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Day 8 and 9 finds us in Italy….. can you smell the pizzeria?

Day 8 was a travel day. We slept in and got some much needed rest and then packed up for our flight to Milan. Flying around Europe is both easy and cheap. With discount airlines like Ryan Air and Easy Jet, the bigger airlines have been forced to compete in a very crowded European market. Our Lufthansa flight from Prague

was only $38 and they also didn’t charge us for our checked bags and gave us lunch. Makes you really wonder about US airlines. We landed in Milan and rented our car, a supposed 5 passenger with luggage space for 4. Because our oldest daughter and her husband flew to Paris we only had 4 of us and figured a smaller car would work just fine. It did, but it was a tight fit. On our way to Venice we stopped off in Verona where the story of Romeo and Juliet was set, but the tomb of Juliet was closed, so we had to settle for a few pictures through the gate.

We were also hungry and so our first meal in Italy was Mexican (what is wrong with that picture:)! We arrived at our hotel, the Hotel Piave in Mestre late and had the wonderful surprise of an upgrade to a Jr. Suite at no additional charge. The Hotel Piave is located near the centre of Mestre and was very close to a bus stop that would take us into Venice. We prefer to stay in Mestre because the prices are much better than in Venice. This was a quaint older hotel but very clean and well maintained. 1.20 Euro gets you into Venice by bus and from there you can explore until your hearts content.

Day 9 was spent both in Venice and Murano. Venice is such a romantic city. Dale and I will really have to come back just the two of us. We were told that Venice is really struggling for money, which surprised me because it was packed with tourists. Apparently they are still coming but not spending as much while there so it seemed like the whole city was on sale. In fact, we write in our book, ‘Have Kids – Will Travel’ that it is best to wait and buy Murano glass items when you go the island of Murano. But this time, Venice had better prices on many of the items we wanted.

Getting around is easy. You can wind your way through the narrow passageways, which is my favorite way or you can take the water buses. We did a little of both, but we think we did more walking than riding, or at least that is what our feet were telling us when we were done. We stayed all day and had a wonderful dinner nearby the Rialto Bridge. A good note to remember, if you buy your food ‘to go’ in Italy, it is one price. If you sit and eat at the same place it will cost more, but keep in mind that does include the tip. After a long day of walking in new sandals, it was well worth the small extra price to sit.

Tonight we enjoy the comfort of our room and tomorrow we head to Florence. We are staying just outside of Florence in Capezzana Carmignano.This is where we stayed on our first trip to Italy. It will be good to renew old friendships and just relax among the vineyards and olive groves.

*Originally posted 6/2011

The Bone Church adventure….. yikes!

As with all of our destinations we were quite sad to leave Vienna, mainly because there was so much more to see. This however only gives us more reason to return. We drove back to Prague stopping at the Bone Church in Kutna Hora and the Karlstejn Castle. The bone church was very interesting. It is decorated with the bones of the people who died during the Plague. There are tens of thousands of bones creating chandeliers, wall creations and more. Probably the best part was meeting a young couple that has spent 10 months traveling through Asia and Europe and just talking about travel.

Note to self… The Karlstejn Castle is closed on Mondays. This castle is just 15 minutes from the Prague airport by car. The castle is magnificently set on a hill overlooking the very small town of Karlstejn. Because the castle was closed most everything else was too, so we walked around and took beautiful pictures. The drive there and back was also beautiful as we drove through the countryside and small villages into the mountains.

We then returned to the Marriott Courtyard where we had two free rooms waiting for us. Prague airport is very interesting. It isn’t a big airport but had great facilities and even a grocery store, which we used to buy items for breakfast. We then relaxed for the evening and got ready for our flight out the next day to Milan, Italy.

We really have jumped around more on this trip than we usually do, trying new things as far as accommodations and such. Probably the best tip we could give you for both Czech and Austria is to get a place where you can fix your own meals. Restaurants weren’t too bad, but with six people it still adds up. Groceries were very reasonable and in the Czech, we believe they were even less than in the US.

