Travel confessions

[NomadicMama]

My DH seems to have little interest in traveling (which I can understand, to a degree, since the military has dictated so many of his travel "plans"). There are things that I want to see and places I want to go, so I'm going to go, with or without DH. Most recently, a friend's 15 year old daughter was visiting from the States. I took her and my four year old on a four day trip to the Netherlands (Amsterdam), through Belgium, spent 14 hours (mostly in the hotel sleeping) in Luxembourg, had lunch in France, then drove home to Germany. Our visitor was able to go back to school and tell her friends that she's been to five countries during Spring Break.

I am now mentally planning my next trip with just my son. I selfishly wish that Russia was playing nicely because I was thinking of country hopping around the Balkans. But, given the current tensions, we'll stay here in Western Europe.

[NomadicMama]

Apr 26, 2014 19:49:13 GMT -5 mich1 said:

I went to McDonalds in Paris.

In my defense, I was on a tight budget and was eating a lot of stuffed baguettes from boulangeries. I get hold off a bad one the night before I was supposed to go to Versailles, so spent he night in the bathroom. When I was certain there was nothing left in my gut to spew, I went to Versailles, toured the palace and got back to Paris.

It was my last day here, that night I was catching a train to Germany. So I sat in the jardins de Luxembourg eating a Big Mac and fries and listened to a concert.

We ate at Quick (which is just like McDonald's) every day when we were in Bruges last fall.  The food in Bruges was so expensive and meals can be hit and miss with our four year old.  It was a trade off that we were willing to make.  And the one dinner that I remember we ate out, we had sushi.  

[travelingturtle]

My confessions:

- I really don't like to drink when I'm on vacation. Maybe one drink. Most of the time it's because I want to be completely aware of what's going on around me, but also because drinking is so expensive.

- I have a love/hate relationship with museums and theater. I love the idea, get bored about 1/3 the way through, then towards the end of the visit or show I wish I had more time. I try to limit museum visits now, though, because I realize that I do prefer other things.

- I skip taking perfect picture a lot because there's a postcard that has the same photo. But I don't buy postcards because you can find the same photos online. I try to take more photos of my kids than my surroundings when I travel.

- For places I've been to that I don't "love": Dublin and San Francisco. My second visit to Dublin I could appreciate it more. I think I'd like San Francisco on a future visit, but it's so low on my priority list now that it doesn't really matter.

- My perfect vacations are when I alternate between different experiences. I hate doing two city/busy trips in a row. I also hate laid back trips in a row.

- I love cruises, don't mind day tours, would probably do a more traditional tour (and will likely do the Disney one when my kids are older), but I also like the more independent travel, too. I'm not picky.