I don’t know why, but whenever the Christmas season comes along I always want to watch Harry Potter. And as you may have seen in my first European post, I’m kind of a Harry Potter geek. My 4th grade teacher read us the first chapter of the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone book and I was immediately hooked.
I’ve gone to midnight book releases, read one of those thick books in a day, re-read every book at least 3 times. I’ve gone to midnight showings of the movie and I even wrote my first ever Fan Fiction novel (the only novel I’ve ever written beginning to end) of a love story with Harry Potter characters on to a website called Quizzilla when I was in middle school (and since then I’ve loved writing fiction stories in my spare time and hope to one day publish a fiction book).
So yes, I am a big Harry Potter Geek. Capital H-P-G.
Since England is the main location of Harry Potter, I of course fell in love with London. All I ever wanted to be was a witch on my way to Hogwarts in London.
Well I got to live out my fantasy, even if it was for a brief moment.
Hello my travelers! I am back in California and terribly missing Europe. I have left some of my heart in Europe and it hurts. But a way to fill the void (I know that was extremely cheesy) is by the next few weeks I will be posting glorious amounts of posts with stories, videos, and photos of my first European trip.
I had been dreaming of going to Europe my entire life and I am so happy to have experienced 2 whole weeks of it with my boyfriend by my side and of course all my family and friends in Europe. So with that being said, the best way for me to write about my first European experience (believe me, this is not my last) is best if I split everything up into little posts throughout the next few weeks.
So keep checking out my blog every week. I’ll for sure be posting my Europe content every Tuesday and Thursday. Come check out how I experienced this beautiful continent.
As for now, here are some photos from every city I visited. I can’t wait to relive the experiences I had with all of you.
I figured since I need to pack for Europe tomorrow, why not suddenly get inspired and write a blog post, procrastination at its finest.
SO if you’re anything like me, packing is an absolute nightmare (Especially since I am going full minmalist and taking only a backpack!). Clothes everywhere, falling asleep on your comfy bed, having random dance parties as you try to do the laundry you should have done last week because there are outfits in there that you wanted to wear on your trip. Well I feel for you.
I got caught up in the ‘I’m just going to close my eyes for 10 minutes, don’t worry I set like 10 alarms.’
DON’T FALL FOR THAT TRAP, because for me, four hours later, here I am procrastinating more on my packing. So I decided to devise some little tips and tricks on making packing suck less.
1. Blast music and make it a fun time – I was stupid and put in a movie and ended up getting engulfed in it. So music is your best bet because you may get sucked into a small dance party to that Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, but at least that’s only a 4 minute song and you can move on rather than ending up watching a full 2 hour movie not making a dent in your packing.
2. Don’t pack near your bed (or couch) – I try to stay on my feet the whole time. Even when I say I’ll just sit on my bed and look at my closet to see what to wear. It will suck you in and next thing you know you find yourself snoring with an empty suitcase.
3. Make a List – I started doing this awhile back and it works so damn well because I AM a very forgetful person and if I take one good look at that list, there is always at least one or two things I forgot to pack that if I didn’t write it down I definitely would’ve forgotten it. But also beware of the list ’cause if you’re like me you still forget to write certain things down on your list and you think ‘Oh I’m good’ – Wait my toothbrush’.
4. Do the quick pack and then re-pack – While in my lists I do write down outfits, it doesn’t always go as planned. Like I find random cute outfits I forgot I had or the one I wanted to bring is at the bottom of the laundry stack. So I do the quick pack, as if I had only 10 minutes to pack and pack anything and everything in sight that’s clean and throw it in my case (while still trying to follow my list). I then take a quick break, not anywhere near my bed, and re-group and look at every outfit I put in that suitcase and wonder if I really need a pair of heels for my hike.
5. Try to pack a few days before or invite a friend that is a pro-packer with you to your house the night before and have a pack all my crap into my suitcase party – They’ll love it.
What are some tips and tricks you do to not make packing your nightmare? Comment below!
