buon giorno italia!

theresa and i arrived last night in florence, amist the rain. we've had such great weather so far these past (almost) 2 weeks, that i guess i really can't complain too much. although florence without rain is so much nicer...

dasia arrives today, very excited to see her! this post will be a bit longer since i actually have internet time and am not in any particular rushes, so read as you will.

let's see, left off last time with the note we were heading to zell am see, that little resort town in the middle of austria and right near hohe tauern nationalpark. it was a bit of a splurge because we completely blew our $50-70 a day budget, but sometimes you need a nice bed and shower. and it's been over a week. we deserve it. ha. we took the bus to the park, and basically hiked around all day. there is this wasserfall that is the highest in europe, so the hike centered around that, with different view points along the way. very beautiful, though my feet paid for it later.

the next day we were going to take a ride on "the most gorgeous rode in the world" or something to that effect, but it was €26 each way. so, no we definitely couldn't afford it. instead we spent time in the town itself, walked around the lake (the zeller see), and just enjoyed our downtime. eventually it was time to board the train for innsbruck, and we arrived there about 10 or so at night.

to a camper. no joke.

we definitely slept in a camper for those next two nights. yes it was a campground, but for some reason i thought it would be a cabin of sorts. ah well. it was hilarious, and in the end, not so bad. innsbruck was quite a lovely city. literally everywhere you look you are surrounded by the alps. we had one semi-nice day and then one overcast day. but still it was nice. took a trip to the swarovski kristellweld, which was pretty cool and definitely not a church or castle.

and now we're in italy. so hope that caught you up. and hopefully i'll keep getting better chances to write in this blog and keep you all updated!

ciao.

The hills are indeed alive

we're in austria right now, salzburg to be exact. and it's just beautiful here. I've never actually seen the movie that made this town so famous, so i guess i'll have to check it out when i return. writing a quick post because my time is almost out on my pass, but wanted to fill you in.

we finished up the czech republic with cesky krumlov, a fairy town castle and very touristy town, but nice. we then went to ceske budejovice, which is the home of the original Budweiser, and tasted soooo much better.

tomorrow we are onto zell am see, which is some little town in the midst of a national park in austria. so it should be gorgeous. then onto innsbruck. it's so great here. missing everyone, but not enough yet to come home just yet.

auf wiedersehen!

so, we're in prague?!

still can't believe that we finally made it. this is gonna be a quickie b/c not sure how much longer i'll have internet access for. don't want to be a computer hog!

so the trip over EWR to LHR was uneventful enought. do the passport people have to be so intimidating all the time though? anyway, we walked around london for a few hours before our flight from LGW to Prague.. god i miss it there! gatwick was a mess, as was easyjet. very unorganized. even though we got there in the recommended time frame, it was still pushing it that we would make our flight. i think it was b/c so many other people got there toooooo early. but either way. we made it to prague! unfortunately theresa's backpack did not :(

but we made the best of it, she's a trooper. we still walked around prague the following day. what a gorgeous city. i'm so not wanting to come back to the US. it's just not the same. the history and architecture just doesn't compare. but so thankfully, her luggage was found and rushed to us in prague. we heard horror stories from other backpackers about missing their luggage for up to 4-5 days, but luckily hers came in 24 hrs. can't complain about that. but we're not gonna want to let our packs go after this!

anyway we spent the last 2 days in prague, we're taking a day trip today to Terezin, a concentration camp. so it shouldn't be too happy of a day, but interesting nonetheless. sleep one more night in prague tonight, then it's off to salzburg! whoo.

cheers.

leaving on a jet plane

well, the day is finally here. europe - here i come. in a few hours i'll be (hopefully) smoothly flying over the atlantic into london, and barring any unforeseen incidents, flying onto prague a few hours after i arrive. gotta love those awake for 24-hours days. but it's all worth it.

i will try to maintain this at least a few times throughout my trip, adding pics and whatnot as i can. though i may just have to add pics after i come back. not really sure how that will work considering i'm not bringing my usb cable to hook up to a computer.. oh well. i'll keep you posted! and my email's still the same, which i will be checking at those fabulous internet cafes.

cheers!

one month - get excited

It's exactly one month to the day before Theresa and I leave for the backpacking trip that I've been planning for over a year. Sept 5th I'll be on a plane for London, and I know I'm not going to want to come back.

Here's the itinerary so far:

• London
• Czech Republic
• Austria
• Italy w/Dasia
• back to Austria
• Hungary
• Germany w/mom and g'ma
• London
  

I'll be updating this blog periodically throughout my trip, trying to add pics and all that too as this site allows. So enjoy, I know I will..