As I sit here at a very early hour I am smiling an uncontrollable a smile of love. No, I haven’t fallen in love with any one person, but rather life and it’s divine unpredictability. A friend of mine is going to school in Wales (he leaves at the end of September) and I went to his going away party last week. My best friend had been planning on going to visit him in November and again in February and originally I wasn’t going to go back to Europe with her, but at the party she talked me into going with her in February so we could go to Carnival in Venice.

Well it seems the rewards for that decision I made last week to go with her in February has just doubled it’s value. As you may well know or have guessed, due to recent events in London the airline prices have dropped significantly (think 40%) and what was once a $650 ticket is now a $370 ticket! What does that mean for me? Well, considering I still have 2 weeks vacation left at work, the money I’ve saved up and my recent pay raise I’ll have enough saved to make both trips to Europe with my friend!

Of course this means I’ll have to push back my Central/South America trip about 6 months, but I know it will fly by before I know it. Originally I planned to leave September/October 2007 but I think I’ll wait until March 2008 which will be nice so I can spend the holidays with my family before I leave.

Scotland and possibly Ireland are on the November/December itinerary while Italy (Milan, Venice & Naples) is on the February itinerary. I’ll be buying my airline tickets next week at the latest before prices shoot back up for the holidays.