Little Update

Internet access is spotty so we haven't updated the blog as we had hoped.

Here are a few photos from the Browne's first few days. After they got out of new jersey, they hit the ground running in Germany.

We have had a lot of rain, but are making the best of it. We had no rain in Brugge today, an adorable city known as the "the Venice of the north".

More soon, hopefully.....

On our way!

Test

Just seeing if i can post photos to the blog from my phone. If it worked, there's a picture of my desk here. Looking forward to not seeing it for a while.

Public (Somewhat) Blog

Hello All-

We are just days away from the 2013 European Family Adventure!  Originally this blog was set up for planning purposes, now that we have planned and packed, the blog will shift its focus to the actual trip.  I have heard rumors that some of us (not me) have been packed for weeks!

If this is your first time reading the blog, welcome!  We have all of our information about where we are staying and our separate itinerary's.  The Browne and Leonti itinerary's can be found directly above this post in the heading section, you see it?  Then the links to all of our hotels/b&b's/apartments are on the right sidebar.  Click on either section for details.

We will do our best to update the blog and add photos, so check back.  Feel free to share the webpage link with any family you would like.  Nick will have his phone set up with the international plan, however, email is still the best way to contact us.

If any of us go missing on the trip, I have included some photos for identification purposes. Please note, my mom is the one pretty woman, not the chubby Levi, in case there was any confusion.

 

The Weather

If you were wondering, Paris had a high of 82 degrees today......

The Final Stretch

We are only a few short weeks away from our trip! This is a crucial time where we can all take a helpful cue from this jump roping apple: Let's stay healthy!

We don't want to be sick or injured during our trip, so be extra careful out there.

Lift with your knees. Look both ways. Eat your veggies. Load up on vitamin C. Get plenty of sleep.

We want everyone to be in tip-top shape when we start this adventure. Start planning now!

Paris Apartment Hunt Bonanza!

Bonjour La Famille-

We are 29 days away from packing our bags and taking off for the Browne-Leonti Family European Adventure!  In the last week Nick and I have looked at and requested information on roughly 29,000 apartments in Paris.  Out of the 29,000 Nick was responsible for about 27,876.....I just couldn't keep up with the Tourism professional!

The great news is we found a cute little studio apartment for the Browne's and everyone will have a bit more space, which in Paris was a challenge to find.  But wait, there is even more good news!  The Leonti and Browne apartments are a mere 100 meters away from each other.  As Nick has pointed out, the apartments are so close that Usain Bolt could run from one place to the next in 9.63 seconds.  With that said, each of us will be running from one apartment to the other while being timed.  Whoever has the fastest time, will win a Parisian prize.

If you don't believe me how close they are, see the below map for reference- A is the Browne's, B is the Leonti's.  I have also updated the right sidebar link with the Browne's Parisian home.

The Euro is Doing Its Part

The euro has dropped to under $1.28! This is the lowest it's been for a very long time and would be the lowest it has ever been for us when we travel. I think it was $1.47 on one of our trips, so anything near $1.30 would be great. We're still 45 days away, so let's keep our fingers crossed for the rate to keep dropping. You'll notice on the right column of the blog that I've added a live exchange rate widget. This way we can keep an eye on that pesky euro.

Updated Leonti & Browne Itinerary Pages

Hello Family!

I have updated both the Leonti and Browne itinerary pages to include our individual flight numbers and the hotel/B&B information, along with the links to their websites. I also added a few links on the sidebar under the "places we really want to see" section that are on my folks list.

You can share this blog with Lisa, Chris, Ethan, Granny, Sally, Frank, Carm, Uncle Keith, Travis, Karalee, Grams, Luke, Levi, Mackie or Crumbs if they need to get a hold of us, they can not only email us, but can also reach us at our hotels.  Please note I did not include our employers in the above list, that is for those of us who are sadly still working, they are not welcome to contact us.

At the time of this post we are 53 days and 23 hours away from our departure, eeeeeekkkkkk!

That being said, since we still have 53 days and 23 hours before we fly out, here is video that is well worth your 1 minute and 10 seconds.  This Shetland pony can really move!

Hotel Options for Browne Alternate Itinerary v1

Hi again Brownes!

Here are some hotel options for the itinerary we sent your way earlier. Follow the links for more info on each property and to book.

We encourage you to book ASAP - especially the options which offer free cancellation...cuz why not? Some of these properties don't have many open rooms left....

