In the beginning…

So in the beginning, there was a travel blog.  She was new, she was inexperienced (hey, she hasn’t ever blogged before) but she was really, really excited to be! The start of any journey is that very first step, and this is it!  This collection of thoughts and ideas is my idea of how to get information out to my fellow travelers from Nicholas County, Kentucky.  We are small, but we are going to make the world our oyster.  Come along with me and see the world….

First off, what do you call me?  A great question.  Since I am not one of your high school teachers we will dispense with the formal “Mrs. Rice” and go for one of two options.  My kid’s friends have always called me either “Mama Rice” or “Miss Kelly”  you decided, I answer equally well to both, BUT I do NOT answer to just plain ole “Kelly” unless you are over the age of 30.  You are forwarned. 😉

The EF Tour that I have chosen for this first big step is call “England and France”.  Hopefully the itinerary will stay as close to the brochure as possible as long as my tour representative listens to me when I say “I want to go to the Normandy beaches!!”  I’ll keep you posted.  The chosen tour goes something like this:

Day 1:  Fly overnight to England (yes, you will be tired)

Day 2:  London (wow!!)

            Walking tour of London, including – The Strand, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Covant Garden

Day 3:   London

             Guided tour of London, including – Big Ben and Houses of Parliment, Piccadilly Circus, St.Paul’s Cathederal, Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace (maybe) [Optional: Windsor Castle]

Day 4:   Canterbury * Normandy region

              Guided tour of Canterbury – Canterbury Cathedral then cross the English Channel by ferry from Dover to Calais, continue to Normandy

Day 5:    Normandy * St. Malo

               Visit the D-Day beaches of Normandy – Pointe du Hoc, American Cemetery, the Caen Memorial, continue to St. Malo

Day 6:   St. Malo

               Guided tour of St. Malo, visit Mont. St. Michel (can’t wait!!)

Day 7:    Paris! (Ya’ll are gonna love it!)

               Chartres Cathedral, continue to Paris

Day 8:    Paris

               Guided tour of Paris including – Place de la Concorde, Champs-Elysees’, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower [Optional Versailles, yeah said the right way Kentuckians]

Day 9:    Paris

               Visit the Louvre, walking tour of Paris, Latin Quarter, Notre Dame Cathedral

Day 10:  Depart for home (get some sleep)

Because we will probably not have enough bodies to fill a bus (must have 40+) we will very likely be combined with another group that is headed in the same direction.  In order to keep costs down EF is known for matching up different groups and keeping them together for the trip.  This is a wonderful way to meet new people from some other part of the US or Canada and I would say an A+ opportunity to make new friends.  Just think how many new Facebook friends you’ll add! 😉  

I will say this for the first time, but you are going to hear it over and over- BE FLEXIBLE – HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE!!  Any trip or journey is what you make of it.  If you think being with other folks that you don’t know is the worst thing possible then guess what?  IT WILL BE!  But, if you think “Hey!  New faces, new opinions, new attitudes!  I’m gonna love this!”  THEN YOU WILL!!

Roll with the punches and keep your eyes and ears open, I’m gonna teach you young’uns how to enjoy travel and make the best of every situation.  Stay tuned…..

Edit 08/30/2008~

Hopefully adding a widget to allow everyone to subscribe to my blog.  We’ll see!

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