The White Elephant

As part of the prep work for the big honey(group)moon we hosted a White Elephant Meet and Greet in January for everyone to get together and meet one another. Our total headcount has grown to 18 people including Super Nel and I. There were quite a few people that had never met one another so our gathering including food, discussion about travel and a fun game. We asked everyone to bring a travel related wrapped gift and played The White Elephant game. There were some fun gifts that were opened (and many were stolen repeatedly as part of the game rules) and everyone left with a special treat.

 Here are some of the travel goodies that were given as part of the white elephant game:


A daypack backpack from Hikpro

The best part? The backpack folds into an attached zippered pouch the size of a hand.

One lucky person went home with an asymmetrical travel pillow.  

A portable charger for phones and tablets is a must for travel. 

The best part of the party was having everyone under the same roof and talking about travel. Super Nel and I laid out all our travel gear, backpacks and let everyone test out some of our fun accessories.

We also set out some posters with travel related questions for everyone to add their comments. This trip promises to be full of adventure and for some of our friends its their first Eurotrip. Everyone was full of excitement and questions about our upcoming itinerary. 

What are some of your biggest fears about traveling to a foreign country? Top answers: Dying, losing passport and have you seen hostel?

What photo are you looking forward to taking the most? Top answers: Astrological clock in Prague and French Riviera 

What is your biggest pet peeve/frustration when traveling with other people? Top answers: Lingering, lack of organization, late people. 

What are you most excited to see in Europe? Top answers: Cinque Terre and Underground Scavi tour. 

What will definitely be in your backpack to Europe? Top Answers: DSLR camera, condoms and ductape. 

Until this evening, the main way we've all been communicating is through our google hangout chatroom. This tool along with our google document has provided us with endless amounts assistance in planning a trip with 18 people. 

(Left to right front row: Ala, Mel, Rianna, Bree, Dana, Delia, Chris, Super Nel, me, Darius and Freddy. Left to right back row: Shane, Josef, Pedro and Jose)

We were lucky to get a group photo of everyone at the party. There are three honey(group)mooners missing from the photo: Catrina , Maria and Adele. They were dearly missed but unable to make it to this gathering. The next time we'll all be together will be at the airport in LAX before we depart for London or Amsterdam or in Berlin-and it can't come soon enough! 

A few days later Super Nel and I were talking about the trip and he mentioned how lucky we are to be taking this trip with some of our best friends. He remembered that he and his friends used to talk about taking trips around the world but that they never happened. He said if we hadn't planned this honey(group)moon they may never be traveling around the world. I thought that this was true about some of our other friends. We both feel that trip will not just change our lives by making us more open minded and well traveled but we hope it can do the same for those that are traveling with us. 

Portland Getaway

We rarely need an excuse to take a mini-vacation. This time we used the Cyber Monday discount on  airline tickets as a reason to go back to Portland, Oregon. Super Nel rarely likes to visit a place twice but Portland is the exception-it's one of his favorite places to visit. Darius came with us since he loved the city the last time we visited. This trip we were joined by our friends Freddy and Dana. One silly reason we chose to visit Portland in January was to test our warm base layers and clothes before Europe. The weather in the northern countries when we arrive in Europe is going to be cold-at least cold for us Southern California people. So in order to determine if we will be warm enough we decided to test out our winter and rain gear.

We flew out in the afternoon since most of us worked the night shift before departure and we needed a little shut eye before the flight. Before falling asleep I went grocery shopping and prepped numerous snacks to take on the flight. There is nothing worse than when one of us (ANY one of us) gets hangry. And since I knew most of us were going to sleep until the last possible moment we would probably miss out on eating anything before departure.

My snack bag included as many healthy options as possible since I knew we'd be eating plenty of unhealthy things while in Portland. I packed pumpkin seeds, cliff bars, almond/cashew trail mix and dried fruit mix (coconut, tangerines, mango and pineapple), apple carrot sauce, dried apricots, beef jerky, rice crackers and dark chocolate covered pretzels. This bag was popped open before our plan even took off and what was left came in very handy during the rest of the trip. This bag of snacks of snacks is what I usually bring on any trip/vacation because it helps prevent hungriness and helps save some money (no need to buy expensive airport snacks). Also, I always bring some packets of oatmeal to eat at breakfast or any other time we need some fiber. 

