Amsterdam Day 2

We woke up on our second day in Amsterdam with a fiery determination to find a bike rental
shop. Without too much trouble, we did find the one we were looking for and promptly
signed up for both the city tour of Amsterdam and the Country tour the following day of
the countryside surrounding the city. The city tour was at 4 in the afternoon, so after we got our rental bikes, we decided to do a little biking and walking around the town. Whitney found a clothing store that she'd apparently been waiting for all her life, and I actually found a couple nice light t-shirts while we were there, which was great because we've been doing nothing but sweating for the duration of our trip.

After lunch (two delicious sandwiches from a "lunchroom," which are found across the city) we strolled around a bit more and found some free WiFi at McDonalds before meeting back at Mike's Bikes for our tour.

We got a very brief history lesson of Amsterdam before even setting out on our bikes and
it was very interesting stuff. Amsterdam started as a place where religious folks would go
on pilgrimages (that's right, Amsterdam was a religious destination). The remarkable part
about Amsterdam is that it changed its identity and international role each time it needed to
in order to survive. It went from religious destination to the standard feudal system to
the leader in world trade (Dutch was at one time the universal language of business) to international superpower to a small and far less powerful country amidst Europe's superpowers, and finally, to the social/civil rights trailblazer it is today.

A couple interesting facts we learned from the tour: Amsterdam proper is made up of 90
different islands; prostitution has been legal since 1830 when it was regulated by
Napoleon; Vondelpark, which was the inspiration for Central Park in New Amsterdam (now
known as New York), is home to more than 360 tree species, more than any other park in
the world, and literally anything but sleeping is allowed in the park; there are over
120 nationalities represented in Amsterdam alone, during World War II, Amsterdam was occupied by the Nazis for the duration of the war and lost more than 25 percent of its population (Amsterdam had long been a popular Jewish destination due to its tolerance--or, rather, lack of intolerance); the city was eventually liberated by...you guessed it, the Canadians...

Since then, Amsterdam has been the center of the hippy movement in Europe, and was one of the
few countries in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.

After the tour, which was led by a somewhat uninterested New-Zealander guide, Whitney and I
were too hot, sweaty, and tired to do much more than get some cheap dinner at a lunchroom
(think Dutch Diner, but without the refills or booths) and lie in our beds. That was when
Whitney and I uncovered a most alarming conspiracy.

It is well-known that Americans don't have a great international reputation, we are
materialistic, often monolingual, uninformed about international events, and we had
George Bush as the face of our country for 8 years. But when Whitney and I turned on the
National Geographic Channel, the first program was about FBI, local police, and governmental
corruption in dealing with the Boston Mafia; not a great portrayal of the U.S. but not unique
to us either. We stayed tuned after the program ended and were treated to a compelling edition
of "American Hate" where they did a one-hour program about the New Black Panther movement and Black hate in America, as well as mentioning some quick facts about all the other hate
groups in our country. After that ended, they replayed the mafia program and after that they
replayed "American Hate." We didn't watch the encore presentations, but we suddenly realized
that American hate (that is, hate of Americans) isn't helped by stories of how hateful and
corrupt we are. Now, I am only half-serious, but it is a little alarming to see hour after
hour of repeating episodes about how evil America is.

Anyway, today we go on our tour of the Netherlands countryside and will hopefully get around
to going to the red light district. There should be plenty to tell you all after that happens.
Hope you're doing well, we miss you all, and thanks for reading.

