Final Countdown

Today it is officially ten days until I leave for my adventures in Europe! Since about last week I have been thinking constantly of things I need to do, what I need to pack, and where I should go with my dad for our trip.

When my dad made the official travel plans, all he decided was that we are flying out on the 24th and going to Munich first. From there, it is up to me. While this freedom is very generous and an amazing opportunity, I don’t think my dad realized how far Munich is from Seville, not to mention that there is an endless number of things that I would love to do between those two cities.

So, in the last few weeks I have been reading travel books cover-to-cover, researching travelers’ tips online, looking at rail routes, and trying to figure out how we would get from Munich to Seville and what we would do on the way. I am now overloaded with travel information and Rick Steves’ tips, but I think we finally have a plan!

Originally I thought that from Munich we would go to Austria, but that is in the opposite direction of our ultimate destination–Seville. In order to make progress west, we are now heading from Munich to the Berner Oberland region in Switzerland, near Interlaken.

I am so excited for our plans around Interlaken! A friend took a hiking tour of this area last year and loved it, so we are going to copy her itinerary and hike from village to village while observing Switzerland’s amazing scenery and natural wonders. We will spend between 3-4 days hiking in that region before heading to our next destination: Collioure, France.

Collioure is a seaside village about 15 miles from the Spanish border. Although it’s sights are less than abundant, this city is the perfect distance to break up the trip to Seville, and I think it will be nice to relax on the coast after hiking and before the train ride to our final stop.

After 2 or 3 nights we will finally make the last leg of the journey to Seville and my Dad and I will spend time there together before he leaves for Madrid to fly home and before I have orientation for my program.

I am so relieved to have our plans set in stone (for the most part)! Now I just have to wait for the 24th to get here..and pack.

The Date is Set

I am not in Spain yet, but I went ahead and made the blog that I will use to share my experiences with all of my loved ones back home! I plan on posting pictures and notes throughout my time in Seville, but I won’t be surprised if I get carried away with things while I’m there and disappear sometimes. I know I should be optimistic and say that I won’t do that, but I thought I should go ahead and give a disclaimer just in case.

The picture under the blog title is not mine because I haven’t been to Spain yet! It is a picture of the plaza de espana which was built in 1928 for the upcoming World Fair in Spain, and now is mainly home to government buildings. I picked this picture because, from what I’ve searched, it seems to be a very renowned symbol of Seville and it is really pretty. However, I do plan on switching it out for one of my own photos once I get there!

Now, to the main point of this post, my dad has finally given me an official date for when we are leaving: August 24th. We are flying into Munich, Germany first and spending about 5 days there? The date of leaving is pretty much the only thing we have set. My dad told me he picked a date and brought me tons of travel books to look at, so a lot is to be determined. So far our rough plan is to spend time in Munich and travel through Germany with a short trip to Austria. After that we would go down to the south of France and spend time on the Mediterranean coast; but, like I said, nothing is set in stone yet!

On the other hand, having a date set does enable me to begin a countdown, and, as of today, it is 2 weeks and 1 month until I leave (45 days)!