onward, again

Well, I am heading off again. Last time I made use of this blog, it was 2007 and I was still on Semester at Sea. Three years later and my lust for travel has not died down at all. I've just finished my degree and it seemed like the appropriate time to take another long trip---this time, I am going to Europe for two months to backpack. It will be an entirely different journey than Semester at Sea (not at least because I have nowhere to go "home" to like I did with the ship, and because I will be traveling sort of alone). My flight for Amsterdam leaves at 6 pm this evening and I still have quite a lot of packing to do...but of course, I am online. :D

So for those who are unaware, here is my rough itinerary. I'm flying to Amsterdam with my best friend, Alex Julian, who has been my lifelong partner in crime (though there won't be any actual crime on this trip, I promise! unless we decide to turn into expat outlaws! [hey, that doesn't sound half bad...]). She and I are spending two nights in Amsterdam before moving on to a night in Brussels. Then we head to Berlin for two nights to disco it up for my 23rd birthday, and Munich for two nights to enjoy the 200th year of Oktoberfest. From Germany, we meander over to Switzerland for four nights, where we'll be visiting some Swiss friends of mine in Lucerne and Bern. After we've had our fill of fondue, we'll go to Paris for four nights to fake French accents and take obnoxious pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower. Then we head to Italy: a day in Venice, maybe two nights in Florence, and probably three (or is it four?) nights in Rome, where we'll be staying in the guest apartment of Alex's former au pair. On October 13th, Alex leaves me to head back to the States (and I undoubtedly will be very sad to see her go, unless we've gotten totally sick of each other by that point, in which case I will see her off with glee).

After Alex leaves, my mom may (or may not) be coming to Europe. The plan is to go to Barcelona and Paris together. More on this later, once it is booked. When Mom leaves (approximately Oct. 22nd), I will scoot my boot up to Scandinavia. Here I'll be meeting up with my dear friend from Semester at Sea, Bree, who is one of my absolute favorite travel companions. Bree hasn't finished booking her trip yet, but she and I will spend between 10-12 days seeing the best that Scandinavia has to offer us...Copenhagen, Stockholm, perhaps Oslo, and as many fjords as we can find.

My travel details get sketchy in November. I frankly am not sure what I'll be doing, but I'm not too concerned about it right now. I know that it will be great, whatever it will be. One thing I do know is that I'll be ending my trip in London. Drew (the boyfriend) is going to fly out to London from Los Angeles to meet me, so we can have a few fun days of European travel before we head back Stateside for Thanksgiving.

I leave Europe on November 24th. With any luck, there will be many more blog posts in between now and then. So cross your fingers, folks, and perhaps I will be a more devoted blogger during this journey than I was during my last...you know, now that I am an older, more mature college grad. Oh yes, I am wise now, and I have a very expensive piece of paper to prove it.

Sayonara...email me your addresses if you don't think I have it and you'd like a postcard: eliza.swift@gmail.com. Love and (disorganized) luggage, Eliza