Our first night in beautiful Sin City

I sure am going to miss speaking French. But Collin and I have completed our trip in Paris and have moved on to the next pond. And pond is actually the perfect word to describe our new destination: Amsterdam--which has more canals than Venice! I had no idea what to expect of Amsterdam. I imagined being dropped into the redlight district (which I thought would be dark, seedy,and dangerous) feeling frightened and out of my element.
I can't tell you yet if it is dirty, scary, and dark because Collin and I haven't ventured there yet. But I can tell you that Amsterdam as a whole is a whimsical and beautiful sight to behold.
As we approached, the city limits just looked like farm country (beautiful pastures that I was under the impression would soon turn in to dark caves of sin that lined the city streets). But once we entered the city, I was amazed. It is just beautiful. The canals were bordered by a row of boats on each side--old boats, quaint boats, slow boats that only seemed to move one at a time in the most picturesque fashion down the center of the canals.
Another, perhaps more surprising thing about Amsterdam is that it is like Eugene when it comes to bikes--tenfold.
There are a million bikes in this city. A million!
There are more people cycling than walking down the streets. Huge bike racks consume at least half of some blocks, and bikers have the right of way.
After walking about a mile and a half to our hotel from the Busabout drop-off point, Collin and I quickly dropped our bags in our room and set out to find ourselves some bikes.
Collin is a genious about getting around almost every city, and even he couldn't save us from wandering around what we thought were the right streets for about 45 minutes before we forfeit our search for some wheels and found our way to a busy square for dinner.
The streets in Amsterdam follow the canals, and the canals surround the city center in a series of rings, so you can imagine the navigational difficulty of circular streets that all have names like Stadhouderskade and Nieuwesijds Voorburgwal.
After not-so-good food, we asked for a bus map of Amsterdam so that we could find our way across the city. In Paris and London, we just rode public transportation to get a good look at the greatest number of sights in the least amount of time, so we thought we would do the same for Amsterdam.
But this city seems to be a little too preoccupied to create a cohesive plan for public transportation, so we ended up just walking back.
Along the way we saw all of the run-of-the-mill Amsterdam shops: adult shops, "coffee shops," high-end fashion shops, bike repair shops, and various others that were unrecognizable because they had already closed by 7 p.m.
This city has been pretty affordable so far. Cheap dinner and cheap accommodations. We are hoping to go on as many bike tours as we can over the course of our trip, starting tomorrow here in the city and the next day out into the country. We decided that it is best to shell out a little cash so that we have an idea of what we are photographing, so keep your eye out for some gorgeous photos in our next blog!

Le Finale de Paris

Bonsoir tout le monde!

I am writing from our hotel room in the 18eme quartier de Paris, which, according to a lady we met on the street, is not the nicest part of town. That is okay though, we fit right in--what with having our laundry hanging to dry from our balcony and so on.

There has been so much to write about Paris that I have lost track of what I have already told you in detail.

The most memorable and beautiful parts of Paris has been the Jardin du Luxembourg. When I was in a French class at PCC, we watched these little films in which a couple met every day at the Jardin du Luxembourg. I remember thinking how beautiful it was, so when I saw it on the map I insisted that we go.

The moment we stepped in, we were overjoyed. Everywhere there were French people on their three-hour lunch break, sitting in the shade or tanning in the sun. Everything was green, and a children's band was playing music from the Lion King on a stage, and the music filled the enormous park. Tourists slowly meandered among the trees with their trigger fingers poised above their camera button, which would be taking a photograph if the tourists weren't slack-jawed at the beautiful scenery.

We approached a clearing in the trees to find a magnificent cement-rimmed pond filled with fish who were the luckiest living things in the excruciatingly hot garden. Just like in the videos I watched in French class, children were pushing toy sailboats into the middle of the pond. When we turned to our right, we found the most beautiful Palais du Luxembourg. It was huge and overlooked the pond and the expansive garden.

After walking around in the heat for so long, Collin and I sat in the shade and watched some men play tennis on the courts in the garden. We were very reluctant to leave, but we still had to see Notre Dame.

After an eye-full of le Jardin du Luxembourg, Notre Dame was a little underwhelming. It was huge, and beautiful, but the gray walls couldn't hold a candle to the beautiful colors in the garden. We snapped a few photos and went on our way.

I wanted to blog right when we came back from that day trip because I was so excited about the garden, but Collin reminded me that the day was not over.

After a an afternoon break, which was fabulous because we were so hot after walking around in the blistering heat all midday, we decided to go to Pont Neuf. I had read about this bridge in one of the travel guides, and it is supposed to be one of the most romantic places in the city after dark.

Well it doesn't get dark here until around 10:30 or 11, so when we arrived at 8:45, we had some time to kill. After leisurely walking down the Seine and still having daylight to spare, it was the perfect opportunity to sit at one of the sidewalk cafes, face the street, sip un cafe au lait, and watch Paris bustle by until it was dark enough to enjoy the Seine and the Pont Neuf.

When it was finally time to go to the bridge, we got up and moved toward our destination. It was breath-taking. The colors in the sky were gorgeous purples and the view was of the Seine with the Eiffel Tower in the background. It was romantic, but for the most part, the bridge was lined with families and girl friends passing the time before hitting the bars. Collin and I didn't miss an opportunity to kiss in one of the most romantic places in Paris, however!

After we moved on, we saw a woman dressed as a sheep who was dancing in one of the alcoves on the bridge. "She must do that because she really loves it," Collin said. I am sure she doesn't make much in that line of work, but we sure appreciated it.

