Deciding on a trip

Deciding where to go become much harder than I anticipated when my boyfriend said he wanted to join me. I had already been planning to go to England a solid year before we started dating but I didn't anyone to accompany me. So having a companion to join me thrilled me even though it also complicated things a bit.

Including England as part of our trip was a definite. My love for the country grew strong every year since before I can remember. It helped that I started becoming a fan of lots of BBC and E4 shows while I was in college. I had every desire to visit red phone booths, historic castles, Big Ben, and the London Eye in person.

However, my boyfriend -- never having visited Europe -- wanted to visit at least one other country. We spent quite a while seriously considering the London, Paris, & Rome trip before I realized I wouldn't have nearly as much time in England that would quench my immense desire for the country. Then I suggested going on the England, Scotland, & Ireland. There were two dilemmas with that trip: 1) I had already visited Ireland in college; and 2) again, we wouldn't be spending enough time in England. We even briefly considered London, Paris, & Amsterdam.

At that point, we ruled out all trips that included three countries. It came down to English Countryside & Wales versus London & Paris. Both trips meant spending enough time in England while also getting to experience two different countries. I would have been happy with the former trip but obviously we came to a mutual agreement upon the latter trip.

In the end what swayed us to do London & Paris was the optional excursion to Stonehenge, which Tom appreciated more. I was also swayed by the optional excursion to home of Monet in the village of Giverny. We'll also have a chance to go to Wales as we travel on our own to Cardiff Bay to visit the Doctor Who Experience museum!

I plan to talk more in depth about our itenary in the next few blog entries. I'll do a quick run-down in my next post but then provide more detail in following posts.

Until then, au revoir!