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Published: April 23rd 2006
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The Dogs in Question
The white dog, Ezzie, is capable of staying at home while we are gone. As long as someone comes by to feed her in the morning and let her out for a potty break at night, she is fine. No messes.
Zeta, the German Shepherd, is another story - she is a maniac. If we leave her alone for ten minutes she's in the garbage, tearing up toilet paper or leaving us a reminder on the rug. She goes to the kennel. Planning
After visiting Europe five times in the last four years as members of these group tours, it was with very eager anticipation that we started planning a Christmas trip to what we consider the “coolest” country in Europe. We decided that my recently widowed Mother-in-Law would make a great traveling companion. We really wanted to have my son’s college girlfriend join us too. I began working on our itinerary as soon as we returned from London in August. I was working within rather stringent time restraints because Cassie, Tyler and Gail could only travel during their Christmas break. They were going to be off from 23 December until 2 January. In addition to that rather short time period, I feared that everything (stores, museums, castles, parks, salt mines, restaurants) would be closed on Christmas and New Years. I also remembered that the Germans used to work half a day on Saturdays. We would have to visit certain places on specific dates in order to see the sites we wanted on the few days they were open.
There is “budget travel” and there is “Superduper ultra-budget travel”. We are the cheapest, most money conscious vacationers in the World. Nothing
Cassie and Tyler
Our kids are about the best travelers one could ask for. No complaints, no whining. As long as they get plenty of sleep and good meals, they are quite content. The best thing is they actually seem to enjoy these excursions. It has helped both of them excel at school.
illegal mind you, but Gail and I work very hard at scratching out the best bargains we can find. With that philosophy firmly ensconced I reasoned that on the very first day, when we arrived in Munich, I would be too tired to drive. Also, the last day of the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas Fair) would be held that day. Why not spend the first night in Munich after our long trip, see the Christkindlmarkt, and pick up the car the next day? I also knew that picking up your car at a German airport our train station subjects you to a 19%!s(MISSING)urcharge. Employing my plan I would save one less day on the rental (almost $50) plus eliminate the 19%!t(MISSING)ax (another $100). I tried all the car rental companies as well as Bavaria Ben’s and Larry’s links, but found that
NovaCar offered me the best deal by far on a 7 passenger van rental. Once again I requested a diesel vehicle like Ben and Larry suggested, but each time I’ve done so in the past, I was told none were available when I picked-up the vehicle.
With the vehicle confirmed, I began surfing the Net for accommodations. To make a very long story a bit shorter, I had a great deal of trouble finding places for our party of six. We needed 3 double rooms with showers. Most of my requests were rejected because either the places were closed during the Holiday weeks or they were already full. Many that were available were out of my budget which I set at no more than 30€ per day per person. Some never responded to my e-mails. My hotel choices changed frequently over the next 4 months as I found other suggestions at
Bavaria Bens ,
Fodors Travel Forums ,
Tripadvisor or by typing in the name of the Germany city and adding “.de” instead of “.com” after it. The latter brought up websites set up by the local tourist offices with great info on accommodations. Twice I made last minute changes simply based on the appearance of the Gasthaus’s websites.
I had a pretty nice, but over budget, hotel booked for us in Munich. I could not find anything cheaper than 85€ per room in town and that was a place that had the bathroom facilities down the hall. We all agreed to deal with that, but on a whim I tried www.Priceline.com. My bids of $40-$50 were continually rejected and I was told that 3 and 4 star rooms in Munich usually went for $140 and up. I kept rebidding over the course of three weeks and finally when I went “crazy” and bid $53.00 per night per room (I forgot that my 30€ per person per night limit was really about $72.00 a room), the bid was accepted. The hotel was at the most distant corner of the “Altstadt” but it included bathrooms and a breakfast. What I especially liked was that by putting it on the charge card it was paid for in advance - one less bill when we returned home. What I didn’t like was that we were now committed to this hotel. No refunds. If we got stuck or wanted to change our plans, we would be SOL (simply outta luck).
I wasn’t alone in working out these details. Gail arranged our air transport through her contacts at the agency she uses for the student travel. She also worked herself to exhaustion trying to save up enough money to pay my son’s college tuition along with contributing to our Vacation Fund. She not only put in her regular hours at school, but she tutored, conducted after school activities and pretty much didn’t eat for 4 months. Unfortunately, my employer didn’t cooperate. In the past I could always count on tons of overtime simply because they were inept in hiring additional help. Wouldn’t you know it; the year I really need to make some extra bucks, they finally got their act together and hire too many helpers. Cassie made sure I got us to the locations where Sephora had their make-up stores (Luxembourg City and Strassbourg, France). Tyler got together our entertainment for the trip as well as answering my computer problems.
Setbacks
Things were going too smoothly. Two weeks before the trip our only concern was how much money we’d have for the trip. We knew we would have to use the charge card for some things, much to our dismay. But I was a bit worried that the inexpensive Zimmer Freis, Gasthaus’s and Pensions I booked would only accept cash. We worked things out and with less than a week to go, we were all set to go.
Monday of the week we were to leave the trip was almost cancelled. Out of the clear blue, both Cassie and I came down with the most debilitating flu or virus I can remember. It wasn’t a runny nose, sneezing, coughing affair. We both felt nauseous, achy and run-down. We spent three days sick in bed. With us ready to leave Thursday on the 22nd, by Wednesday I could see no way I was going to be able to go without a toilet near me every inch of the way. Worst of all, my knee which had never been a problem ever before, suddenly felt like I tore something. Wednesday night I packed my bag with no idea of what I was doing. We were all taking smaller suitcases than usual because of luggage space in the van. I simply crammed in as much underwear and socks as I could and added 2 sweatshirts plus a couple tee shirts.
When Thursday morning came around I felt 90%!b(MISSING)etter. I was well enough to take the dog to the kennel, to eat my first real food in three days and to get my carry-on loaded with all the stuff I pretty much forgot to put in my suitcase. Cassie seemed to make a complete recovery and was well enough to go into school.
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