We can't make a trip this year...or can we?

Some people do strange things on a routine basis. I check the prices of airline schedules on Tuesdays. I have noticed that the airlines usually post their lowest fares on Tuesdays. One Tuesday morning in May, I was explaining to Olen why we could not consider another long trip this year since the airline fares had gone up so much since last year. To prove my point, I went to the Delta site on the internet and typed in “Huntsville to Zurich”. To my utter shock, the price had gone down almost 50% per ticket for a late-August departure!

To make a long story short, we purchased two tickets before Delta could realize what numbers they had posted as prices. The next step was purchasing Eurail tickets, which we did online also. A 21-day Global Pass was on sale until the first week in June, so within days we had the airline tickets and train tickets for a three-week trip to Europe. Our train tickets will allow us to ride as much as we want to and visit as many countries as Eurail covers over a 21-day period, so the next question was where to go!

We had talked about going to Germany, and really wanted to visit Mike Morrow in Prague in the Czech Republic, so from Zurich we plan to take the train to both areas, with rough plans to end up with a day or two in Austria and several days in Switzerland. (We will never be able to get enough Alp-time!)

We plan to backpack again, carrying all our possessions with us, but we will sleep in real beds in bed and breakfast establishments, small hotels, and private homes that rent rooms. No camping! We spent over a year making preparations for our trip last year, but there was no time for that type of detailed planning this year, so “flexibility” is going to be the key word for this trip. With the unlimited rail passes we have choices, so our plans may change from time to time.
We are getting ready! We have taken our guidebooks apart and have selected the information on the areas where we plan to visit. They are in small, lightweight sections so we can carry only the information we need for each day.

So, again you have the scenario: Two senior citizens with backpacks on backs and train tickets in hand spending three weeks wandering around portions of Europe. We plan to blog each night (if possible) and share photos of our day. We would love to have you join us through the blog, and would be honored if you choose to do so. Departure day is Thursday, August 25. It is time to get packed!