We were all smiles after our fascinating and fun tour of the Hallstatt Salt Mine in Austria!
Willkommen!Guten Tag, and welcome to the scrapbook of our amazing adventures on the Rick Steves Germany, Austria, Switzerland (GAS) tour plus a few extras! We are a trio - Jodi, Brett, and Deb (Brett's mom)! So why GAS? Well, we had thought about going on a Viking River Cruise at Brett's parents request, but it was WAY too expensive and didn't offer nearly as many experiences. Brett already had the time off from work though, so we needed to keep the same dates and fulfill Deb's wish to go to Austria. Brett and I had already been on the RS Greece tour so I decided to pull up the RS website and lo and behold there was a Germany, Austria & Switzerland in 14 Days Tour (which has the most Austria in it) that fit in the dates with a little time for other places before and after the tour. Then and there we decided we were going, and within a month had booked the tour (and each got $100 off for booking early, YEAH discounts)!!
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Pegasus statue in the Mirabell Gardens with the Palace behind it in Salzburg, Austria. The statue featured in the Sound of Music 's do-re-mi number.
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Introducing Our Traveling Trio!
Jodi (that's me!) - I have a degree in history and masters in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. I am drawn to Europe for the amazing history it has to offer. I want to see the places history has happened! I have German ancestry and grew up in a very German family so tasting the cuisine was a top priority for me on this trip. I am also an avid photographer and amateur travel planner extraordinaire. I love to travel and I love to plan trips! I am always dreaming of where to go next. Even as I create this scrapbook I am planning a family trip to some of the National Parks of CO and UT for this coming summer! I relish all of the excitement that comes with research and planning!
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Brett - Brett is a financial analyst who doesn't crunch the numbers as much when it comes to his love of travel. He is a great on the road problem solver (being an Eagle Scout and current cub scout troop leader will do that), and is an easy going traveler. He also looks great in hats, don't you think? He thoroughly enjoys wine tasting, ruined castles, music, hiking, and history while traveling. He and Jodi met while study abroad students in England and haven't been able to stop traveling together since!
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Deb - Deb is a retired librarian and a generous soul with a great love of family (ie awesome grandmother!) and enthusiasm for travel. She's also a great cook! She first traveled with her grandmother back in the early 70's upon college graduation doing Europe's must sees, and is still at it. She chose Austria as the place she wanted to see most and we built our trip around that. She is an extremely easy going traveler (pretty much going along with whatever I planned) and kept up with Brett and I (we tend to be very active travelers!) just fine.
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Those We Left At HomeBrett and I have two children that we left in the excellent care of Grampy Nick, Auntie Jess, and Grandma & Grandpa Stoller while we enjoyed Europe. It helped that school was still in session with Liam in 2nd grade and Fiona a kindergartner. Regardless, we are lucky and grateful to have such caring and helpful family members. While we did not call them at all we did keep in touch with the help of the beautiful side of modern technology. Brett created 3 albums for each week of our trip that could be accessed by those back in the US from a computer or smart phone to see where we were and what we were up to. Each evening Brett and I would deposit the photos we had taken into these folders for our family members to see.
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Yes, I Traveled for 3 Weeks with My Mother-In-Law and Had a Marvelous Time!
All of us have done extensive European travel so doing it together was no big deal as we are all pretty easy going. For all but the days prior to and after the tour, Deb had her own single room and Brett and I had a double. It's a great way to keep everyone happy for the longer stretch of the tour with the maintenance of privacy. The nights that were not part of the tour - Bacharach and Prague - we had a family room. I did most of the pre, post, and free time planning, but no one was locked into anything. If anyone had wanted to go a different direction they would have been able to do so with no problem.
Planning for Our Tour
What do you mean planning? Isn't that why you take a tour? Yes, of course, but you have free time during which you can do your own thing. You can rely on your guide for suggestions, but I find it helpful to figure out what I want to do ahead of time so that if I need tickets beforehand etc...I can readily get those. And, if you spend extra time in Europe before or after your tour, then you'll need to plan that time too. I find delving into multiple guidebooks helpful, as well as using the RS forum for more specific questions. Plan, but also realize you may find serendipitous moments you just have to take advantage of!
Practicalities ~ Packing Light
This is a point of emphasis for Rick and you really do need to take it to heart. The photo on the left below is literally all I took for a 3 week trip to Europe - a carry-on & cross body bag - and I probably could have taken less. It was easy to carry my own luggage, get on and off trains, and up and down stairs with minimal fuss. I buy very few souvenirs, but I do leave a little room for those as well. I also use the RS packing cubes (below right) which help to keep things from getting all jumbled together in transit. The middle photo is what Brett and I took on our trip all together. Pack light and you'll travel easy and breezy!
Who Is Rick Steves and Why Are You Taking His Tour?
The question above is usually the response I get when people ask where I am going when they find out about my trip. For all the Rikniks I know are out there in the world, a lot less people watch PBS than I thought. My answer: Rick Steves' is an American guy with a travel show revolving around Europe on PBS. He also has a tour company you can take 40+ different itineraries with should you be so inclined. I like the freedom independent travel affords, but if you want a guided tour I think his company is the way to go. You get to see the biggies in each area, have guided tours so you know what you are looking at with no lines, wonderful travel companions, and you still have free time to do what you really love and can personalize that time to your interests. Then, I give them his website address and tell them to check it out.
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Practicalities ~ FlightsWe had the best flying experience of our lives hopping on a red eye, and I don't think for international flights we will ever go back. We were actually able to sleep on the flight (which I especially have a very hard time with), and after working the whole day of our departure we still got to Germany in mid-afternoon the next day, gaining a whole day in Europe than if we had taken a day time flight over the next day. Chicago O'Hare is our nearest large international hub, and we took a 10:30 pm flight direct to Frankfurt. We arrived feeling as refreshed as we ever have with no major jet lag and ready to start our adventure!
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Deb and Brett waiting at our gate in O'Hare International in Chicago, and getting ready for our departure to Germany and the start of our amazing adventure!
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Website Navigation and Features* If you'd like to view the scrapbook in chronological order using the button at the bottom of each page will take you to the next days travel. Or, you can use the menu at the top to jump right to the portion of our trip you would like to view.
* Links to websites of points of interest are in light green writing throughout the body of the scrapbook. * Kelman's Catalogue will cover the hotels and restaurants we utilized for each overnight location and our thoughts on if we would visit again. * In honor of the Sound of Music I've done a section called 'These Are a Few of My Favorite Things' for each location we stayed in. * Hovering over the picture galleries will cause their captions to appear. * The Practicalities section will tell you about the more mundane but still important things like bus time, packing, electronics in travel, the ear bud whisper system, free time etc... * The Germany, Switzerland and Austria country pages are brief introductions to each country before you get to the tour days within those countries. |