Start Wandering

So you've decided you want to take an epic trip. But where in the world (appreciate the pun) do you start? I am a very spur of the moment person. When an opportunity for traveling arises, I take it. In the case of my recent trip, my best friend Brayton was studying abroad in Europe. Before her commitment we had promised each other we would take a trip to Australia together sometime during college. Her studying abroad in Europe kind of set back our plans. --Don't worry I'm sure we will still make it to Australia :). -- Following her decision, studying abroad suddenly sounded like a really awesome idea to me as well. As hard as I tried to make it work, my college didn't offer the best study abroad program, so it would have cost me an outrageous amount of money to continue my education over seas. After being a little bummed, my wonderful parents came up with a brilliant idea. They suggested I go visit Brayton and travel Europe instead of all the hassle of studying abroad. Why hadn't I thought of that? Not only would this save me loads of money, but I could actually do what my main purpose of studying abroad was: traveling. --I quickly want to state that I am not undermining studying abroad at all, I think it is an AMAZING opportunity if given the chance. It just didn't work out for me at that particular point in time. I would still love to give studying abroad a go if the opportunity arises in the future :).-- Immediate excitement and planning followed my parent's suggestion. My original thinking was that I would travel Europe during my two week spring break. This changed into the decision to take a semester off so that I could travel for a longer period of time. If you're going to go, why not go all out right? :b

I bought my plane ticket November 12, 2015. One day before the Paris attack happened.

Let's just say this did not ease the minds of the people that were already worried about me departing. I however took this as an opportunity to trust God that he would protect and watch over me-- And I'm still here! So looky there, he did just that :).

I'm going to tell you that if you are starting to plan a trip to Europe, it may be a little overwhelming at first, but as long as you take little steps, planning will go smoothly. I actually decided exactly how many days I was going to be over in Europe the day I bought my plane ticket. I just kind of sat at my computer, looked at cheap days to fly back, and decided to make my trip one whole month. March 24 to April 25, 2016. After booking my ticket, I didn't do any other planning for a long time. This was partially due to being busy finishing up my junior semester of college, and partially because I dreaded planning. Let me tell you folks for those of you who don't know me, I am not a planner. I like to be spontaneous and do whatever I feel like in that moment. I am capable of planning, it's just not my favorite thing to do. Over Christmas, Brayton and I spent a whole day planning our trip (we decided that we would travel together for two weeks over her spring break). My advice to you if you don't like to plan is to pick a day and just do it. At least come up with a rough outline. Things to look at are what countries you want to go, approximately how long you want to stay at each place (this was the hardest and my least favorite part to figure out), how you are going to get around (I would recommend train travel-LOVE IT. Blog post on this topic, coming soon), the type of accommodation you are considering (Blog post on this coming soon as well), and a rough estimate of how much you want to spend.

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I am writing this blog for a few reasons. A). For all my treasured family and friends that are interesting in hearing about my trip (and life for that matter)- bless your soul ;). And most importantly B). To help anyone who may be considering taking a trip to Europe but doesn't know where to start. For anyone who wants to discover some Europe tips learned from real experiences. I read so many blogs and pinned so many things on Pinterest in preparation for my Europe Adventure. I am going to share with you my insight on lots of different topics that will hopefully make your planning and the trip itself the best it possibly can be. I hope you find my insight very useful. :)

If you are still reading, thanks for sticking through my long and hopefully not too boring introduction. I appreciate all of you; you are so loved.

#Switzerland #Alps #Europe