Super Nel pops open the rice crackers (his favorite!)

Darius enjoying the pumpkin seeds.

Freddy grubbing on a cliff bar.

Dana enjoys the beef jerky and a cliff bar. 

The flight was short and sweet and since everyone carried on there was no need to wait for luggage after arrival (good practice in packing light for some people). After picking up our rental car we set off to find our VRBO condo rental. Anyone new to VRBO should know that it is a great way to save some money while traveling.  We scored an amazing 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom rental in Portland right on the waterfront. We were walking distance to almost everything, parking included and this place had a gym. VRBO (vacation rentals by owner) is similar to airbnb, flip key and many other companies that allow you to book directly through an owner of a property. We plan to use a few of these companies while traveling through Europe. After checking in we practically ran back to the car in order to go eat dinner (hangriness was setting in). We'd decided to introduce one of our favorite spots to Freddy and Dana-Pok Pok. A thai inspired restaurant that is known for their delicious chicken wings. 

 

Sadly, we didn't get a photo with our food-it was gone in the blink of an eye-we were starving!

After dinner we went to Voodoo Doughnuts to get dessert.

It had been a long day and since Darius didn't get much sleep between end of night shift and our flight departure he was fast asleep by 21:00.

 

The next morning we woke up ready to spend some time in nature.

This sign was hanging in our bathroom and I loved the words on it so much I felt I had to share it with others.

The view from outside our VRBO condo-I went for an early morning walk along the harbor on day 2.


On our second day we drove out to explore some waterfalls. We love waterfalls-its become somewhat of a tradition for us to try to find waterfalls whereever we go. Our first stop was Bridal Veil falls. There is a short 0.8 mile hike to this waterfall. It was an empty trail and there were a few spots to stop and sit on a bench if you wanted to enjoy the view. Once your each the waterfall, there's a platform you can climb up to via stairs.

Group selfie on the bridge to Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil falls-here we are standing on the viewing platform. The waterfall really does look like a bride's viel.

After our hike at bridal viel falls we went up the road to Multanomah Falls. We had visited this waterall (which is one of the highest waterfalls in the west coast) last time we came to Portland, however this time the trail to hike to the top was open! The sign said it was 1 mile up to the top-yet it ended up being 1.5 miles and it felt like 3 miles. 

 

Super Nel and I at the base of the water fall.

After hiking about a half hour up to the top of Multanomah Falls we thought we were almost there. Turns out we were only at switchback 5 out of 11. Still had a looooonnnnggg way to go.

The view from the hike was amazing. One one side you had the view of the waterfall and on the other you had a view of the mountain, trees and river.

 

At the very top there was a platform that extends over the waterfall!

 

This is the view from the top-on the far right (center) of this photo you can see where we parked our car. It was pretty amazing at the top and the hike back down was much easier.

 

 

Our last waterfall visit was to Horestail falls-no hiking necessary, this one is right on the edge of the road. There are a ton of different hiking trails within 5 minutes of all these waterfalls and plenty of other waterfalls to hike to. If you get the chance to camp here or have more time-I highly recommend you visit this area and do more waterfall exploring.

Horsetail falls is well named-it looks just like a horsetail.

 

The rest of our trip was spent stuffing our faces (the food in Portland is delicious!) and enjoying the no sales tax. We finished up as much of the shopping necessary for our Eurotrip since it was all tax free. The biggest find we scored were warm jackets that fold up into small bags (ie won't take up much space in our luggage). They are made of down feathers and keep you very warm.

 My Europe Jacket is very warm thanks to the down feathers located inside. Provides plenty of insulation but when we're in warmer countries it will fold down to ....

This tiny bag (about the size of my hand).

Super Nel found this reversible jacket at Eddie Bauer-it's also made of down and keeps you very warm.

The Eddie Bauer jacket folds down into an attached pocket so it will take up minimal space in the backback when not in use.

On our last morning, Super Nel and I woke up early and walked over to the Portland Farmer's Market. I love all the fresh food and snacks they have there. Plus, a majority of the food comes from local farms in Oregon.

