Our travel learnings

Now that we're settled in Arizona and not really traveling much anymore, I find myself reflecting on all our trips and what we saw and learned. Some of that knowledge comes in handy when Eric and I are watching Jeopardy together in the evening, but this post is more about things we learned that might be useful for other traveling families.

Spend as much time as you can pre-learning about your destinations. OK, maybe not so necessary if you're going to Cabo to lay on the beach, but let's assume this is more than a suntan vacay :) For Europe, definitely check out Rick Steves' website for podcasts and online shows. An overview at that level is a great intro to a location and will probably give you some insights about what to dig into more deeply. Travel blogs can be really helpful, and they can provide color on some of the areas that get glossed over in the official tourism websites. TripAdvisor has tons of info, but be sure that you're actually reading through the reviews as opposed to just looking at the rankings. Something that another visitor hated could be something that you'd actually value (eg, quiet neighborhood for the hotel so you can actually sleep vs be out partying in the street, noisy restaurant so people aren't bothered by your loud kids vs romantic vibe, etc).

Before you go, download area maps to your phone so you can navigate without using wi-fi or having an international data plan. This was Eric's job, so I'm not going to pretend like I actually ever did this, but I can google it for you :)
https://support.google.com/maps/answer/6291838?co=GENIE.Platform%3DiOS&hl=en&oco=0
Just make sure you turn off your cellular data so you're not surprised by a $400 phone bill a few weeks later, because that DOES happen!

When you get to a new place, start off with either a walking tour or the hop-on/hop-off bus tour so you can get the lay of the land. It's also a good way to identify places that you want to be sure you can come back to (or skip) over the coming days. For us, the key criteria when comparing the bus tour options were frequency of buses and quality of the audio-guide, but not all cities are big enough to have numerous providers. For smaller places, a self-guided audio walking tour was nice and provided more freedom.

This is probably also a good time to ensure that you and your travel companion(s) are on the same page about how you want to spend your time and your money. Well, maybe that's actually best to do before the trip, and maybe we would have done that if I'd read it in a blog somewhere, but we usually found ourselves debating the trade-off's of time vs money "in the moment" instead. Things like taking a cab or riding the subway will save you time, but walking or taking the bus will save money and you'll have a better opportunity to take in the scenery and the feel for a place. Mealtimes provide another chance to weigh that trade-off...eating in a restaurant is more expensive, but getting groceries and preparing food yourself takes time and those are hours you'll step away from experiencing the culture of the place. I severely under-budgeted our food costs, because I assumed we'd get groceries a lot and do our own cooking. In reality, we ate out EVERY meal when we were on the road, because grocery shopping and cooking were inconvenient and we wanted to have more time to experience the city (including the local culinary offerings).

A few packing tips:
- get a squishy case for your iPad if you have a kid (or maybe even if you don't have a kid)
- bring travel laundry soap like Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile soap for washing up a few things in the sink (remember to allow for drying time afterwards), or make washer/dryer part of your criteria when evaluating AirBnb places...you can get away with packing fewer clothes
- I couldn't live without the packing cubes we got, they keep clothes folded/stacked no matter how many times you unpack and re-pack the suitcase and we always knew who's stuff was where (buy a few per person, minimum)
- throw in a basic mesh drawstring laundry bag, dirty stuff goes in there after wearing (stuff that's not so dirty gets folded, inside-out, and goes back into the packing cube so you know you can wear it again if you need to...no judging!!)

A few logistics tips, plan ahead!
- book hotels in advance so you aren't sleeping on a park bench, but make sure they're cancellable/fully refundable because you will be learning more while you're doing your research and might want to be in a different part of town (or just find a better deal)
- figure out which attractions sell tickets in advance, and which could sell out (for example, the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam and the Milan monastery where da Vinci's 'The Last Supper' fresco is painted) because you might need to commit to a date/time pretty far in advance
- if you travel for work and get to keep your air/hotel points, try to be consistent with the providers you choose so you can accumulate enough points with one to actually get something, as opposed to having points scattered across every hotel and airline (I've found Marriott is better than Hilton for point redemption)
- have a credit card with no foreign transaction fee and use it where ever possible for the best exchange rate, bonus if it's one that has other travel perks (*more details about two card options below)

Some kid-specific suggestions...we found it really useful to have a few components of Coco's routine that could always be maintained, seemed to help her feel more comfortable with things and like she still had something familiar to count on. For us, it was the lullaby songs that she'd listen to after her bedtime story, and then white noise while she slept (both on the iPad and requiring no wi-fi). She also had to have her purple blankie and stuffed animal.

Maybe every kid isn't like this, but Coco tends to do best when she knows what's coming up and she has some time to process it. For us, this somehow evolved into us telling her "Cookie" stories every day. Cookie is a horse who pretty much does exactly what Coco does, except Cookie does it a day or two earlier. After she hears about Cookie doing something, and learns that it goes well and that everything is fun and turns out successfully (usually!), it's like she would be totally ready for it. Cookie rode on the train and was OK with the weird toilet, Cookie went on the airplane and took a nap during the flight, Cookie went to the museum and didn't touch the displays. Of course, it didn't always create the behavior we wanted, but it tended to work far better than us just telling her how we wanted her to behave. She still loves to hear Cookie stories, but now she has special requests about what Cookie should do, which regularly involve him pooping somewhere or getting himself stuck in a tree somehow.

