After receiving Rick Steves' tour brochures for three years, watching every travel video available at the library and saving my pennies (and nickels, dimes and quarters too!) my dreams of going to Europe were realized September 14, 2006 when I boarded a plane for Paris.

I made it to Paris on my first solo flight without any problems. I wouldn't say that I arrived feeling refreshed, but I was excited to get started. Throughout the trip, I would continue feeling this almost adrenaline-like rush that kept me going when I'd otherwise be ready to collapse. Of course, the exception to that feeling was the first night as we took a boat tour of Paris – I could barely keep my eyes open! I have never been so tired!

For the first days of the tour, we busily toured Paris, visited museums and churches, rode the metro, and shared stories with our new tour buddies. After a couple of days, we left the big city and relaxed a bit in Beaune (pronounced "Bone"), an idyllic town in France's Burgundy region. The beginning of our jouney together was an excellent forecast of what was up ahead.