Let's see.. I work in a cube farm 8-5 and Brian is a *nontraditional* student, working as a waiter. He'll be 30 next year, and I am … well let's just say I won't be 30 for a few years. Not exactly your hip young fancy free backpackers!

New York, DC, Toronto, Cancun, Dallas - we've hit a few spots in North America, but that's the extent of our globetrotting. We didn't even have passports.

But now we're counting down the days to the adventure of a lifetime. We've planned, plotted, talked and dreamed for months. Preparing for this trip has turned into a second job for me. A couple books and a few papers have swollen into a shelf full of books (mostly library - we're on a budget you know!) stacks of binders full of rejected itineraries and original budgets, maps and train schedules and other paraphernalia. It has slowly taken over our apartment.

Days spent in front over the computer, eyes glazed as I checked all the dot coms for cheap airfare finally led to a trip to the airport where we forked over $1800 to the Delta ticket agent for open jaw tickets flying into London and out of Rome. Mass emails to every B&B and guest house in London resulted in a decision to stay at a youth hostel for the bargain price of 65 bucks a night for twin beds with a shared bathroom - a real steal in one of the most expensive cities in the world! Weeks spent lurking about the library waiting for the latest Rick Steves to come in were followed by a flurry of overseas phone calls (I love the way they say "McMahan" in Scotland) to make all our room reservations.

After dropping a few countries from our dream itinerary (did we really think we could cover Ireland to Amsterdam to Greece in 25 days?) we bargained our way to a schedule we could both live with. Of course, picking the cities - London, York, Inverness, Edinburgh, Paris, Gimmewald, Cinque Terre and Rome - was only the beginning. Who knew how many choices were to be made, how many decisions must be settled on when planning this kind of a trip?! And it doesn't help that I debate far too much on every matter. What kind of backpack to take? And wow, they're expensive. How can we get them cheaper? (Eagle Creek Continental Journey LC for Brian, Expandable for me. And we got them where else- online with internet discount coupons). How much should we allot to spend on food - I wonder if it's really $4 for a soda? And the age old question - which railpasses? Being remedial at best when it comes to math, it took weeks to calculate the best combination - and then the Europass SelectPass was introduced and I had to start over. No less important of course, are questions like what kind of socks are best? (We went with Cool Maxx cushioned). Do I really need a money belt? (We'll see!) Should I buy female supplies in the security of a Cincinnati Target, or risk a mysterious Parisian drugstore? (I think I'll live dangerously). And how the heck do you get from Gatwick Airport to Victoria station without spending half the first day's food budget? (I still don't have the answer to that one…)

Of course, it wasn't all research and decision making. I had to squeeze in some time for brushing up on my French. C'est pas de probleme, right? After all, I studied it for 3 1/2 years. Except, that was, let's see, 1989-1992. Last century! Being a technogeek, an interactive CD Rom was definitely the way to go. Right. That lasted about two weeks. So next was a cassette tape with accompanying book that promised to teach me French in just days. Perfect for use on the treadmill. That lasted a couple days - somehow perspiring and conjugating verbs just didn't work well. Finally, it was French for Dummies. I read one chapter. So it looks like this American tourist will resort to saying "Je ne comprends pas" while I consult my Rick Steves French phrasebook to see what the waiter's response was to my statement that "Je suis une vegetarienne".