Well, that's probably enough for now, since I'm getting off track. Hopefully it won't be too much longer until we can get some family travel in again. Eric has been going somewhere for work a few times a month lately, and we have a WI trip booked for July, but not too much otherwise. While it's not exactly 'vagabond-y' I think I'll post some recent pictures of our Arizona adventures in the Photo Album. We are definitely enjoying the weather here, and finally feeling pretty settled. My focus now is shifting towards finding a job...piece of cake, right!?



*OK, I realize not everyone is interested in credit cards, but a couple people had asked so I wanted to share...we had 2 credit cards in the wallet (the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Ritz-Carlton Rewards) and used our Wells Fargo debit card to get cash as needed.
  We purchased nearly everything on the Sapphire card because it earns 2 points per dollar spent on travel and dining, which was practically our whole life! They also have a 'travel store' where you can redeem your points for flights/hotels/car rentals/etc and get a 25% bonus. While I never loved their hotel or car rental rates, flights on their site cost the same as anywhere else, and $400 worth of points would buy you a $500 flight. Pretty slick!
  We chose to also carry the Ritz card mainly because of the perks if offered - $300 credit annually for airline fees like seat/baggage, Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check, access to airport lounges (where I'd fill my backpack with free snacks/drinks), and the ability to save $100 per flight when buying 2+ round-trip domestic tickets. The only things we really charged to it were the seat/baggage fees and flights in the US, everything else went on the Sapphire card.
  No foreign transaction fees on either, Visa is accepted everywhere, and both gave a lot of free points for signing up and using the card. Both offered $0 annual fee for the first year, but we continue to use them even though we do pay the annual fee's now ($95 for Sapphire, $400-450 for Ritz) because I think the perks are still worth it.
  Exchanging cash is a rip-off no matter where you do it, so we just used our US-based debit card and paid the $5 fee to Wells Fargo every time we took out cash at an ATM. We'd take out as much as we could (Wells Fargo daily limit was $300, or 270 euro's at the time) to minimize the number of times we had to withdraw, and always used an ATM that didn't charge an additional fee. While we found much of Europe to be a cash society, most places didn't mind taking a credit card, although they think it's weird that we Americans still use an old-fashioned signature instead of a PIN...

Getting away Down Under

Well, I knew it was going to be tough recalling all our fun in Australia/New Zealand if I waited too long to write about it...hit the nail right on the head there, Kate!

After packing up the Granada apartment and giving away tons of stuff that we'd somehow accumulated, it was very bittersweet to make the last of our many drives to Malaga. Amazingly, despite flying in/out of the city dozens of times, we'd never actually spent any time there. So we enjoyed one afternoon wandering around down at the waterfront before heading back to the airport hotel for the evening. Up super early the next morning for our 6:30am flight, and of course it took two cabs to get us and all our luggage moved up the road. Connected through Paris and got to Minneapolis quite uneventfully, loaded up the rental car (yay for American-sized SUV's!) and made our way to Eden Prairie to stay with friends who were so kind to open their home to us vagabonds for a week :)

It was such a great week to spend in MN and catch up with friends. Coco got to visit Primrose and have a playdate with her little buddies, so she was beyond thrilled. Between getting the storage unit packed into the PODS and sorting out new cell phone plans and medical appointments with Eric's dad and narrowing down AZ home choices, the time definitely flew by and we were soon on the road again. Of course, it wouldn't be the holidays if the Swanson clan wasn't trying to spread illness to everyone in WI, and 2016 was no exception. Thankfully, it seemed like we'd gotten the contagious parts "out of our system" before arriving, though I was a little nervous to go downstairs every morning just in case someone had been struck down overnight... It was a wonderful Thanksgiving, and so nice to celebrate in the new Pewaukee lake house and in Madison, and also 1st birthday party for DJ. But we couldn't get too comfy, because we were off to AZ to (hopefully!) buy a house. It was so strange to leave Coco behind, but she had a very full schedule planned with Grandma and Grandpa and we figured we'd miss her more than she'd miss us.

House hunting in AZ went well, though everything really did start to feel kinda similar after the first 3-4 places. We found one we liked, then decided to bump up the price range and of course found one we liked a bit more. Put the offer in and then hopped a plane to Sydney via LA. Since we'd decided to spring for First Class, the flight was LONG but totally tolerable. Neither of us really slept, so the first day in Sydney was a bit of a struggle, but we took advantage of the lovely early summer weather and walked all over. Explored The Rocks, went out to the Opera House, and took in the harbor views (sorry, I mean 'harbour') while strolling through the Royal Botanic Gardens. Everything had a laid-back vibe and the language made it easy for us, although sometimes between the slang and thick accent it was indecipherable to American ears. The next day we took a ferry out to the "North Shore" and saw Manly Beach, which is world-famous for good reason. Beautiful and easy to walk along with a cutesy little shopping area called The Corso. Took the boat back to the city and Eric joined some fellow adventurers to climb to the top of the Harbour Bridge while I did "house stuff" at the hotel. Note to self, next time you try to buy a house in an area you don't know while unemployed and homeless, don't go to the opposite side of the Earth to relax at the same time. Those two things are hopelessly incompatible!

