There And Back(pack) Again*

Prologue:

Before delving into the juicy bits of my vacation in Europe, I felt it necessary to describe how we actually got there.

On the night of June 6, Liz, Mother, and I left for Chicago, so we could spend the night, get up early for our 9:00 flight. How might I describe the Day's Inn near O'Hare? If you have ever seen the movie Big, simply call to mind Tom Hanks's cozy little pad. If you haven't seen the movie, let me put it to you this way: the first thing we did after parking Mother's car was to remove the "Harvard Law School" decal from the rear windshield. Furthermore, I placed a complicated, "MacGyver" security system on our hotel door that consisted of a chair and several metal coat-hangers. Needless to say, we survived the night and made it to the airport on time.

Our aunt was generous enough (she always is!) to donate her frequent flyer miles to Elizabeth and me. This allowed us to travel to Europe free of charge... business class. Oh, sweet Jebus, did that rock my world. Besides having much-needed leg room for yours truly, the luxuries were fantastic: good food, non-stop beverages (and I don't just mean the standard ginger ale, folks. We're talking booze!), individual TV sets, fully-customizable chairs, the works! This allowed us to arrive in Zurich not only well rested, but also in style!

By the time we got to Zurich, Liz and I had everything pretty much figured out for our trip. Yes, it had taken us a while to actually get an itinerary. After getting back from the NACURH Conference, it was a nonstop flurry of getting our crap together for this trip. During the layovers and long flights, we were able to actually nail it down. The plan? From Zurich, it would be: Venice, Ferrara, Florence, Rome, Nice, San Sebastian, Belgium, Amsterdam, Paris. To do it all in just two weeks, we knew we had to have our game-faces on. This would not be your slackers' casual, lazy backpack trip through Europe. Oh no. This was to be a hardcore, no-holds-barred, "we can sleep when we're dead," whirlwind of fury throughout western Europe. And as you shall soon see, it was friggin' awesome.


*Anyone who says this title is not completely original is a dirty liar. And probably a communist.