30 Days & Counting!

We are officially within the 30 day range of our next adventure!

This is our second trip to Europe, the first time we made the journey it was just me and my guy. For this journey we will be going with my girl and my parents. We will be traveling across Europe for 3 weeks. Our agenda includes Paris, Krakow, Munich, Venice, Florence and surrounding areas, Rome, Pompeii, Santorini and possibly another Greek island or two.

I think I might be most looking forward to seeing my parents and my girl's excitement when they finally see all the things they have seen in photos in real life!

We are in the final stages of planning and making sure we have everything we need prior to our departure. Despite all the planning, I know we are bound to have a few hiccups but that is what makes it an adventure!

Most of the places on our itinerary are places we visited during our first trip. I feel very fortunate to have the ability to be going back and experiencing it with my girl and my parents. We have added a couple of places we haven't been to. Krakow, so we can visit Auschwitz as this is very important for me. We also managed to fit in a couple of days in Germany as this is important for my guy. Santorini holds a special place for me so I am very happy to be ending our adventure there.

How we do it.

A lot of people I know have asked how we plan and afford this type of trip. The truth is, it takes a lot of hard work-planning, researching, strategizing, budgeting, and sacrifice. We purchase our airfare tickets to travel abroad about 10 months ahead. The two or so months leading up to the actual purchase involves checking airfare prices a couple of times a week. We do a ton of research and price checking for our accommodations. The flights from place to place within Europe are purchased about 6 months ahead. This also involves a lot of checking airfare prices and buying when the prices are low. We have a budget for everything from food to all of our transportation, entrance fees, accommodations, etc. We try to stick as close as we can to our budget, while enjoying ourselves of course.

In regard to how we afford to travel for 3 weeks, I am a teacher so we travel in the summer. My guy runs his own business and has the ability to take the time off. We do not make a ton of money so we do our best to keep the costs as low as possible. My guy and I share in the fact that traveling like this is a priority so we make sacrifices. We don't own new cars and our home is modest but comfortable for us. I say all of that to say this, if traveling is something you desire....it can be done! You don't need a ton of money. Make a plan, develop a budget, do your research, stick to your budget as much as you can, and make it happen!!!