From Sydney, we flew up to Cairns, which is one of the bigger cities up on the northern peninsula of Queensland that has good access to the Great Barrier Reef. Stayed in a smaller town called Trinity Beach and spent much of our time on the balcony enjoying the beach view or down at the pool (usually with both wine and mortgage paperwork in hand!). Our day-trip on a big catamaran out to the Reef was excellent, Eric got to dive at a few spots while I snorkeled, and miraculously I didn't throw up despite the big waves on the way out. Visibility was pretty good and there were tons of fish and coral and miscellaneous critters. If it's not already on your Bucket List, make an edit now. Our other excursion 'up north' was to Port Douglas and the Mossman  Gorge, which involved a beautiful drive along the coast, a bit of shopping in town (Australia Target, it's like a strange parallel universe set back in time a decade or two!), and some hiking with a quick dip in the river. The weather was rather hot and steamy, but we knew that was about to change as we jumped on another plane and headed out to Auckland, New Zealand.

While it would've been awesome to get to explore South Island and more of New Zealand, we spent our days in and around Auckland, which was kinda like a mini-Sydney. Our Airbnb apartment downtown had a nice view of the city, and it was a short (but hilly) walk down to the harbor or across the street into Albert Park. Weather was very cool and windy and rain blew through a couple times a day usually, so we had to keep the umbrella handy. Christmas decorations were everywhere, which felt a bit more appropriate here than in Australia's summer weather, but I was constantly perplexed about the idea of celebrating Christmas and New Year's in the middle of summer. It's just not natural! We did a bit of museum-ing at the Auckland Museum, which oddly includes war history, national and aboriginal history, and natural history...like 3 for the price of 1. Taking the ferry out to Waiheke Island to tour the wineries was definitely a highlight, we might relive some of the fun tonight since our crate of wine is supposed to be delivered any minute now :) While you've got your Bucket List out, check to make sure it includes sunset dinner at Mudbrick - the view over the water back to the city contrasted with the rolling vineyard hills is pretty magical.

After Auckland it was back to Sydney for a couple final days. Stayed further south next to Hyde Park this time, walking distance to the Queen Victoria Building, Sydney Town Hall, and St. Andrew's Cathedral. Weather was hot hot hot so we spent a day at Bondi Beach - also big and lovely, though I could've handled the water being a bit warmer... By this point, our offer had been accepted on the AZ house and inspections/appraisal were finishing up, so online furniture and appliance shopping were taking up our free time. Flew back to Phoenix and spent a couple days on house stuff, we were feeling confident enough that we told Coco all about her new purple bedroom and swimming pool in the AZ house. She was having tons of fun back in WI with her aunts and uncles and cousin, every picture was full of big smiles and snow and Christmas cookies. Eric and I got one quick sunset hike in before heading back to the cold Midwest. Getting to spend Christmas with the fam was amazing, we got to see nearly everyone in the Wittmann/Albers extended family - the younger generations are definitely starting to outnumber the oldies!

With everything going on, there was hardly any time to stop and reflect on the fact that our year of vagabonding travel was at its end, but I suppose we'll have the rest of our lives to reminisce about it. We try to have lots of "remember the time in _____ when we _____...." conversations with Coco and it's funny to hear her talk about which things she recalls. Besides going back up to WI this summer, we don't really have any family trips on the horizon. For now, getting settled in AZ seems like enough of an adventure!

Craic, rainbows and blarney…with a side of Jameson

Our final European trip is in the books and we loved Ireland! The weather was pretty chilly, but probably a good reminder of what the Upper Midwest will be like in the coming days/weeks :) We rented a car and drove ourselves around the whole island, which is a great way to see all the spots that were on our list. While much of our time this summer has been spent in larger cities, our favorite Irish spots were the smaller and more charming ones.

We flew into Shannon airport on the western side of the island and our first stop was the Cliffs of Moher, stretching a few miles along the coast and providing a pretty dramatic view of the Atlantic. We managed to get there right as the afternoon’s rain was moving inland, so we were treated to a mix of the misty, hazy countryside behind us and the clear, crisp ocean in front of us. With the waves crashing below us and just a handful of other tourists around, it made for an excellent sunset. We spent the night in Ennis, which was a small town, and got our first experience with the Irish craic at dinner. It’s pronounced like ‘crack’ and means something like convivial conversation, and the guy next to us had had a lifetime of practice.

The next morning, we headed down south and stopped by Blarney Castle. I was wavering a bit about whether or not we really needed to see this one, fearing it would just be a cheesy tourist trap. Turns out the castle is set on some beautiful grounds and there’s also an old manor house and some walking paths along the river, so it was a perfect spot to enjoy a sunny morning and all the fall colors. For Midwesterners who spent most of the fall in big cities or the desert, it was really nice to see all the trees turning – while Ireland does have 40 shades of green in its landscape, there are several areas that make you feel like you could be in central Wisconsin. Speaking of Wisconsin, our next stop involved alcohol – we toured the Jameson distillery in Midleton and got to sample some of their delicious product. They’ve been making it since 1780 or something, so they’re getting pretty good at it. Finished off the day at our lovely B&B in Kinsale, which is on the south coast. As opposed to staying in nearby Cork, which is a much bigger city, we chose a quiet village and were very pleased with it.

