On 2 Legs

We took a break from packing to go have lunch with our Namster. Yes, we were packing the day of. Don't judge. :P The Littlest Critter didn't want to let Peekaloo go! And now we're waiting at the train station. The train is an hour late so it's nap time for us. Well, except for Dennis. He's our security force.

Today is the day!! I woke up at 7am and was completely prepared at 8am. We don't have to leave till about 8pm but I just couldn't help myself, my traveling clothes have been just laying there staring at me for the last week. Now all we have to do is final check on our bags and we're ready! Still have time to kill so we'll probably lounge about for a while, but then we're off! And there AIN'T NO STOPPING US NOW, WE'RE ON THE MOVE! ~ Zoey

Less than 48 hours to go and still not packed. Zoey has been ready to go for days. Peekaloo nearly so. Dennis is also pretty much ready. Then there's me. I've thought about packing, made sure I had what I needed to bring on hand, but it's still not in the backpack. I can easily see myself packing Monday morning, saying "I'm sure I can do without a hairbrush. And didn't people brush their teeth with willow bark in ye olde Englan"  Yeah, at this rate, I'm almost certain I'll still be getting stuff together an hour after we get back from Europe. ~ Irene

We're at the final days before the trip officially begins, so we decided it might be time to look at packing. Irene: "Let's get our bags together." Peekaloo: "All my clothes are dirty." Zoey: "These aren't *that* wrinkled." Dennis: "Can I bring my knife?" To be fair to Dennis, the girls asked the same thing. ~ Irene

Yes. I'm starting to feel it. The avalanche of "what ifs" that comes before a major trip. Right now, it's "what if my bag is too big for carry on." We're flying on WOW Air. No, I hadn't heard of them, either. But they have excellent prices, soooo... There's also the "what if we don't find lodging at xyz" and "what if we lose our meds" and "what if I break my leg before we leave." Obviously, none of those are likely, but... what if? Interestingly, the "what ifs" are what make travel so special. Or more accurately, the "what ifs" that you didn't even consider. When the unexpected happens - and it will -, you find that you can and will rise to the challenge. You may laugh. Or cry. Or both. And then you grow. Those are the moments that make a journey memorable. The " p erfect" trip is the one that did NOT go exactly as planned. The one that you tell stories about. The one that you...

Hey, so I wanted to start the blogging at thirty days before but I missed that opportunity, so now I'm just blogging from 28 days onward. I'm Zoë my family and I are taking this vacation of a lifetime and all of us thought it would be fun to take whoever is into reading blogs along for the journey. We've already bought our backpacks and tickets for flights and eurail passes. We've done pretty much all the major things that needed to get done. Now it's just small stuff like going on hikes to make sure we're fit enough and deciding heavy or light. I've sufficiently bonded with my backpack, which sounds funny but was totally necessary because I have autism, and when the world around me is gonna be changing so much I absolutely needed to be comfortable with my backpack. My backpack is going to be my "safe space" for when I'm abroad. ~ Zoey