Gametime

Tomorrow: Burlington-->JFK-->Amsterdam-->Budapest

This summer, I've read a couple hundred pages of my two massive guidebooks. I've also thumbed through another couple dozen at the Burlington Borders that I didn't buy (and they wonder why they're going out of business...). All of my friends who have studied abroad have endured my long-winded emails full of questions. Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll certainly heed many but reserve the right to make my own mistakes and learn some lessons the hard way.

I fly into Budapest and fly home from London 70 days later. I've come up with a general direction of central Europe-->north to Scandinavia-->southeast towards Paris-->ferry to Ireland-->UK. I don't intend to overplan and will likely freelance much of the trip. I've got the Eurail Global Pass so I have some freedom to make last-minute decisions. One possible itinerary I've worked out on Google Maps: LINK

I first blogged two summers ago when I drove cross-country with Matt, Matt and Danny. At first I thought it would just be a way to pass the time in the passenger seat and to send out signs of life to our parents over the internet, but found that chronicling my experiences for an audience (however small) was fun and occasionally caused me to think critically about the places we drove through. Two years removed, it's now fun to read through as a digital souvenir of the trip. If you're bored: http://brodtripthemovie.blogspot.com/

As you can see, the blog fell off around Las Vegas. This was not because what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas, but because we were so tired from 10 days of driving that we crashed at midnight and were too ashamed to keep blogging. Hopefully that doesn't happen this time.

I've spent a couple days trying to come up with a blog title. This was the best I could do. For all the time I've spent reading travel books and looking at my friends' pictures of their abroad adventures, all I can really think of are the 3 euro kebabs I ate daily in Barcelona last fall break. Cheap, filling and available super-late: truly fine European cuisine. I'm sure in a couple weeks I'll be a little sick of street food and may hate this title, but I'll take that risk.

Gotta pack.

Sam