Spain

It's quite lovely here. It's slower and less hectic, compared to Italy. I prefer it, thus far. We're in Barcelona right now, leaving in the morning for Sevilla for two nights there. Spent today walking around and saw the big Gaudi church (Sangrada Familia? No idea..) and then Parc Guell, another of his works. It's weird stuff, really off the wall. Not sure if I like it, but neat still. Tried to find a Spanish flag for 5€ today, but apparently that is much too cheap. I think I offended a couple shop owners, but I will not pay one penny over! Bastards.. I'll go to a market! Speaking of markets, we were in one today and I saw skinned sheep heads. They scared me and I'm glad Jill was too busy chowing down on mango to notice. I did not like it. But we did have delicious fruit. And shwarma for lunch! So delicious; stuffed with humus and veggies and sesame sauce. LOVE IT. I want more! Ciao for now! love andie. ps. I'm dying for clotted cream on scones with strawberry jam!! Thanks to Kate I now have that as one of my fave things to dream about..

France and Italy

Rest of France was brilliant! Spent the day in Dijon after Paris and rented bicycles. Drank cheap red wine in a gorgeous park and ate baguette with camembert cheese and jam and organic strawberries. Amazing. Stayed overnight in Lyon before the beginning of a 24 hour period of travel. Trained to Milan, then an overnighter to Naples, then a ferry to the island of Capri. Then a bus to the centre of Anacapri where we wandered about finding our "hostel" which is conveniently now a three star hotel. It was nice though. Gelato! Delicious! We both like the chocolate pistacchio one we found in Rome, where we went after one night on Capri. Rome for just one night, did not get to see too much but did manage to get one helluva sunburn, still hurts today. So hot. I did not enjoy it. Now we are in Florence and it is really lovely! We are camping a little campground outside of the centre overlooking the city. Decided to slow down and stay here for three nights. Tomorrow we are off to La Spezia and the Cinque Terre. Trying to figure out where to stay.. and how to get there. Will stay there for two nights before trekking across the French Riviera and into Spain. Getting hot everywhere now, hope it is not too too bad for the rest of the trip! Thanks mom, for giving me your heat-intolerance. hah. Love you guys, hope everything is well back home. andie and Jillian.

Paris!!

London was great, saw Westminster Abbey, London Tower, Tower Bridge and had a lovely walk along the Thames. Found 1pound cappuccinos and delicious pastries. Saw a play called Madame de Sade starring none other than Dame Judi Dench! Crazy cool! Made it to Paris; feels like it took a long time to get here! The overnight coach was pretty awful, we got woken up to go through customs, then to get on the ferry, then off the ferry.. stupid, very little sleep was had. Took a long time to get to our hostel after getting to the correct metro station, walked past the turn... way past. Then we weren`t allowed to check in until 3pm. So.. running on extreme empty, we went into the heart of Paris to Place St Michele and went on a free walking tour for 3.5 hours and saw all the touristy things, it was fantastic! Then we kept the adrenalin flowing and went for a tour of Montmartre.. the Moulin Rouge area. Really cool area, my favourite neighbourhood by far. Staying in Paris for two more nights then off to Dijon and past that... who knows! This keyboard is not normal and is exceedingly difficult to type with. Need some sleep! And a little more 3€ red wine, haha. love andie.

We're off today!

No more sleeps left to count; we're leaving in about 10 minutes. bah!! My brilliant plan to stay up late last night and get on London time failed miserably. I was exhausted and we were in bed around 11.30 PM. Ridiculous! Now it's 7 AM and I'm still tired but I'm going to try and not fall asleep on the way to Calgary (ya right..)

So now I must go and be on the way to being on our way. 

First Leg: Edmonton to Calgary

Mode of Transportation: Auto

Length of Trip: ~3 Hours

Bye for now!

love andie.

13 Sleeps!

I am too excited to sleep! Seriously, I am lying wide awake in bed thinking of all the things that need to be done and all the adventures that will be had and I cannot stop! It's 0135 and I have to be up in a few hours, but that fact is not putting me to sleep whatsoever. So here is what we have so far: Land in London on 1 May - hang out there and do the touristy things and get our heads back into travel mode. We'll meet up with my wonderful friend Kate and finally get that proper pint of good ale that we both deserve and haven't had since.. well ever really. I just have repressed memories of cracking that warm Fiji Bitter that just had to be drank before the power came on to chill it... Stay in London for the weekend and do lots of things and prep ourselves to leave the English-speaking world for the the next three and a half weeks, ahhh!! I wonder if that is the cause of my insomnia tonight.. How extremely terrifying and exciting! We'll train it to Paris and stay there for a few nights, seeing the things on our list... Eiffel, Versailles, Moulin Rouge, Louvre, and the couple other things I'm forgetting, then on to Dijon and Lyon for some lovely countryside and wine tasting. Then down to Italy - Florence, Rome, Naples/Pompeii, Sicily, and the little ones in between. Up to Milan and across the French Riviera to Spain. Ole! I think the majority of our time will be spent in Spain due to our need for Flamenco, tapas, beaches, mountains, and saying "hola" on a regular basis. So I kind of just realized that we're leaving in less than two weeks and haven't the faintest idea of where we're staying when we arrive in London. Ah, the joys of the unknown! hah. I cannot wait to be thrown into the crazy, unpredictable, awesome, fun, scare-your-pants-off thrill of backpacking again. I sometimes forget that I still have to be somewhat productive in the hospital for the next week. hm. Perhaps sleep will aid in that endevour. For now, I bid you adieu and let you all shake your head at me for being so danged excited and neglecting sleep. andie.

Off I Go Again!!

Yet another adventure was set into motion today when my good friend Jillian and I booked our flights to London for April 30, 2009. And already a slight snag! Seems that my credit card did not go through.. I do have a temporary booking, however, and they said they'll call me.. But as of now, it's just Jillian going backpacking. haha. hahahahah. Ah, I'm sure it'll all work out. I will make it so! So yes, we are going. We have yet to book our return flight as Jill is away right now and we must do immense amounts of research in order to calculate how much money/time we'll need. We're tentatively thinking coming home on May 26. Our very non-concrete plans are so far: Fly to London April 30. Fly to Spain sometime. Train it through Spain and France up to Paris. Possibly squeeze another country in there.. Netherlands? Ireland? Italy? Switzerland? Sure! Fly home from London May 26. This is a very exciting day because my hope of this ever turning out was dwindling when my search for cheap flights kept coming up with nothing. But I perservered and refused to accept anything more than $800 and finally caught a break! (Anyone looking for cheap flights to Europe, check out CanadianAffair.com) So yes, that is about it for now. The count down is on! T-minus 72 days. haha. Okay, maybe a little too soon for a count down. love andie.