Europe 2012

Introduction

A few years ago, we hosted our friend, Brian, in our home for several weeks while he went to school before being stationed overseas in Germany.  Since he and Cindy were going to be there for about 3 years, we decided to visit them for a bit of European travel in 2010, and had a great time.  Then 2012 was coming into view and we decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up, and made arrangements with them to visit again just before they returned to the States in the summer.  We had all traveled with Lynn’s cousin Lisa before, and she has since become a globetrotting traveler, so we asked her to join us this time.  After some negotiation with Brian and Cindy, we decided on 16 May to 1 June for the trip, and picked out our itinerary.  Read on to see what happened.

The Trip

We started toying with the idea of this trip in the fall of 2011 and began planning in earnest after Christmas.  Once we figured out good dates and got the nod from our friends in Germany, we started working out the itinerary.  We decided late Spring was a good time.  We had good luck with that time frame two years before, since it is after the winter weather has departed and before the great summer travel season begins.  The two main benefits of that are, cheaper fares and fewer people to compete with at most of the destinations.

We bought air tickets in January and finalized our itinerary in April.

Click here to start reading the trip journal with the first entry, Stateside Departure and Stuttgart Arrival

Click below for the full size trip itinerary: