Many people refer to Europe as a continent, however as i discovered on my travels, it is actually a peninsula as it is surrounded on three sides by water. 

Or something like that.

My adventure starts in October 2007, when my girlfriend of 2 months sent me a text saying ’shall we travel Europe?’, thinking it was just another of our silly ideas, i agreed. Little did i know that something big had started.

I first realised how serious this scheme was when we started to research prices for interail tickets and eurostar prices.

Then we went to a Towsure branch and started buying supplies: firstaid kit, tent, sleeping back, backpacks, cutlery, water flasks ect and it suddenly all got real. It was suddenly as if we had gone past the point of no return. I had booked 2 months off work, the interail and eurostar tickets were on their way and we couldn’t possibly back out now! 

It was very scary!

So after months of saving and planning and endless preparation, the night before our departure was upon us.

We spent the evening in Escape Bar and Restaurant where we had both our parents for a departure meal. Coincidentally, it was the first time our parents had met, we couldn’t help but feel that we were a bit mean bringing them together for the first time under such circumstances. Naturally both parents were terrified for us, especially our mothers, so they got on like a house on fire.

After the meal and a tearful departure from my house as i was stopping at Lauren’s that evening, we stayed up all night because our megabus was around 6AM.

Then Lauren’s dad took us to meadowhall where the megabus was departing, and after another tearful departure on her parents half we were on our way. And so began the biggest adventure of our lives so far.