Except that, as it turned out, us and our carry-on luggage barely squeezed into this grande car (and

When you cruise in Europe, one of the things you notice weekend cruises from boston is that any announcement onboard goes for a very long time. That's because they do it in five or so languages. weekend cruises from boston And whilst it's pretty impressive to hear the same person switch from Italian to English to French to German to Spanish without skipping a beat, the time it takes does wear a bit thin.
So - we were sitting in the theatre one day, gathered with our life jackets and a few hundred other people for our emergency evacuation drill (we'd been a bit naughty and missed the drill on day one...). It was just after midday so we'd all been dragged away from reading a good book by the pool, or settling into a three course lunch at the buffet, or just generally lazing about contemplating our next gelato. weekend cruises from boston And we were all keen to get back to our book / lunch / gelato. The emergency drill kicked of in Italian, then moved on to English. Then they asked if any one spoke Español, a few people put their hands up. There was general eye rolling around the room - a third language meant more time inside, away from the sunshine. Then they asked if any one spoke Deutsch weekend cruises from boston and a firm, loud 'NEIN!' rang out across the room...
We travel pretty light, but knowing that there were potentially three adults, one adult-sized kid and one kid on the road trip part of this holiday I specifically booked a 'grande' car. When we went to pick it up, the lady at the car hire counter confirmed it was indeed a grande car. Awesome, right?
Except that, as it turned out, us and our carry-on luggage barely squeezed into this grande car (and that was with one less adult than originally planned). weekend cruises from boston Fitting the bags in the boot was like an advanced game of tetris; backpacks were piled on the backseat, legs were around armpits. This 'grande' car (for which I paid a grande-ish premium) was smaller than the 'standard' car we'd usually drive.
And by a lot, I mean a lot . I think it's awesome and exciting when kids find something on their own that they're really, really in to. A band, an artist, weekend cruises from boston a podcast...but dear lord if I never hear that phrase again, weekend cruises from boston well, I'd be perfectly okay with that.
To be honest, perhaps we were a little mad thinking we could fit in a two week trip to Europe around the relocation, the renovation and the husband's new job. We spent a lot of time chasing wifi signals (thank goodness Italy has come a long way in that regard), weekend cruises from boston typing emails, figuring out if it was an appropriate hour to call Chicago or Sydney or Seoul, drafting org charts and compiling (rather long) to do lists for when we got back home...
Luckily for the second half of the trip we were staying in agriturismi with poolside wifi, so the boys were happy to frolic in the water or read in the sunshine while we did our stuff. And we still managed to squeeze weekend cruises from boston in some down time (especially on the boat where quite often we had no wifi or phone signal at all - enforced bliss!). Maybe we weren't that mad after all...
One hot day we were sitting in a restaurant in Tropea, eating lunch before heading off on a ferry to see Stromboli . Just after our antipasto, midway through weekend cruises from boston our primo piatto, we asked if they took credit card. They didn't. A quick check of our wallets proved we were in for a good few hours of dishwashing if we didn't make a quick dash up the ridiculously steep cliff steps in the baking hot sun to find the only ATM in the village (and by 'we' I mean 'I').
I love your sense of humour! I learned that holidays aren t always fun with our smalls on our recent trip but I think it was (maybe!) still worth it. Your photos are glorious!!! Reply Delete Replies ejorpin 25 July 2013 13:04
Thanks Cat! And yes, travelling with smalls (or not-so-smalls in my case!) is a whole new adventure...it s the best and (sometimes) the worst, but well worth it for the best bits I think. Now you ve got me thinking about travelling with kids tips...there s a blog post in that for sure! Delete Reply Adri H. 25 July 2013 17:50
Hah! Living weekend cruises from boston as an expat here in Germany has taught me many of the things you recently learned (credit cards, cash only places, traveling light - like REALLY light), but I still don t always get the sense of humor here. Rental cars vary from place to place in Europe, weekend cruises from boston but I found Italy, the Netherlands, and Denmark s cars to be small (unless you re around here in the land of BMW/Audi/Mercedes). It s better to have a small rental car in Italy because the roads, especially some of the smaller town roads, weekend cruises from boston can be incredibly narrow and parking is kind of a nightmare if your hired car was any bigger. ;) Sounds like you had a bit of fun in between. Reply Delete Replies ejorpin 25 July 2013 17:59
Interesting...the other thing I noticed is that you cannot hire an automatic car in Italy, at all! We got an auto in Spain last year but no chance in Italy. I m guessing the high-tech Germans would be all over the automatic gear box? And your comment about small cars / small roads made my laugh out loud! We (the passengers) were complaining on this trip that our driver (the husband) won t leave a small Italian town until he s found the narrowest street in the whole place, which he drives through whilst yelling breathe in everybody! . Delete Adri H. 2 August 2013 02:55
It s still hard to find an automatic weekend cruises from boston even round here. It s a huge price difference, too. You pay significantly weekend cruises from boston more for an automatic here in Munich. And narrow roads in Italy... yes. I had the experience where the road curved left and unexpectedly turned into a one-way-sorta-half road and there was a tractor coming directly at me. I froze, and the driver just wheeled around me in my panic. :D Delete Reply Teresa 26 July 2013 07:40
Hahahahaha, love your funny Germans story! Yes, all too often a holiday is not really a holiday. I just like to tell myself it is an adventure. And adventures weekend cruises from boston are good! ps: I also need to write a blog post on traveling with (smaller) children, I am an expert weekend cruises from boston now. Reply Delete Annika B 10 August 2013 20:06