This morning was a very early wake up as we were to meet outside of the hotel with all our bags to join up with our Conitki group. I had a bit of a panic this morning trying to stuff as much crap into my backpack as possible. Apparently they were going to weigh our suitcase to ensure it was less than 45lbs. Why they do this, I have no idea. We checked out of the Imperial Hotel with my backpack bulging trying to get my suitcase below the alloted weight limit. Outside, there were about 10 others waiting to get picked up to meet at the Royal National Hotel. After waiting awhile, we realized that we probably weren't going to get picked up so we all ventured over to the Royal National. Thankfully, it ... read more

Our flight finally arrived in the UK at around 10am. The weather was a bit dreary as one would expect in London but everyone seemed to be in good spirits as we finally arrived in Europe!!! We were a bit on edge though, it being the 4th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as well as the recent London Underground bombings. We made it this far and weren't about to let anything get in our way. Customs was pretty easy and within a half hour we had retrieved our bags and were ready to venture into the city. We decided to take the Underground from the airport to Russell Square. The entire journey would take a little less than an hour. Sitting there on the Underground was when the jet-lag appeared to set in. I looked ... read more

Kevin and I woke up really early this morning and drove up to Sylmar to meet up with Keston, Sally, Erika, Rocio, Rick, and the 3 kids. We met everybody at a Mcdonalds in Sylmar off the Interstate 5. After having breakfast, we all set off in our 2 vehicles for the 4 hour drive up to Yosemite. Just before arriving at Yosemite, we stopped in the town of Oakhurst to pick up alcohol, food, and supplies. We finally arrived at Yosemite around midday and stopped at a scenic vantage point overlooking the entire Yosemite Valley. With one of the best views in the entire park, the viewpoint was crowded with visitors making a quick stop to take their obligatory photos and soak in the scenery. Continuing our drive into Yosemite Valley, we made a ... read more

The last day of the tour began with an early morning trip to the Spanish Royal Palace. For the past few days, Madrid had been abuzz with the excitement from the royal wedding of Prince Felipe. The wedding took place at the Catedral de la Almudena, adjacent to the Spanish Royal Palace. Now over a week since that historic wedding, here we were standing in the courtyard of where it all took place. Our tour of the Spanish Royal Palace was guided and with all guided tours, I quickly lost interest in what our guide was telling us. Inside, the palace was very much how I had envisioned. It was quite vast, lavish, and definitely built to impress. We wandered through the many rooms of the palace while admiring all it's intricate details and beautiful ... read more

4 days of relaxing and lounging in the Balearic Islands have come to an end. This morning was an early wake up as we had to catch our morning ferry to take us back to the mainland. Once we all boarded the ferry, everybody pretty much crashed for the duration of the trip. Back at the port at Denia, we reboarded our Contiki coach which seemed like it had been forever since we were last on it. We continued down the coast to the city of Valencia which is Spain's third largest city. Valencia was the only one night stop during the entire tour and nobody really knew what to expect. The only thing about Valencia that I knew was that it was home to Paella. We arrived in Valencia and headed straight for our ... read more