The Journey Before Us

“Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain

Where would you go if you could go anywhere in the world?

After a series of life decisions (to be explained in a future post), we were faced with this very question.  Our default answer, ‘Hawaii’, just didn’t cut it this time.  Did we want to climb to Machu Picchu, ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway, or see the Sistine Chapel?  At the end of the day, we decided an epic journey through Europe was the way to go.  Last year, we dipped our toes in the water with a 10-day trip through Ireland.  We got just enough of a taste of the culture (and food!) to know that we wanted to see much, much more of Europe.

I’ll write some posts down the line that will explain how we came to our final itinerary decisions, but in general the path we are expecting to travel includes the following countries and experiences:

  • Dipping into geothermal waters in Iceland
  • Exploring England and Scotland, including Edinburgh’s annual festival
  • House-sitting in Paris
  • Staying with friends in the French Alps
  • Exploring the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, including Croatia and more
  • Spending ample time in Tuscany and Cinque Terre in Italy
  • Seeing some of the world’s great cities, including London, Edinburgh, Paris, Prague, Budapest, Rome, Venice, Florence, and Barcelona

The really exciting thing is that, while some of the places we are staying are set in stone, we still have latitude in where we go, what we eat (my favorite topic), and what we experience.  Please leave a comment if you have any fun ideas!

We’re excited to share these experiences and more with you via this blog. T-minus 48 hours until the adventure begins!

 

10 Comments

  1. The trek between cities at Cinque Terre is lovely, if not harrowing in places, through lemon groves and over-looking the coastline. We walked one way and took the train back!
    Todo is a lovely walled city in Umbria, Italy that has a restful convent to stay, breakfast included! Girls in one room, boys in another!!

  2. Awesome! I guess we will be following you to Iceland and England.

    Looking forward to your posts to inform us 🙂

  3. Cinque Terre is a treat! I stayed in Monterosso, and that is where focaccia was invented – soon good!! Each little town in cinque Terre has their own white wine. Definitely plan to the hike through the towns, and snack/sip the wines along the way. That place was one of my faves…

  4. I’m catching up with your posts. I would totally recommend to see more of Spain if you have the chance. I have just made a trip to Europe myself and cannot say enough about Portugal. Its beauty, its kind people, its amazing and unexpensive food, its wine! We visited Porto and Lisbon, but there are many cities in between that look gorgeous. If you book in advance, you may find great flight deals on TAP portugal. Good luck and keep enjoying.

    1. Thanks for the suggestions. Especially as it gets colder in the rest of Europe I think Spain will be really appealing. We are definitely planning on Barcelona. Are there other spots in Spain you recommend in case we don’t end up making it as far as Portugal?

      1. Madrid is beautiful and surprisingly small, so you can cover quite a lot even in a short stay. Plus you can make one day trips from Madrid to Toledo and Segovia, totally worth the visit. If you want to stay closer to Barcelona, I hear Girona, Sitges and Tarrogona are gorgeous as well. Barcelona can be pricey as it is Paris, but other cities in Spain are cheaper and they have plenty of things to do, see and eat! Oh the food 😉

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.