Change of Plans

      So there has been a slight change of plans regarding backpacking.  Although a tourist can be in most European countries as well as the UK for 3 months with no visa, British visas require that students do not enter the country until one month before their classes start.  That date for us would be August 13th.   This changes our plans for leaving in late June/early July like we had hoped.   I have called everyone I know to call to see if there is any way we would be able to get around this so that we may drop off our luggage in Edinburgh and leave for our backpacking trip.  After numerous attempts at finding an answer, the University finally explained to me that it would be difficult to prove that we would not be staying in Edinburgh if we arrive there with all our luggage and our student visas stamped into our passports.  This makes sense.  We have a few ideas we are now throwing around:

1) Purchase 2 cheap plane tickets to France from Edinburgh or London and fly into France to begin our backpacking adventure.  This might show Customs that we do not plan on staying.
2) We could fly into a Western European country as soon as we get our visas and have our luggage shipped to Edinburgh when we are ready for it.
3) We could fly into a Western European country with all of our luggage and leave it at a friendly stranger's home or somehow store it somewhere.
4) We could leave August 13th and backpack Sweden and the Northern countries for a few weeks  before school starts.

      As you can see, we have options.  Right now we are trying to decide what our most efficient yet memorable decision will be.  I have one more contact to make and that is to the British Consulate here in the U.S.  The reason I have not made this call is because they do charge 12 dollars for it, so I am currently writing down all my questions I have come across about my visa so that I can make it a very efficient phone call.  They will be the only ones who will be able to tell me if option number 1 (from above) will work or not.  As for now, the plan is included somewhere in this blog, however I don't know what it is yet.   To be optimistic, I am very glad that once again we have many options to choose from while we decide what we would like to do next!

                        

Getting Ready

Well, only 2 1/2 months left to go before we head out.  We are having a little bit of trouble figuring out how to get our visas squared away before we go backpacking.  You wouldn't think it would be so difficult, but to actually talk to someone from the Consulate on the phone costs $12.   Emailing has been unsuccessful, but I will keep trying.  I am hoping that once I call the University of Edinburgh's International department, they will be able to answer most of our questions and help us fill out our visas.
    Both John and I have been very busy getting everything ready for backpacking.  We plan on leaving out on June 30th.  Our first stop will be Edinburgh so that I can visit the University.  My Uncle Rich's friends are kind enough to allow us to stay with them for our first 5 days in Europe and allow us to store our luggage at their house while we are backpacking.  We plan on fitting what we can into 4 large suitcases.  It should be quite interesting.  After we leave Edinburgh, we will stop in London for a day and then continue on to Paris.  From there we have an itinerary, but it is quite flexible.  Any ideas on spots to see are always appreciated!