We took advantage of some dry weather the next day for a long walk along the coast out to Charles Fort, built by the British in the 1600’s following an attempt by the Irish and Spanish to team up and take the English down a peg or two. That afternoon, we headed further down the coast to see the Lusitania museum, which was unfortunately closed. The upside of touring Ireland in November is you get the place to yourself…the downside is that a lot of those places are closed. The next day we headed back north to explore the Dingle peninsula, mainly because it sounds funny. It also has some pretty epic scenery, and thankfully the weather was cooperating again. The sheep and cows definitely outnumbered the humans, but it didn’t seem like they were truly appreciating the beauty around them.

Next stop was Galway, which is more ‘city’ than ‘village’ on the western coast, but had a lively pub and restaurant scene in the pedestrian-friendly city center. The following day, we were longing to see some more sheep, so we hit the road and headed up to the Connemara National Park area and also visited Kylemore Abbey. Like Blarney Castle, I was pleasantly surprised by our tour of Kylemore’s castle-turned-abbey and the beautiful grounds. It was built by a wealthy businessman-politician in the late 1800’s for his beloved wife and the estate was a model of many ‘modern’ innovations. After his wife’s tragic death, the property ended up in the hands of the Duke and Duchess of Manchester in 1909 (a bit like Downton Abbey as she was a wealthy American married to an old British title), who then lost it through gambling debts. It was purchased by Benedictine nuns in 1920 after they were forced to flee WWI in Belgium. I love this history!

From Galway, we left the good weather behind and headed further north. Attempted to see the 6000 year old Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, which is one of the oldest in Europe, but it was closed for the season. Nearby, we decided to brave the driving rain to hike 1.2 km up Knocknarea, a 1000-ft limestone hill supposedly topped with Queen Maeve’s tomb. I couldn’t confirm that for you, though, because I quit about 100 feet from the top when the wind and rain and cold just became more than I could tolerate. Coco was shrieking like a banshee the ENTIRE way as Eric carried her, his hearing may never fully recover. After the Trail of Tears, we continued our rainy drive up to Derry, in Northern Ireland. Interesting history here, too, as it was established in the early 1600’s via a ‘plantation’ of Protestant English/Scottish into the Catholic Ulster area, who then felt it would be wise to keep the natives out by building a walled city (which was never breached in the following centuries). On the more recent pages of the history books, Derry had seen a revival of troubled times, but it seems like Bloody Sunday is in the rearview mirror and Derrians today are ready for peace.

We were well over 1000 km into our Irish road-trip at this point, so driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the narrow roads was pretty natural by now. Thanks to the Dramamine, Coco was tolerating Eric’s rally car driving style better than I was. North coast stops included the cliff-edge ruins of Dunluce Castle, the surprisingly small Giant’s Causeway, and the precarious rope bridge to Carrick-a-Rede island. It was a little sad to leave the wild Irish countryside behind us, especially now that the deluge had ended, but Belfast was next on our agenda. Again, we stayed at a small B&B, which was very quaint and helped us start our days with the usual aggressive breakfast including fried potato bread, Irish soda bread, baked beans, fried eggs, sausages and bacon. Despite dangerously high cholesterol levels, we managed to enjoy walking around the city and feeling the energy. We got some historical and political insights via Paddy Campbell’s Famous Black Cab tour, and checked out the Titanic museum, which had some top-notch visuals and a scavenger hunt to keep Coco engaged.

Continuing down the east coast from Belfast, we stopped off at Newgrange, a 5000-year-old passage tomb known for its Winter Solstice Illumination. Since we were several weeks early, our guide re-created the experience with a flashlight, and it was kinda cool…but it also just felt like you were inside a tiny cave in a big mound with a flashlight. Hopefully the fairies and spirits that inhabit the cave weren’t offended by my nonchalance – sorry, not sorry! Onward to Dublin, where we did some shopping and explored the Temple Bar district along the River Liffey. The following day we spent time at Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells in their library, went to Christ Church cathedral, enjoyed food truck lunch, wandered around Dublin Castle, and shopped a bit more. As we headed back to Spain for the final time, it was pretty strange to realize that it really was coming to an end.

Back in Granada, and the apartment is all packed up, Colette is ready for her final day of school here, and Eric and I are trudging through all the details that go along with moving away. Granted, moving away from Granada is a lot less work than moving away from Minnesota was, and we’re a little more experienced this time around, so I think we’ve got everything under control. We’re so excited to see friends and family in the coming weeks and try to get caught up on everything we’ve missed over the past 6 months. While it’s been tough to be away, the time we’ve had here as a family has been amazingly precious and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Yes, I know Africa's not in Europe!

Our penultimate European trip included our first and only foray out of Europe...we spent a week in Morocco with a good friend from back home, and it was definitely NOT Europe.

