2012 is the year

Seven years ago, I was in London for the whole semester. So far it's been the best experience of my life. I loved every minute of living there, traveling around Europe and meeting new friends.

While I was there, London was trying to win the Olympic bid for 2012. Everywhere you went in London, there were 2012 Olympic signs, and so my friends and I said, 2012 is when we'll come back. Of course, three of the six are engaged and getting married this year, so we didn't get together a reunion trip. But one of the girls planned her own trip, and I started to get the itch to go abroad.

I knew my friend Andrea has been talking about going to Ireland for a while, and I found a Groupon for an Ireland trip that I mentioned to her. We didn't buy the Groupon, but it got us talking about taking a trip together. We talked for a couple of weeks about all the options, and she sent me a document listing out pros and cons for the different companies. (I think she's going to be a great travel buddy.)

And on Tuesday we actually booked an Ireland bus tour. It covers pretty much the whole country and all of the highlights I wanted to see but missed on my brief trip to Dublin in 2005. I think I'm still in shock that we actually booked it, but I am beyond excited.

Since I'm buying a transatlantic plane ticket, I figured I might as well go to London for a few days. So my dream of returning to London in 2012 is coming true. We'll be there in June in order to miss the craziness of the Olympics, but I'm hoping to see some of what they've done to prepare for the Olympics in the last seven years. And I get to show someone else all my favorite places in London. My list is long and includes the little things like scones from Marks & Spencer, Strongbow from O'Neills at Earl's Court, Harrods food hall (I think there might be a trend here).

It's going to be a long wait until June!