almost cried. I have spent 5 days looking at all these freaking hostels in London. At this point, I was almost certain London and I were not going to get along. I was going arrive there and start throwing things at the first Londoner I saw out of sheer frustration.
So my friends, I believe I have found the perfect hostel in London. We will see how this holds up when we arrive but it was $30 a night, had good security, AND superb location. Holla! I believe I win the prize for best hostel picker ever.
The hostel booking for Stonehenge was pretty easy. We're staying at the YMCA in Bath. I know! I was as surprised as you are that the Y still rents out rooms. It was a little above my price range at $35 but I figured we're only there one night and we get ALL sorts of free stuff. I figured with the amenities it was worth it.
After Stonehenge, we're off to Lyme Park (used in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice) and maybe a side trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon. I'm not a huge Shakespeare fan but if it's close... why not? Anyway, our base for central England is Manchester. And I swear... every hostel claims they're 5 minutes away from the Manchester United stadium. In Manchester, the location wasn't too important since we'll have a vehicle. But parking was. All the hostels were about the same price ($27) so it was pretty easy. I picked the one with the highest rating that had parking.
Our booking in Caernarfon, Wales was simple. They had 1 hostel. It got really good ratings. One guy even said he changed his whole vacation so he could spend more time at this place.
The Dublin hostel was pretty simple. I almost died when I found a hostel in the middle of Dublin for $22. Now I know this sounds confusing but we're actually spending 3 nights in Dublin. The 29th of June and then the 19-21 of July. So I booked the $22 hostel for the 2 nights we're there in July and went back today to book for June 29th. The hostel for June 29... $15 a person!
I know this is probably boring and no one wants to read about my hostel booking adventures but I was entertained by it all. Have a great Wednesday my friends!
The hostel reservation process has been relatively painless. My younger sister got in on the action reserving our hostel in Dublin on the way back. The only complaint I have is that London has way too many options and I felt like most of them were overpriced. However, I do realize that London is INCREDIBLY expensive and therefore most of the hostels are, in fact, overpriced. I did London last because I hate making decisions when there are so many options.
If you really think about it, I'm responsible for our happiness in London. Our entire 3 night stay in London could become a disaster with the wrong hostel. It's a lot of pressure... let me tell ya. Location was incredibly important. Originally the hostel I was looking at was $20 a night but so far out of the city, we'd be paying like $10 a day for tube fare. That didn't make any sort of sense at all. So I looked around the train station where we will arrive from Paris. I found a decently priced hostel at $30 a night but it had abysmal ratings (especially with security) and that made me super nervous.
I was so close to booking it but I had that gut feeling that there had to be something better. So I kept looking. I pulled up the map on Hostelworld.com and looked at the hostels by location. I really wanted something kind of close to all the awesome London stuff... the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament. How cool would it be to wake up every morning walk half a block and see downtown London laid out before me.
I'm all about walking. I absolutely hate trains and buses with a passion of a thousand burning suns. This of course makes no sense since our main mode of transportation through Europe are TRAINS! Imagine my delight when I was able to convince my sisters that we should rent a car to drive around England. If I could have walked the entire trip in Europe, I probably would have. Now understand my hatred of public transportation doesn't prevent me from taking it. My refusal to drive in downtown Chicago is much greater than my hatred of public transportation. But I digress... I apologize...
Anyways, there were hostels close to Hyde Park that didn't look so bad but I didn't want to spend more than $35 a night, which I have decided is a feat especially in downtown London. The hostels in Hyde Park (which is still relatively close to the touristy areas but we'd still have to take the darn train ride) were like $40+ but that was too much.
As I was looking over this map, I felt like it was hopeless. I was either going to have to book the hostel with the bad security or pay more than 40+ a night. But then I'm looking on the map and I see this dot about a block south of Westminster Abbey. I clicked on it and the price was right. So I read the reviews and they were generally very good. It's average rating was 76% and the rating for location was 85%. I almost cried. I have spent 5 days looking at all these freaking hostels in London. At this point, I was almost certain London and I were not going to get along. I was going arrive there and start throwing things at the first Londoner I saw out of sheer frustration.
So my friends, I believe I have found the perfect hostel in London. We will see how this holds up when we arrive but it was $30 a night, had good security, AND superb location. Holla! I believe I win the prize for best hostel picker ever.
