Oh the places you will go

I am currently obsessed with researching and planning trips for us. Right now it's more me planning hypothetical trips I'm not sure if we will even or when we will take them... but. Planning none-the-less. I believe this has been spurred on by a few things:
1). How fun our last trip was
2). How easy it was to book
3). Remembering how much I want to see and do all around Europe... and outside of Europe
4).Realizing that 3 years isn't that long
5). Boredom... and too much time on the internet.

There are a few things I have discovered:
1). Whenever anyone talks about traveling around Europe, everyone always talks about how cheap and easy it is to travel by train. I was told by many people the first thing I should do is buy a Euro-rail card. Let me clear this myth up for everyone. Traveling around Europe by train is extremely easy. Cheap, no. At least not in Germany. Germany is the only country which does not participate with the Euro-rail system. So even if you purchase a Euro-rail card, it will not be valid in Germany. You can purchase a German rail card, but it's pretty spendy. You'd really have to calculate out how much a train ticket to somewhere will cost first to see if it is worth just paying for the single ticket or getting a rail card. Really... a rail card is only worth it if you're planning to hop over to a few different cities in a few days. And... frankly where we are right now, it's easy/cheaper for us to drive. The same applies to trains in other countries. In some countries the train is cheap. In others... not so much. So... it really depends on what you're planning to do. The Euro-rail would be great for someone who is planning on country hopping in a two week time frame. I believe that is what it is made for. The Euro-rail pass is also cheaper if you are a European citizen. So yes... train is a an easy option, but beware of being told it is cheap. I have also discovered many of the people who talked about "cheap train travel" either haven't been to Europe, haven't used the train in Europe, or it has been at least 20 years since they were in Europe.

2). In searching for cheap ways to travel to other places, I have discovered Ryan Air. Ryan Air is a cheap airline that flys to major European cities to the non-major airports (think of Allegiant Air or Southwest Airline). I've heard of it before and had looked into it... but I've started looking more thoroughly into where we can fly with them. The airport we'd use is 45 minutes away from our house, and from there we can go to Rome, Venice, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan,  Dublin, London, Edinburgh, Stockholm, Oslo, Crete, and a few places I hadn't heard of, or wasn't familiar with. Like any airline, the more time you have before your trip, the cheaper your tickets will be. And, similar to Allegiant Air, your ticket may be one price, but to check a bag is more money, ect ect. Lots of extra charges if you aren't careful. But, if you plan it right, it can be very inexpensive. Due to finding cheap plane tickets, there are two new destinations I am seriously considering which were not on my list before: Poland and Croatia. Similar to Belgium, it's not that I have anything against these destinations, I just haven't had them on the top of my travel list. What got me interested in both places was I could find plane tickets (round trip) for 18 euro.... so for both Josh and I we could fly there for 36 euro. When I looked into Poland, I discovered we could stay at nice hotels for very reasonable (mainly because Poland is under a different currency and they are poorer). It could make for a cheap vacation. As I've done more research into Poland, I've mapped out an interesting 4-5 day trip for us. It would include flying into the city of Rzeszow, touring the local area there, then taking a train to Krakow, touring around Krakow, taking an excursion trip to Auschwitz, then back to Rzeszow to go home. I haven't researched Croatia as much as I have Poland, but I do know from what I've looked into it that similar to Poland we would be able to stay in a nice hotel for cheap, and the area I've been looking at is a beach town on the Adriatic Sea. A beach-esk destination will sound nice in a few months I'm sure. Traveling to a more obscure not-so-traveled area may seem odd at first, but in the end it may be worth the cheaper price. Here's to hoping.

3). I love the website www.booking.com. I have booked two separate hotels for different trips from this site, and it is great. They list a lot of hotels (many more than the usual American travel sites), and they provide reviews and feedback from people who have stayed there. The information other travelers give has been very helpful when I've been looking. It's also a useful tool when I'm doing my "hypothetical" travel preparations.

4). With the military, Josh is only allowed to travel 500 miles or 8 hours away from base (anything farther than that and he officially has to take leave time. Not a big deal, but there won't be any weekend trips to Rome or London). This is quite a distance, and we can get to a lot of places that are within that distance. I have discovered many places I do want to go that are in a reasonable driving distance for us, including: Paris, Amsterdam, Munich, Salzburg (Austria), Zurich, Berlin, Hamburg, "Normandy" (France), Prague... just to name a few. My list continues to grow every time I look on Google maps to see how far away a site is...

Josh has to work tonight. His normal shift is suppose to be Sunday night to Thursday night. But, he'll have to work tonight as well, possibly Saturday too. It is all in preparation for the upcoming inspection. I'm using his unhappiness about having to work to my advantage - in a good way. I've been trying for the past few days to convince Josh we need to travel somewhere for Labor Day. He has been resistant to this idea because he's a guy, and in his mind we have "plenty of time" to figure something out. We will have just returned from Berlin the weekend before. But, I used this weekend as an example, saying we have to take advantage of getting the extra day for travel when we get it. He relented, and agreed maybe we could look into something for Labor Day. Lucky for him, I've already been planning. I really want to go visit the town of Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber. It is a walled-in medieval town that is supposibly a picture-esk "must do" while in Germany. It's about a five hour drive away from our house, and everything I've read says you need at least two days to properly see it. It makes a weekend trip a bit of a challenge. Do-able, but rushed. Labor Day weekend would be perfect. The other perfect part of my plan (and I think the thing which really made Josh agree) is there is an Army base about 40 minutes away from Rothenburg. If we can get a reservation, we could stay on base at the hotel. The hotel would be much cheaper than anything we'd find in Rothenburg, and the rooms come with a kitchenette, so we could cut down on costs by packing some food from home. Plus, we can gas up on base, which is always much cheaper than off base. In addition to Rothenburg, I'm planning for us to drive to see Dachau concentration camp. It's about an hour and a half drive from where we're staying, and it's something I want to see (yes, I realize that in this blog alone I've mentioned two separate visits to two different concentration camps. That may disturb some people. I find it fascinating, and an important thing to witness). Josh is going to call to make a reservation tomorrow morning... as long as there is an opening for us, we will be on our way for some fun Labor Day plans. Now if I can only find other bases for us to stay at... too bad there isn't one in Paris.

Josh was teasing me that I'm going to make us "travel poor." This may be true. Since I've been here I weigh my options that way. Would I rather get a brand new dining room table, or be able to spend a long weekend in Paris? Paris. Update new bedding for our bedroom or add that to the travel fund? Travel fund. Before we bought Frank, there was the option for us to buy a much newer Audi. Josh even went so far as to say we could look into getting an auto loan to get me something new to drive... but I told him I'd rather go on vacation. I love Frank, and I love driving him even more knowing that I saved money we can use to travel. Plus... if there is any sort of deal out there - a cheap flight, cheap hotel, discounted tour tickets - I will find it. I will find a way to make our trip cheap. It's like a challenge to myself.