When we were done with our romantic endeavor, we decided to head back, but our bus had stopped running, so we thought it would be just a quick walk. It wasn't. We must have walked for an hour and a half, and although our feet were hurting, we were walking down the streets of Paris on a Friday night. We got to look at every thing we passed, watch the people do their Friday-night thing, stop to get a Coca-Light (Diet Coke) and hone our map-reading skills.

After all of this walking in a Paris that is hotter than we ever imagined it would be, we took probably 5 cold showers apiece over the last few days. It's just disgusting and the first thing you want to do is find some cool relief.

It's inevitable. Paris is just romantic. The buildings are beautiful, the food is to die for, the pace is slow, the women are gorgeous, the men even prettier, and the perfect end to a sweltering day is a cool shower and sleeping in fresh sheets.

I don't think we could have had a more Parisian experience.

Paris Encore

Bonjour! Those close to me know that France, and in particular Paris, was not the stop I looked forward to the most on our trip. They aren't too fond of Americans, and in the U.S. we use them as the butt of a lot of jokes (much like the Canadians). And as much as I do love every drop of press regarding the failure of the French team in the world cup (quick note: the failure was so huge and disgusting to the french people, that politicians are calling it a state scandal, including Sarkozy who made a statement about it before meeting with the coach. They take their soccer seriously), I do enjoy some things about French culture.
They have a much better pace about their city than Londoners, where if you got out of the tube and didn't walk-sprint, you got trampled. Here people have 3 hour dinners, walk their dogs while talking to friends, and just seem to have a more relaxed vibe in general. Of course, the food is amazing. The pastries are buttery and delicious, the fruit is fresh and wonderful, and the cheese is world famous. Which leads me to my next vignette.
I took Whitney out to celebrate her 5 year birthday of sobriety and we decided to do it around the Eiffel Tower so we could see it after dinner. We decided to order the package deal that you see sometimes in the U.S. where you get a choice of appeteizer, entree and dessert for a fixed price. Big mistake. We ordered a cheese plate as well, because we hadn't gotten a good sampling of French cheeses. The plate contained about a pound of cheese and some of the strongest bleu I have ever tasted, needless to say, we didn't finish it. Our appeteizers were a salad for Whitney with even more bleu, and foie gras for me, because I wanted to try it once in my life and where better than Paris. It was buttery and good, but nothing exotic. We both ordered steaks "entrecote" for our main course, and again, neither of us finished. We finally corralled the waiter and told him to forget about dessert because unless we waited 3 hours, it just wasn't happening.
Afterwards, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower just in time to see it flashing with what looked like strobe lights or flash bulbs in a sort of "Disco Paris" theme. The sun was just setting and after the lights stopped, we had a beautiful view of a long parkway leading up to the foot of the tower which was backlit by the setting sun, truly an amazing experience. We met some chatty Kathy from Wisconsin on the bus ride home and went to bed.

The next day (yesterday) we decided to go do some sightseeing. We went to the Bastille which was beautiful but simple. Around the monument though, was a street fair that stretched for probably a half mile with everything from pants to shampoo to skinned rabbits to souvenirs to fish heads. The fair was a true parisian experience with many locals stopping by simply to buy lunch. We went to the Louvre after that to look around and it was beautiful. No picture or movie can accurately represent the true enormity of the entire museum. With the ridiculously hot sun beating down on us and Whitney feeling under the weather, we went back to the hotel with a baguette, salami and brie to have a true French lunch and take a nap. A nap from which Whitney never awoke. She slept for 19 hours straight and we are now ready to hit the streets of Paris once again.
Sorry for the long post, but there has been a lot to relay to those of you back home.
Thanks for reading and we love you all.

