Excuse Me, Life!

It's hard to believe I've been back in the states for a little more than two weeks now. I've had a lot of people ask me how I made this trip happen. So here it is: 17 days... 4 countries... 5 cities... $3,000... with no help from a travel agency or booking tours. DESTINATIONS First came the destination planning. With Sarah living across the world in Prague we went back in forth for a while on ideas and looking up costs. We had a list of places we would like to visit and the flight costs are what made the choices for us. Prague, Czech Republic Venice, Italy Malta - tiny island country amidst the Mediterannean Sea  Madrid, Spain Pamplona, Spain We actually added Pamplona pretty last minute. We knew we wanted to experience the world's Mardi Gras AKA San Fermin Festival Running of the Bulls, but the flights were outrageous. Originally we would be in Madrid for about four days. Then we realized it was only a five hour bus ride away from Pamplona and went for it....

Three and a half scorching days in Malta leaves my skin torched and sore. I've never felt the sun burn like that.  Upon our late arrival a man was waiting with a sign that had my name on it. His name was Martin. We have a mutual friend, Paul, who I work with, that put us in touch. He was so kind and accommodating offering to give us a ride and answering our questions.   We walked outside where Martin's wife waited. It was my first time riding in a car with the steering wheel to the right and driving on the left side of the road. It was kind of trippy taking turns.  A mutual friend of Sarah's let us stay in her home while she was on holiday, so we were headed to her flat. When we got to the street we realized we didn't have a house number, just a map. Things quickly turned into an island treasure hunt! In this case the potted plants marked the spot. Fortunately we found our way and ventured inside the flat. Let's just say walking into a stranger's home was, well....