Oh Adventure!

It's been awhile since I posted but I wanted to wait until my one trip plan was more in motion before I posted about anything else.

So as of February 15th I may be on my way to Paris for four days :) Now I saw "may" because the trip is not guaranteed quite yet - we need a certain amount of people to be able to go on it and we haven't reached that goal yet. In two weeks I'll know if the trip is 100% or not, and I am hoping so. My friend and I have our spots and now we are just waiting for others to join up as well.

Once I know if the trip is a go I will write it in a post but until then I'd rather not just because if it doesn't happen I won't get to do all those things that the trip includes. If the trip is a no go my friend and I get our money back and will plan a different trip - somewhere in England for a couple of days so at least we have a back up plan just in case this one does not work.

BUT a trip that I am 100% sure going on it what I can tell you all about in this post :)

In August, I know very far away but it's gonna be here before I know it, I am going across Eastern Europe! The family is going away for two weeks which gives me a two week holiday so I decided to do a round trip of all the main places I really wanted to visited before I came home. I know that there is lots that I will not be able to see, due to time and cost of everything, but this trip has everything that I really want to do before I leave.

On the right is the map of all the places I will be visiting on this trip. The trip is 11days and starts and ends in London (so I don't have to travel extra to start this journey). We start the tour is Paris (so at least if I do not go in February I will be there in August) and stay there for two days. After we make our way to the Swiss Alps for two days and then onto Venice for two days as well. After Venice we get to pay a visit to Dachau, a former concentration camp, where we will have time to reflect and pay our respects (this part of the tour really attracted me to the tour overall because I have always found WWII very interesting to learn about and to be able to visit one of the camps will be a hard but yet respecting value with me. On the next stop, Rhine Valley, we get to explore and stay the night in a castle! Amsterdam is next for two days and then we make our way back home to London.

It's going to be a very busy 11days but I am so excited for this trip! I have dreamed about visiting these places and finally being able to will be one thing to cross of the bucket list.

Since being in London I've been to four different plays/musicals and I am not stopping there! Last weekend I saw the play "Once" which is based off of the Oscar nominated movie of the same name. It was such an amazing play! The music they had in it was very folky (like Mumford&Sons) and each actor played their our instrument, there was no pit band - I have never seen a play done like this before so it was very interesting to watch.

In February I am going to see "Dirty Dancing" as part of a group and in March I am going to see "Wicked" with a friend of mine.

I still plan on adding to the list but for now this is what I've got to look forward to :) Much more to come from me in the next couple of months, have to start planning on seeing more around London and check more stuff off of my "To Do England List". Any suggestions?

Welcome 2014!

First off hello 2014, you just snuck up on us there didn't you? Crazyness!

Well welcome everyone to 2014 - just gonna brag that I have five hours more of 2014 than my family and friend back in Canada. Until I go home anyways, I'll be back to normal hours then so not so much bragging then.

For New Years Eve I met my friend at Westminster station to watch the fireworks that would go off at the London Eye. We got there around 7:30pm and thank goodness that we got there then and not any minute later. It was packed! They had started making announcements that they would close the gates to Waterloo bridge and then reopen them after the fireworks so we got in there quick, they didn't close the gates however until about 8:30pm. It was so hard to move our way through the crowd but after many "Sorry's" and "Excuse Me's" we finally got a good spot, a little tight but still a good spot. Throughout the first couple of hours we waited and wondered what the heck we would do for the next five hours standing up, to unsafe to sit down - would of gotten trampled. But of course since you are in such close quarters we met some very lovely and kind people. Cannot remember their names - or even if we exchanged names- but I made friends with people from Egypt, France, Spain and a very nice family from American that my friend and I ended up talking to for the rest of the night.

They started playing music for us and broadcasting live on BBC around 10:30pm. Haven't seen any of the footage yet but if you do see it look for the people standing on the Waterloo bridge and near the horse statue look for red gloves or a colourful umbrella waving in the air, that's me :)

It only started to rain around 11:40pm and stopped just around midnight (of course it rained after the fireworks but at least we weren't standing in the rain for five hours.)

Finally it was midnight! My legs and back were feeling it but I was staying strong, and quite proud of myself for doing so. The countdown began and BAM it was 2014 and fireworks filled the sky. They were amazing! Truly amazing and totally worth it! Watch them at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jp9_sgJcN0

It was unreal just being there and having this brand new experience that I will never forget. It was defiantly my favourite way of spending the new year, so far anyways. 

I have lots of plans for 2014 so far, adding some new musicals and plays to my list in the next couple of months (Once, The Lion King, Strangers on a Train, Wicked and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) - some of these I have tickets for already but the others I plan on seeing before I leave. I also have a very awesome trip coming up in February, want to put the final touches on it before I say anything though so family members keep quiet :)

Happy New Year Everyone!!!