Traveling with my mom...through Europe

My mom and I have always gotten along well.

There was a rough patch in junior high, but what thirteen-year-old girl agrees with her mother? Not many.

By the time I hit high school, my mom and I rarely fought. (And if we did disagree it usually was about my younger brothers and specifically the way I bossed them around, rather than something between us.

So it's not odd for me, a 22-year-old college graduate, to travel France with my 40-something mom, Debbie.

While we may look alike, (see picture at left--my mom is on the right), we are still different people.

Take for example our ideas of schedules. Although my mom once traveled Europe with no itinerary, buying food at open-air markets and stopping at the nearest hostel for the night, this trip is organized--including already booked hotel rooms and rental car.

It's not that I don't like the organization; I do. But I wonder if by the time I get to Paris, I may want to stay longer...or perhaps Chartres has captured my imagination, however, the master schedule has us only staying for one night there.

Playing it by ear sounds more like a vacation to me.


Official Itinerary:
Paris August 22,23,24,
Depart am on 25th stop in Chartres head down to Bois spend August 25,26th
Depart am on 27th for Sarlat spend August 27, 28th at Sarlat
Depart am on 29th for Avignon spend August 29th,30th at Avignon
Depart am on 30th for Lyon, spend August 30th in Lyon.
Depart am on 31st for Fountainbleau and Paris, spend 31st, September 1st 2nd 3rd in Paris