No, you’re not in a world of confusion…

Last time you were here I was talking about my upcoming trip to Central America labeled as #gringotrip2017…

And now…

Well, Gringo Trip 2017 is out and Euro Trip 2017 is in!

So, what happened, you ask?

Well, truth be told, as I started planning my trip to Central America I just wasn’t feeling that excitement I had felt planning previous trips.

Whether is was the foreboding long overnight bus trips between cities or the fear of Montezuma’s revenge awaiting me, as much as I tried, my excitement for my upcoming trip was not developing.

And that’s a concerning thing!

I mean, if I wasn’t excited about the trip now, just how was I expecting to feel when I was a month into it, or two, or three?

So, I knew I had to change my trip up.   Problem was though, I had already booked a nonrefundable ticket to Mexico.

Hmmmm….

I thought of paying the $75 change fee to postpone my trip to the fall but I had also already bought travel insurance for 5 months from February to June.

After much back and forth, two things became apparent:   I was travelling in the spring and I was flying into Mexico on January 31st.

Mexico I’m actually excited about so that’s not a problem.   The question is: where do I go next?

Well, flights out of Mexico to Cuba can be had for less than $100 and Cuba was definitely a place I wanted to visit.

There are also cheap flights returning out of Cuba onto Fort Lauderdale, Miami so that got me thinking…

Could I find a cheap flight out of Miami onto Europe?

I mean, I knew it was a longshot but maybe this trip could morph into another Euro Trip…

So, I went over to my favorite website, kayak.com, and started plugging in destinations.

It didn’t take long to see that there are, indeed, cheap flights to Europe.   In fact, you can fly from Miami to London for less than $200!

When I saw that, I kind of sat in stunned silence.

I could actually do this!

As I explored flights more and more, things kind of locked into place like this alteration of my trip was meant to be.

For one, for about the same price, I can fly into Oslo, Norway instead and spend an afternoon there before heading onto London later that night.

Sound familiar?

Well, that was my plan entering Europe on my last trip before British Airways screwed it all up for me.

So, now I have another chance to spend the afternoon in Oslo.   I even still have my list and map of things I want to do and see written down from my last trip.

I also found a cheap flight out of London onto Romania so I can now visit the countries I missed when I ended my first trip abruptly in Montenegro.

So, now, I have my new trip path figured out:

Leg 1:   Mexico, Cuba
Leg 2:   Norway, UK, Ireland
Leg 3:   Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo
Leg 4:   France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany

For the most part, I’m leaving the timing of the trip open meaning I can spend as short or as long a time in most cities as I want.   So, with that in mind, I may actually end my trip in Paris and leave the remainder of Leg 4 for a future trip.

Then again, I may change it all around midstream and go a different direction – you just never know!

One thing is for sure – I’m flying to Mexico on January 31st with plans of coming back home in either mid May or mid June.

48 days to go!!!