But here we are, having just finished our last week of classes for the year! I have two finals on Monday and my last group project due on Thursday, and Hannah has all of her finals done by Tuesday, so within just a few days we'll be completely done with our academic year. I've scheduled myself an hour-long appointment at Massage Envy for next Friday using the $50 gift card Hannah gave me for my birthday back in January. It should be a very nice way to decompress after this crazy semester.
One of the hardest things about the past six weeks has been balancing our school and work responsibilities with planning for Europe! Originally we had decided to not book hostels more than a few days in advance so that we could maintain flexibility on our trip. But after evaluating current prices with respect to our tight budget, we decided we needed to book further in advance to even have a shot at staying under budget (and it looks like that won't happen anyway!).
So, Hannah called me up one afternoon and said, "In two weeks, we need to have all our sleeping arrangements booked. You take half, and I'll take the other half." I was like, "But Hannah, I'm so busyyyyyy..." and she said, "Suck it up, Nancy!" Okay, maybe she didn't phrase it quite like that, but she got the point across. Little did she know the tables would soon turn.
I took my assignment - as I do all my assignments - and ran with it! Within a couple days I'd booked sleeping arrangements in three of our cities, and was anxious to finish the rest. This time Hannah pushed back, asking if we could postpone further bookings to next weekend since she was busy with school. I obliged, and by the end of the following week we'd finished booking our sleeping arrangements for our entire trip, all at prices that met our budget.
The next big hurdle came upon learning that the EuroStar - the train we'd be taking to get from London to Belgium and from France to London - cost over $130 for a one-way ticket. That was quite a blow to the confidence we'd built in making such conservative bookings for our hostels. We always knew that the Eurail didn't travel to the UK, but we had no idea that it'd cost so much to make up for that. So, we started looking at plane flights instead, eventually finding some pretty great deals from easyJet. Looks like our one-way travel cost for those legs of the journey will average around $80 instead of the $130 we'd pay for a train ticket, and even though that's still quite a bit of money, we're satisfied to be saving about $100 apiece in those travel costs!
So yes, our backpacking trip to Europe is becoming more rigid as we proceed, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do if you intend to stick to a tight budget. Flexibility costs a lot of money. But we're still quite happy with our plans; we believe the time we've allocated to each stop in our itinerary will be just about right. Kinda crazy to think it's only three weeks away now! Seems like just yesterday I was FaceTiming Hannah from my apartment in Orlando, when we originally came to the decision to travel to Europe this summer...
In other news, Hannah and I experimented with a fun new activity in Downton Phoenix called Social Bicycles. It's a system they've recently implemented where you can go up to a set of bikes at one of probably a dozen different stations around the city, and rent a bike for just $5/hour. They're just casual, cruising bikes - nothing fancy - but it gave us a fun opportunity to explore the area and enjoy the nice weather. We finished with a ride down Roosevelt Row, a strip of the city known for its murals that decorate the sides of small buildings. It was a fun afternoon! And apparently this isn't a totally novel idea: other places around the country do this same thing, including Orlando and some other coastal cities.
Creative pictures, right? This was Hannah's idea!
Hannah and I also had a lot of fun on Easter Sunday, and not just because our families make AMAZING food! We got to play our instruments with the worship team at RMCC for all three services, and it was really uplifting and rewarding. Jessica, the leader of the worship team, sent us an email afterward that included kind words she'd received from some who attended the services, and it was really neat to think that we played a part in connecting others to God through our music. I hope we get to do that more frequently in the future!
Two weeks ago we drove down to that "school" down south to hear my little brother, Nathan, perform at the Arizona All-State Music Festival. It's an annual event that consists of three groups - band, orchestra, and choir - and it's a real privilege to be a part of; you have to audition to get in, and in the case of trumpet (Nathan's instrument) it ultimately consists of just the top 15-or-so high school musicians in the state. Nathan's been a part of it for three years, so as you might assume, he is indeed quite a talented musician. They put on a wonderful performance, as did the orchestra and choir, and afterward we grabbed dinner at this cute little restaurant whose name eludes me... It had the word "garlic" in it, so naturally, it was delicious food.
Then, last week, Hannah and I joined her family for an afternoon of roller hockey to take advantage of the beautiful weather. We played for a solid hour, and at first glance, the teams may have appeared quite lopsided. Her dad and her brother, Brian, were on one team, and the other five of us played against them. About halfway through, two little kids from elsewhere in the neighborhood came and joined our team, so eventually it was seven-on-two hockey - and they still gave us a run for our money. We eventually won on a "next goal wins" ultimatum, but honestly, I think they may have been a goal or two ahead of us at that time. But every time I play I get a little more adept at the sport, so maybe one day I'll be able to keep up with them. Maybe.
I think that's about all there is to share from the past six weeks! Should be a really great next few weeks before we leave for Europe. Our friends Stephanie and Kyle are getting married in just two weeks, and my little brother, Nathan, will be graduating high school just a few days after that! In fact, today is his 18th birthday, and we're celebrating with dinner and a movie this evening. So yeah, should be fun! Hopefully we can fit in another blog post before we leave, to wrap things up here before we start blogging about our Europe adventures!
Until next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment