The conclusion of one adventure... and the start of a new!

[bookaddict88]

Well, after a week and a half, my family vacation is finally over.  On Friday the 15th, we flew to New York. We spent a couple of days there, then drove a rental car up to Boston, Montreal, and then finally back to New York. We then flew back home to California on Sunday the 24th, and celebrated my upcoming birthday that night with my aunts. Finally, we went to Disneyland today, since a couple of my mom's patients work there and gave us complimentary tickets. Then we went out to dinner with my dad (who couldn't go to Disneyland b/c of work), and sort of celebrated my birthday tonight, since I won't be home on my actual birthday.

Of course, that summary doesn't give you a very good idea of what our adventure was like. During the trips we had setbacks such as

• 3 missing suitcases (we got them back a day and a half later)
• A minor car crash while we were in a rental car
• Stomach flu (I haven't had that in the last ten or so years, but my brother and mom had it first, then managed to get me sick for a day and a half!)
• Forgetting passports in the safe back in Boston
• Trying to get in and out of Montreal without passports or birth certificates
• Getting to Disneyland a couple of hours early because of a problem in communication
• Tons of more minor problems

Despite all of that, though, we really did have a ton of fun.  During our two weekends in New York, I watched a total of 3 Broadway musicals: Phantom of the Opera, Spamalot, and Mary Poppins. It was the first time I'd seen any of those live, and I absolutely loved them!  Boston was my favorite city, even though I was sick over half the time we were there. It's just really beautiful, and I love all the history that's evident there.  Montreal was fun, too, once we got in. None of us read any French, which made reading signs and menus difficult, but we had fun trying to figure things out. Speaking wasn't a problem, since most of the people there spoke English really well.  And Disneyland was a blast. It'd been a couple of years since I'd last been.  We didn't quite stay the whole day (we were there a good part of it, though), but the lines were pretty short so we got to do most of what we wanted.    The new ride Toy Story Mania in California Adventure was especially fun!
And now, in just a few hours, I'm headed off to Spain for a semester abroad. I can't believe it's time to leave already! I'm a bit nervous. I've never traveled to a foreign country alone before, and despite 4 and a half years of Spanish classes, my Spanish is still not very good. Plus, it's been a year since I've really used it.  Also, I'm still far from being packed, and I leave in less than five hours! Thankfully, I'll be able to sleep on the plane, since I'll be up all night.  But even though I'm a little nervous and a bit stressed (though not too stressed to write this, apparently...), I'm still WAY excited to be going to Spain!