The Travel Bug

I recently met up with a girl who seemed to have been everywhere. She'd been travelling all over, having been granted excellent opportunities like an internship that had her going from army base to army base working with children. Just talking with her gave me The Itch again. The need to be somewhere else, doing something else.

Don't get me wrong. I love it here. I love living with Cal and I love this city. But I always want so much more!

I'm sure I've written/talked/vlogged about this before, but Cal and I are planning this massive trip to Europe. Like, a month or two in Europe. We're planning on going in the December/January time frame, either 2013 or 2014 or 2015. Specific, I know.

We're trying to figure out WHERE exactly we want to go, because a month or two of solid traveling won't put us anywhere near covering the whole of Europe unless we wanted to just ride through each country and wave at the landmarks as we passed. So if anyone has any suggestions as to the BEST PLACES EVER to go, please let us know.

So far, our top priorities are these:

1. Norway. Will probably stick to Oslo/Trondheim. (Would also love to get up to Svalbard.)
     -->See Northern Lights.
     -->Touch a glacier.

2.Scottish Highlands. Want to see more castles and sink myself in some Scottish mythology.

3. Paris. But only for a few days. I feel like Paris is a "go-to" city. You probably shouldn't do a tour of Europe without going to Paris, you know? But neither of us are incredibly interested, save for eating some good food and taking pictures with the Eiffel Tower. Of course, that could all change.

4. Italy. Will probably land in Rome, stay for as long as it takes to cover everything, then head up to Florence for a bit, then Venice. (There's more we want to do in Italy, but we're trying to prioritize!) I've already been to Venice but Cal hasn't, and I didn't see as much as I wanted to! Loved it there.

5. Germany, Austria, Netherlands. Okay, so my number one goal is to go to Neuschwenstein Castle--that is, THE ideal fairy tale castle. Since we're going in winter, I bet it's going to be gorgeous. But there's plenty of history in this area too, and I'd love to soak it all in. Plus, Cal's grandfather came over from the Netherlands, so it will be fun for him to visit. These three will probably be our main event, and we'll be spending the most time here.

There are plenty of other places I want to go, too. Spain, Gibraltar, Belgium, Prague, Ireland... and maybe we will have time for some of these things, but we're trying to keep it small now, and when we start planning our day-to-day itinerary we might be able to fit a few more things in. I'll just be over here, day dreaming. It's been good for us to have a goal like this, as it encourages us to save money. But still. I want to be there NOW.

If anyone has any must-see attractions in any of our top 5, or think a favorite place should be added to that top 5, please leave a comment! We're starting a preliminary checklist and would love to do some things other people have tried.