Next week Moxie and Co. are heading to Western Europe for the trip of a lifetime. People keep asking me if I’m “backpacking” through Europe. I guess since I’ve never been there, I pictured backpacking to mean people sweating and trekking over the Alps slurping stream water out of a Nalgene to get from place to place and eating GORP. Now I realize it just means taking a backpack as your primary luggage and hopping on a train. So yes, I am backpacking. Hostels? We’ll see.
I’m getting ready to take lots of pictures of things I would probably see in the US but seem cooler in Europe, such as the one above of a cat eating something dead in the street. I also plan to take tons of photos featuring obvious architectural structures, but maybe I will hold the camera at a diagonal to make it more interesting. Maybe I will leave the shutter open to make the city lights blurry. I will be sure to post 5 albums of pictures to Facebook with no people in them… It’s hard not to be obvious when traveling to Europe, especially since pretty much everyone I know has already taken this trip. I HAVE to see things like the Eiffel Tower, the David, etc, but will they be a let down??
I find there are so many tensions that come with a trip like this: Stay in one place a while/see as much as I can; hit the big spots/go off the beaten path; know what I want to see and plan out each place/be spontaneous…but don’t feel too sorry for me. I’ll be just fine.
Here’s our itinerary as far as we know
June 17-19: London
June 19-25: L’abri in Liss, England
June 25-27: Amsterdam
June 27-July 2: Prague
July 2-10: Vienna, Munich, Salzburg, Lucerne
July 10-22: Florence, Cinque Terra (tentative), Rome, Pompeii.
July 22: Fly to Paris.
July 22-24: Normandy
July 24-31: Paris (Versailles)
August 1: HOME!
I realize the gift of this trip is extravagant and a huge privilege. I am grateful and humbled to be taking a trip like this. I don’t deserve it. It’s good to remind myself that I didn’t do anything to earn what I have been given, and I am thankful.
I also realized that this is the first place I’ve traveled to that hasn’t been colonized/imperialized by Western culture…so that will be interesting to explore…more to come on that.
are flying delta? having just flown delta transatlantic this week, check out the “Americana” genre on the complimentary CDs offered: andrew bird, patty, ryan adams, avette bros, & more…woohoo! but no caroline!!
Moxie, I’m loving the blog … and your new alter-ego, well at least new to me. So glad to now have your site … your posts are so clever. Hope you have safe travels and I can’t wait to hear about your adventures! You should definitely write a book one day …
Moxie 
You’ll be missed, Moxie! Take lots of artsy photos. Will you still be blogging it out from Europa?
are flying delta? having just flown delta transatlantic this week, check out the “Americana” genre on the complimentary CDs offered: andrew bird, patty, ryan adams, avette bros, & more…woohoo! but no caroline!!
GREAT to know!! Thank you!
please don’t come back with pictures of stray cats
ahahahhaaha. I actually do have some pictures of stray cats from Buenos Aires…
How exciting! Have a great trip!
Question: Will you be blogging from Europe?
You are already missed, Euro-Moxie! I hope you run into Carmen Sandiego while you’re abroad, and we can’t wait to hear of the coming adventures!
VAYA CON DIOS!
Moxie, I’m loving the blog … and your new alter-ego, well at least new to me. So glad to now have your site … your posts are so clever. Hope you have safe travels and I can’t wait to hear about your adventures! You should definitely write a book one day …