And I'm off!!

So I'm at the O'Hare airport in Chicago. My flight leaves for London in about forty minutes. It's a little weird to think that not even four hours ago I was still packing for the trip, and now I'm already in Chicago. It was a short flight; by the time I had finished drinking the water they gave me on the flight we were already there. This flight to London is seven hours, so I'll be reading and sleeping and whatnot as much as I can to try and pass the time easily. I'm pretty tired, so it won't be a problem. There's a meal inflight, which is good because I haven't eaten today and I'm starving!

I have had a pretty fun time over the last few days getting ready for my trip and making my goodbyes. Thursday night I went out with some friends from work for a few drinks. Friday night I went out with most of my closest friends from High School and had a blast (I was sooo done that night) and then last night (Saturday) my rents took me out to the Cheesecake Factory - phenomenal. Today was a whirlwind of packing because I of course procrastinated until the last minute. Once I got to the airport and said goodbye to my parents, I found my gate and called a few other close friends to say goodbye for five weeks.

I have a rough itinerary for my whole trip; pretty clear for the next few days and then progressively fuzzier the further out I go. I'll get into London at 7 AM their time (2 AM here) and spend the day sightseeing in London. I'll check in to my Hostel that I've already booked and hit the sack early, then Tuesday go up to Bath (a city) to see some Roman ruins of public baths. Wednesday I'll head back into London, do some more sightseeing, sleep, and then take the Eurostar early Thursday morning into Paris. I'll spend a few days in Paris, then a few days in the French countryside, then head South to Spain. I'll probably go straight to the beach.

After that, I'm not really sure. I'll head North, and visit Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, and Amsterdam, but not necessarily in that order. I'm saving Italy for last, and I plan to spend a full week there. The last few days I'll spring for a real hotel; that'll be fantastic after sleeping in hostels and maybe the countryside for a month. I fly home Nov. 23rd, and have a full week thanks to thanksgiving and seeing everybody back home again.

As I haven't really done anything noteworthy, I'm not going to go into thoughts and feelings today... I'll try to get on here tomorrow to post about my flight and my first impressions of Britain. See you then!!

-Swag