Monday, July 12, 2010

So far behind

So it's been about 3 months since I last blogged. So much has happened since then.
At the end of April I decided to make an impromptu trip back to Texas to have a little break from the cold weather in London. I spent about 6 weeks back in Texas before I decided to come back to England.
While in Texas I spent one full week at my sister's house with her and my nephews, two or so weeks in Tyler with Mom and my girlfriends, and two weeks in Houston spending time with my Dad and sisters. It made me even more ready and excited to move back home in July.
Once I made it back to London the weather was finally nice and we were able to walk outside without jackets. Brandon and I decided to spend a few days in Spain since he was off work for one extra week. We went to Costa Blanca for 5 days. It was a nice relaxing vacation from everything and a great way to spend a few romantic days together, just the two of us.

A few weeks after returning from Spain, Mom and Dave came for a visit. While they were here we spent 3 days visiting Germany. We rented a car and spent the time driving the Romantic Road visiting several of the cute little cities along the way. The highlight of the trip was the last stop, Neushwanstein, to see the Cinderella Castle. It was absolutely breathtaking and something I will never forget.

After Mom and Dave left for their two week cruise around the UK and France, we left for Rome, Italy. The trip had it's sweet and sour moments. The history and the city were absolutely unforgettable and something that we both have dreamed about seeing our entire lives. The sour part was the people. For the most part many of the Italians were extremely rude and unwilling to help in any way. Through all that though we still managed to have a great time. We ate some amazing food and saw some amazing history.

Four days after returning from Rome, Jessica and Stefani flew in for a visit. We spent two weeks jumping from city to city. We started our adventure in Dublin, Ireland were we did several tours of the city and the coast. We even did a ghost tour one night that was not scary at all but we managed to make it extremely fun!
The second city on our tour was Venice. We didn't arrive until midnight only to have no clue where our hotel was. We walked around in the rain for about 30 minutes until we decided to stop at a restaurant to have a little dinner and try to figure out where we were. The owner of the restaurant luckily spoke very good English and was willing to cook us a quick meal even though he was getting ready to close for the night. He not only cooked for us but he also called our hotel to get directions and check on our reservation. After realizing that our hotel was another 30 minute walk from where we were he suggested canceling that reservation and allowing him to find us a closer hotel. We were of course extremely grateful and agreed that that was the best option. After finishing our dinner he even walked with us to the hotel across the street where we met the hotel owner who set us up with a great room for the same price as our previous reservation. This whole experience gave me a whole new outlook on the attitudes of Italians. The rest of our trip in Italy was absolutely amazing. Venice is a mesmerizing city with so much romance and beauty. It is a place I will definitely go back to one day. We also were able to take a short train down to Rome to spend two nights touring the city.
After Italy our last destination was Paris. Thankfully we choose this as our last destination because the city is not cheap! We spent the first day doing touristy things such as going to the top of the Eiffel Tower and exploring the Catacombs. That night we took an illuminations tour to see the rest of the city on bus. The second day we went to a few museums and after lunch spent the rest of the day shopping. Some how we got sucked into the excitement and luxury of the city and spent WAY too much money buying designer shoes, dresses, and handbags. Needless to say I don't regret any purchase I made! I love it all! I can't wait to go back and do it all over again.
By the end of our trip we were out of money and out of energy. It was an amazing trip! We made many memories that I will cherish for a lifetime. It was amazing to me that three girls could spend two weeks together and not argue, fight or get on each other's nerves. We had a great time together and I am so glad that we chose to do this trip together. I think we'll make it a tradition to get together and travel every 4 or 5 years.
Today marks 5 days till we move back to Texas. We both are exhausted and have no motivation to pack our entire house to move half way back across the world but the good news is this is our last international move. It is bitter sweet because this is a close to a very adventurous chapter in our lives but it's an opening to chapter were we can spend more time with family and friends as well as move on with the real world. I really look forward to this next chapter, so much will change in the next year and I'm very excited about it.