Inaugural Post - less than a month out.

Well... After years of dreaming, months and months of planning, we're now less than a month out from departure on our big adventure in Europe.

The plan:   The four of us will leave 3 days after school gets out.    I'll post the itinerary in the next post.  But, basically, we're doing a big loop of Western Europe... Starting in Sicily, ending in Barcelona, with northern stops in Prague, Berlin, and Amsterdam.

All travel will be by train and public transit - with the exception of the week in Aix-en-Provence... too many things to see that are not train-convenient, and I don't enjoy tour buses.  

This will be a BUDGET trip.   We'll be eating locally.  My goal is to only eat one meal (and some snacks) in a restaurant per day...  We'll have kitchens, laundry and wifi at every apartment we're renting.  We'll shop local, drink local, and hopefully that will help the budget.  Our budget is $300/day - INCLUDING TRAIN AND LODGING.  (excluding airfare.)  That sounds like a lot till you realize it's for a family of 4... so it's only $75/person/day.   

I'll be posting here with pictures and highlights.   Stay tuned.