16 hours later...

We made it! But not without some surprises...

So, it only took us 16 hours of traveling to get to Copenhagen, Denmark. Our first flight was to Canada. Sadly, no complimentary food...Fail.

Our second flight was completely booked and of course Casey and I were not seated next to each other. The plan was to plee to Casey's row buddy to switch with me. No luck. Something about the back of plane being to bumpy. Lame. 

The odds were somehow in our favor (yes, we also watched The Hunger Games on the flight too. So good.) Anyways,  out of a "full flight" there happened to be one seat open, NEXT TO ME! So, I gave up my isle and Casey joined me for our scary, turbulence filled flight. Sadly, her seats TV didn't work. She had a fun 7 hour flight...

To make up for it though, the flight attendant gave us four travel sized bottles of wine! Winning.

We landed and decided to take out Kroner (pronounced crown) for our 4 days in Denmark. Next was to get our metro pass to head to our hostel - too bad Casey's bank card decided to decline on her...She's had some rough money/airplane tv speaker luck. All resolved now thanks to Skype phone calls!

So we figured out the metro (shocking), got off at our stop and were greated by the best brick buildings - we are way too into them. We followed simple directions our hostel gave us which consisted of - "turn at the 7-11" (home sweet home), then "turn at the big tree." Unfortunately direction wise, there are a ton of "big trees" in Copenhagen. 

We saw a group of girls down an alleyway by a big tree (our other direction - go down an alleyway) so we figured that was it! They were so friendly and excited to see us! The girl even said she had a welcome speech prepared - nice!

She asked if we had ever been here before and we said no. Looking confused, she asked if we knew there was a Gay Festival going on this week - we said no and that's when she said "oh, you didn't know it was this week? You just showed up?"

"Wait, you aren't our hostel?" That's when we realized we were not at our hostel check in but the check in for the local gay festival! We all had a good laugh and they told us our hostel was probably around the corner. 

But we eventually made it to our hostel and it's a good one...sure it's triple bunk beds (guess who's sleeping15 feet off the ground?!) but only 7 strangers with us AND they have a pool table! Living it up...down side - no kitchen, so our plans of cooking dinner have been shattered in Copenhagen. 

Tomorrow's our real adventure day since we're about to go to bed at 7pm because we can't handle traveling at our age...Yeah, our moms have nothing to worry about. 

the final countdown

What's that? ONE WEEK until we leave?! No....

But really, we leave next Wednesday & begin our three week European backpacking adventure starting with Copenhagen, Denmark!

Standard for us, we're still shopping for "necessities" that we didn't know we needed...I don't know about you, but when I think of Europe in July, I think of beautiful skies, frolicking through fields (obvi like Heidi) & running through cobblestone streets.

What could be the biggest buzzkill possible? Oh, you know, THUNDERSTORMS!

I guess I'll put away the shorts & tanks and get some waterproof shit, which, by the way, is very limited in summer time (go figure) thus very expensive. Damn you REI...

Let the rainy, thunder storming, high hopes for better weather begin!

But first, just a few flashbacks to our last European adventure together

- 2010/2011 status -

[france]

[italy]

[london]

and yes, we had the time of our lives...

it just got real

How did this happen? We have two weeks. TWO WEEKS! Until we blow this popsicle stand we call home.

In 14 short days we will board a plane, fly for a ridiculous amount of hours, land SAFELY (ugh hate flying) & start our three week adventure.

There are a few things I'm worried about...I know, already?!

First - I'm an over packer. I will pretty much bring a suitcase full of ten outfits for one weekend because you NEVER KNOW what will happen.

It's the girl scout in me.

But when you're backpacking through Europe, you really can't do that. So of course I think - It's summer. It's hot out. I don't need winter clothes.

WRONG.

Thanks to the wondering iPhone weather app, I saw that it's raining in all of the countries we're going to. RAINING!

Now I have to re-think everything I thought I would need. Or not need. 

Umbrella? I guess I need to pack one of those. Pants? I guess I should have a pair. Water proof jacket? Apparently it will come in handy.

I'm so overwhelmed & confused right now. But on the bright side, I did find some semi-cute walking sandals at Marshall's today!

I didn't think it would be possible but hey, $40, designed for longs walks & a "hip" design? How could I say no.

Not horrible, right?

Well, only two more weeks & a million things to do. Next on my list - find a hat! Harder than it sounds...

one month to go

How this snuck up on us? I have no idea...But we are ONE MONTH away from our European adventure!

ONE MONTH to get everything ready. ONE MONTH to figure our shit out. Oh goodness.

So far we have:

- Plane tickets
- Eurail passes
- All hostels booked

Yup, that's pretty much it. And maybe some backpacks & shoes. But that's all we really need, right?

Next to plan - a list of things to bring. And then actually get them all. This all better be worth it!

at least we have a place to sleep

You feel so on top of your game when you book your flight six months in advance & then all of a sudden you are a month and a half out and it feels like there's so much to do still!

One thing we can FINALLY check off our list are the hostels! 

We did it! We actually have solid places to stay in each country, for every day that we're there. No park benches or random couches for us. Hopefully.

Of course we ran into a full room on the last hostel we were trying to book, but we were able to find another one that worked out...It just wasn't as cool. Everyone needs a bar in their hostel, right?

Through this process, I have found that their are some pros & cons when it comes to booking hostels during summer - 

CONS: They are a FORTUNE! Everyone kept saying, "Oh it was only 15 euro a night for me." Yeah, try twice that amount. And those are the cheapest options. 

PROS: I guess this doesn't have to do with the hostels, but we won't have to carry around huge jackets or boots! Just trying to find an upside to the amount of money we have spent to far...

Now we have the adventure of booking train rides to look forward to this week!

T-Minus 44 Days!

and so it [almost] begins

Get ready because the NorCal meatballs are taking some backpacks around Europe!

That's right - we are backpacking our way through five countries over the span of three weeks with little knowledge of other languages [ok, a tad bit of Italian & French] but zero sense of direction. Fingers crossed we find our way home...

Where To?

1. Copenhagen, Denmark
2. Brussels, Belgium
3. Amsterdam, Netherlands
4. Berlin, Germany
5. Interlakin, Switzerland

We will be blogging along the way (or maybe just me...I started this without consulting my travel buddy - sorry!), sharing our highlights, our sketchy situations (because you know we will accidentally find them) and our amateur artistic photos. We will try not to overkill it with the filters...

This blog was also requested by my family to make sure I survive each day. Now, why would they worry about two 5 foot, 20-something year old girls traveling in foreign countries without cellular phones?!

So cheers to us & let the countdown to The Traveling Meatballs begin!

T-Minus 63 days!