See you in Italy!

*Originally posted 6/2011

Horses and palaces….. they go so good together!

We began the day at the Spanish Riding School watching the most magnificent horses perform. The Lipizzaner horses are among the most beautiful in the world and when Marissa found out we were going to be in Vienna and could watch them, she had to go. The show was magnificent. Dale grew up training horses and couldn’t believe the discipline and training that has gone into this Lipizzaner performance. There are several ticket choices from the very expensive, for the upfront and personal view, to standing tickets for 26 Euro, which is what they got. Also there were only three who went, Marissa, Tim and Dale. They would also recommend purchasing them no later than the day before and preferably online well before the show. There are only limited shows and they sell out quick.

After the show they met up with the rest of our crew and went to the Shonbrunn Palace, which was only a few blocks from our hotel. This was the summer home to the Imperial family who ruled Europe. As mentioned in our last blog Prague had a very old Europe, medieval feel while Vienna had an imperial high class feel to it. The Imperial family built palaces throughout the region of grand elegance and this palace was no exception. It had a similar feel to the Versailles with grand rooms and incredible grounds that now houses a zoo. There is a cost to get in the

The girls at the Shonbrunn Palace

Palace but it includes an audio tour, which is amazing. The fee also includes the maze and entrance to the top of the building on the hill behind the palace.

After the Visit to the Palace we took the metro beck into town where we had the most incredible Apple Strudel at the Café Sperl a very old authentic café. We made it just in time for the last four pieces and devoured them before the waitress could bring us our water. They didn’t serve dinner there so after our desert we slipped into a wonderful noodle café and had Thai noodles and Pa-Thai and everyone was full and very happy.

As mentioned before, everywhere you go someone is trying to sell you a performance. Keep in mind you are in the land of Mozart and Strauss and it would almost be a crime not to see a performance while here. We negotiated what we thought was a good price for both a Mozart and Strauss concert. It was to take place in the concert hall that is part of the Hofburg Palace in the place where Mozart had his first performance with his father and sister. The concert was very nice, but it was over sold by the salesman who was telling us about the number of people in the orchestra etc. For the price, is was a great night of culture, in the city of culture.

Tomorrow we leave Vienna and travel back to Prague with a few stops along the way to see more of the Czech countryside.

*Originally posted 6/2011

Day 5 finds us in Vienna.

When planning this trip we hadn’t planned on coming to Vienna but we were told by many that it deserved a visit, that it was their favorite city and was even more beautiful than Prague. After seeing pictures of Prague we couldn’t believe that could be possible so we had to see for ourselves. Now having seen both, we can see why people love it so. The architecture and feel is much different however from Prague. Prague has an older more rustic kingdom type feel to it, where Vienna has a more majestic monarch or imperial feel. Instead of castles, you have palaces and Vienna also has a more metropolitan feel to it. Both are incredible and both should be on your list to visit.

Over the years we have had about 14 or so exchange students. Our second one was Milena from Germany. We have kept in contact with them all over the years and found out that she had moved to Vienna to go to school. We had the privilege today in reuniting with her and spending the afternoon catching up on her life and having her be our tour guide for this beautiful city. It was interesting to note that she was Marissa’s age when she first came to visit our family 10 years ago. Her family was the first hospitality exchange we experienced in Europe.

Vienna has an incredible metro transportation system and we recommend getting the 24-hour pass, which cost 5 Euro and allows you full access. It is very clean and very easy to use. You pop up out of any station and your mouth drops at yet another Palace or Opera house or the magnificent Cathedral or church. One thing we found was that around every corner was someone to sell you tickets to a performance. Negotiation is the key here and walk away if you feel they are working the deal too hard. They will tell you that they only have a few seats left and if you wait you won’t get any by each other. We waited, got a better deal and tomorrow we will find out what kind of deal we really got. We ended up with tickets to ‘The Best of Mozart and Strauss’ in the Hofburg Palace for 20 Euro each. Marissa, Tim and Dale are also going to see the ‘Lipizzaner Stallion’ performance in the morning. Marissa loves horses and is so excited to see these magnificent horses in action.

