[C] In the beginning...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the MFB, and the Word was the MFB...

Yup, before any real concept of this trip, there was just the blog, or just the hope of having one. And from that humble desire to write down travels, inform family, inspire readers, and have a part of my life-story transformed into a Hollywood blockbuster, came need for two things: travels to write about, and, of course, a mascot. Ours, the MFB, or Bunny to friends, is a vestige of my childhood, as precious to me as a backpack-sized brown bear named, from the infinite imagination of a kid, Beary. This should give you some indication of the MFB’s significance, since everyone who’s been a child has a Beary.

Four months ago and a good deal over a decade after purchase, the MFB was resurrected from a once-pink hatbox stashed away in the garage, played with in the haphazard and reminiscent way an adult tends to play, then plopped next to an Amber-Vanilla pillar candle on a dresser. From this humble vantage, the MFB sat as dreams of becoming a nomadic travel writer became the tangible reality of travelling Europe with Gigi and Bee, all summer. Options and opportunities came and went as we planned: Polar Bears in Norway were exchanged for castles in Scotland exchanged for dirt roads in Romania; a long flight across the Atlantic became a longer, more luxurious crossing by cruise ship; and a rental car was replaced by a Eurail Pass. When all was said and done, we had hashed out quite the summer: a 16-day Trans-Atlantic cruise from Florida to Holland, trains and buses through Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and Romania, and a final 12-day Holy Land cruise around the Med, retiring in Venice. Not too shabby :D

And the blog? The original dream? Well, that was finally settled on a few days before departing Florida, first stories were sketched somewhere on the big, blue, wet thing, and Bunny was adopted as the MFB. Then, you know, travelling started, and there was no time and our feet were tired after walking all day and we’d already had way too much Becherovka and we’ve got such a long day tomorrow and whatshisname just came online – so this first blog is reaching you on Day 29 of our full-summer trip. As we often heard in Poland, Nie Rozumiem – roughly translated for our purposes as ‘Just keep talking, but make bigger hand gestures.’ In that spirit, and with this first post almost complete, allow me to better introduce the waving hands:
I’m Cee, a New-Age-leaning, mid-twenties aspiring travel snob. Bee, my sister, is a slightly younger adventure-loving Christian who joined Gigi and I in Poland after our 16-day Pond Crossing Cruise (more to follow on that). And, Gigi, our grandma, is a vivacious, pet-loving travel aficionado.

So! Onwards with the story-telling :) We’d love your feedback, and will post as often as we can (from now on!) with great enthusiasm and the best of intentions – be gentle if you criticize.

((And a quick shout-out to friends and family: we love you. And you're our only real audience... Enjoy!))