American Tourists in Paris

Nous sommes finalement a Paris! hier soir nous avons restee a Sarcelles, et ce n'etait pas une experience Parisienne!
*We are finally in Paris! Last night, we stayed in Sarcelles, and it wasn't a Parisian experience!
When we got off of the RER, an above ground train in and around Paris, in Sarcelles, all we could see was trash on the ground, tall buildings with clothes hanging out of the windows, and only a few men on the street. When I was unable to get through the gate, one of these men prompted me to jump it, and I couldn't see any other way, so I did.
That is when it dawned on me--either no one who lives in Sarcelles can afford to pay the RER fee every day, or the machine was broken and the authorities didn't care enough about Sarcelles to come out to fix it.
Either way, Collin and I found ourselves in what looked like projects with the setting sun putting pressure on us to get us inside quickly. We were carrying tons of electronics, dragging all of our belongings, and meandering slowly while we tried to find a street sign--of which there were none.
When we finally saw a face we thought might be able to give us directions, we asked. After following the bad directions, we asked another. And another. And another. All the while trying to keep our backs away from the Dumpster-diving gypsies just feet away from the two of us with our big, cumbersome map and our otherwise vulnerable apearance.
After about an hour, we did find the hotel, and the first thing I did was cancel the remaining nights that I had already booked. Although the hotel was fine, we didn't come all the way to Paris to stay in a suburb like that--and I was willing to forfeit a few euros to get into the city ASAP.
Once we got inside, we washed our aching, blistered feet in some cold water in our relatively large bathroom. We grabbed some McDo (mac-doh is how the French say and pronounce McDonalds), and holed up un our room for the remainder of our stay.
Fortunately, we had internet access! So we were able to find the last hotel available in Paris for the next three nights for about as cheaply as we could given our late notice.

The best part of the hotel where we stayed in Sarcelles was the fact that we didn't have to check out until noon! We got up leisurely, went down to the lobby and had an expensive, but fabulous breakfast, packed our things, and figured out how we were going to take public transportatoin into and around Paris.
All the while, we interacted with Momar, the man behind the counter at the hotel. He let me speak French to him and was able to help me in English when I couldn't find the words. He even spoke Spanish to Collin while I was on the phone asking for my money back after mistakenly buying internet access when the hotel had it for free.
We left the hostel with a better idea of where we were headed and bid Monmar adieu. Once we got to the RER, we were in the heart of a run-down and dirty marketplace. But after a night's rest and plenty of hours of daylight ahead of me, I felt emboldened. I went into a store and quickly and assuredly asked where we could buy tickets for the RER.
The man didn't even give me an English sympathy answer--just straight French, which I understood perfectly!
We made our way over to les escaliers (stairs) in the direction he pointed us, and found our way around the station and up to the ticket booth.
We had some serious questions.
How the hell do we get out of Sarcelles?
Could we buy a week pass around Paris?
Would the pass work on every mode of transportation?
Will we be able to use the transportation once we get such a pass?
All of this, in French.
But I did it (we did it, but I did all the talking).
When the man tried to talk to me in English, I kept talking to him in French. I understood his French almost perfectly, and he got me all the answers I needed and wanted.
After holding up the line for a good, long 5 minutes, Collin and I got what we needed and headed into the city more confidently than we had headed anywhere in days.
We realized that we had been going nonstop for almost a week. Rushing around Dublin to see what we could before the Shamrocker Tour; quickly sprinting from place to place, hostel to hostel, bathroom to bathroom on the tour bus; touring London in a 30-hour sprint to the monuments we wanted to see; getting to the Chunnel on time to get to Paris--All of it has left us exhausted.
Now that we are in Paris, we have a few days to slow down and do this thing comfortably. We grabbed a map and started planning the things we want to see, but we aren't out the door yet. Collin wants to see the US play in the World Cup, and I want to peel the shoes off my feet and wiggle my toes.
So that is what we are doing. We have finally arrived in a beautiful part of Paris. It is near Saint Abroise, and our hotel overlooks a small park. Our room has an iron balcony that we can stand on to breath in the warm summer air, and there are plenty of little shops and restaurants for us to explore until we are ready to venture into the city.
For lunch, we had the best pizza we've ever had in a small Italian restaurant across the street from the block we're staying on. The windows were open, so we were able to hear, see, and smell Paris passing as we ate.
Tonight, Collin is taking me out for a nice dinner to celebrate my 5th year of sobriety, which was on the 20th, but this is the first time and place we've been able to plan a nice meal.
We feel good again. After days of tight traveling and inopportune stops, we are in Paris--the City of Lights and Love!

(And the US just won their World Cup match against Algeria--qualifying for the next round, so Collin is roaring with glee!)

Blisters in the Sun

For our time in London, all we really did was run around and see as many famous sights as we could on foot. We saw Russel Square (where our Hostel was), the rarely mentioned but very imrpessive British Museum, my favorite sight in london: Trafalgar Square, St. James Park and its resident pitbull and pelicans, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, Waterloo, and the Tower of London. In the 24 hours we had to spend in London, I feel that we did about as well as could be expected.