Most of the day was spent exploring, and just taking in the city. We are so glad we added it to our itinerary, it was well worth the small side trip. The FREE hotel at the Marriott was not a bad price either!:)

*Originally posted 6/2011

Prague….. Day 4 already?

We were so sad to say goodbye to Prague. What a beautiful city!

We rented a car and drove to Vienna today. (A three-hour drive) In years past we have always used maps to provide us with our driving instructions but this time we downloaded the Europe maps to our GPS. There is something to be said about using old-fashioned maps, but the GPS is incredible when you need to get to your hotel in the city. It also doesn’t take naps, which seems to be very important for the navigator who should be directing you from the passenger seat but really wants to close her/his eyes and catch up on a little sleep. The other nice thing about the GPS is that it provides you with attractions and historical places along your route and also gives you their distance off the main road. Although stumbling onto a treasured small village while on your way to another place is always a treat.

We stopped off at a few different places along our route and still made it to Vienna in time for a nice Austrian dinner near the hotel. The next three nights we are staying at the Courtyard by Marriott for FREE using the tips found in our book, ‘Have Kids – Will Travel’. From here we will explore Wien (Vienna) with its Opera houses and Lipizzan horses. Remember this was the home to both Strauss and Mozart so we hope to catch some incredible music during the music festival, which is on Sunday.

For now it is time to say our first “Gute Nacht” from Austria.

*Originally posted 6/2011

Prague……Day 3

Legend has it that a man was traveling through this region by horseback and came to the Vitava river. He needed to get to the other side of the river, keep in mind this is a huge river, and he jumped his horse across the river and in honor of his victory over the river he had a cathedral built at that spot. This is where Prague began and this is also where we walked to at the end of our day three, boy we wish we had a horse. We didn’t realize how long of a walk it was. But it was beautiful and the view of the city was incredible. We were also able to see an incredible fireworks show with the Prague Castle as the backdrop.

Today we went to Prague Castle. A quick note and reminder, if you have children over 16 and they are students, have them bring their student ID’s. Most places will provide a 50% discount for students. We walked all over the castle side of the city and then climbed a mountain to get an incredible view of the city and the bridges crossing the river.

Dale discovered that an iPod is an invaluable tool for travelers. The best app he found is called Text Free with Voice. It works similar to Magic Jack but is free. They assign you a free US telephone number and you can buy 100 minutes for $1.99 and when you are connected to a wifi you can use it like a phone and call your friends and family back home cheap! The other app we recommend is a good currency converter. This really helps keep the budget in check when you can tell how much something really cost in our money. The other app we have used is our walking tours app we talked about in our last blog. Of course facebook and other apps that help you stay connected are quick and easy.

Tomorrow we leave this beautiful city and drive to Vienna. We will stop along the way and see the beautiful country of Czech Republic. It is so sad to say goodbye to a city like Prague when there is so much more to see. It will just mean we will need to come back again and again!

*Originally posted 6/2011

Prague……Day 2

Prague Castle from the Charles Bridge

We arose early only to fall back to sleep which was much needed. First on the agenda was Prague City Old Town. We arrived just as the astronomical clock was about to strike. To our surprise there were live trumpeters on the very top of the tower who also announced the time. We met a friend of one of our neighbors back in Utah who lives in Prague and he took us on a tour of the city. We were also lucky to find out he is an architect and was able to explain the different buildings and when they were built.

