We’re 30 days out from our trip to Europe. Mikey added a widget to my phone that’s in countdown mode. This trip is a treat for my 50th birthday. Fifty. How did that happen? Well, I can’t think of a better way to start my 50’s than a adventurous trip to Europe.
Mike and I tend to take two types of vacations; relaxing, lay on the beach and recharge our batteries trips and go to a country where we don’t know the language and navigate a journey through unfamiliar territory. This is the second. Here’s a map of our journey.
We fly from San Francisco to Amsterdam direct on a 787-900. We used miles to upgrade to Polaris Business Class which has amazing seats that convert to beds. Anyone who knows me likely knows I experience flight anxiety. If I’m going to be anxious I might as well be comfortable.
Amsterdam wasn’t part of the original trip but I’d read in a travel blog that United was opening up a new direct route I thought we might be able to get immediate upgrades instead of being put on a waiting list. I was right. I think this might be he first time I’ve gone to Europe without flying into London.
Mike didn’t have a list of places he wanted to visit but he did say he wanted to experience Fairy Tale Europe as apposed to historical ww1 or ww2 sites or modern Europe. That was a good enough to help me plan our trip.
Here’s our itinerary:
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Brugge, Belgium
Cologne, Germany
Gimmelwald, Switzerland (a small village in the Swiss Alps)
Salzburg, Austria
Venice, Italy
Paris, France
I was reading in my UK Cathedrals blog that I learned my lesson about staying in a town for just one night. It’s too much of a hassle. So we are staying 2 to 3 nights at each location with the exception of Amsterdam (we are there just long enough to visit the Van Gogh museum) and Cologne (there as a stopover to see the UNESCO World heritage Cathedral).
Mikey and I are big believers in traveling light. We each will have a carry-on suitcase and a small backpack. That’s it. No checking bags. It’s great to walk off the plane and head directly to customs without waiting for luggage. To accomplish this we will do laundry in Salzburg. (We haven’t decided if we’ll do fluff and fold or if we’ll actually go to the laundry mat and wash out clothes.) last time we did laundry in Florence and it was kind of a neat experience.
Here’s the top ten things I’m looking forward to:
1. Chocolate in Brugge.
2. Being with Mike in the Swiss Alps. (Ever since I got a look at the Alps when I was in Germany doing a show I’ve wanted to visit there with Mikey.)
3. Early mornings and late evenings in Venice. (One of my favorite memories from our last visit to Venice was walking around St. Marks Square early in the morning and having the place to myself.)
4. GROM gelato.
5. The Sound of Music bike tour in Salzburg.
6. A canal tour of Brugge
7. The scenic train trip from Cologne to Interlakken that goes along the Rhine.
8. The scenic train trip from Salzburg to Venice that goes through a beautiful pass in the Alps.
9. The new Rattatoui Ride at Disneyland Paris.
10. Experiencing the new Polaris Class seats on the flight home from Paris.
Art’s Travel Adventures 