Well, we are now in Paris and after walking around with our suitcases for an hour, and with 5 blisters total (Collin 4, Whitney 1) we are just glad to be at our hotel. We went to the two biggest cities in Europe back to back (London, Paris) and experienced the negative sides of such big cities. In London, it was being charged for every little thing from storing our bags at the hostel in which we stayed, to using the toilet. In Paris it was visiting (extensively) the not so nice parts that every big city has.

We walked on dirt roads, saw gypsies digging through trash cans, and when we asked a girl how to get to the street we were looking for she told us "you'll see a fire, then take a right," (quick note: the word for street light is fire, which was temporarily lost in translation) and neither one of us batted an eye at the thought that a random bonfire/housefire could be used as a landmark in this part of the city.

Through all this, we came to the hotel which is the nicest place we stayed so far, and the only one with a TV in it (just in time to see France lose in the world cup!!). I went to McDonalds because we were blistered, sweating and it was 20 feet away, and for anyone who has seen Pulp Fiction, they do indeed call it a "Royal with Cheese" and not a quarter pounder, due to the metric system. We hope to see the nicer side of Paris tomorrow when we venture into city center.

We knew it wouldn't be all guided tours and shining monuments, so in a sense it feels more authentic now that we've strained ourselves a bit, but we hope it is pretty much uphill from here.

Thanks for reading and tomorrow we should have a better view of Paris and a few interesting stories to keep you tuned in.

London Day One

We woke up on the Eurolines bus this morning to find ourselves bussing into the station in London, England! At first, I, Whitney was underwhelmed. There were crappy little shops that lined the dirty streets, and I was unimpressed.

But we had a great time getting off of the bus; hitting a Starbucks with our friend Samantha, whom we met on the Shamrocker Tour and who was coincidentally on our same voyage from Dublin to London; and getting on the "Tube" to head to our hostel near Russell Square.

Little did we know that we were about to embark on one of the worst hosteling experiences of our lives. Nowhere on their Web site did it say that we couldn't check in until 11, but that was understandable, so we sat in the waiting room for an hour so that we could put our stuff in our room. And once the hour passed, the girl behind the counter decided that was the perfect time to tell us that we needed to go to an ATM to get cash for our £20 security deposit on top of the cost of the room. Frustratedly, we went to the ATM down the street and came back to pay our way.

Once we waited from the end of the line that we were in front of before we had to go get cash, we got to the counter and stared at a man who was at the desk until we asked him to help us. He nodded.

Then when we handed him our card to pay for the room, he told us that there is a 5% charge for using a card. I went American Girl on his ass and asked him to waive that fee because we were not given this information and we just returned from the ATM. He shook his head.

So as not to make a scene, we paid it. Later, we found out that there is no way to lock your belongings without paying more--probably in cash--with a deposit----UGH! It was also soaking wet with chlorine-water mopping residue and completely confusing to find our room.

This, needless to say, is the WORST experience we have had so far, and we have stayed in about 4 hostels now. Nothing we have seen so far has been so horrible.


HOWEVER!

We decided not to pay a huge sum of money to take one of the double-decker tours, but instead, we took a map of the monuements and decided to give ourselves a walking tour!

It was pretty confusing, and we definitely got lost a couple of times, but in the end, we saw EVERYTHING we wanted to see in the little time we wanted to spend in such a costly destination.

We still have until tomorrow at 3:15, when we take the Chunnel to Paris, to see what is left to see in London.

We had a great walk, ate at a cute little place with terrible burgers (no one does it like we do), and bought a bite for dinner when we got lost in Waterloo.

We have been budgeting really well and are happy with how resourceful we have been. Already this has been a phenomenal experience, and we can't wait to see what's next!

Thanks for reading! We'll update you soon!

Collin and Whitney

The End of Our Irish Tour

After three days on the road and four days in Ireland, we are now on to our second country! We are currently on the most splendid ferry between Dublin and London. It has every recreational room imaginable with glass walls and doors, huge screens, internet access, gorgeous carpeting, shops, restaurants, cafes, and private suites.

Our last day on the Shamrocker Tour was pretty relaxed. We started the day on the Cliffs of Moher, which was in the running for one of the seven wonders of the world. We also stopped off in the Burren National Park where limestone is scattered across fields that lead to a perfect, royal blue ocean. Finally, we ended in Galway, which is a college town with a great buzzy feel.

When we got off the bus to have lunch, Collin and I quickly found the cheapest option because we finally decided to part with some of our money for the sake of souveniers from what may very well be one of our favorite destinations.