 

 

We were sad to get back on the plane and head back home. But the one thing that made us smile is knowing that the next time we get on a plane it will be to go on our Honey(group)moon.

Our last view of Portland before boarding the plane. 

Choosing the Right Backpack

Finding the right backpack for a trek through Europe can be a very difficult challenge. So many different factors can go into making this choice and it's important to do your research so that you find the best fitting backpack for your needs and body.  I interviewed a few of the people going on our honey(group)moon to see what it is that made them pick the bag they'll be traveling with for 2-4 weeks.

I'll start with my backpack. My husband, our friends Dana, Bree and I all have the same bag. Super Nel and I have already done two weeks in Europe with our bag: The Osprey Porter 46 (46 liters). Now Super Nel and I purchased our bag 1-2 years ago. Dana and Bree bought theirs recently for this Eurotrip adventure. Since we've purchased our bags, the Osprey Porter 46 has been upgraded. The biggest change is that there is now an additional zippered pocket that has an area for your ipad/laptop, pens, travel book, passport, a key attachment and more. I personally love that Osprey has added this zippered section and it almost makes me want to upgrade my own bag. But since our bags are in near mint condition we can't justify purchasing a new one. I did score an Osprey Porter 30 at the REI garage sale for a great price but that bag will not be going with us to Europe. One downside about this new upgrade, is that the zippered section DOES take away from the overall space in the main section of the bag. So if you are not utilizing the zippered pouch you do lose out on space. The main reasons this bag is our personal favorite: 1). It is extremely comfortable. When this bag is fully loaded and weighed down it doesn't hurt your back, nor do the straps start to dig into your shoulders. The weight distributes evenly and with the padded straps and additional hip belt you can still maintain appropriate body mechanics to prevent any sore muscles or injury from occuring. I suffer from sciatica so it was very important that I choose a bag that helps prevent any type of strain on my  low back area. 2). This bag is like the cadillac of bags. It has an area to put away the backpack straps and convert the bag into a suitcase with a padded handle attached-this is useful when carrying onto budget airlines in Europe (because they are usually on the lookout for backpacks and will measure/weigh to ensure you meet their carryon specificiations-but when you convert the Osprey into a suitcase you walk right on the plane without any difficulties). 3). Osprey is a company that is dedicated to the quality of their product. I have a friend who told me he inherited his dad's Osprey that was purchased over twenty years ago and it's still in good condition. These are the three main reasons why we chose this bag over any others. The Osprey Porter 46 works best with packing cubes/packing envelopes. When I purchased this bag I went to REI with a duffel bag full of stuff that I planned to take with me to Europe. I loaded the backpack and walked around the store for an hour to ensure that the bag was a good fit. Also, before our first Eurotrip I wore my Osprey while walking around town for an hour with all the items I planned to take. This let me do any last minute adjustments on my belongings before departure. Ideally, you don't want to take more than 10kg worth of weight on your back. This is also the total weight allowed on some budget airlines we'll be using in Europe. We aim for less than 10kg because we hope to make purchases while on our trip. A few other features about the Osprey Porter-Super Nel likes to attach an S-Caribeaner clip to the outside of the bag-this can be used to hold a flashlight, a towel, shoes or a lunchbox and my fun feature of the bag is that it has a built in whistle on the front chest clip-just in case anyone tries any funny business you can blow on that sucker to call for help.

(My first Osprey Porter 46-this bag has already been on many adventures and is ready for more!)

(The inside pocket of the NEW Osprey Porter 46) 

A handful of our friends purchased the TLS Mother Lode Weekender Convertible through ebags. I'll be honest...I was tempted to buy this bag too. One thing I personally love about this bag is the ingenious way all the compartments have been placed inside the bag. One friend, Ariana, said she loves all the compartments built into the bag and the compartments in the front zippered area give her easy access to your accessories rather than digging through an entire bag or having to stop and unpack to find something. Some of the guys in our group have purchased this bag as well. One of the guys, Shane, agreed that all the pockets/compartments makes packing easier and helps to keep him organized.

