Five weeks from today, my brother Ben and I will be hopping a plane from Syracuse to…
Newark, New Jersey!
Fun fact: I actually lived in Newark for six months right after college. And I’ve enjoyed the ability to run outside without fearing for my life ever since. 
I’ll save the details of my glory days in Newark for another day because this isn’t really where my brother and I are headed in July. No, once in Newark, we’ll hop another plane bound for…
Paris, France!
My brother and I will be heading to Paris for quite the action-packed trip that will take us into four different countries. We’ll be in big cities and rural towns… at the beach and in the mountains… traveling and touring by plane, train, car, bike, and foot. And, the two things I’m most excited for — we’ll eat lots of good food and get to spectate two world-class sporting events!
Our Amazing Race
I’ve dubbed this trip our own Amazing Race since for years, my brother and I have talked about going on the CBS show Amazing Race. But every time we remember to apply for the show, we’ve usually just missed an application deadline (yep, definitely just missed it again!). So, instead, we’re going to have our own amazing race, trying to see and do as much as we can in western Europe in a week and a half!
Paris
Our trip will start out with three days in Paris. You better believe I plan to go on a mission to find Paris’ best croissants, baguettes, and everything else David Lebovitz tells me to do in those 3 days. :)
After carb loading, we’ll get to see the end of the Tour de France!
My brother is a triathlete, so he gets really into cycling stuff, and I myself have been watching the Tour for almost ten years on TV. I really wanted to be able to catch a stage in the countryside where I could run up a steep mountain alongside the cyclists, waving an American flag in my bathing suit or something crazy, but I guess the more tame Champs Elysees will have to suffice. 
France-Switzerland-Italy-France
After Paris, our plan is to take our Amazing Race to:
- Burgundy region (wine country!) of France
- Switzerland (Laussane & the Swiss Alps)
- Italy
- Milan
- Florence
- Pisa
- Italian/French Riviera
- Mont Ventoux (France) …I will be driving up this while my brother cycles to the top!
London and the Olympics!
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And after making the full circle back up to Paris, we’ll board a train to London just in time for the first day of competition at the 2012 Olympics!
My brother and I actually began scheming about this trip a couple years ago, and our main agenda was to attend the Olympics in London, and build our trip around the games. But we’ve had a ton of trouble trying to grab tickets for the Olympics, so I guess it’s a good thing we’ve now got big plans in “mainland” Europe as well.
We’re still crossing our fingers we’ll be able to see some of the Olympic events though, especially swimming! Maybe a quick note to Michael Phelps would do the trick?
Dear Michael,
I’ll trade you a lifetime supply of chocolate chip cookies in exchange for VIP tickets to see you win gold in London.
xoxo,
Little Bitty
He’d say yes to that, right?! I mean, he’s going to need a new hobby when he retires from swimming after the Olympics. Professional cookie eater sounds like a good option to me.
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Enough rambling for today — I just wanted to share my fun traveling news! I’m hoping to be able to document our “amazing race” as it all happens here on the blog, so you can all vacation through me!
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
ah this sounds amazing. i’m so jealous!!! i know you’ll have a great time. you better post recaps from the trip!!!
Thanks Jen! I’m super excited to say the least
I will definitely be blogging all about it!
that’s so awesome!! It sounds like my idea of a perfect vacation. You wouldn’t happen to need a third person to tag along, would you?
definitely blog about it – seeing the tour de france is going to be so cool! Not to mention anything involving the olympics, etc.
Haha, well I could pack an extra big suitcase and you could jump inside!
All that in only a week and a half?! You’re going to need a vacation after that vacation!
Ha, I know! I plan to take a few days to lounge around once we get back!
I am so jealous! I have wanted to see an Olympic games since I was a kid (I used to think I would be an Olympic gymnasts) and to tack on all the other countries, not to mention traveling with your brother…it’s the trip of the lifetime. I look forward to hearing all about it and living through your pictures. Best of luck with Mr Phelps : )
On a funny note…when the amazing race first came out on TV, I was totally into it and wanted to do it, but didn’t know who would be my plus one. My friends aren’t really the traveling adventure type, so I told my brother that we should try it. I was so excited and he looked at me seriously and said…why would I go with you? Me and nick already have a plan. Apparently his freinds are the traveling adventurous type. It was so funny!
Haha, I think everyone dreams of being an Olympian at some point in their childhood.
That’s funny about Amazing Race and your brother. Hey, maybe two bloggers could make a go of it! 
Count me in for a trip around the world!
That is so exciting!! You guys are going to have so much fun. I can’t wait to hear all about it!!
I’m excited to share the whole trip here on the blog! And you can bet there’ll be a LOT of good eats to share too!
oooh, so envious and excited for you guys – this is definitely a trip of a lifetime. can’t wait to hear more about Lizzy & Benny’s Amazing Race… (love that show!).
Thanks, Kris! I’m excited to share the trip here with everyone!
I did this in Paris. http://fattirebiketours.com/paris/tours The Day Bike Tour & Night Bike Tour. Lots of fun, especially for Americans. Parisians are notoriously MEAN and uncooperative to English-speaking Americans. Kills the fun and makes things difficult. Not just a rumor… and not reserved for groups of loud obnoxious Americans. It happened to me, with my well-mannered friends sitting at a distance. I had to break into French to stop the bullying/harassment. Some are very friendly, some aren’t. Not true that they ALL speak English fluently, or even broken English, even around tourist sites. Most often, I encountered friendly people working in popular tourist areas, who tried hard to speak English with me, but couldn’t understand very basic words, even if I used some French, so I had to switch to all French.
I was actually looking at the Fat Tire tours the other day, I think the evening one in Paris would be neat if we have time.
Fat Bike Tours was one of my best Paris/London ideas. Easy to get to. Just stand under the Eiffel Tower and wait. The tour guides make it fun & you see a lot. The night one is cool b/c you do a riverboat ride on the Seine, they serve wine, and you go by the Eiffel Tower lit up. Good view. Nice to have a guided tour, otherwise it’s just old architecture. If I only had a few hours in Paris, I’d do this.
some fall off bikes after wine. don’t do that.