The hostel booking for Stonehenge was pretty easy. We're staying at the YMCA in Bath. I know! I was as surprised as you are that the Y still rents out rooms. It was a little above my price range at $35 but I figured we're only there one night and we get ALL sorts of free stuff. I figured with the amenities it was worth it.
After Stonehenge, we're off to Lyme Park (used in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice) and maybe a side trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon. I'm not a huge Shakespeare fan but if it's close... why not? Anyway, our base for central England is Manchester. And I swear... every hostel claims they're 5 minutes away from the Manchester United stadium. In Manchester, the location wasn't too important since we'll have a vehicle. But parking was. All the hostels were about the same price ($27) so it was pretty easy. I picked the one with the highest rating that had parking.
Our booking in Caernarfon, Wales was simple. They had 1 hostel. It got really good ratings. One guy even said he changed his whole vacation so he could spend more time at this place.
The Dublin hostel was pretty simple. I almost died when I found a hostel in the middle of Dublin for $22. Now I know this sounds confusing but we're actually spending 3 nights in Dublin. The 29th of June and then the 19-21 of July. So I booked the $22 hostel for the 2 nights we're there in July and went back today to book for June 29th. The hostel for June 29... $15 a person!
I know this is probably boring and no one wants to read about my hostel booking adventures but I was entertained by it all. Have a great Wednesday my friends!
Monday, June 20, 2011
If April showers bring May flowers, and the Mayflower brought pilgrims... then June got screwed.
All right. I'm going to post this blog. I keep writing blogs and then not posting them because something that seems more important gets in the way. First it was moving my friend to South Dakota. Then it was my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary, then a funeral, my boyfriend, and then first and foremost, EUROPE! So this blog is dedicated to all of our plans so you can all read and be jealous.
We leave in 8 days and will be gone for 23 days! Augghhh! Our flight leaves from O'Hare Airport on June 28th at 3:45. We arrive in Dublin, Ireland on June 29th at 8 am! Talk about major jetlag. By the time we get there it will be time for bed. I'm deciding on how I should handle this situation and let me tell you... it's not easy. I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and be up for like 30 hours. I've thought about adjusting my sleep schedule etc... etc... each idea seems less appealing. What makes this even worse is the following day (June 30th), we have to up and moving to catch another plane to Milan that leaves early evening. Looking back, probably should have flown out on July 1st but we were just too excited. It's also highly possible that I'm going to be so excited that sleep will be the last thing on my mind. I'm going to Ireland... the home of my ancestors and leprechauns and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow!
Like I mentioned, we arrive early morning bum around Ireland most of the day and then leave the next day for Italy (which is actually in a different timezone... go figure). We arrive in Milan at like 8 p.m. and we'll probably just head straight for the hostel. We have 2 days in Milan before leaving for Venice on July 2. We will spend the splendid 4th of July in Venice and then off to Florence and Pisa. We spend like an afternoon in Pisa because we decided all we really wanted to see was the Leaning Tower. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure Pisa is a wonderful city but after intense reading of travel books we decided we just wanted to see the Leaning Tower.
After the fastest trip ever through 3 Italian cities, we head to France! We arrive at like midnight because the only train to Nice from Pisa leaves at 7 p.m. We are in Nice from July 7-9 and then we leave for Paris (which is the place I think I maybe most excited about). Mostly because I know how to say Champs-Elysee in French and sadly it's all I know! I'm that stupid American who knows no French whatsoever but in my defense, I don't know any Italian either. So French people and Italians alike shall hate me forever!
We're taking a day trip to the Loirre Valley and visting chateaux which I'm sure will be fabulous. This happens on the 11th. We're back in Paris until the 13th and we hop on the Chunnel to London! My planning for this trip handles London and beyond. My older sister did Italy and France and I got England, which is better since my older sister is the walking translator. She took 6 years of French and like 2 years of Italian so she can understand all the foreign stuff better.
We are doing everything free in London with the exception of possibly the Windsor Castle. Our plans for England were really sporadic and we decided it would be easier and cheaper to rent a car. I think we're getting a tiny Kia clown car. And yes, we are fully aware that gas is SUPER expensive in the UK. And they drive on the opposite side of the road and the steering wheel is on the other side. We have a car for a total of 2 days. Besides, it was the most direct way to get from London to our ferry in Holyhead (which is technically in Wales). We leave from London on the 16th for Stonehenge. Stonehenge for us will be just a day trip. It's about 2 hours outside of London and I thought it would be fun to go to.
