Fun Trip Funtimes

Ryan and I planned a LOT of our upcoming trip last night...for those who don't know, we're leaving June 30 for 3 1/2 WEEKS in Europe! We definitely didn't expect it to work out this way, but found out that we could combine two of our trips together. One was to visit my friend, Marie, in England where she's studying and the other was a 10-day mission trip in Slovakia where we'll be teaching conversational English in a Christian summer camp. When planning out the trips, we realized there were only three days between each of them and that it would be cheaper to just spend those days in Europe. Who would've thought? So, literally thanking God, we're able to take off that much time and just go off backpacking.

Last night we bought a cheap-o flight from Cork, Ireland, to Edinburgh (only $40 for both of us!); bus tickets to Inverness (to see ol' Nessie, of course); train tickets to Sheffield to see MARIE!; another cheap-o to Budapest; bus tickets to Vienna; and a couple nights in a hostel. We have a few more smaller things to book, but it's a relief to have those costs nailed down. I really can't believe we're doing all this.

It's been six years since I've been to Ireland when I studied in Greystones and I honestly think I'm going to implode from all the nostalgia of seeing the town again. I love that place. There's a train we take from Dublin into Greystones, called the DART, and I used to just ride on it without planning on stopping anywhere, just because I liked moving along the coast. I'd buy Cadbury Eggs at the Bray stop, sit by the window on the train and eat super healthy chocolate eggs up to the last stop, then hop back on a return train. Not the most enlightening past-time, but you definitely meet some fun people that way.

And it was beautiful to see the Greystones harbor when the train would pull out from the hill alongside the trails between Bray and Greystones. In just 11 days, I'll see that harbor again, although from what I understand they've "renovated" it into a shopping center or something, but I'm still excited to see the curve of Greystones' outline by the water.

As we're planning out this trip, I also am so thankful for the backpacking I was able to do after Ireland. Five other people and I got a sweet train pass, and just went to as many countries as we could pack in. Thank you Amy, Becca, Dave, Monty and Steve for those awesome weeks. Even when there were lost passports on trains and hostels that appeared straight out of the actual movie, it was a blast.

I know travel is one of the major ways I've been blessed in my life and I hope I don't always feel guilty for it because I know it can be perceived as something I take for granted. Although, I think my guilt comes from the fact that I do take it for granted sometimes. My mom was baller and took my sister and me on trips ever since I was eight, and it was granted that we would go every single summer to some awesome place or another. I know the future will bring a halt to a lot of the roadtrips and backpacking and whatnot, especially when children and other expenses play a factor, but I'd like to think I'll be prepared for that necessary, worthy change in priorities. Honestly, I didn't think the trips would last as long as they have. I thought that once I was out of college, especially, I wouldn't go as many places, but fortunately found a husband that happened to love traveling, too.

So I'll end where I simply say that, yes, I've taken traveling for granted before, but I thrive on it and love it to a point that hopefully outweighs the times I don't fully appreciate the blessings I have.