Old town

In addition to Old Town we did a tour of the Jewish quarter. This was incredible especially the Jewish cemetery. They were only given a small piece of land and many were buried on top of each other or standing up to conserve space. We used a great app on the iPod, which we found very useful. There is a lite version and a full version, which cost a few dollars but is worth it. It gives you walking tours and the Jewish Heritage was one. It provides you with a map and information about each site you visit. We have also down loaded one for Vienna. There are 15 different self-guided walking tours for Prague and each one looks incredible.

We also went to the grocery store and bought enough food to last us the rest of our time here and the drive to Vienna. The total cost of that was not much more than our lunch this afternoon for all six of us at a restaurant. As we about in our book, this is one of the best ways to cut down on the cost of food while traveling. Cook and eat like a local. It is so fun trying to figure out what different things are called and to pick up a few local foods and try them out. We picked up a very interesting fruit tonight. The verdict is still out on how well it was enjoyed, but it was different and it was something we have never tasted before.

Tonight we were welcomed back on St Charles Bridge with a beautiful sunset. Took some incredible pictures, walked across to the other side and visited some shops. I think we wore everyone out, we haven’t heard any complaints on going to bed.

Tomorrow is Prague Castle and exploring the other side of the river. What an incredible day!

*Originally posted 6/2011

Prague……Day 1

After what seemed like eternity, we arrived last night in Prague. We continued to have our challenges as all of our luggage arrived except for one. However, Air France had already sent word to the Prague airport that they would be sending it o the next flight and we should have it by morning.

Right before our flight from Salt Lake we were notified by the people renting us the apartment, that the Mozart apartment we booked had water issues and they would need to move us to a different apartment down the street. Although this new apartment didn’t have the reputation of having Mozart staying there, it is a beautiful apartment and is much closer to Old Town Prague than the Mozart. The building was built in the 15th Century and has room for seven. The kids all slept in the main room where they combined beds to make a giant bed, while Dale and I had the bedroom. It has a full bath and a large kitchen, which will come in handy and will save us on our food budget. If you are planning to stay in Prague we highly recommend www.pragueresidences.com. As we walked to the bridge last night we stopped at a Hostel just to compare prices. The cheapest, dorm style rooms with no privacy $17/night/person compared to our $20/night/person/apartment.

Jet lagging sleep time. They pulled all the beds together into one ginormous bed!

Our cute apartment from the outside

A few blocks to the left is St. Charles Bridge where you can get the most incredible view of the Prague Castle. A few blocks to the right is Old Town Square where we will begin our exploration of the city tomorrow. Tonight we took a short walk to the bridge and to get acquainted with the streets around the apartment. Prague is lively, streets full of people, small shops tucked away in every corner. We can’t wait to discover some hidden treasures.

*Originally posted 6/2011

Flying the friendly skies……..frustration or a blessing? The start to our European adventure.

When you travel, especially during the peak travel season you should always expect hiccups, changes, delays and even frustrations. We arrived at the airport two hours before our flight, which for us is incredible. You can imagine that with four kids we typically arrive at the last minute, running through the security and sitting down just as they closed the doors. So this time we were pretty proud of ourselves. That is until we handed our passports and itinerary to the ticketing agent and he gave me that look. Dale has flown enough to know that look, either something was wrong or we were in for an adventure. Actually, no matter what the best thing to do is remain calm and just let them explore the options, which is just what we did.

We soon found that our flight to Atlanta was delayed by over two hours. This definitely put a kink into our one-hour layover in Atlanta connection to Prague. While Curt, our agent was trying to figure out a better solution, Delta emailed Dale twice and called him three times letting him know something we were now well aware of. They had automatically re-routed us from Salt Lake to Los Angeles to Amsterdam to Paris and finally to Prague. Not the best solution in our minds. So we waited while Curt typed away like a teenager texting after drinking three cans of Cola and he came up with a much better solution, a non-stop flight to Paris and then a short flight to Prague. However, because this flight was so full, he couldn’t provide us with seat assignments. Hummmmmmm, new problem, new adventure. In addition, the new flight wasn’t until later in the afternoon, but to our surprise Curt provided us with $60 in food vouchers, which took care of our lunch and was a wonderful surprise.

