Do you remember where you were at this time last year?
What you were doing?
What you were thinking?
Me? Like a bumbling idiot, I was splayed out on the floor of a Denver hotel room frantically rummaging though my suitcase convinced I had forgotten to pack my outlet converter (really, you can insert any word here. At one point or another, I was sure I had forgotten it). You see, the next morning my sister and I were scheduled to jump on a plane to embark on a two week excursion throughout France. Que ridiculously high and unnatural levels of anxiety (Hello Type A Personality Problems)!
But before we jump into that story, let's rewind things just a bit. Ever since my first trip to Europe in 2012, I've been itching to go back and do some more exploring. My dream was to honeymoon in Italy and France, but being on a tight budget at the time, we settled for a long weekend in Chicago. Not fully giving up on that vision, I transitioned gears and started watching flight prices for the following summer. From my own online digging, I came across two awesome trip planning resources:
Airfarewatchdog: Allows you select your "home" airport as well as favorite destinations. From there, you can sign-up for real time alerts that notify you when flight deals are released from your home airport or to your favorite destinations.
Skyscanner: Literally scans the internet to find you the best deals on flights! What I love most about skyscanner is that the search parameters are really open ended. If you know you want to go on a vacation but don't have a preference on the destination, you can choose "Everywhere", which literally searches everywhere: United States, Mexico, Ireland, Peru, China, Croatia, you name it, they search it! From a departure and return standpoint, you can search by specific dates, see pricing options for an entire month, or use their "Find Cheapest Month" tool.
As Black Friday rolled around, my email literally blew up with flight deal alerts! I was floored to find roundtrip flights from Denver to Paris for under $500. I was so excited (literally did a happy dance at home) that I was already planning our trip in my head. It never even crossed my mind that Nic might to say no, but sure enough, when I sprung the idea on him during dinner that night, he shot me down knowing that he wouldn't be able to take any vacation days in May. I moped for a good day or so, but when the deal was still listed on Cyber Monday, I told myself I would ask my sister. If she said yes, then we would go. No questions asked! Honestly, I didn't have much hope that this new plan would actually pan out. My sister, who is the queen of penny pinching and dislikes flying with a burning passion, shockingly said yes….without any prodding and pleading from me! So what did I do, I booked those dang tickets (and forgot that the dates overlapped with my first wedding anniversary because I was so genuinely excited to be going…sorry love!).
For the past year, I've teased a few pics here and there on Instagram, but for the most part, they've just stayed stashed away on my phone. Honestly, my family hasn't even seen these images! So this summer, I plan to relive our awesome European adventure by recapping our trip in segments on the blog. Stay tuned to for updates on my travel essentials, what places we saw, the best food we ate, the parts we wish we would have skipped, and so much more!
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