Prologue • Day 1

Prologue

After traveling to Greece in the spring of 1996, I knew that I definitely wanted to travel more and experience more cultures. It wasn't until the Summer Olympic Games of 2004, held in Athens that I was reminded of how cool it is to travel and experience the world first-hand. I loved seeing things like Olympia (site of the Ancient Olympics) on all of the competitions that were aired on TV and saying, "Hey, I've been there!" Naturally, it would also bring back fond memories of people I met, places I saw, and things I experienced. So the mission to return to Europe began.

I had a lot of places that I wanted to see, so I knew that I was going to have to do some serious research on places, prices, budget, how much time each place needed, etc. I spoke with others about places they liked, and got some good tips from my cousin Dahlia, who had lived in London for about nine months in 2004-2005 before moving back to Boston citing how expensive London was as one of her main reasons for returning to the States.

Mikki (one of my best friends since we were eleven) was on board right away to go to Europe. Since she had been to England and Spain before, she was itching to travel some more too.

Becca (my brother Ralph's girlfriend) said she wanted to go too while I was up visiting one weekend in Ocean City, MD.

Kinnery (Mikki's friend, and Spain traveling buddy) wanted to go as well since she loved to travel.

So the group was set and I started to do research. I found out about several tour groups that went to just about every place we could think of in Europe. The tour company that seemed like the best fit was Contiki, which specialized in guided tours for people ages 18-35.

Based on time-off availability and time to save up for the trip, we agreed that late April or early May would be best for everyone.

Then Kinnery got accepted to a very prestigious Masters program and had to bow out of the trip.

So with about 48 hours to go before we booked our trip, I asked Zeeni (friend I met while working at AOL) if she wanted to go with us. She was up for it, so we booked the tour (European Discovery) for May 8-21 with two extra days in London beforehand.

Day 1 • Friday, May 6, 2005 • Dulles International Airport
I went to work as usual, but left at noon to go home, do some last-minute packing, take a shower and get a pedicure with Mikki.
After the pedicures, Mikki and I picked Zeeni up at her brother's house in Fairfax. Then we waited at my house for Mikki's brother Nen (Eric), to come get us. Nen took us to Dulles around 3:30pm for our 6:20 non-stop flight to London (1), (2). We met up with Becca at the United counter, weighed and checked our bags. Contiki claims to be really strict about the luggage size and weight so we thought we would be in trouble since our suitcases all hovered dangerously close to or over the 44 lb. limit.
After waiting in a line that literally wrapped around the airport to go through security, we took the shuttle over to Concourse C. Mikki and I got some McDonald's since neither of us had had any lunch (3). I also bought a last-minute book for the trip, In Her Shoes, and a travel pillow, which turned out to be the best travel accessory for this trip.

Mikki and I sat in Coach while Becca and Zeeni both upgraded to First Class (4). Their seats reclined completely which was good for an overnight flight, but not worth $350 if you ask me. I'd rather spend the money in Europe.

About an hour into the flight we were served dinner: manicotti, salad, bread, marble pound cake, cheese and crackers, grapes and water. I wish I had not eaten two cheeseburgers and fries, but I did it thinking the airplane food would be bad. I was wrong, the food was delicious. I wish they served trans-Atlantic food on all domestic flights.

I watched Sideways on my own personal screen, which was a first—even though I had been on a lot of planes lately. The movie was edited for United, so there was no nudity or inappropriate language. So from what I hear, I'll have to watch Sideways again to see everything.

I tried to get some sleep, but I was too excited. I think I got around two hours of sleep total.

I woke up in time for breakfast, which included orange juice in those cups that you'd get in the school cafeteria (with the foil lids), a croissant, fresh fruit—and I ate all of it. Ick. Three very filling meals in about six hours. That was at least 2,000 calories. Oh well, I'm on vacation.