5 days!

Last Monday Mel and I went to a dinner meeting with the rest of our travel group to Europe. (Well about 6 or 7 people of the 22 couldn't make it.) It was fun to have a chance to meet them all before we depart. I can already tell that some of them I will get along with really well, and others, not so much, which is completely fine.

Mel and I bought a couple travel books for London and Paris and have been doing some research of places we would like to visit that are not part of the tour. This has been a lot of fun for us. Planning for London has been the easy part. Paris has been a different story.

Our flight to London will be 10 hours 34 minutes. We do get served in-flight meals. I looked at the April movie selection and it looks pretty good. Perhaps best of all, there are outlets on the plane. I was worried that there wouldn't be and that my iPod would die and I would have to listen to people snoring and children whining.

Mel and I both have pretty much everything that we need, we just have to get it packed and leave plenty of room for souvenirs on our way back. This past weekend I got to see my mom and sisters, all of my aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins, as well as two of my best friends before Mel and I leave. So that as a wonderful blessing.

Hopefully I will get in a few more update posts before I leave. :)

almost all ready!

Today, I went to Target and Walmart and got pretty much everything I need for Europe. Tomorrow I just need to make a trip to Radio Shack and hopefully get an extra li-ion battery for my camera. I am really hoping they have the right one it stock. Other than that I am pretty much squared away.....I think, I hope. Only 13 days left!

Meeting my fellow travelers...

This coming Monday, the 23rd, Mr. McElderry has planned for all of my fellow student travelers (or as many as can make it) to all have dinner at a restaurant together so we can all get to know each other. I am very excited about this because besides Mel of course, I have not met anyone else who is going on the trip.

As of today, only 17 days remain. I am constantly thinking about this trip. At random times during the day I get this rush of excitement that really gives me chills. It is still VERY surreal to me that I will soon be in a completely different country on the other side of the world. I truly cannot wait.

22 days...

Only 22 days left before my departure. I spent this last weekend getting a few things I need, and learning a lot too. I am so thankful to all of my family and friends who have been giving me advise. Mel and I have been getting so many tips and ideas for what to do in Europe from many of our co-workers. I think the two best words I would use to describe you I feel at this point is excited and nervous. I feel like my trip is so far away but when I look to the number 22, I realize just how close it is.

I was watching the news last week and there was a story about the new full body scanning machines that were put up in the San Francisco Airport as well as airports in Las Vegas, Miami, Albuquerque, and Salt Lake City. Instead of using the metal detectors, individuals will be screened by body scanning machines that look through clothing for weapons. The scanners will be able to find things that the metal detector may not, such as non-metallic weapons including plastic and liquid explosives. These body scanners are currently up in SFO. The news program said they will be up for the next two weeks as a trial run. Individuals may choose to either use the new body scan or do the old fashion metal detector and pat down. I am not sure if the will still be up when we depart for Europe, but I hope they are. I think it is cool. Mel on the other hand does not like the idea of it.