Leavin' On a Jet Plane

Once again days seem to be flying by here. Our days are filled with house chores, outside time, errands, play dates, and trip planning. The boys and I were suppose to leave today for MN, but with not having myself packed, less then desirable sleep the past two nights, and a headache probably due to it we are pushing it back a day. Not only have we planning for our road trip to MN, but also J and my European trip. We have been planning a trip for a couple years, but finally have J's leave in and last weekend we purchased our tickets for the flights. We have some very nice and accommodating friends that will be allowing us to stay with them at the beginning (England) and at the end (Naples), but we still need to arrange places in between and also our train tickets from the various countries/cities we are hitting. 

So where all are we going? We are starting off in England, spending 3/4 days and then heading to Paris. We are in Paris and the local sights for again 3/4 days and then heading to Italy via a night train. We will be spending 1 night in both Florence and Rome before ending up in Naples with another wonderful family that we consider family. From Naples we will be jet setting it to Rome and then Amsterdam so that we can catch our connecting flight back to Minnesota. 

We are super excited to say the least...but I am also nervous...even though I'm married to a pilot, I'm not a huge fan of flying. This is also my first time traveling over seas. The only time I have been out of the country was the 3 times we crossed the boarder in to Mexico when J was at pilot training, before passports were required and when it was still allowed by the base. Talk about anxiety...at least once we get on the jet at MSP its a direct flight. New places, eventually different languages and money, time zones, and not to mention that we will be leaving the boys for almost two weeks. Not that I am afraid something will happen to them, but the boys are ALWAYS with me. I am sure there are going to be times where I scan frantically looking for them before realizing that they aren't with us, or thinking the boys would really like this.

I am very appreciative that we are able to take a trip like this and very exciting, but scary at the same time. Trying to pick out hotels online, spending $$$ on things that you are trusting to be telling the truth that they really do have air conditioning, non-smoking rooms, and an attached bathroom. Another battle I continue to have is determining which sites to see, since we have a very limited amount of time and some things just won't make the cut. We would love to believe that we will be able to return someday and see some of the cities and countries we couldn't fit in, but since my gazing ball isn't working we don't know it that will happen.

I'll just keep using this....

and this

and of course this

 as a motivation to get our things in order and get over all the little fears that creep into the process of getting there.