Nate arrived in Barcelona in early October, so Eric road-tripped up there from Granada to meet him and begin their week of climbing. I don't know the names of all the places they actually went to, but I do know that it rained - a lot. Now, I think this is rather uncommon for that area of Spain at that time of year, so I'm not exactly blaming Nate for bringing the rain with him, but you'll have to draw your own conclusions. We even had a rainy day in Granada, which of course happened to be a day that Coco's school was closed for 'holiday' so that was extra special for mom :) Thankfully, I've managed to meet a few very nice (English speaking!) moms and we get together a couple times a month, so we threw all the kids into the playroom and got to catch up.

Once the boys made it back to Granada, Coco was near bursting with excitement over seeing Uncle Nate, and we gave him the 1-day whirlwind tour of the city. The next day we hopped the bus down to Algeciras (across the bay from Gibraltar) and caught the ferry from Spain to Morocco. It was smooth sailing and we snagged a good bottle of booze from the duty-free shop on board. Good thing, because alcohol is HARD to come by in the Muslim world, although we did make some valiant efforts! We got our tiny little rental car at the Tangier ferry port (which had some mega-security, perhaps because 40% of the world's cannabis is grown in the nearby mountains) and hit the road. It was about an hour drive into town, with basically no gas in the tank and no cell service for GPS (gasp!!), but we made it despite one missed exit. As we were driving from the outskirts of the city, we were all a little surprised at how clean and well-kept everything looked. They drove a little maniacally (Eric fit right in!) but besides that, it didn't feel nearly as rough as we expected. We just spent one night in Tangier at a cozy guesthouse right outside the walls of the medina - no frills, but there was a nice rooftop terrace for the grown-up's to enjoy once the kiddo hit the hay. The next day, we had our standard Moroccan breakfast at the guesthouse (bread, rolls and more carbs, along with some coffee) and took a wander around the medina, which is basically the old city that was walled and has the narrow, winding streets.

From Tangier, we hopped in the car and headed south to Fes, one of the imperial cities of Morocco that also has history way way back. In Fes, our guesthouse was inside the medina, so we had to park outside the wall and a local guide who hangs out in the area showed us the way to our place. He was giving us his sales pitch, so we took him up on the offer for a guided tour of the medina the next day. We got to see an old Koran school, the neighborhood communal oven, the market, the rug shop and the tannery - this was probably where the differences from European cities were the most stark. Everything was rough and gritty and it was totally normal to squeeze to the side of the narrow street to let the donkey cart pass while you brushed against the camel head that was hanging outside your neighbor's shop and the geese nibbled a bit at your ankles. One evening, while discreetly asking around for a place to get a bottle of wine, we were directed to a restaurant just inside the city gate and seated at a rather prominent table right out front. I sort of figured there must've been some language barrier, since I couldn't imagine them plopping a bottle of wine down on the table for everyone to see. After about 10 minutes, they brought out 3 bottles of Coke filled with red wine, which was pretty clever - we winked and enjoyed them thoroughly.

After Fes, we had a long drive down to Marrakech for our last stop. Unfortunately, both Eric and Nate were having some tummy trouble by this point, despite how careful we were being about what we ate/drank. Passed along the outskirts of Rabat and Casablanca, two other imperial cities, but didn't have time to stop and explore either. Again, our riad was in the medina, and this medina was quite a bit larger than the last two, so we were at the mercy of the local guys to lead us (the long way) to our lodging. Once we finally arrived, the Moroccan hospitality was very welcoming, with a sugary sweet mint tea for each of us, extra sugar cube for Coco. By this time, I was not super enthralled with the idea of another dusty, crowded medina where I was alternatively watching for pickpockets and poop on the ground, while trying to keep an eye on Coco and make sure she wasn't getting run over by a rogue scooter or donkey cart. So when Nate and Eric prepared to head out of town for some climbing in the mountains, Coco and I went right along with them (she with her Dramamine, of course!). It was such a change to get up into the hills and breathe some fresh air and see no one but the local shepherds and hear nothing but the echo that Coco kept testing out. Another day, we wandered from the medina up to the 'new city' and I would tell you about our somewhat lengthy mission to find the liquor store, but you're going to start thinking we're alcoholics pretty soon... By the end of the week in Morocco, we were pretty accustomed to hearing the call to prayer 5 times daily, eating 4 varieties of bread and calling it breakfast, alternating between couscous and tagines for every other meal, trying to understand French by pretending it's Spanish, being sober, and searching for that one shop with the caged turtles out front to remind you which alley you should turn down to get home. I don't think I'll be staying in a medina again any time soon, but I do hope to get back to Africa and see at least a few of the 50+ other countries.

From Marrakech, it was a quick flight back to Spain and suddenly our warm sunny weather was gone and the chilly rain was back. We had one night in Madrid with Nate before he broke Coco's heart and headed back to the US...she's already asking how long before she can see him again. The rain didn't really quit over the next 3 days, but we tried to get out and explore anyway. Coco and I toughed it out at the zoo one day while Eric enjoyed the warm and dry art museums like the Prado and Reina Sophia that Madrid is best known for. As in Granada, dinner is a late-night affair, so we probably didn't get to experience the great dining scene like we would've if a certain 3-yr old wasn't in tow.

