5 days and counting!

We leave for our "pre-game show" this Friday (the tour itself starts a week from tomorrow) and I can't wait! I'm meeting a new friend - who will also be taking the trip for credit - tomorrow for lunch. It will be great to know a few more people that will be going on the trip!

Hotels for the "pre-game show" :)

I got the hotel information for London and Paris today!! 

In London, we're staying at The Grosvenor. 

In Paris, we're staying at TimHotel Place D'Italie.

As far as I can tell, they both have free Internet too!!

Recent events, thoughts and promises

It's a well-known fact by now that the United States Military has been successful in their goal of killing Osama Bin Laden.

Strange opening line for a travel blog, perhaps - but there are many reasons this is of specific interest to me. First, and most immediate - the United States TSA has issued a warning to US citizens with travel plans. They're worried there will be retaliation after the death of Bin Laden, and therefore suggest that US citizens refrain from putting themselves in harm's way unnecessarily. I'm no stranger to traveling during times of unrest though. Just under 10 years ago, I made my first foray into European travel... six short months after the events of September 11th. We were met with very little resistance from the international community - perhaps because we were there as envoys of music rather then politics or "American ideals" but it was still uncomfortable at times for a group of 111 obviously-American-teenagers and their often equally "ugly" parents to be abroad.

This trip is still on, of course. Two weeks from right now, I'll be preparing to go to the airport. Those of us who are getting graduate credit from the trip received our first two readings this week. I really am looking forward to this trip for the cultural experience, the library insight, and the break from normalcy!

Auf wiedersehen, for now!