Somebody Pinch Me

Hold onto your seats. The Hula-gen’s are headed here:

And here:

And I’d like to add a couple of other stops but there’s the issue of time and money. Holy Toledo, hotel rooms are expensive in London!  I’m hoping the time and money for Italy and other parts of Europe will be available in the coming years, but for now, WE’RE GOING TO LONDON AND PARIS!!!!!!!!! Woo hoo! Rue Cler will never be the same.

One of the gifts we gave Teen Angel for graduation was her passport. In fact, all three of us lined up at the post office recently to get our passports. It was a symbolic gift of sorts to her. A door to the world, so to speak. It has long been my goal to take her to Europe when she graduated from high school. I’m just a firm believer that every person should travel outside his home country to somewhere where he’s the minority and doesn’t speak the language. It’s such an eye opening experience to see how other folks live and to have to fumble around with a language barrier and different currency and traditions. Americans are so spoiled and proud. We think everyone outside the U.S. wants to be IN the U.S. and wants to be like us. We think everyone should speak English, and we really don’t see ourselves the way others see us. Traveling to a place where people live frugally, don’t always have certain amenities or value art and architecture more than the latest pair of jeans is a great way to better understand that the world is a diverse and exciting place. I want Teen Angel to know what other cultures are like and to appreciate the people of this Earth in a way that can’t be experienced by sitting in your own backyard. I want her to always have the desire to see the world so that hopefully, she will spend her time on Earth making the most of what it has to offer. And that journey begins now. The first week of August as a matter of fact.

We have saved and planned and researched. Sister mercy, have I researched! And yesterday I started booking our trip. We’re taking a few planes, some train and a few subways to and around London and Paris. It’s just me and Teen Angel. Hubby is sitting this one out to take care of his folks, but she and I will be seeing Big Ben, the Tower of London, the Museum D’Orsey, the Eiffel Tower and lots of other stuff in between. Instead of a hotel, we’ve rented an apartment in Paris so we can live like the Parisians for a few days, stopping at neighborhood markets for croissants and cheeses, eating breakfast while looking out our window onto the city and soaking up as much as we can in case we never get back. Yes, boys and girls, the Hula-gen’s are headed to Ru Cler, and it will never be the same. And neither will we.