We capped off the trip with a few days in Lisbon, Portugal, which was just lovely. The weather was much better than we had in Madrid, and the city seemed to be cheerier and much more accessible. We waited in line for 1.5 hrs to ride the iconic #28 streetcar (which Coco pretended was Trolley from Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood), had lunch at a cereal bar, rode the ferry to the other side of the river and checked out some old boats, went to the Oceanarium, and rode a tuk-tuk up to the hilltop castle that survived the devastating earthquake/fire/tsunami of 1755. The city surprised us a bit by feeling like the San Francisco of Europe, and it's a place I definitely hope to visit again in the future.

Now that we're back in Granada, it's sinking in that we're nearly done with this European adventure. As I go to the florist and renew the contract for our rental car and pay our internet bill at the internet store, I realize this is the last time I'll do these things - it feels so surreal to have parts of this life behind us already. While we're all looking forward to the new and exciting things that will happen in the coming months, there's no question that we'll probably never again get to spend so much time together.

On the trail of WW2

As we put the itinerary together for our most recent trip, I didn't realize how much WW2 history we were going to be covering. So many of our other travels have been more focused on the history of centuries ago, which somehow seems more romantic and less horrific. Perhaps the benefit of time has just smoothed the edges of those long-ago atrocities. With the recency of WW2 and the efforts that have been made to document and share the events of those years, the emotional impact felt much more intense than learning about battles of the medieval times. Well, that being said, I'll try to keep the rest of this post a bit lighter :)

First stop, Warsaw. We were greeted right off the bat with some cooler weather, which I think we'd kind of forgotten could exist. We had a lovely spacious apartment, but it was a bit of a walk to many of the sights. For some reason, I was anticipating Warsaw would be a quaint little town, but it's large and spread out and there's a section of it filled with tall, glass skyscrapers. Almost more like Chicago than Europe there. So much of Warsaw was destroyed in the war, between the Soviet bombings early on and the uprisings that occurred later on, finished off by the Nazi's razing what remained at the end of the war. In 1945, upwards of 80% of the buildings in the urban areas of Warsaw were wrecked. So it's amazing that, under the communist regime that followed, the city was totally rebuilt. Even more incredible is the re-creation of the quaint old areas as a replica to identically match what things looked like pre-war, even down to the tilt of the old buildings! We enjoyed walking around the Old Town with its Market Square and Castle Square, the Royal Route, the park surrounding the Lazienki Palace, and numerous times past the Palace of Culture and Science (aka Stalin's Penis, that's seriously what they call it!) since it was right behind our apartment. Also checked out a few churches, a synagogue, the Monument to the Warsaw Uprising Fighters and the Barbican. There were several museums that I'm sure would've been worthwhile, but we've learned that limiting museum time while traveling with a 3-year old is a trade-off we usually want to make. If we wear her out enough throughout the day, we usually get a nice little break for afternoon drinks on a square somewhere while she naps in the stroller. It's a win-win!

From Warsaw, it was a quick train ride down to Krakow for the next few days. Krakow survived the war with pretty minimal damage, so the Old Town there and the giant Main Market Square (maybe the biggest in Europe, but don't quote me?) show their true age, but in a lovely quaint way. Krakow is a major tourist draw nowadays, but for centuries it was a trading capital for the region, and was the capital of Poland for almost 600 years in medieval times. For the first time, we hired a private guide to take us around town and give us some of those local insights that we love, and I would highly recommend doing that in a city like this. We got to see the university, the Wawel Cathedral and Castle, the Jewish district of Kazimierz, Oscar Schindler's factory-turned-museum, the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, a synagogue and Jewish cemetery. In addition to seeing the town, Krakow is near Auschwitz so we took a day-trip tour out there, and a half-day trip to the salt mine nearby. Now, I have to admit, when Eric suggested going to a salt mine (first in Brasov Romania), I was not enthused in the least. I couldn't imagine there would be anything interesting to check out in a salt mine. We didn't go. But the opportunity came up again, and this time it was pretty close by, so I swallowed my objections. It was actually pretty cool! I had no idea salt was such a valuable commodity in the olden days, and I still hardly believe you can just dig down into the ground, chisel out a hunk of rock salt, and grind it up to sprinkle on your pasta. But apparently that's how it works! They don't extract salt from Wieliczka anymore, and thankfully they've put in A/C to combat the intense heat and humidity that miners had to deal with throughout the centuries. The craziest part about the place, and the reason it's such a tourist draw, is that generations of miners (who apparently had some extra time on their hands) have carved all kinds of statues into the rock down there. Not just statues, but created a cathedral and a ballroom and a bunch of other things that really don't seem to belong hundreds of feet underground. Coco was a pretty good sport on the long tour, and got herself a crystal of rock salt from our guide, in addition to several licks along the wall of the mine to confirm that it was actually made out of salt. Gross.

