I wish I had an iPad. AKA I'm going to England!

Today marks two weeks until I finally get my lifelong dream to come true! I finally get to go to England! I have wanted to go to England and France for as long as I can remember. I went to France about a year and a half ago (I get to go back with my mom this year!) and I am finally making my way around this world!

I started to plan this trip in a completely hypothetical way. I made up a travel budget which included hostels, flights, trains, buses, etc. I made a spending budget which included food, extra drinks in pubs, and a small portion for books. I looked up prices for all of these things and had everything sorted, but nothing actually booked or paid for. I haven't got a credit card, I still can't decided if it's a good thing or not, so I cannot book flights or hostels or anything of the like. I talked to my host family about wanting to take my first vacation, this was in early December just after Stefan arrived back home, and they said that I could do it! The original layout was for me to have one week to travel through England, Scotland, and Ireland. Well, then I found out that my dad was buying my mother a plane ticket to come visit me as a Christmas present. So I talked to my mom, who has this odd obsession with Scotland, about us possibly going to Scotland for a few days or even just spending half the time in Germany and Half in Scotland, well that quickly flared into us somehow doing to Paris, Scotland, and Ireland. Leaving me with doing just England this time. I think it'll be a blast to go to the others with her though, she has been to Scotland three times, after all.
Here are the hypothetical plans that I made.

I am posting this not to talk about my love of travel but about the inner workings that I go through when I want to travel. I know that a lot of you out there reading this probably aren't as OCD as I am when it comes to having every detail (large ones) planned out before you even purchase anything for the trip, but if my ways can help you at all...yay! First I want to list a few of the resources that I used in planning.

For housing on this trip I am staying in a hostel in London and will be making day trips to other places, such as Oxford and possibly Canterbury, then returning to London to sleep. It is cheaper to find one good place and day travel instead of staying at five different places in the span of one week. I used hostelworld.com for searching for a good hostel. They all have reviews, very good descriptions, and they only charge you about 10% of the total cost to book the hostel, then you can pay the rest with card or cash when you arrive to check in! I managed to fins one that had breakfast included and was somehow close to the center of London. What luck!

 For flights I used ryanair.com because they have the best prices for flights within Europe. I am not sure exactly how much my flights cost because they were given to me by my host family as a Christmas present, but the last time I looked them up it was about 14 Euros for each. You really can't beat that!

I used nationalrail.co.uk for seeing exactly how the trains worked and how easy it would be to get from one place to another. It automatically gives you the cheapest fare right from the off, so you don't have to spend hours searching!

Okay. Now, my plan is to only have my backpack with me. It is a 25L Outdoor Product Day Pack. It's got the waist and chest buckles for extra support, which also makes it great for hiking! I think that my favourite feature is that it still has the small pencil pocket in the front, easy for journaling. Because I will not have any checked baggage, it will be harder for me to take toiletries with me. I hope that everything that I have researched about it though will help me in the long run. I will have two small toiletries bags, one clear quart sized bag with shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, lotion, contact solution, and toothpaste (everything considered to be liquid); the second will have my hairbrush, toothbrush, contacts, etc.
As for clothing I am hoping to fit:
two flannel button up shirts
two v-neck shirts (used for undershirts)
one short sleeve t-shirt
one long sleeve t-shirt
two pairs of skinny jeans
one wool cardigan
Leggings for pajama bottoms
seven pairs of underwear
one extra bra
four pairs of socks (I know what you're thinking, "why only 4?" I'll be wearing them twice. A little gross, but it saves space.)
one towel (my hostel doesn't provide one)
two toiletries bags
chacos (for in the shower)
I will also have my winter jacket and one infinity scarf
Also my hiking boots

All of this in my little day pack is actually possible!
See?

All clothing, along with some outfit ideas.

Toiletries, journal, and everything electronic.

And that is what I call packed!

See you on the other side!