Bethany and I have spent the last 5 hours planning our time in Italy, which has snuck up on our already-packed weeks of travel for work. With my flight to France less than one week away, the European dream is inching closer and closer to reality. After some additional research, our entire itinerary has been flopped, but my excitement is higher than ever. I can’t help but wonder how people planned trips before social media and the internet. Our biggest resources have been blogs, tweets (thanks @bejabl for the railway assistance), websites, and short videos. 

Our rail tickets have been purchased, the overnight train reservations are set, and the final planning that needs to be taken care of is the hotels and accommodations. We anticipate a diverse mixture of hotels, hostels, and homes (I’d even like to explore couch surfing at some point). If you have any advice, insight, or suggestions please feel free to send them our way.

Beyond the adventure and thrill of being on a new continent, I’m preparing myself to understand what else can come of this experience. I’ve always tried to evolve my travel around people, community, and making any difference that I can. Having control and being able to “be the change” in an unknown country is both intimidating and challenging. I plan to document our travels closely and with strong intentions of developing content, however a theme has not been determined. Please pray for us as we develop our intentions and goals, while leaving room for the unexpected and unimaginable.