Europe, here we come!

Okay people. An exciting day has come!!! Today we leave for our 2 1/2 week vacation! Woohoo, woohoo, HOORAY! I will inform you of our schedule. It freakin rocks!

Tonight, Friday night that is, at 7:05 pm we hop on a train and head for London! Saturday will consist of seeing as much as we can of this grand city. There are so many activities and options at our fingertips we are overwhelmed! Sunday morning we leave for GERMANY and will be exploring Berlin for the next 3 days!!! Yes, ... sigh... it is my dream come true! :) Who would have ever thought this day would come in my life? I will be on cloud 9 for the next 30 years! Can you tell I'm excited?! At this point and time in our trip, I will be ATTEMPTING to put my seven years of German to use. It's all a little rusty and I wish I would have brought my German-English dictionary as well as my old friend Tobias with me!! I can just see it now, Brandon is going to be pushing me to speak with the locals everywhere we go... And I'll be standing there nervous, thinking through what I'm wanting to say... trying formulate the sentences and get the words out of my mouth. I have discovered that I have forgotten a lot of the vocabulary I once knew. Not to mention, that German grammar... it just kills me! Der, die, das, den, dem, diese, dieser, diesen... I mean who really knows which one to use?! Anyways, it will be interesting. It will also be fun, but zie Germans are going to be thinking... oh my, those Americans... they sure do try! Hahaha.

While in Berlin our accomodations include staying in a "JugendHerberge" (a youth hostel). Nothing but the authentic, cultural (economical) lodging choice for travelers such as us. Tuesday night we fly back to London and that's when our Contiki Tour begins! (That's the tour group for 18-35 year olds that we bought our travel package with.) This "holiday" as the Brits would say includes traveling through 10 different countries over the next 14 days. Our itinerary is as follows:

London, Amsterdam, the Rhine Valley, St. Goar, Munich, Austrian Tyrol, Venice, Rome, Florence, Lucerne, Paris, and then back to London. It's okay... I don't know where some of these places are either. We've got some England, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, and some other places in there too...

When we have completed the wonderful traveling loop and arrive back in London, Brandon and I will then spend an additional 2 days there before we make our way back to the lovely town of Harrogate. For the next 18 days my eyes will be seeing some amazing things and in turn, your eyes will see some great pictures. I CAN'T WAIT!!! It's almost too much for me to handle! I'm so excited I'm about to bust. Well, until then, I better get back to the preparation, packing and folding laundry. Pray for our safe travels and we hope to be able to post a blog or two in the days ahead. Lots of love... ~Big and Little Rigg.

P.S.- Also, if you are interested in leaving us a voicemail... you can call this number, 1-800-706-1333 and then it will prompt you to enter an account number which is: 2008231983 and you can leave us a message! We we will check our voicemail periodically. :)