What a trip! As you may have gathered, we had a marvelous time. We were so lucky. Not only did we have fun, pretty much everything went as scheduled, we didn't lose anything or have anything stolen, neither of us got sick or hurt and we had room in our luggage for all those souvenirs. We learned so much. About history, culture, languages, architecture, religion - and food! While we were on the tour, everyone in the group got along very well, and when there were a couple of glitches, nobody got whiny. We probably had the world's best guide and bus driver, too. The apartments we rented turned out to be very comfortable, and best of all, they actually existed! (When you arrange it all by email, you're never quite sure until you show up.)
Jerry says I'm sugar coating things a bit, but really, the few problems we had are hardly worth mentioning. A couple trains were late - big deal. It rained quite a bit at the beginning - like we're not used to that! The apartment in Vienna was right over the delivery bay for the grocery store (6 am deliveries!) - but we were usually up anyway. And Jerry does agree we had a charmed trip.
I did take some notes about things we learned about traveling. I'm going to write them up as a checklist for the next time we travel. I'll put a few at the end of this post.
One thing was new for us both this time and we loved - our ScotteVests! Holy cow, they were so great. They've got about a million pockets, but they don't look like those awful fishermen's vests we used to think were the real deal. I actually got a couple of compliments on how mine looked. And with all the secure zippered pockets, all our critical stuff was safe and on our person at all times. We never even used the money belts the Rick Steves tour gave us. Those were a real find. If you're interested - http://www.scottevest.com.
It is good to be home though. I haven't left the house in two days and it feels good! We agreed that the trip was just about 4 or 5 days too long. We were worn out. Now we're going through our photos (1550!) before we forget what they all are. Thanks for traveling along with us. It was nice to know you were reading and sharing the experience.
Things we learned:
- Do not bring traveler's checks! Not only do no stores take them, which we sort of expected, we couldn't even cash them at any bank.
- Towel warmers rock! They heat the bathroom and dry our sink-washed undies fast!
- Bring a variety of plastic bags in various sizes. They take up no room, and are good for so many things. Grocery stores don't supply bags in Europe.
- Ditto for rubber bands.
- Buying a transit pass relieves stress. You can just hop on and off subways, trams and buses for whatever it's time limit is.
- I wore my pashmina every day it wasn't too hot. It made me look like a native and I now feel naked without a scarf.
- Lots of people wear jeans in Europe. But not white athletic shoes.
- Women of all ages in Europe color their hair in fantastic shades unknown in nature.
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