What's Plan B? Well, sometime in late 2006, I felt like I needed to drastically change my life. I was thinking about quitting my job, selling all my stuff, and taking the money to go travel around the world. OK, that's a little extreme, and things were happening that made those plans impossible. So what then?

Well, my friend Phil suggested that I take a "get my feet wet" trip instead. He suggested a smaller trip to Europe, where I could experience traveling for an extended period, and to see if I could manage. It certainly seemed liked the sensible thing to do, so I took his advice and started planning the trip.

It just so happened that my friend Jim emails me and tells me that he is picking up a brand new Porsche GT3 in Stuttgart in June. I figured it was a great opportunity to go to Europe and meet up with one of my racing buddies so we could tear up the Nurburgring and the Autobahns. It was perfect! So, I bit the bullet and decided I would do it.

At first, I thought I would fly into Germany, and then make my way around the neighboring countries like Austria and Switzerland. The more I thought about it though, the more I wanted to do. Both Jim and Phil suggested a visit to Italy. So then, I thought about flying into Rome. But then, I wanted to visit London and Paris too. So before you know it, I have this grand plan to start in London and work my way down to Rome.

Well, my friend's Jim's plans were changing so it was hard to time it perfectly, and despite all the vacation hours I had saved up at work, I was told I could only take 3 weeks max. Well, that pretty much ruled out Italy from this trip. That will have to wait for next time.

So I did alot of research online and asked people who've been to Europe before. In particular, I found TripAdvisor.com to be very useful in weeding out bad places to go and stay. Every hotel I stayed at had high ratings on that site and I was not disappointed. While there was some flexibility in the schedule, for the most part, everything was set and I pretty much followed it through.

So what about it? Did I like it? Was it everything I thought it would be? Well, Yes and No. Oh, it was definitely a Great experience and I had alot of fun. Europe is so rich with history, and I love seeing all the old sites and architecture. However, it wasn't what I would call a relaxing vacation though. I found myself wanting to do so much that I almost exhausted myself at times. I had to balance my interests with the physical aspects of climbing and walking, along with my insatiable desire to take photos. In hindsight, I wish I'd spent a little more time soaking things in vs. taking so many pics.

Only two bad things happened on the trip. One - I lost my wallet in Frankfurt and wasn't well prepared for that. Fortunately, I was already with my friend who helped me out. The other problem was British Airways leaving my luggage in London. Its a bigger problem than I first thought (read below), and that bag had all my souvenirs >= (.

Will I go back? Of course! I still want to visit Italy, Greece and Switzerland. I just hope that the exchange rate is more favorable next time!