The salt mine wasn't the only place I was less-than-eager to visit on this trip, but my apprehensions about going to Auschwitz were more about whether we could expect Coco to spend the day there with us, and how distracting her presence would be to all the other people around us who were there to experience something so somber and sobering. Eric convinced me to give it a shot, and we hopped on the tour bus with the rest of the oldies. The first stop was the main Auschwitz camp itself, and our guide gave us some insights about the beginnings of the camp and how it was a sort of exile for people who were politically opposed to the Nazi's. Over time, it grew into an extermination camp that was expanded to the much-larger Auschwitz-Birkenau camp nearby. Throughout the course of the war, over a million people (mainly Jews) were gassed and cremated after living and working in some terrible conditions. Seeing the barracks where they lived and the single toilet area thousands of people shared and the 'showers' into which they were herded before their bodies were hauled (by their fellow inmates!) into the ovens... These places defy comprehension. In the end, I'm glad we were able to visit (although I do not plan to go back), and I think it was OK to bring Coco. She had absolutely no idea what any of it was about, and when she got antsy, one of us would just slip away from the tour and head outside with her and let her run and play with rocks and sticks. We didn't get any scornful looks (that I noticed, at least) for allowing her to run and play in a place that is meant to commemorate some of the worst things that one group of people can do to another group. Well, so much for my attempt to keep the blog post light!

From Krakow, we hopped a very early morning train back to Warsaw, then a longer ride across northern Germany to Berlin. Like with Warsaw, I was a bit taken aback at how big and spread out the city was. Maybe Granada is turning me into a small-town girl? As we like to do in the bigger cities, we found a hop-on/hop-off tour bus and rode all over to hear a bit of insight, before heading off on our own to explore the areas that caught our interest. In addition to seeing sights like the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag Building, the Holocaust Memorial, the Berlin Cathedral and remnant sections of the wall, there were a couple museums Eric wanted to explore. Since we knew Coco wasn't going to be up for that, she and I headed to the park while Eric got his art fix :) I think one of the favorite little memories I have of Berlin is enjoying the sun on a grassed-over mound of post-war debris, while Coco learned the joy of rolling down a hill and getting head-to-toe grass stains. As the reconstruction efforts occurred after the war and after the wall came down, the city chose to turn some of the rubble mounds into grassy park areas, which are now a lovely smattering of green hills around the city center. Usually pretty peaceful spots, I'm sure, except when an energetic 3-year old is traversing them with screams of delight!

From Berlin, it was one more long train ride into the Netherlands and we were all pleased to arrive in our final destination of Amsterdam. Well, for me, that lasted about 2 minutes. We walked out of the central train station at 5pm on a Friday afternoon, and it was C-H-A-O-S. Again, maybe my expectations were just wrong (they clearly were!), but I was envisioning quiet canals with romantic boats silently gliding along, a couple of cyclists leisurely pedaling their way along a broad sidewalk with tulips in their front baskets, maybe a waft of mellow smoke lazily drifting out of a nearby coffee shop. FYI, that's not Amsterdam! It seemed like all 800,000+ of the bikes in the city were being ridden by blind speed-crazed robots along the one narrow cobblestone street that led to our apartment in the Jordaan, while we struggled to manage with our stroller, giant suitcase, 3 backpacks and cranky kiddo. Ugh. We managed to get settled in the apartment, Coco napped, Eric had some work calls, I found the grocery store nearby (I love checking out foreign grocery stores!) and got the essentials...milk, yogurt, cheese, bread, alcohol. From there, things improved, though I never got fully comfortable walking around the city with Coco - just too many bikes whizzing past at high speeds, and she struggles even to avoid stationary objects like the lamp post. We did rent bikes for a day and blend in a bit with the locals, we took a boat tour of the canals and harbor, and a day trip out to some nearby towns (Rotterdam, Haarlem, Delfshaven). Back in Amsterdam, Eric visited the Moco Museum and I visited the Anne Frank House, we strolled through a few outdoor markets, took the ferry to the north side for dinner and did a few Rick Steves' walking tours (including one of the Red Light District). Seems safe to say we're not Rick's target demographic, but we love him anyway. In the end, Amsterdam was much more of a hustle-and-bustle city than I expected, still quaint, but far from quiet. I'm guessing we'll go back at some point, but that will likely be driven by Eric's desire rather than mine :)

After two weeks on the road, we returned to Granada and it's summer again. As usual, Coco had a tough re-adjustment to school here. I think she's used to it now, but that doesn't mean she really likes it. I've started talking to her a bit more about the fact that she'll be done with this school soon, and after Christmas she'll have a new school in Arizona with friends who speak English. I think she understands, but can't quite figure out how far in the future that really is... Eric is spending this week with his BFF Nate who flew over from the US, they're working their way back down the coast from Barcelona and climbing everything they can. On Saturday, the four of us will head to Morocco for a week, and Coco is beyond excited that Uncle Nate has come to see her. Eric is getting a little taste of what it feels like to be the non-preferred parent now - when Coco FaceTime's with them, she keeps telling him to give the phone back to Nate. She has also informed us that when she's a little older, she's going to leave us and get an apartment with Uncle Nate...probably some further discussions about that yet to come...

Southeastern Europe

We are back in Granada for about a week after wrapping up a nice long train trip to southeastern Europe. It’s kind of funny how a place can feel like home, despite never really feeling like you belong, but I think that’s where we are with Spain these days. It’s less foreign than Romania or Slovenia, so it hardly feels foreign at all anymore!

