...And The Journey Begins

Currently sitting in the airport using the free wifi (who knew they had free wifi?) and feeling really anxious for this plane to take off. All seven of us are on the same flight! And all in row 18! Except for Nick, he was relegated to row 19 lolz. First flight is to Phili, the city of brotherly love, an hour layover then a 10 hour fight to Lisbon.

You must be thinking to yourself, 'I wonder how Erik is going to stay entertained for 16 hours on a plane?' Well here is a list of what I have with me to keep me entertained.

• Macbook with the first season of Son's of Anarchy- Show about a biker gang in Northern California that sells guns to gangsters in Southern California
• Ipod- Just got the new Lonely Island, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Foster the People, Emancipator, and Bad Meets Evil
• The book Game of Thrones- A Lord of the Rings type series, it was made into an HBO TV Series that you should jump on and watch... so awesome
• And just in case that can't do that job.... I have a mini shot bottle of Jack Daniel's and Ambien hey oh!

We arrive at 9 AM Portuguese time tomorrow. T-minus one hour until takeoff. So excited!!!!

Meet Tha Crew

My Fellow Travelers:

Alan K.
This Guy... Is a great friend that I met freshman year in the dorms. He is a stud baseball player for the WWU team that made it to nationals this year. He also helped me land the coaching job at Sehome High where he used to play.

Brenna S.

This sweet peach is a great friend of mine. We share crazy roots back to Tacoma and didn't even know each other before college. Brenna is a great friend double majoring in Business Marketing and Communications with a Minor in Political Science. She has traveled a lot throughout Europe and will be a great companion on our European Adventure.

Emma B.
This is the nicest person you will ever meet in your life. I don't think she has a mean bone in her body. We date back to being friends since the beginning of freshman year. Emma just graduated with a degree in Kinesiology and plans to be a Kinesiologist (jk I made that up). She has extensive travel experience and will also be a valuable asset in Europe. But she is staying in Europe for almost the entire summer visiting a best friend from her high school.

Jonny K.

This gem of a friend has been with me my entire illustrious college career. A three year roommate is one definitely a BFFL. We have traveled around the America quite a bit from Coure d'Alane, Idaho to Las Vegas, Nevada and Kona, Hawaii (twice). He will also be accompanying me to New York to visit my sister at the end of the trip and has never been.

Katie M.
The world cannot contain this young entrepenure. Katie is an amazing person with all the traits you want in a friend; cool, fun, hilarious, smart, loyal and respectful. Can't say anything bad about this one. She was an influential member in planning the trip and did much of the hostel and train booking for the trip. She graduates in the Fall.

Nick S.

Oh boy, what to say about Nick... Well this young WWU Alumni currently works in Seattle. He was once a roommate of mine and is a great friend. We share so many funny stories and experiences ranging from trash pizza, one-shot and Rally Fries. Nice has a hilarious personality and is always fun to be around. He was a late edition to the trip but will be a blast to share the European Adventure with.

7 DAYS!

Here I am sitting in the computer lab on campus finishing up finals. I'm actually working on a blog used for an education class where I have to produce 12 blog posts about technology and education. We'll I decided to break away from the busy work for a bit and do another blog post, the fun kind.

In 7 days I will be done with school for 3.5 months. Oh god I can't wait. In 7 days at this time. I will still be on a plane headed for Portugal, I will actually be landing in Philadelphia, PA about to connect to my next flight to Lisbon, Portugal. So crazy that is almost here.

Here is the itinerary so you can follow along in the journey.

June 15-18: Lisbon, Portugal
June 19-22: Barcelona, Spain
June 23-26: Paris, France
June 26-29: Amsterdam, Netherlands
June 29- July 2: Berlin, Germany
July 2-5: Prague, Czech Republic
July 6-8: Vienna, Austria
July 8-13: Who knows??????
July 14: Depart Rome with Jonny
July 15-22: New York, New York (With Jonny)
July 23-30: Flathead Lake, Montana (Family Reunion)

Oh boy there it is. That's the plan. Jonny and I have 6 days to kill before we leave from Rome. That could be spent in any number of lucky countries to host such fine American men.

So Ready!

Oh boy, I need this European adventure to be here now. I can't begin to describe how ready I am to be overseas... but I will attempt to try it anyways:

Today is the Thursday of Dead Week at WWU. I have spent more time on campus this week then I have slept this week. Today I went to turn off my alarm and I knocked a pillow off my desk which knocked over a water glass which spilled on my desk. A slight amount of water got on my computer but apparently it was enough to send it into shut down mode.

>

Currently I am in the computer lab in the basement of Miller Hall working on school stuff. No cell phone reception and to add to the drama, I also have night class from 5:30 to 9:30 tonight. Yeah that is right, 9.5 HOURS IN A COMPUTER LAB WITH NO PHONE RECEPTION!

I guess it could be worse though. At least it is not sunny or anything like Spring weather outside. It is currently 55 degrees and raining. Average temperature for this time of year (JUNE!!!!) is 68 degrees. We haven't had a day over 70 degrees in 247 days! Oh and that breaks a record that has been around since the 1950s!


Wow, I just needed to vent a little. I'm so excited for this vacation and it is 12 days away. Just need to focus on school for a little bit longer. Then Europe!

2 Weeks... AHHHHHH!!

Holy cow, only two more weeks until I leave for Europe. This quarter is finally wrapping up and this once distant trip is finally hitting me. I can't believe in a fortnight I will be in Lisbon, on the beach, having a Corona with Chrisiano Ranoldo, and taking in the refined culture of Portugal. Before I go I do need to take care of a few things:

TO DO LIST:

-Finish Finals and Pass all my classes

-Buy a camera and a new pair of shoes

-Get a hair cut

-Find a couple good books to read

-Say goodbye to all my friends who are graduating and moving on

-Download a whole bunch of music

-Make it on the plane

Europe or Bust

Welcome to my blog about my European Adventure this summer. Only 20 days until the big departure!! This trip consists of me and six of my best friends that I have met at college. This month long trip has me traveling through.

We will be flying into Lisbon, Portugal on June 15, 2011. From there we travel to Barcalona, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prauge, Vienna and Rome.



I will be flying out on July 14, 2011 to head to New York to visit my sister Amee, brother-in-law Mike and my nephew Ivan. And a late addition to the trip... Mr. Jonny Kemp will be accompanying me in NY which will be a great experience for him because he has never been before.

That's all for now, but stay posted for more... posts