Tag: vacation

So, it’s the night before I leave, and I’m checking everything twice. I’m writing down important numbers. I’m making copies of Traveler’s Checks.

Just to let you know what age we’re living in now, I got an email from Continental asking if I wanted to check-in. I guess people can check-in 24 hours in advance. I’m not checking bags, but I think I still have to have a bag check at customs. I was able to print a boarding pass at home. Hopefully, that saves some time. I can bypass the self-service kiosks to print boarding passes.

This was imported from the teamsiems in Europe blog.

So I got my airplane ticket and my EuRail ticket and made a couple reservations at hotels in Amsterdam and Munich…now what.

Now the panic sets in. Not the typical questions, “What should I do? Where should I go?” I’m wondering how I’ll survive a 10 hour flight! So, I did what I do, Google it, “What do you do on a long flight?” I found some good suggestions on several blogs: hydrate, sleep, drink alcohol (but don’t dehydrate), sleep, eat light, sleep, get up and move around, sleep. You see a trend?. It’s time to panic! I can drink on a plane, but I don’t sleep well on them. What about cigarettes? I smoke a pack a day. During a 10 hour flight – no stress – that works out to 5 cigarettes for me; I get none! What do you do when you panic? That’s right keep reading Google results, but this time I didn’t find it on Google, rather, I thought of this one on my own – nicotine gum.

I bought a bunch of stuff to compensate for the panic. I bought a bunch of crap I probably wont use: lip balm for the dry air at 40,000 feet, nicotine gum, a passport wallet (WTF?), Tylenol PM in single dose sizes (fight blood clots and sleep in one pill), single ZipLock bags (honestly they sell them in the Trail & Travel section).

Now, with the initial panic over, I planned some things that probably don’t need to be planned. Rolling papers. I’ll admit, I smoke pre-rolled cigarettes, but I thought what if I want a “smoke” and I have nothing to put the shit in? I also heard that many Europeans – especially the Dutch – roll their own. So, when in Rome…I’ll try it.

I need to get back on the excited bandwagon and off the panic cart.

This was imported from the teamsiems in Europe blog.

This trip came together in a hurry. I made a conscious decision to go to Europe around the first of June. So then reality set in and I thought of all the things I had to do to prepare. It’s not like you can walk into an airport these days and say – I’d like to take the next flight to Europe – you have to get ready well in advance. First, I had to get a new passport because my old one was 25 years old. “Great!” I thought, “this is going to be like pulling teeth after 9/11.”

But really it is easier now with the web (no web 25 years ago). I actually had to get a copy of my birth certificate first – ordering it online was easy. Then I went to the local court house, filled out the express form (1-2 weeks), handed over my old passport and birth certificate, and paid the $135 plus $25 for processing. Ten days later I had a passport.

I didn’t actually buy my airline ticket until I had the passport in hand. During the ten days I got all worked up about where to go. I researched online what was happening in The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and Belgium. I checked about a dozen sites on cities in these coutries. Then I started narrowing down to just 4 cities I thought I could reasonably make it to in 2 weeks.

I narrowed down to Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich and either Paris or Brussels or somewhere between Munich and Amsterdam. I decided to fly into Amsterdam and hit the ground running.

This was imported from the teamsiems in Europe blog.