Berlin - May 12 & 13
Hotel Tiergarten - $128 per night
Swissotel Berlin - $144 per night
H10 Berlin Ku'Damm - $106 per night

Munich - May 15 & 16
Hotel Laimer Hof - $171 per night
Bed & Breakfast Zeevat - $91 per night
Motel One Munchen - $141 per night

Bertchesgaden - May 17 & 18
Hotel Bavaria - $129 per night

Baden-Baden - May 19-21
Hotel Alte Laterne - Geniesser-Tage Package - $400
*Package includes 3 nights hotel, breakfast, welcome drink, map, calendar, coffee & cake, guided walking tour, candlelight dinner at the Alte Laterne Restaurant, glass of schnapps and a free sausage at the Lowenbrau Beer Garden. Not too shabby.

Heidelberg - May 22 & 23
Leonardo Hotel - $110 per night 
Gasthaus Hackteufel - $182 per night

Koblenz - May 24
Hotel and Gasthaus Berghof - $93 per night 
Aran Hotel - $124 per night

Paris - May 25-28
Shared Apartment - no action needed

Paying for Stuff in Europe

In general, banks are real jerks and will add on a bunch of extra fees when you try to pay for something in Europe. There are ATM fees and "foreign transaction fees" in addition to that pesky exchange rate that's already screwing us (check the current rate here).

These fees occur when:
A) You get cash from and ATM
B) You pay for something with a card (debit or credit)

Let's look at ATMs first. And, actually, before I do that, let me say that you do not need to go to a bank and exchange dollars for euros prior to the trip. Banks and the Forex exchange places at airports will rip you off at some crazy rate. There will be ATMs at the airports in Europe that will give much better rates. If you do want to get a few euros before we go, do just that - get a few euros.

Now back to the ATMs. If you just go up to the first ATM you see and take some cash out, you will be charged an ATM fee (up to 5e) and a foreign transaction fee (about 3% of how much you take out).

So if you take out 100e, it could cost you up to 8e (currently $10.41) to make that transaction.

But if you select the proper ATM, you can save some money. Bank of America has the best ATM network in the world. They partner with the following banks:
Germany: Deutsche Bank
France: BNP Paribas
Belgium: BNP Paribas or Deutsche Bank

If you use one of those ATMs - and they are plentiful - you do not have to pay the ATM fee, just the foreign transaction fee.

So that same 100e would only cost you about $4 instead of $10.

If you don't have Bank of America...it will be a little tougher and a little more expensive to get cash.

Also, those of us going to Holland should notice that Holland is not on the list, so let's try not to use a lot of ATMs while we're there.

 If we feel safe carrying cash, we should just carry a lot of cash.

Now onto general credit/debit card transactions.

When you make a purchase with a card, you will, once again, be charged the foreign transaction fee. Again it's about 3% of the purchase price.

The only card that doesn't charge you anything for foreign transactions is Capital One. So, go ahead and get yourself one of those, if you like.

Also, notify the banks of any card that you'll be using in Europe that you will be traveling or else they might think a transaction in Germany is "suspicious" and suspend your account. We don't need that.

That's the scoop!

Night Train Info (for the Brownes)

If you want to look at your options for taking the night train to Munich to save yourself a considerable chunk of daylight hours, click here.

Browne Family D-Day Drop Zone

Much like Nick, it has been a busy few months for me as well, resulting in the blog being neglected.  Well good news family, I am back and ready to do some planning!

As the schedule stands for Paris right now, on Monday the 27th the Leonti's (Bob, Nan and Nick) are planning a day to explore some prehistoric sites.  You know cave paintings, old rocks, fossils, the works.  I thought this would be a good day for the Browne's (Jim, Sandy, Amber) to go explore Normandy and the WWII sites. This will be a nice opportunity for the parents to spend some quality time with their youngest and most favorite children, shush, this is a secret from Lisa and Travis.  And yes, you did read that correct, I did list all of our names associated with each family, as if we don't know each other. 

After doing much searching, I have found what I think is the best option for a tour of Normandy.  Not only does this tour cover all the major sites, but it is also organized around the train schedule to and from Paris as a day trip.  In addition to this, it only runs Monday-Friday, perfect being that we wanted to go on a Monday.  It is 85 euros a piece for the tour, which seems fairly average or a bit lower than the other tours I found, plus the train fare to and from Paris, which will run us about 30 euros a piece. Sounds pretty good right? Here are some more details.