We finally got to our gate only to find out that coach was totally full. The only seats were the new Economy Comfort seats Delta sells for an additional $60.00 each, but they do have more legroom and recline twice as far as typical coach seating. To our delight, and because those were the only seats available we were all upgraded at no charge.

In the end, the lesson learned was; Relax, count on a few delays. Also remember that the frustrations often turn out to be blessings. First, we were wondering what to do about lunch as there was no meal service on our original flight from Salt Lake to Atlanta and we had such a short layover. In this case we had a complementary lunch on Delta. Second, we were upgraded to better seating and a much more palatable itinerary. Yes we have had to spend a few unexpected hours in the airport but we received over $400 in compensation and had fun playing card games with the kids.

Keep this in mind the next time you run into either a hiccup, change or delay on a future flight. Your outcome will largely be dictated by how you react to the adventure ahead of you. Tomorrow we will be in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and our adventure will not begin, it will just continue.

*Originally posted on 6/2011

The start of summer?

For most families, school is over and summer has begun. Memorial Day traditionally is the start of summer, unless you live in our neighborhood where you wake up to snow on the 30th. So where does this summer take you? Most importantly, are you using the tips and suggestion you have learned from “Have Kids – Will Travel”?

For our family this summer will be a busy one. In just a few weeks we will be flying off to Prague, then Vienna and finally Italy where we will visit Venice, Florence and the Amalfi Coast. We have spent a lot of time planning this trip, but this is key to providing the best trip at the lowest possible price. We have realized a few things this time around; With the exchange rate and fuel prices up, they effect nearly every aspect of a trip and if not planned well they can cut into the budget a bit more. These are the unexpected costs that you just have to put an educated guess to. In the end, I believe it will only change our final cost by a few hundreds dollars, but still a cost that is always in flux.

We came across a new website where we got our flights from Prague to Milan. They even beat out our old favorites, Ryan Air and Easy Jet. www.edreams.net searches all of the discount airlines across Europe and came up with a $47 airfare on an airline where we didn’t have to worry as much about our checked bags, if we choose not to carry on.

So far we have our airfare booked and paid for. All hotels, house rentals and rental cars paid for and so with that, we are just under $2000.00 (for 6 people)……. we are left with food and fun. My guess is that we will come in somewhere close to $3000.00 for all 6 of us. Because we are moving around so much on this trip we are paying for a few more nights of hotel than we normally would. We created hospitality exchanges where we could and used our Marriott points for many, but there are a few places we just needed a clean comfortable bed and had to pay for them.

If you’re still in the planning process for this summer here are a few tips:

1) Based on the trends, travel is up. Start looking for airfare early. Use miles when and where you can, but begin the process as early as possible. With fuel prices high, demand high and inventory low the price can only go up.

2) check for airfare late at night. Around midnight seems to be best. Business travelers tend to book during the day and inventory is moving quickly. Late at night can save you hundreds of dollars on a flight.

3) Clear your internet cookies. If you search but don’t book, the search engine will remember your search and they will only let you see higher fares if you search again. Go to your internet browser and clear your internet cookies.

4) Look at nearby airports. An example of this was a flight from Salt Lake City to Dallas for $450.00 on Delta. The Delta flight from Boise was only $290.00 saving $150.00 per ticket. The return flight stopped in SLC where you could just walk off with your luggage and not complete the flight to Boise. You will need a cheap Southwest ticket from SLC to Boise one way for just under $50 to start off your trip but you still saved $100.00 per ticket. A family of 6 can save $600.00 and a larger family can save more.

5) Look for home exchanges and hospitality exchanges and save thousands on your accommodations alone.

Have a wonderful summer holiday and please let us know what you did to save on your family vacation, email us at havekidswilltravel@sisna.com

*Originally posted 6/19/2011

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