Vacation all I ever wanted

Today's blog post is dedicated to the author and the main character/hero of my favorite books, JK Rowling and Harry Potter -  today is their birthday, and JK's 50th, at that. I'll be at Platform 9 3/4 in just a couple of weeks!!

It's the last day of July...and the first day of our much-awaited, long-planned, 17-day Stevenson Family Eurotrip. Yahoo, and God bless the French's attitude toward vacation days, is all I have to say about that. This evening we'll take a train to Beauvais and fly to Pisa tomorrow morning. From there: Florence, Rome, Athens, Santorini, London and Dublin. Whew.

I can't believe it's finally here! We've done so much research and work: potential cities to visit, Ryanair flight paths and times, hotels and Airbnbs, transportation, sights, and more. I now know more about the metro in Athens, how to get to Ciampino airport in Rome, and how to rent an ATV in Santorini than I ever thought I would know.

Side note: If anyone is looking to plan a trip like this to Europe anytime soon, I'd be more than happy to assist you. For a fee.

Seriously.

We have also done trial runs of packing (why yes, I have OCD). When you're packing for a trip this long with a weight limit of 15 kilograms for your one checked bag, you have to get a little creative, aka, you'll be doing laundry at your Airbnbs. Somehow, we managed to get all this into our tiny carry-on. "Somehow" is also referred to as my husband, and by "we," I mean him. As a friend once said about Brian after he helped them pack a moving truck, "You must be really good at Tetris."

No, seriously.

The bag is packed, the Ryanair boarding passes are printed and the camera batteries are charged. We are ready to roll. The last thing I needed to do was...notify you all! So here it is, the official Something New, Something Different notification. We're headed out, and we'll be back on the 17th. You won't be receiving email updates for a little while, but don't worry - nothing's wrong, and everything's right. Get excited - pictures galore to come!

Au revoir, ciao, antio sas, goodbye, and cheers!
E & B