The tour will take us to sectors where the American V Corps and VII Corps landings occurred at Omaha and Utah beaches. We will follow the steps of the famous 1st, 29th, and 4th American Infantry Divisions and the other units that linked up with them. We will also be taken to the misplaced drop zones of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Units that landed in the early morning hours of the D-Day Invasion on June 6, 1944.

We will visit some of these strong points, which were the better-defended German Positions along Omaha. We will stop at WN 62 and WN 65 in Fox Green and Easy Red sectors of the American landing, and WN 73 in Dog Green at Vierville. I am hoping that this military language makes some sense to you Dad, because they lost me at "WN 62 and WN 65 in Fox Green". I have made tentative reservations for the 27th for the three of us Browne's, if the Leonti's (see above names for reference) would like to join us, I can increase the reservation.  Let me know if this tour looks good to you.

Here is the link to the site and the specific tour.

Belgian Beer

After a really busy couple months, I'm ready to get back to focusing on our trip and one of the most important aspects of that trip: beer.

I don't have any doubts that there will be beer all through Belgium, but it might be cool to visit a brewery and get a tour. Stella Artois is there. Also Duvel, Chimay, Delirium Tremens (the one with the pink elephants).

Belgium is pretty small and we'll have a car for much of the time, so we can pretty much go anywhere we want.

I don't know if I've ever had "lambic" but they sell it at Trader Joe's and they make it at a place in Brussels that's easy to get to: http://www.cantillon.be/. So we should check that out.

And we should try to visit this monastery where they, apparently, make the best beer in the world: http://www.westvleteren12.com/. We'll see about that.

Here's a list of the Top 20 Belgian beers if you want to to start doing some research on your own: http://www.roughguides.com/article/top-twenty-best-belgian-beers/



Update on the Last Post

I've done a little more research and I htink I might have a great solution.

I've discovered the small Belgian city of Verviers. It's got a few good things going for it:

1. It's closer to Aachen than Liege.
2. It's closer to Spa than Liege.
3. It has an Avis car rental place

Those three things combine to mean that we can save time, avoid backtracking and stay somewhere other than Liege...which I've heard is dirty.

Here's what I'm suggesting:

We stay in Aachen on night #1. If we don't hit any snags, we'll be there at 5pm.

The next day, we take the 30 minute train ride to Verviers, take a taxi to the Avis and rent a car.

Depending on how well we defeat jetlag, we could be in a rental car as early as 10am.

From Verviers, it's about a 25 minute drive to Spa. So we'd have most of the day to see the track and enjoy the town.

There are also a lot of great looking small hotels/b&bs in Spa, so we could just stay there for the night.

The next day we drive to Delft.

How's that sound?

Options for the First Two Nights

We know we're getting into Dusseldorf at 1:50pm on Sunday, May 12th and we know we're staying the night at a B&B in Delft the night of Tuesday, May 14th. What we don't know is how we are filling the time in between.

The way I see it we can stay in one of three cities: Cologne, Aachen or Liege. And we can stay one or both nights in any of those.

Cologne
Cologne has the advantage of being the closest to the Dusseldorf Airport - under an hour on the train. We might be pretty tired after 20 hours of travel so this could be a good option. Cologne looks like this:

It's on the Rhine river and is Germany's fourth largest city. So it's not exactly a quaint German village or anything, but it could be a good, convenient spot to get a taste of Germany and rest our heads on Night #1.

Aachen
Getting to Aachen would require a train transfer in Cologne. From the airport, it would be about and hour and a half to get to Aachen by trian. So we'd be pulling in around 5pm - about 45 minutes later that we'd get to Cologne.

Aachen is much smaller than Cologne and is an old spa town that was a favorite of Charlamagne. It looks like this:

Aachen would give us a quieter place for our first night - kind of easing us into the trip. Also, you'd still be able to say that you spent a night in Germany.

And it would be super-quick to hop on a train the next day and go the half hour into Belgium to rent a car.

Liege
Liege is another half hour on the train past Aachen (over an hour past Cologne). So we'd be getting in around 5:30pm - (that's 8:30am our time - so we'd be travelling for about 24 hours at this point.)

Liege is in Belgium - which is nice because that's where we want to rent a car (since we'll be returning the car in Beligium later). It's about the same size as Aachen and it looks like this:

It's a more modern city that Aachen, but I'm sure there's still some good old stuff around.

The main advantage for us, for staying in Liege is that we can rent a car first thing Monday morning and drive off to Spa to see the race track (about an hour's drive from Liege).

So that's the scoop! Let's make a decision so we can research some lodging.