(The TLS Mother Lode Weekender Convertible is a popular bag with our group)

Another friend, Jose, will be taking the REI Mens LookOut 40L Backpack. His biggest reason for choosing this bag was the price (the price is right!). Also, he said the bag didn't compromise quality even though it was on sale. The bag is comfortable on his back when loaded up with materials-especially the hip belt. The structure of the bag is shaped so that the sides are not bulky and the bottom of the bag maximizes space. This means you can fit more items inside and the weight is distributed evenly on your shoulders and back. This bag is accessible from the top and through an additional zipper on the bottom-there's no need to waste time taking everything out of the bag to find the one item you're looking for. There are plenty of zippered pockets inside the bag which allows the owner to seperate and organize as needed. The outside of the bag allows you to attach external items such as a day pack or clip on water bottle.

(Jose wearing his REI backpack)

The last bag we'll review in this section was chosen by a friend named Chris. She'll be packing a Kelty Redwing 40L. Her biggest incentive to choose this bag was based on her height (5'2") and the fact that the Kelty Redwing is specifically designed to a woman's build. This is a front loading bag which allows easy access to all the goodies you pack inside. The straps and hip harness are cushioned which distributes weight evenly-this makes the Kelty Redwing an ideal backpack if your trip includes walking/hiking for long periods of time.

(Chris shows off her Kelty Redwing) 

There are a couple friends who have still not decided on a bag for Europe. One is hoping to find something that meets the carryon requirements that has wheels and no matter what size bag I show Darius he says it is "way too small!" Backpacking isn't for everyone and for those that must travel with their favorite 10 pairs of jeans, my advice is to try stepping out of your comfort zone and give packing light a try. I promise you won't regret it once you arrive in Europe or anywhere else your adventurous spirit leads you. 

*All names have been changed to protect identities 

**I am not sponsored by any of the companies represented in this blog-however, if anyone WOULD like to sponsor me please feel free to do so!

Why Travel Light?

One question we keep encountering during the planning process is "Why do you insist on packing light?" It's an understandable question. Some people that backpack through Europe pack more for one person than Super Nel and I combined. So why is it that we choose to take one carryon bag for a two week or in this case, one MONTH trip to a foreign country? I honestly have no simple answer to that question. All I know is that once you've traveled light it's really hard to go back to checking bags, lugging luggage up stairs or through trains and I don't ever want to experience running through the airport with a backpack, purse and two roller luggages only to realize that I missed my flight by thaaaaat much. Never again.

There's something exhilarating and adventurous about packing a bag, one bag, and knowing that this bag will sustain you for several days and everything you hope to need must be packed inside it. It's pretty easy to pack light once you get the hang of it. The trick is to plan ahead. You have to be willing to let go of the mentality that allows you to say "I want to bring all these clothes just in case I want to wear them." How many times have you traveled somewhere and at the end of the trip when it's time to pack up you say to yourself "Oh, I forgot I packed these pants. I never wore them." This is usually the case. So when it comes to packing light, you want to keep this from happening.

The first step is to decide on a color palate. Every single item of clothing-tops, pants, shoes, socks and accessories have to be a part of the same color scheme. Guys, you're not exempt here. Find clothes that work together. If you're traveling in the colder months you have to layer and invest some money in a good base layer that will help keep your core warm.

Now that you've decided on a color schematic work on numbers-for a month long trip you should bring 3-4 pants/bottoms. This should also include the pants/bottoms that you will wear on the airplane-most people forget to count these. You should bring 4-5 shirts/tops. This should include a shirt to wear to a dressy function as well as the shirt/top you wear on the plane.

Shoes take up the most room in your luggage so it pays to limit the amount of shoes you bring with you. It's hard to say exactly how many or what type of shoes to bring because it really depends on the terrain and weather you'll be traveling to. Our Groupmoon will take place during some chilly/colder temperatures but it will warm up towards the end of the trip. That being said, I'm planning to take a pair of shoes that are made for day to day wear-walking many miles, standing for long period of of times in a museum and made to survive the cobble stones of Rome. Also, these shoes will ideally let me ride bikes in Amsterdam and Provence (France). I've done a ton of research on shoes and I had my heart set on a pair of Birkenstalks, however, due to the cold weather at the beginning of our trip I decided against them. Yesterday, I found what I think will be the best fit-a pair of Clark's originals, the faraway fields in a gray color.

I aimed to find a shoe that wouldn't scream "I'M A TOURIST!" Another great option is any comfortable tennis shoe with support-yet this will identify you as a tourist and more importantly from the USA. If this is acceptable to you I encourage you find a comfy pair of Nike's or other similar style of shoe and use this as your primary everyday walking shoe. Whatever style of shoe you choose to wear the majority of the time-it should be the shoe you wear on the plane. The theory behind this is that it will more than likely be your largest, heaviest, bulkiest shoe and by wearing it on the plane you won't take up as much space in your luggage. My other shoes for this trip are going to include a skinny tennis shoe option-probably going to be Sketchers brand-to hike the Cinque Terre or for any other hiking, trekking option. I know friends who will pack a hiking boot as their everyday shoe and wear these during the majority of their trip. The last two shoes I'll have is a fancy shoe-I'm going with a pair of silver Tieks-these are my fancy flats. They are hands down the most comfortable flats I've ever worn and I'm not a huge fan of flats because they don't usually have support. These have really nice padding and are made of leather (no stinky feet!) so they don't hurt my feet after wearing them for hours. I know some ladies have to pack heels. However, it's almost impossible to wear these in some parts of Europe-Italy especially. If you plan to go to Rome and you have to wear some kind of heel choose a shoe with a wedge bottom or else you'll spend the rest of your trip using crutches for your sprained ankle(s). I'm more about comfort so I'll stick with my fancy Tieks. The last shoe I'm bringing is a flip-flop. Nothing fancy-these will be for hostel showers, hotel floors, the beach or any other quick slip on situation. I live in San Diego and we live in our flip-flops the entire year. We go to fancy dinners in flip-flops, shop in them and no one gives you a second glance. That will not be the case in Europe-especially for men. Ladies, in the summer you can get away with wearing fancy flip flops with your outfits but you will not see men wearing flip-flops anywhere except the beach. I spoke with Super Nel last night and he said he'll be packing a pair of Nike's as his everyday shoe, a pair of flip flops and a dark colored pair of Toms or Vans-like shoe to wear to fancy dinners.

Now that the bulk of your packing is complete, all that's left are you toiletries and accessories. I encourage you to find toiletry products that do double duty. I have discovered Lush products-they have face wash scrubs that also double as body wash. One product is shampoo, face wash and body wash in one. You can also avoid going over your max carryon liquids by using a shampoo bar (solid) or a shae butter bar (solid) in place of lotions. If you are traveling with friends that you'll be bunking with discuss who will bring which products before packing. If one person brings toothpaste to share and another person has floss you can decrease how much you pack in your toiletry bag.

The last step is to get everything into your bag. Your luggage should NOT be full. You want to have plenty of space for souvenirs or anything else you pick up on the trip. Before I start putting anything into my luggage I always lay everything I plan to take with me on the bed. Then I try to decrease my total belongings by 25%. This allows me to have space in my luggage for any items I purchase while on vacation.

I know this can be hard. Some of us are ingrained to want everything we own with us "just in case" while on a trip. Remember: anything you MIGHT need can be bought while abroad. You can find shoes, shirts, toothpaste and shampoo in any country in Europe. You will be ok if you leave a few things behind or pack small amounts of something.

Good luck and happy packing!

The Itinerary and The Plan

 

Everyone I speak to about our upcoming trip is always in awe at the fact that there is a total of 16 people signed up to travel abroad. Our honeymoon grew substantially from "just the two of us" to "now there's 16 of us." Once one friend heard of the adventure we were planning, more and more decided to join us. Here are my tips for planning a trip that includes 16 people with different tastes, different personalities and different ideas/itineraries.

 

-Google Hangouts: this has been an extremely helpful took in organizing between 16 people. In order to use this tool, every member must have a gmail account. Then simply create a hangout and add people to your group. This is basically a chatroom where we talk about our trip, give tips and discuss where we're going, who will be staying where, etc. There is an app that can be used to access this chatroom as well as online using a computer. The app helps because it allows me to update using my iphone or read any new messages that are posted.

