14 August 2009

bum bum bum.

planning a trip to europe is not easy. in fact, it's much more time-consuming that i originally thought. jake and i are not those kind of people who plan out every single detail, every single minute, have everything booked before we go...blah blah blah. no. i booked us a rental car, and that's about it. however, i still want to feel slightly more prepared by having a small list of available and cheap hotels/hostels/nunneries/bed and breakfasts, etc., things to do, places to eat. i've emailed everyone i know who has been to the places we are going, and i've gotten some good responses with some great recommendations. then i realized that when we fly into germany, it will be the beginning of oktoberfest. geez. that means many places will be filled to full capacity, which makes me wonder--okay should i book somewhere? just when we first get there? but my senses tell me no, that we should stick to the adventure and that everything will be just fine, because it always is. my tummy is growing, and it's giving me back pain. but i embrace this and am thankful. i've been researching things for europe for the past 3 hours, in the same position sitting in my bed. that's actually probably why i have the back pain. i just can't wait for fall. it is for sure, hands down, my most favorite season. crunchy leaves, brisk air. I LOVE IT. so much to look forward to.
anyway, hope you have a happy weekend. as for me, i'll just be here planning.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm all for adventure - in fact I just came back from a month long train trip from Denmark to Morocco with two small kids (yes, I blogged about it). BUT, I will say that when you know there's going to be a big festival (Oktoberfest is supposed to be CRAZY), it may pay to have a plan b. Just imagine that you spend 3 hours looking for a hotel, you're exhausted, and then you end sleeping in your rental car. I've been there. At least find a smaller city with a nice b&b close by...

Alyssa Griffeth said...

A few years ago, my sister and I spent an entire summer backpacking through Europe. We really were so nieve and didn't know what to expect! We totally wanted to be adventerous and not be stuck to a schedule because we had hotels booked...But on our first night, our flight into Paris was several hours late, so we arrived at like 2am. We walked out of the subway station and started trying to navigate our way through a totally foreign city in the middle of the night. Thankfully, a man saw us staring at our map looking like total tourists and offered to help us navigate. Turns out, every single hostel in the city was sold out (I had no idea they filled up early in the day, especially on the weekends). We were stuck walking through the streets of Paris for hours, just trying to find a hotel or B&B that wasn't filled to capacity. It certainly made for an adventure, but I remember crying the entire time as we walked through the dark streets, TERRIFIED that we were going to get raped or robbed. Long story short, I WISH I would have booked something for EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND that we were there, as well as for the first night. It would have been so comforting! Good luck! I can't wait to see what you guys decide to do.

Andrea said...

I had a similar experience in Paris.

Every single hotel/hostel everything was booked. It resulted ina lot of wasted time hotel hunting. I'd at least find something in Germany. That's an insane time there.

Andrea said...

PS Don't drink the beer. ;)

{Layla} said...

Ohhh, goody, now I can get some tips from you when you're back! Austin and I are planning our trip for early nov and it will be a little chilly there so I do worry about finding places to sleep etc. Keep a good log so I can get details/advice from you. Other than the airfare and train passes and knowing the places we are wanting to go, we are just flying by the seat of our pants and it is a little nerve racking!

Heidi said...

No advice here on the germany thing, but if you're going through Italy you HAVE to go to Lake Como in Bellagio and stay at Il Perlo Panorama. Google it and you'll see what I'm talking about. Also, RyanAir is a great/cheap way to fly between European countries.

Michelle said...

i hope you guys have an amazing trip