Over the holidays, one of my closest friends got engaged to her German boyfriend. Unlike me who only ever dated one guy, she has been through ups and downs with multiple guys having her heart trampled on, crumpled up and thrown out quite frequently over the years. Being the optimist, myself and other friends of hers would always tell her that true love would find her when she wasn't expecting it and that the right guy would treat her the way she deserves to be treated. Nearly 10 years later in what almost seems like an unexpected plot twist, she finally will have her happy ending. Not without trial and tribulation as it seems she will be marrying and moving out of the country in the midst of her parents facing an awful divorce and with family and friends unable to come due to the high cost of even getting to Germany. I am extremely happy for her though, and my goal is to (in the smallest capacity at least) be there for her as she transitions from single American to married German.
Given her wishes for Justin and I to only be around in the smallest way possible, Justin and I have redirected our attention to saving for a 3 week vacation exploring the northern coast of Europe – northern Germany, Prague, Denmark, Amsterdam, and possibly Belgium – following my friend's civil ceremony in southern Germany. I have no idea how many places we can travel to in 3 weeks, but I plan to get to and take advantage of all of the ones I can. We don't know exactly when we will be taking this trip because my friend has not yet settled on a wedding date, but I am anxiously waiting (and hoping) I have plenty of time to get a good deal on flights and hotels. I will be sad that she is no longer within driving distance, but I am also anxious to have one more reason to travel to Europe as frequently as possible in the years to come. (I still have to visit Spain, southern Italy, Greece, England, Norway, northern France, and see more of southern Germany!!)
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| Berlin, Germany – image by lipjin |
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| Amsterdam, The Netherlands – image by mau_ry |
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| Brussels, Belgium – image by essey |
While I will soon enough find myself dealing with #alloftheemotions when planning #Europe2015, for now I am just going to look at pretty pictures of the places I hope to visit and be happy.