Giving you som happy European Cheers! Happy Travels. I can’t wait to be on my way to Europe for the first time tomorrow! I AM SO EXCITED! I promise to keep everyone updated as much as possible! Mucho besos <3
With Europe being such a big dream of mine, it took a long time for Alex and I to finalize our itinerary, but everything is finally official and we have all our accommodations and transportation all set up and ready to go!
Since we’re only going to be there for a 2 weeks, we decided to hit up most of the major tourist destinations and get our whole tourist-y European let loose. That way we have more reason to get up and explore Europe in another year together.
Here are our main stops in Europe:
Stop #1: London, England – Since our plane arrives in Gatwick, it only made sense to start in London. Our first night will be spent there where we will try to adjust to time and probably get some Fish N’ Chips.
Stop #2: Paris, France – We’ll be hitting all major spots: the Eiffel Tower, Luxembourg Gardens, The Louvre,etc… We will also enjoy the city of lights and enjoy the French cuisine.
Stop #3: Amsterdam, The Netherlands – We’ll only be here for a night before our flight to Italy. But we’re going to make the day and the night count completely.
Stop #4: Milan, Italy – The bulk of our stay is in Milan for we are staying with family.
Stop #5: Nice, France – My best friend and fellow Krazy Kappa line sister is studying abroad near Nice and we will make a Nice pit stop in the south of France.
Stop #6: Pisa, Italy – A few hour day trip to the leaning tower before Tuscany.
Stop #7: Florence Italy – From Pisa we go to Tuscany and see the Piazzale Michaelangelo and enjoy the city of Florence at night.
Stop #8: Venice, Italy – Straight from Florence we jump on a train to Venice. We’re going to only go for a night during our week stay in Milan, but riding a Gondola is definitely on our radar.
Last Stop: London, England – Our first night in London is just going to be a time to adjust to Europe time and adjust to foreign land. The last weekend we are in Europe we will spend in London and that’s when we’ll be doing our sight-seeing and Halloween partying.
Do you have any advice, tips or cool places to eat or see for this girl and her boyfriend traveling to Europe for their first time? Comment below, send me an e-mail at lostwithyvonne@gmail.com, or tweet me @lostwithyvonne.
I’ve seen the Vegas Eiffel Tower enough times, time to see the real one.
As I have mentioned before, don’t be afraid to dream big.
And one of my biggest dreams is finally becoming my reality.
While I’ve achieved quite a bit of big dreams of mine (graduate high school and graduate college with honors), there has always been the dream of traveling on my mind. My biggest travel dream was to go to Europe and spend a good amount of time there to explore.
And yes, my travelers, I am officially going to Europe in the fall of 2014 in October! And that is exactly two weeks from today I will be boarding on a plane to London, England.
I’ve seen numerous of my friends and family who have traveled to Europe multiple times. And as much as jealousy sat in me, it also drove me more to try and get my feet on European land.
But before anything, I’d like to give a big thanks to my boyfriend, Alex. He’s always pushed me saying ‘we’re going to Europe, we’re going to Europe’, and while I kept putting it off saying I don’t have the funds, one day BAM he got us tickets to Europe. In all honesty, this is all thanks to him that I am finally achieving my big dream.
So yes, while I did make up many excuses to not going to Europe this year, like money, money, money, and time, I always knew that one day my excuses will run out and I’d be left with just going out and doing it. And, once again, thanks to Alex, it became a now situation and now I am going to be living out my dream of living in a foreign land for 2 weeks!
While I am one lucky girl to have someone get me my ticket to Europe (And for the record, we are not trust fund babies, we struggle and have money hardships, but since we want it enough we go for it).
I want to say that it’s never too late to dream big and share your dreams with others because you never know who just might help you get to that first step to achieving that dream.
But no doubt in my mind, do I think that the hard part is over. Because as much as the hard part of setting a date and actually getting to Europe has been fixed, there is still so much that needs to be done before I leave in October. Money and time is still a big issue. But I keep my head up because I know everything will work out in the end.
Always dream big my fellow travelers. Once I do my European trek who knows what will be my next big dream. But for now I focus on this dream and keep fighting through all the excuses of money and time and then one day you’ll be seeing me in front of the Eiffel Tower smiling big knowing that I achieved a dream that I’ve been dreaming of since I was a young girl.
