It turns out that I’d begun my blog site some time ago–so long that I’d forgotten. But when I went to wordpress to create a blog, it remembered me. Evidently, I hadn’t written much. However, since I’m about to embark on the adventure of my lifetime, I need to put this to good use. I want to keep a journal of my trip to document and remember everything and to share it with family and friends.

I’ve been wanting to go to Europe forever. Brad really didn’t as he’d been to Iceland and Denmark in October of 1998. This past year we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. I wanted to go to……yep, Europe. Brad wanted to go to Hawaii. We compromised and went to Brad’s choice, Hawaii, in November of 2013. Now, I still get to go to Europe but with three of my good friends. Pretty damn good compromise!

Our group of four hooked up and started meeting in the fall of 2012. At first there were just three of us–Lib Evans, Karen Ring and myself; we planned an eight-day British Isles cruise first. We wanted to get that much booked and did that on our own. I must have mentioned this to Jan Amble at our poker league one Tuesday evening, and she expressed in interest in going to Europe, too. Soon, we had four old broads planning to do Europe! Jan wanted to be back in time for harvest, so she didn’t book the cruise portion at the end of our itinerary. Had she known what this year’s weather would be, I’m sure she would have. For months we’ve been planning our trip with Kayla from Bursch Travel in Fargo. She’s enlisted the help of Kensington Tours for both private and shared tours. We created our own custom itinerary, and it’s jammed-packed. We depart on July 10th from Fargo to Rome via Chicago on American Airlines. Jan will return on July 31st, and the rest of us fly back after our cruise and a few days in London on August 10th.

Besides planning and lining up all the details in our itinerary, we’ve had some group meetings to watch videos of Europe. These have also involved some practice in eating as Lib is a great host and likes to cook! We’ve had conference calls, also, to get our ducks in a row. We thought we had oodles of time, but as the time gets closer, I’m starting to panic. I hope I don’t forget something crucial. We’re trying to pack light. Ha! For me, that’s an enormous task.  I’m trying to take Bruce McLean’s advice: “Pack half the luggage and take twice the cash!”

Time is my enemy right now. I’m supposed to be making decisions for our new house, keep our house here clean to show prospective buyers, go to work, help mow the lawn 2-3 times a week, continue packing up at home and begin packing up the office which also mean I need to destroy some things older than 5 years. Oh, I’m suppose to be getting things together for Europe which also involves shopping. Yikes! I need help. I’m currently looking for a high school girl to be my personal assistant and my extra pair of hands.

Anyway, I’m sure the four of us will have a memorable journey. I hope to draft Lib, Karen and Jan into writing posts into this blog, also, to give different perspectives and to give myself a break.

Adios! Oh, darn, we’re not going to Spain. I’ll have to research the Italian term for good-bye or until next time.

Marcy