But we also had another mission: getting to London.

We left the states without really knowing what or how we were going to do about getting from Dublin to London, and we thought that it wouldn't be that difficult. We were wrong. The flights got more expensive the longer we waited, and we didn't even want to pay the cheap fare that was available months in advance.

Now we had only a few hours to find our way to London.

We had checked the coaches, but the ones we found were all full. So when we got to Galway we made it our business to find a coach because we knew the price would be on our budget and that we would arrive in London with enough time to see the city before we catch the chunnel.

Success! The bus station was able to sell us a ticket from Dublin to London lickety-split! And then we went to an internet cafe to book our hostel in London and plan our tube trip!

We'll let you know how it goes!

Second Day of the Shamrocker Tour

Hello There from Ennis, Ireland!

We have finally gotten to our hostel, voted the best in the country, in Ennis, Ireland.

We got up early in Killarney, where we spent the night last night watching a one-man show about an Irish bartender who had to close down his bar--needless to say, it was just as much tragedy as it was comedy.

After that, all thirty of us on the tour got free admission to the best night club in Killarney at the Grand Hotel and danced as a group to almost all American music!

That day, we had gone to two castles, including the Blarney Castle, where kissing the Blarney Stone will give you the "gift of the gab" or the ability to speak eloquently about any topic whatsoever.

We also went into an enormous cave tour led by an Irish girl, and she showed us all of the shapes that the rocks had taken during their evolution, all of which have been given apt nicknames.

Now, we are in Ennis, where we have yet to see much of because right after we hopped off the bus, we were given the treat of listening to a private concert of traditional Irish music.

Today, though, we had the "scenic" portion of our trip. We saw the westernmost point of all of Europe and various other gorgeous viewpoints. One of which is this amazing beach that had tropical-looking waters right off the coast.

We also went to a small coastal town called Dingle and had "Ireland's best ice cream" and took a picture with Ireland's most famous dolphin, Fungi!

We've been having a great time. Ireland is so much more than we thought it would be. The history is so rich and the culture so fascinating. We are lucky to have stumbled upon this tour. All the information about authentic Ireland has been at our fingertips the whole time.

Destination 1: Dublin, Ireland!

Greetings from Dublin!


This is my (Collin) first blog and I will try to keep up with the literary/journalistic prowess of Whitney. First of all, the trip was long and hard, but I have to say, Air France blows every single American Airline out of the water. Delta wanted $6 for a bad scramble and $12 for a single movie, while Air France provided the best airline meal I’ve ever had and movies/TV were free. After getting the time of our departure to Europe wrong by 2 hours and barely making it, we were just happy to be in Dublin.
What a city! It is much older than I expected with cobblestone streets, some a s narrow as 12 feet, in the heart of the city and buildings being renovated everywhere you look. The culture is incredibly diverse with a healthy sprinkling of English and French that one would expect, but with a surprisingly large group of East Asian and Indian inhabitants. We had a great lunch at a place called “Munchie’s” that was surprisingly classy, then took a walk through one of the city’s many parks, taking pictures and enjoying the sunny weather. We are both incredibly jetlagged and struggling to take in as much of Dublin as possible before we get on our busabout tour of Southern Ireland tomorrow at 8:30 AM. With more pictures and posts to come, thanks for reading and we look forward to the trip of our lives.

Just Before Takeoff

Here we are at PDX, having coffee with our parents, waiting to go through security. We had a scare last night because our first flight in our string of flights got canceled. Luckily, Collin's mom is a travel queen and found a way to get us to Dublin in time for our Shamrocker Tour--a three-day trip around southern Ireland.

Collin is buying a book, Whitney is getting this computer broken in, Anne is making note of addresses for postcards, and Dave is buying the coffee.

We are SO excited to get on the plane and head toward Dublin.

We've got a great hostel for when we land.

We'll tell you all about it!

One Week Before Take-Off

Hi There Family and Friends,

We, Collin and Whitney, are heading to Europe in less than a week and a half. We are quickly finishing up our finals, and making lists of things to prepare for our first trip together in a different country. It will be Whitney's first time in Europe, even though she has spoken French for 10 years, and it will be Collin's third trip--he's fluent in Spanish!

This blog is for us to keep you updated on our trip as well as an opportunity for us to keep a log of all of the things we do on our trip.

We hope you find it fun to see what we do, and we hope that our activities are worth writing down!

Please feel free to comment with suggestions, encouragements, and other messages!

Love to you all,

Whitney and Collin