We started our trip with a few days in Bucharest, Romania, where we got to see one of the world’s largest buildings (their Parliament Palace) as well as an interesting mix of residually communist-feeling areas and lively sidewalk café/restaurants. The past few months have taken us to lots of European places with revolutions in their history, but probably none quite so recent. There is no shortage of graffiti, and people park their cars literally everywhere (street, sidewalk, you name it)…just a little rougher around the edges overall. I’m sure the city has changed a lot over the past few decades, and who knows what it will be like a few decades from now. Probably a little more expensive than it is now, but it was an incredibly refreshing change to spend $25 for lunch that would’ve cost $100 in Switzerland!

From big-city Bucharest the next stop was small-town Brasov (still in Romania), a lovely little spot with Transylvanian castles and a very quaint central plaza, where Coco could feed pigeons and practice her driving skills in the rent-a-PowerWheel cars. We managed to visit while they had their Oktoberfest going on (lots of German heritage) at the town fairground/high school track, so that was an interesting comparison with the giant beer halls of Munich. They have a mini-mountain in the middle of town, and spelled the name of the town at the top in giant white letters (a la Hollywood) so of course we had to go up there and check that out. Wrapped up the stay here with a local guy threatening to call the cops on Eric, who he thought was trying to abduct a *seriously* tantruming Colette. I guess it’s nice to think that people are looking out for the kids, and it probably did look a little sketchy that this grown man was chasing a screaming, crying 3-yr old up and down the streets, but at the time it was hard to see the humor!

From Brasov, we hopped on the overnight train to Budapest, Hungary – amongst the three of us, we may have gotten a combined six hours of sleep. Ugh! Managed to survive without either Coco or I falling out of the upper bunk, so I guess we can say it was a success, but it made for a LONG first day in Budapest. Luckily, the beautiful weather we’d been getting had continued, so seeing a wonderfully historic city on a sunny summer day helped. We spent most of our time on the Pest side of the Danube, which is the flatter side and the more hustle-and-bustle modern side. ‘Modern’ in this case meaning built in the early 1800’s, of course! Another giant Parliament building (although this one felt a bit more warranted since Budapest had sort of been the eastern capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire) as well as cathedrals and busy little pedestrian-only shopping and dining streets made Budapest feel quite European. Besides the intensely difficult Hungarian language all over, you could’ve easily mistaken it for a big city in Germany or France. They even had a cat café that we had to check out – I think the cats are slightly less enthralled with the arrangement than all the patrons, but they’re cats, so that’s par for the course. Luck with the weather had to finally run out, but we took advantage of the cool rainy day by going to one of the huge outdoor thermal baths in town…which was perfect! Not as crowded as it would’ve been on a nice day, and there was something really neat about the mist created by the hot water and cool air. Our only minor catastrophe was one shattered iPad when Coco dropped it, but that was a mixed blessing since we didn’t have to hear quite as much Caillou after that – oh, how I miss the Peppa Pig obsession!

A full-day train trip brought us from Hungary to Slovenia, which is now high on my list of favorite European countries. The centrally-located capital city of Ljubljana was our ‘home base’ and we took day trips to Lake Bled, Lake Bohinj, the Postojna caves, the Vintgar gorge, Predjama castle, the Vrsic nature area, and Triglav national park (highest point in Slovenia!). The country is about the size of New Jersey, so things are relatively compact, and the Julian Alps were gorgeous. Big thanks to Tomaz Vrabec for all the suggestions about what to see and where to eat – I really hope we can get back there again someday and check out some areas we didn’t have time for, and re-visit places we really enjoyed the first time around. Plus it was nice that they were on the Euro so we didn’t have to use any brain power for currency conversion like every other place on this trip!

The final days of the trip brought us back to Croatia, a day in the capital (Zagreb) and a few days on the coast (Split). It was nice to end the journey in a smaller city with a great beach, since by this point we were ready to take it easy! No waves, soft sand, plenty of cheap chairs/umbrellas, bars/restaurants, and a bay the size of 4 football-fields full of perfectly clear thigh-deep water...really can't ask for more when you're trying to enjoy the end-of-summer sun. Well, Coco could also ask for the floaty toy from the family next to us, who was kind enough to share :) The town of Split has grown up around an ancient Roman ‘retirement’ palace that was built by a guy named Diocletian ~1700 years ago, but control of the city has changed hands a lot since then, and people basically just moved into the palace for protection over time, and now it’s full of shops and restaurants and people’s houses – very interesting! Along with Slovenia, Croatia is definitely a country I hope we get to spend more time in someday.

While getting back to Granada has been nice, it’s been a LONG time since Coco was in school (early August!) so it hasn’t been easy for her to transition back into it. More tears in the morning, so thankfully Eric is doing drop-off and I get pick-up. The weather here has finally cooled off a bit, so we can get out and enjoy the city again – plus with August over, it’s not a ghost town anymore. We got to see some NFL in the local Irish bar tonight, unfortunately the Packers/Vikings game isn’t on until 230am our time, so I’m just going to have to trust that the good guys will win, and catch the highlights in the morning :)