In less than 4 days...

...we will be boarding a big plane in Seattle headed towards Barcelona, Spain!

In a matter of 28 days, we will see:
Prague, Olomouc, Brno, and Cesky Krumlov (all in the Czech Republic), Vienna, Hallstatt, Salzburg and Linz (all in Austria) and then we will be in Barcelona for another six days before we head back home to the states.

So much time and planning and dreaming has gone into this, and we're so close! I know it certainly hasn't set in for Zach yet. As I type this at the kitchen table, Zach is down the street at the hospital working hard. It is his last day as a pharmacy student. For the past 7 years, and especially this last year, he has been focused on finishing school strong, completing requirements for graduation, and sending off resumes for future employment (oh yeah, employment!) But my mind, my mind has been in Europe for weeks now.


We decided before we were married that we would travel upon Zach's graduation. Zach has never left the U.S. and has always wanted to travel Europe. I have been to Europe on two occasions with the OSU Chamber Choir, and they remain some of the most enjoyable times of my life. My first step on European soil was summer of 2006 when we arrived in Prague after almost 24 hours of no sleep. I was grouchy and exhausted. We were given directions to drop our things off at the hotel and stay awake until at least 9 pm Czech time to ensure that we would adjust to the new time zone quickly. As soon as the airport shuttle took us into old town Prague and I looked out my window, I was overwhelmed with adrenaline. What an immaculately preserved, beautiful and romantic city. It surpassed anything I imagined could still be on the earth today. That evening was spent wandering the cobblestone streets old town, turning corners to be presented with yet another view of enchanting buildings and statues against a bright sapphire night sky. I remember how my heartbeat would race and then I would break out in giggles at my physiological response to such beauty.

I am so excited to share these experiences with Zach, to be filed away as an amazing thing we've seen together.

Overall, our trip has been a lot of fun and very rewarding to plan, but of course at times it has been stressful due to websites that won't translate into comprehend-able English and the ever fluctuating prices of transportation and accommodation- "Do we purchase this now and move on to further planning, or wait it out in case prices lower?" was a constant question. My main goal in planning this trip was to be able to save on things like transportation costs and accommodation, to have more reserved for special things that may come up, like a nice dinner, souvenir, boat ride, or concert. Those are the things that count in my book! I think we have been quite successful thus far in our efforts.

First, we found an amazing deal on our Seattle-Barcelona flight, which is the sole reason we decided to fly to Barcelona. Zach is to thank for this, as he is the bargain-airfare-shopper-KING. Before we found these sweet tickets to Barcelona, I had been searching fares for months and found pretty good tickets to Glasgow (hundreds of dollars more, but still the best deal I had seen at that time). I planned an entire trip around the UK including time in Glasgow, Edinburgh, the Cottswolds, Cambridge, and London. I also found great tickets to Turkey from London and planned month long trip with 10 days in the UK and 20 in Turkey. I still have these day to day plans written out for both of these trips including transportation and hostels/b&b with prices and ideas for day excursions, if anyone wants them! :) Anyway, one free evening we went back to Kayak.com to purchase the tickets, and lo and behold, they had raised a few hundred dollars each and were then far out of the "it's meant to be" range.

I had smoke coming out of my ears. Zach was cool, composed, and muttered something nonchalant about how it wasn't that great of a deal to begin with anyway. I challenged him to find a better deal (OR ELSE). And after a couple hours of searching, he did! I thanked him profusely and gave a huge sigh of relief, all with my tail between my legs. We bought the tickets, and we haven't seen lower prices since!


A couple people requested I post info about the logistics of our travel, and then comment on whether or not we would recommend it after we see how it all panned out. So...
We are flying with Iberia from Seattle to Barcelona, and then Wizz Air from Barcelona to Prague. Ever heard of either one of these airlines?! We hadn't! We read tons of reviews and read all the fine print, and they look like good respectable airlines thus far.

We will be staying with friends-of-friends and "couch surfing" hosts a majority of our nights. We are very excited to meet locals and stay with them in their homes and see their city through their eyes. Look up the website: couchsurfing.com, there is certainly a safe and an unsafe way to use the site. We have been very careful with choosing our hosts, and have back up plans for each place we stay, in case we don't feel comfortable for any reason (don't worry mom and dad! :))

As far as road travel goes, we have purchased a rail pass through raileurope.com for Austria. We almost did the Czech/Austria pass, and then discovered it is WAY cheaper to buy individual Czech tickets at the station (after comparing with prices at jizdenka.idos.cz, whereas the RailEurope Austria pass offers tickets that are cheaper than buying individually at the Austrian stations. Also, often times buses are cheaper AND quicker than trains (surprise!) and so we will be taking the bus in the Czech Republic instead of trains whenever we can- www.zluty.cz (big thanks to Joey Tuma for this info).
Our road travel Barcelona should be quite simple since we will rarely be leaving city limits.


PHEW! that's enough for today, don't you think?
Zach and I will be updating the site whenever we can with pictures and stories, check back often!

See you on the other side of the world!



-Madame A.