 

-Google Docs-This has been the second instrumental tool that we've used to plan this trip. The way it works is you have a word document and you can add people to the document that will have access to read the document or to edit the document. Most schools are using this resource for group projects and papers. So what Super Nel and I did is we sat down and put together our dream honeymoon in Europe. Then we posted it on the google document. We allowed our group moon friend to edit the itinerary with their own updates. Some people will be departing with us and then going on their own adventure after a few countries. And other friends will be joining us later in the trip. Some friends are going for 2 or 3 weeks and others are doing a full month like us.                                                                               

 

-Due to the fact that everyone in the group has different personalities and different ideas about what they want to do on their trip it helps to make it very clear from the beginning that everyone should plan their own itinerary. We use the google hangout/chatroom and itinerary for people to get ideas about what they want to do in each country, where they want to stay (hostel, hotel, airbnb, etc) and other activties. It would be nearly impossible to plan a trip this big with so many people and incorporate what everyone wants to do. Impossible. So far, this style of planning has worked out pretty well for our group.        

 

-Start your planning as soon as possible. So far, we have planned all our transportation and places to stay. Our individual activities for each day are in the works. We started planning in October 2014 and our trip is early spring 2015. This gives us about 6 months total planning time. This also helps with costs-the flights, hotels, etc are cheaper if you start planning 6 months in advance or sooner.                                                                                             &&&&-When you have such a big group it helps to have smaller groups as well. Our 16 group is divided into smaller groups of two, three or four. This allows everyone to have have someone to book flights, hostel/hotels and an individualized itinerary. This will also help with travel cost (split cost of accommodations, share food or toiletries). And since we are backpacking (packing light) if you have a small group that you're bunking with you can share things like toiletries, flashlights, wardrobes, etc.

                                                                                                                                                         

-Have fun! Not everyone enjoys planning as much as I do. Hopefully one person in your group will enjoy the madness and you can be their support person to bounce ideas off of. I always like to play to everyone's strengths. Super Nel loves to plan and research places to eat. So I leave the food plannign up to him. I love planning in general so I do most of the places to stay, transportation and sleeping places.                                                                              

 

-I have listed below our itinerary as of today (it's constantly changing with updates and news based on what people book/add). I've taken the names out of the itinerary to protect identities. Another thing that's helpful is to color code everyone's specific itinerary. So in our document everyone has a color and when if someone updates with a flight or hostel booking they use their assigned color to track who is doing what and where.

 

 

Group Honeymoon Itinerary

Europe 2015

#adventureisoutthere #friendsseetheworld

Day 1: Depart for London

-Where: Los Angeles Airport

-Arrive London, Gatwick Airport Day 2 @ 12:50pm

*Total of 11 people in London

Day 2: Check into London Hostel

*Total of 11 people in London

Day 3-London

*Total of 11 people in London

Day 4: Depart for Amsterdam

Check into Amsterdam Hostel

*Total of 14 people in Amsterdam on this night

Day 5: Amsterdam

**Three more friends arrive in Amsterdam 18:50

*Total of 14 people in Amsterdam

Day 6: Amsterdam

*Total of 14 people in Amsterdam

Day 7: Amsterdam

*Total of 14 people in Amsterdam

Day 8: Amsterdam

Check out from hostel and enjoy last day in Amsterdam before departing for Berlin, Germany via Easy Jet

Check into Berlin hotel

*Total of 14 people in Amsterdam this day

*Total of 10 people in Berlin (3 friends fly to Prague and 1 to England)

Day 9: Berlin

*Total of 10 people in Berlin

Day 10: Berlin 

**Two more friends arrive in Berlin 21:25
*Total of 12 people in Berlin 

Day 11: Berlin
Check out of hotel, enjoy last day in Berlin 
*Depart via overnight train to Poland, Krakow, You can book this train using the Polish railways website www.intercity.pl. 
*Total of 12 people in Berlin on this day

*Total of 9 people on train to Krakow (3 friends depart for Rome)

Day 12: Arrive in Krakow
Check into Krakow Hotel

-Visit Auschwitz

*Total of 9 people in Krakow 

Day 13: Explore Krakow and hop on train back to Berlin

Options: Take night train back or early train back and book hostel/hotel for night

