And, We're Back...

with a few more stamps in our passports!

Ryan and I just returned from our 10 day adventure through 4 countries, 3 airports, 2 car rentals, and 1 stranded island (insert Gilligan's Island tune here). The trip started off a little rocky (well, extremely rocky...thanks to a U.S. Airlines and then a Manchester Airport debacle) which left me having more than one breakdown. I'm still a little jaded over the awfulness of it all, but I'm hoping that all of the good memories (and there are a ton!) will gradually wear down the memory of the bad experiences. 

Oh, and those good memories...they are so very, very sweet. 

I got to watch one of bestest friends get married in a truly stunning countryside wedding (complete with walks through sheep pastures... seriously, sheep pastures!), with one of the most moving wedding homilies I have ever heard (I teared up more than once) . It was one of those British country weddings that everyone here in the U.S. tries to emulate, but falls slightly short of because, well, we're missing the British backdrop. I cannot wait to share the gorgeous, gorgeous pictures. 

After the wedding, we headed off for a Croatian (and Montenegrin, and Bosnian- Herzegovinian) vacation. Words cannot describe the wonderful time that we had. Each town that we visited was uniquely special, and it was truly an honor to learn so much about the history of each place from the amazing people who took the time to show us their countries. All of our research paid off, and we were able to do every. single. thing that we wanted to do on our trip (and more!). It truly was the perfect vacation for us filled with lots of walking, espresso, history lessons, border crossing, and just the right amount relaxation (ok, we probably could have used maybe a tiny bit more of this). Not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm happy to be blessed with a husband who has the same travel outlook as me. 

In the end, we left with big smiles on our faces, lots of joyful and funny stories (to over-ride the sad and frustrating ones), some new friends (hi, ana & andy!), and a new place in our hearts for each town that we visted. Success. 

My plan is to spend the next few posts going through each part of trip (with lots of pictures!) as we experienced it. We can't wait to share our memories with you!