Final Countdown

It's May 2nd, and the countdown is now at T-minus 7 days. Some might argue I am not as prepared as I should be at this point, but the fact that I haven't purchased all of the things I need for the trip (or even a luggage bag, for that matter) doesn't really scare me. In fact, I'm just going to take it all as a challenge.

Remember that show Supermarket Sweep? The one that was only worth watching for the final 5 minutes, when crazed teams ran through the aisles of a grocery store shoving lamb legs and giant containers of Advil into their carts? It was like a NASCAR race... nobody would admit it outloud, but the entire time you were hoping for a huge wipeout, preferably one involving the soda aisle or that huge pyramid of laundry soap. And afterward, everybody convinced themselves if it had been THEM, they would have won, because they would have gone after the big money items instead of wasting their time grinding that damn coffee... but I digress.

Tomorrow, I have scheduled myself a full day. CVS for passport photos, AAA for my international driver's license, AT&T to activate an international phone plan, and a trip to the blood-for-money center so that I can afford all of it. After sipping the obligatory apple juice and eating oatmeal cookies for 15 minutes, I'm heading to Target, where the true madness will break out.

I'm going to Target with a list in my head only, which I am told is a cardinal sin of shopping. But in the spirit of the rest of the trip, I am just winging it. In all likelihood, I'll leave missing one or two essential items, but at least I'll have that awesome 64 count combo-bag of Orbit chewing gum and a pack of strike-anywhere matches to show for it.

Also, today Michael and I did a lot of concrete planning. Though we still don't have a confirmed place to stay in London (7 days is plenty of time to find one, right?), we have set out dates all the way through the 2nd of June. Here's our itinerary as of right now:

10 May- 13 May: London, UK
13 May- 16 May: Dublin, Ireland
16 May- 18 May: Galway, Ireland
18 May: Bus back to Dublin, fly to Madrid
19 May- 2o May: Granada, Spain
20 May- 23 May: Madrid, Spain
23 May- 25 May: Valencia, Spain
25 May- 27 May: Barcelona, Spain
27 May: Pick up rental car in Narbonne, France
27 May- 2 June: Southern France roadtrip
2 June: Drop off rental car in Nice, France

Feel free to leave any suggestions you have before we leave. Otherwise, bookmark this site-- http://aroamersramblings.blogspot.com --and stay tuned for more posts from the other side of the pond!

"We must get beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey."
-- John Hope Franklin