7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

One week till blast-off! Yikes, I still can't really believe it. But welcome to our blog! Alan and I are hoping to keep a good journal here for ourselves (and any of you who are interested) so that when we get home again we will know what we saw : ) Lol. We'll be posting photos to our Flickr account, and linking it here so you know when there are new things to see.

We started packing yesterday, which was hard. I think I have all my clothes picked out, but I still keep thinking I should slim it down. It is so hard to know what I am going to want for 3 months! We checked on the average temperatures and it should be highs in the 80s when we arrive and in the 60s when we leave, so I've packed lots of layers. The house has an awesome looking fire place! I did see at least one radiator though so good to know there will be some heat : )

I'm really annoyed that the maps I ordered may not get here before we leave - I ordered them from a place in the UK because they had the most recent maps (the US stores seemed to have older versions), but then they didn't ship them until 8 days after I ordered! And with the 12-15 days shipping time... argh. I was hoping to have our routes all marked on them, but I guess Google maps it is : ) Or maybe ViaMichelin, because they tell you how much you will need in tolls (Europe has a lot of toll roads!) and I don't know if Google does that?

My goal today it to figure out my day pack/purse situation. Whenever I have traveled before it was a no-brainer to have a little backpack for carrying while touring all day, and I never brought a purse. But now when we go to the market to buy groceries a backpack seems silly! But bringing my big purse seems like a little much as well. I guess I'll have to see what else I have laying around the house that might work.

I hope you come back and visit often! My goal is to post something every other day or so, but it will depend some on the internet situation once we get there. My experience with travel journaling is that it is easier the more frequently you do it! If you let two days go by you've already forgotten which church was which! Lol.

A bientot!
(ah be-EN-toe = See you soon!)
Rachel

Less than a month away!

I can't believe the time has almost come for us to head to France! I've been working at doing one thing to get ready every day as there are so many things to take care of. Today's goal: Set up a blog. Check! : ) I probably won't be posting much until we get there, but it's good to be prepared.

Au revoir for now!