Just a Dream?

Well, it is hard to believe, but 40 days, 16 cities and countless trains, planes, buses, taxis, metros, ferries, a bike, and an ATV later, I am back home in the states wondering if it was all a dream. Since my tan didn’t disappear in the shower this morning and the Domino’s pizza for dinner last night tasted like rubbish, I’ll take that (and the fact that I just used rubbish in my vocabulary) as proof enough that sunning in the Greek Isles and experiencing the tastes of genuine Italian fare were not just figments of my imagination after all.

As you all predicted, the trip was truly the experience of a lifetime and every dime, sacrifice and risk to make this trip happen was completely worth it. There are some things in life that you can’t put a price tag on and this is certainly one of them.

Thank you so much for all of your feedback throughout my blogging updates along the way. It has been encouraging and heartening to hear from so many familiar faces from across the world – some that I haven’t seen for over 10 years!

It has also been awesome to receive correspondence from some of you contemplating a similar trip. Rock on people! I couldn’t have done this the way I did without the helpful suggestions and advice of friends that did this before me, and I hope to be an equally helpful resource for those planning their future Euro trip!

As evidenced by the last blog post below (Blog 13, I believe), I am only on city 4 of 16 in my recounts of traveling! Despite the novel-esque nature of my posts already, the truth is, I’ve only touched on the tip of the iceberg. However, as a personal goal, I do plan to catalogue all the subsequent fun and mayhem of the remaining 12 cities in due time … just as soon as I finish the following (listed in order of importance):

1. Get screened for lung cancer resulting from prolonged and frequent exposure to second-hand smoke.
2. Relish in the exultant feeling of taking a proper shower complete with:
- a shower curtain (!)
- a large enough surface area to actually fit me in it
- a shower head that is permanently fixed overhead and does not require that the water be turned off every 30 seconds to lather alternating body parts.
- hot water that lasts forever (or until I’m on the brink of passing out)
- a full deep conditioning hair treatment, 10-minute face scrub, proper shave, loofah bodywash, pumice scrub of feet, and all other fragrant cleansing agents aiding in the final goal of feeling clean and refreshed.
- a freshly clean, plush, dry towel to top it off.
3. Sleep in the peace and quiet of my own room in a comfortable queen-size bed with air conditioning and as many blankets and sheets as my heart desires.
4. Order a Grande iced coffee from Starbucks. Drink. Smile. Repeat.
5. Partake in a ceremonial burning of the backpack that served as a loyal companion for these past 40 days.
6. Find a place to get a pedicure that can remove the seemingly permanent black veneer on the heels of my feet …
7. Google and Wikipedia all the sights I took pictures of that I had no utter clue of their significance or cultural importance (proceed to pretend that I knew these important factoids all along).
8. Rent the movie “Taken” – per the advice of all of you, I did not watch this before I left, but seeing as though I made it back alive, I am now as curious as ever to finally see what all of your fuss was about.
9. Find an apartment before August 1st.
10. Find a job before I officially go broke.