Introduction

When I was in college, everyone around me seemed to be traveling abroad all the time, for school or vacation or work. It seemed impossible to ever imagine that I would find myself in the same position, just a few short years later. And to be perfectly fair, I didn't just find myself in that position: through a lot of hard work, saving, planning, an amazing support structure, and a generous graduation gift from my parents, I am finally on the cusp on such a trip myself. 

Let's back-up for a moment, so I can introduce myself. My name is Megan. I'm a grad student in my final semester of a wonderful low-residency MFA program. My amazing girlfriend, Gooligan, and I have been together for three and a half years. She just graduated from college Winter quarter. This trip will be, by far, our biggest, most expensive, most chaotic trip together, and I am so incredibly excited to have Gooligan by my side. You should follow her blog at Gallivanting Gooligan. 

Our trip consists of 39 days in Europe; we will visit Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Spain, Italy, and then hop back to France to fly home. 

This trip will be an amazing experience for both of us, I'm sure. We're just finishing the planning stages and I've already figured out a few things that we probably should have done differently. I refuse to have any negative feelings about this trip, however, and so any regrets that come up now, during, or after the trip I will channel into productive blog posts to help educate other people who might be planning a similar trip.