Planning a Vacation in Europe

You all know we’re headed to Europe. Back when Denisa and I were still in the planning stages of this trip, we really only had two objectives: go to Slovakia and go to Germany (back to the area where I served my mission). In the flurry of plane ticket buying, those objectives changed: go to Slovakia, Vienna and London. Which is all very fun and exciting, but yesterday the travel guides came for Vienna and London, and I realized: *I need to plan out three trips, not just one*.

I’m sad we’re not making it to Germany. Again. I’ve really wanted to go back. From time to time I check out the cities I live in, using Google Maps. Leipzig, Schwarzenberg, Gotha, Weimar–I lived each of those places for a half year, and I’d love to show them off to Denisa and the kids. Then again, my kids aren’t old enough to remember going to them if we went, so I guess it’s a moot point. If I could only become a wildly popular German language author like my friend Dan, I’d get a trip to the Leipzig book fair, which would solve all my problems. 🙂 Guess I’d better keep writing.

But anyway. Life would be easier planning these things if money were no object. I could just rent a car, pick a hotel that has great reviews and be off and running. However, money definitely *is* an object. So we’re using public transportation from the airports and around the cities, which then makes finding a hotel difficult. Not only do we want one reasonably priced (in London–good luck!) but we’d like one that has good reviews. (Defeats the purpose to get there and stay in a hole the whole time.) And it has to be within walking distance of public transportation that both goes to the airport and downtown London. Oh–and we’d like to pay attention to room size, because if we get a postage stamp of a room, it’s doubtful we’ll get any sleep. TRC and DC don’t sleep well when we’re in the same room with them. They just want to play.

And I don’t just have to do that with London. I need to figure out Vienna (easier, since it’ll just be Denisa and me there) and Eastern Slovakia (Denisa’s department–she’s spearheading that operation).

Yesterday I was online for about four hours at home trying to find the perfect spot, and I came up empty. I’ll try again tonight. Unless, of course, one of you has an apartment in London you’re–you know–*not using*. And if you had a car conveniently parked at the airport, I’d take that, too. 🙂

Once I find places to stay, I’ll move on to Things to Do, which should be more enjoyable.