After that we are headed north to visit the Pride and Prejudice country. We will be visiting the manor as Pemberley in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice. Holla. Then maybe some other trips to float our boats and then off to Caernarfon (try to pronounce that... Ka-nare-i-von) in Wales to return the car and than an hour to Holyhead where we jump on a ferry back to Dublin! Woot! We spend 2 days in Dublin and back to the U.S. That is our trip in a nutshell... we have all of our transportation down. We are tying up the loose ends with the hostels. We hope to have everything finalized by Thursday.
Feel free to live vicariously through this. I will post more later this week with more updates and I will do my best to post while I am overseas!
We leave in 8 days and will be gone for 23 days! Augghhh! Our flight leaves from O'Hare Airport on June 28th at 3:45. We arrive in Dublin, Ireland on June 29th at 8 am! Talk about major jetlag. By the time we get there it will be time for bed. I'm deciding on how I should handle this situation and let me tell you... it's not easy. I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and be up for like 30 hours. I've thought about adjusting my sleep schedule etc... etc... each idea seems less appealing. What makes this even worse is the following day (June 30th), we have to up and moving to catch another plane to Milan that leaves early evening. Looking back, probably should have flown out on July 1st but we were just too excited. It's also highly possible that I'm going to be so excited that sleep will be the last thing on my mind. I'm going to Ireland... the home of my ancestors and leprechauns and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow!
Like I mentioned, we arrive early morning bum around Ireland most of the day and then leave the next day for Italy (which is actually in a different timezone... go figure). We arrive in Milan at like 8 p.m. and we'll probably just head straight for the hostel. We have 2 days in Milan before leaving for Venice on July 2. We will spend the splendid 4th of July in Venice and then off to Florence and Pisa. We spend like an afternoon in Pisa because we decided all we really wanted to see was the Leaning Tower. Don't get me wrong. I'm sure Pisa is a wonderful city but after intense reading of travel books we decided we just wanted to see the Leaning Tower.
After the fastest trip ever through 3 Italian cities, we head to France! We arrive at like midnight because the only train to Nice from Pisa leaves at 7 p.m. We are in Nice from July 7-9 and then we leave for Paris (which is the place I think I maybe most excited about). Mostly because I know how to say Champs-Elysee in French and sadly it's all I know! I'm that stupid American who knows no French whatsoever but in my defense, I don't know any Italian either. So French people and Italians alike shall hate me forever!
We're taking a day trip to the Loirre Valley and visting chateaux which I'm sure will be fabulous. This happens on the 11th. We're back in Paris until the 13th and we hop on the Chunnel to London! My planning for this trip handles London and beyond. My older sister did Italy and France and I got England, which is better since my older sister is the walking translator. She took 6 years of French and like 2 years of Italian so she can understand all the foreign stuff better.
We are doing everything free in London with the exception of possibly the Windsor Castle. Our plans for England were really sporadic and we decided it would be easier and cheaper to rent a car. I think we're getting a tiny Kia clown car. And yes, we are fully aware that gas is SUPER expensive in the UK. And they drive on the opposite side of the road and the steering wheel is on the other side. We have a car for a total of 2 days. Besides, it was the most direct way to get from London to our ferry in Holyhead (which is technically in Wales). We leave from London on the 16th for Stonehenge. Stonehenge for us will be just a day trip. It's about 2 hours outside of London and I thought it would be fun to go to.
After that we are headed north to visit the Pride and Prejudice country. We will be visiting the manor as Pemberley in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice. Holla. Then maybe some other trips to float our boats and then off to Caernarfon (try to pronounce that... Ka-nare-i-von) in Wales to return the car and than an hour to Holyhead where we jump on a ferry back to Dublin! Woot! We spend 2 days in Dublin and back to the U.S. That is our trip in a nutshell... we have all of our transportation down. We are tying up the loose ends with the hostels. We hope to have everything finalized by Thursday.
Feel free to live vicariously through this. I will post more later this week with more updates and I will do my best to post while I am overseas!
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