'Round the World

Most excellent!

When I was in undergrad, I did quite a lot of traveling. I did an intensive one month (or was it two?) ethnographic research program in the Basque Country the summer after my sophomore year (interestingly enough, ETA has just announced a permanent cease-fire - wow!). Senior year, I studied at Trinity College in Carmarthen, Wales during the fall. That was the best semester of my life. We got to travel all over Wales, obviously, spent a week going across Ireland, and there were always frequent trips to London. I even went to Scotland for a little bit. After graduation, I spent the summer of 99 doing a work exchange program through CIEE in Dublin, Ireland. Yes, that was the life. If I could have tossed my US citizenship and become an Irish national, I damn well would have.

But then it all stopped. I came back and I got bogged down. The passport got dusty.

I didn't travel for practically 7 years. I didn't go international until December 2005. I finally got back to one of my favoritest places: England! I visited with Lippy (the best hostess, ever) and got round to as many places as possible. I was determined for it not to take another six years for me to get back.

Damn straight! My friend Anne (who went to London for the first time two weeks before I went in December) and I made plans to go back this year. Since coming back in January, I stopped spending all my money at Starbucks and saved it with the goal of using it for a trip. Can you believe I saved $300 already!? Gee, let me think: cup a coffee OR trip to Europe? TRIP TO EUROPE!

Anne and I investigated flight prices and came up with an itinerary. Today, we bought our tickets to go! I am SOO excited. We were hoping to go on Aer Lingus, but the prices went up, so we settled with American. It was about $668, multi-city - not too shabby given it's still high-season, and not to mention I had nearly half of it just from the Starbucks money I'd saved. We're flying in to Dublin and doing a tour there for a few days since Anne's never been to Ireland. Then we're hoping to fly to Edinburgh, do a Scottish tour (my choice), and then fly down to London and spend the rest of our time there and in the surrounding area, and fly back to Chicago from there. August 30-September 12. I'm totally missing a bunch of classes, but I don't give a fuck. Hopefully, I will get to catch up with Lippy either in London or in her area for a daytrip.

I can't wait. I'm sure the time will fly, though - especially since I need to save up money for it! Anne and I are going to try and buy portions of the trip (like our tours) as we have the money, so that most of our trip will be paid upfront before we leave.

Still waiting for my passport to show up. I had to get it renewed. I sent it in nearly a month ago. My check's been cleared for payment at least TWO WEEKS. Send it back, government fuckwads!