And the planning begins!

One month away from our first trip together outside the Americas! We've been talking about doing this since before we were married 2years ago, and the trip has been booked for almost 1year already! 

We were so lucky to find a great deal through a great company. The initial booking sets the skeleton. Confirmed are the hotel reservations and transportation. In my mind, the most important things to get in advance. 

We could easily arrive without talking or planning all the different places we want to see, but that would take all the fun out of anticipation! 

So we've decided to use our standard Friday date nights to look through travel books and recommendations, list all the cool places we want to see/things we want to do, and test if we think it'll fit! 

Thank god we did, because there's a lot of reservations and tickets to buy... Now! And so many wants to narrow down. We have questions to ask the hotel and things to make sure we pack. Money to set aside and exchange.

I found a roll of simple sticky chalkboard paper and chalk pens. We posted it up on the wall and started drawing our first destination, Paris! With a borrowed Rick Steve's France Travel book (thank you Leann!), we studied the Paris map with the 5 districts and the Sienne River. We are most interested in historic landmarks, city sightseeing, and delicious romantic meals. 

My goal is to enjoy the vacation (time off work + quality time with hubby) and still be touristy without exhausting ourselves. Mark is feeling a little more ambitious, for fear that we will never get to go back. We will end up falling somewhere in the middle, especially after realizing the effort to overcome jet lag. We will bring LOTS of Amino energy powder with us (for those of you who know us, we love it and drink it daily)!

We have 3 more Friday's to plan 3 more stops: Venice, Florence, and Rome. 

Looking forward to more date night planning! ❤️