Let my travel blogs begin :)

So it's been a couple of months now since I returned back from my travels across Europe, but I think its about time I write about my adventures :)

For starters, I guess I should explain my trip. I booked a tour that traveled to 10 different countries in Europe over 23 days. I'd never been to Europe (or around the world much at all) before this trip.... and I never realized what adventure I was missing out on until my journey began. The tour group met in London, but the tour didn't include London so I flew in a couple of days early to explore on my own. I'm used to flying by myself, but I'm definitely not used to landing in a foreign city, let alone a foreign country, with out anyone there I know. The plane ride was surprisingly pleasant, with surprisingly good food (thanks Air Canada!). It was also a nice bonus that the passengers next to me were great company and shared many stories with me about their own travels. When I arrived in London, I found it was so easy to navigate and after making some new friends at the airport that I would later try to meet up with, and traveling on the tube to Kings Cross Station, I had very little difficulty finding my way to the hostel I was staying at for my two nights in London. I was a little skeptical about staying in a hostel, as I had never done anything like it before... but I am so thankful that I did because it was so easy to make friends quickly in this foreign place. I spent the first day wandering around the city and catching the tube to random places (such as Hyde Park) so that I would know how to quickly get to the sites the next day. I later made some friends in the lobby, one from New Zealand, who I hope to remain in touch with for a long time to come :). A good friend (since middle school) happened to be in London with her boyfriend and was able to meet my new friend and I at my hostel and we had an amazing night just laughing and sharing stories with one another.

The next day I was supposed to meet my new "wolfpack" (3 guys from California that I met at the airport), at Hyde Palace, for the changing of the guard, but let me tell you... there were a lot of people there, so I didn't have much luck. Instead, I met this amazing family, a wife and husband who had been traveling with their 3 young boys across the world (16 different countries, over a span of 11 months). I spent the rest of the afternoon traveling

to the sites with this awesome family, while they told me about the coolest places they had visited and showed me photos- adding to my already lengthy list of countries I have to see. I was so lucky to have met such a generous and open family, and it really made my adventures in London (on my own) that much more enjoyable.

After having only spent 2 days in London

I was sad to leave all of my new friends, but was chipper as can be at 6am when it was time to wake up and journey over to the hostel where I would be meeting the 50 strangers that I would be spending the next month with.