Less than 48 hours now until I leave for Palermo, and it seems like those hours are going by fast. I’m trying to take Rick Steve’s advice (when am I not?), and let at least the last day/day and a half be a relaxed time where I’m not worried about things I need to do before I leave. This means starting to pack and organize everything tonight. It’d be nice to get that done, so that tomorrow I can start to clear my head.

Monday night after doing a little more research, I decided that it actually would make sense to get one of the Eurail passes, rather than buy tickets point to point. I had originally thought that with my itinerary, it’d be cheaper to buy as I went, but I was very wrong. So yesterday I went down to STA Travel on the Ave. This is where Ross and I got our train tickets in 2006. I forgot how helpful and time-saving they are there! WIthin about 15 minutes, I had the ideal pass picked out, and also got a seat on the Euro Star from Brussels to London! That’s right folks, I’ll be in the Chunnel.

I ended up with the 3-country, 5-day Flexipass. The three countries I chose are Spain, France, and Belgium (includes the Netherlands as well). I can travel any 5 days within 2 months, as long as it’s within those countries. This fits my route perfectly, and it ended up costing around $290 (part of this price is because I’m still under 26). Just for reference, a one-way ticket simply from Marseille to Paris is around $130. My ticket from Brussels to London (Eurail doesn’t work in the UK) was $60. I was happily surprised.

Last night, we booked our hotel for DC, which was one of the last major things remaining on my list. Extra foam pillows!

I also booked my hostel for Barcelona, and my single room for the first night in DC. I thought about booking my hostel for San Sebastian as well, but I think I want to leave that more open just in case I love Barcelona more than I think. Which is a lot.

Today is some last minute errands, and then hopefully doing laundry and packing. It’ll be nice to have all of these little to-do lists out of my brain.