*Total of 9 people in Krakow this day/night

Day 14: Depart for Cinque Terre via Rome
Easy Jet flight to Rome
Check into Rome Hostel 

*Spend night in Rome and depart for CT via train in am on 4/1

*Total of 12 people in Rome (meet up with 3 friends who arrived in Rome early from Berlin)_
**3 friends in Prague depart for home

Day 15: Cinque Terre

Check into Cinque Terre hostel

*Total 12 in Cinque Terre this day

Day 16: Cinque Terre

*Total 12 in Cinque Terre this day
**1 friend departs from London to home

Day 17: Cinque Terre

*Total 12 in Cinque Terre this day

Day 18: Depart for Paris
Easy Jet to Paris
Check into hotel and go to the Lourve, see Eiffel Tower at night

*Total of 12 in Paris 

Day 19: Paris-Visit Chateau of Versailles

*Total of 9 in Paris (3 friends depart for Spain)

Day 20: Check out and prep to leave Paris for Provence, France

Go see Eiffel Tower in daytime

Train from Paris to Marseille and drive to Luberon

Check into hotel

*Total 4 people in Provence, France this night (3 friends depart for Prague, 2 still undecided)

Day 21: Provence, France

*Total 4 people in Provence, France

Day 22: Provence, France

*Total 4 people in Provence, France this night (2 friends in Prague depart for home, 1 friend in Prague departs to Spain, 3 friends already in Spain depart for home)

Day 23: Prepare to depart Provence, France for Barcelona, Spain

Drive car back to Marseille, take flight from Marseilles to Barcelona via Vueling 
Check into Barcelona Hostel
*Total 5 in Barcelona 

Day 24: Barcelona, Spain
*Total 5 in Barcelona

Day 25: Check out of Barcelona hostel and travel to Madrid

Vueling flight from Barcelona to Madrid

Check into Madrid Hostel
*Total 4 in Madrid (1 friend departs for home)

Day 26: Madrid
*Total 4 in Madrid

Day 27 : Madrid, Spain
*Total 4 in Madrid
 

Day 28: Madrid, Spain
*Total 4 in Madrid

Day 29: Depart for Home

(2 friends stay and fly to Switzerland for another week of fun)

And so it begins...

A new travel post! This blog has a new title and will have some fresh new material since there is a big trip in the near future (with a bunch of small ones in between). So much has changed since my last blog post-most importantly I got married! Remember that dashing and handsome young man I went to Europe with in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Underpants blog? He talked me into a lifetime of adventures together. Super Nel and I had an Up themed non-traditional wedding on the beach (hence the name of this blog-Adventure is Out There!). It was basically a big party with a short ceremony at the beginning. Everybody had a wonderful time and after the wedding was over we were very excited to start planning the honeymoon! The honeymoon will be the focus of all my future posts for the next 4-5 months. 

Our plan: a month long honeymoon in Europe. We had so much fun during our last Eurotrip that we want to go back. This time we'll be seeing different European countries and cities and we won't be going alone. Our honeymoon has turned into a group moon with a total headcount of sixteen people (at the time of this post). Once we started talking with friends about how much fun we had on our last Eurotrip and the itinerary we have planned for this trip many of them decided to join us. And so the title "group moon" was invented.

My goal is to post on this blog weekly and the posts prior to our trip will include all the research that goes into planning a big trip such as this one with so many people. There has already been a ton of planning that has taken place up to this point (we've been planning since October 2014) so I'll do my best to play catch up on the next post. If you didn't get the chance to read any of the Sisterhood blog posts I encourage you to do so. If you'd rather not, here's some info to know about me and my blog: I'll mainly write about travel adventures that I take with my husband/friends/alone. We enjoy traveling locally (USA) as well as to different countries. We try to find a middle of the road budget that includes frugal deals and cheap finds as well as splurges along the way. My husband loves to eat (who doesn't?) so he usually does most of the research for eating and he has graciously volunteered to play photographer for this blog (thanks in part to the fancy camera I gave him as a wedding present).

If you would like any specific questions answered about our adventures, please write it at the end of the blog post (you'll need a google account to do so).

The next post will have our proposed itinerary for Eurotrip 2015.

Happy Travels!