Maybe I should have started
planning this trip last year.
Oh, wait. I did.
But since Mom and I mustered up the resolve to really get committed... I've put nearly 10 to 20 hours in a week on average. I've spent countless hour on the computer watching airfares, looking for just the right places to stay, and trying to find the best gelato Italy has to offer. That's because I plan to eat it three times a day. Needless to say, I'm also looking for places to get in a good workout, though as my pal
Erin says -- having just returned from a birthday trip there with her mom -- we'll be walking a LOT.
And I've started working on funding. I managed to tuck away about $1500 since the idea for the trip was planted. Feeling rather proud of myself, I shared this with Mom the other day.
Radio silence on the other end of the phone. I thought, perhaps a bit smugly -- I've saved more than her. That will teach me. She has like seven grand earmarked for the trip.
Un. Fricking. Believable.
So, drastic measures are now necessary, and thus, I've opened the closet doors. What can I
sell? Sake (my fabulous Golden Retriever trapped in a Pomeranian's body) started looking a wee bit nervous when I eyed her briefly. Decidedly to cute to sell (though the rent-a-dog option may have crossed my mind!) I settled on a plastic box, barely visible despite my towering 5'11" frame, hiding at the back of the living room closet. It was chock full of samples from more trips to Sephora and
Sephora.com than I will ever admit to (I LIKE being a girl, and make no excuses for the desperate need for glittery mascara and hot pink nail polish).
Posted about
24 lots of items on eBay.. Watched. Waited. And, magically, seven days after the last lot posted... cha ching. AFTER shipping, I netted $202.88. So I did the only rational thing a person could do: I bought my plane ticket.
Total? $1,193.80.
Back to the closet.
