We're Home--And Here's What We Learned
Well, okay, maybe not everything we learned, but here are a few things.
Always double check your hotel reservations. See the tragedy of our Venice accomodations for more details.
You will find out things about your family you may not wish to know. Kids fight no matter what continent you are on. I can turn surly when the kids fight too much (to be honest, Brian was already pretty clear on this). Brian is a bit of a control freak--he prefers to carry any sort of important document, cash or anything else of value in his pants (in a waistbelt of course). This does cut down on trip expenses.
You may not want to bring a snowglobe through security. Turns out it's a liquid, and it's in glass, and for some reason that means we shouldn't carry it on a plane. Since we didn't check any luggage through, we didn't really have any other plan for the tiny snowglobe that an unnamed middle school daughter of ours picked out for a friend who requested one. The Swiss security guy who found it in her backpack apologetically told us that it was not allowed by American rules. This resulted in a rather emotional response, which made the poor man feel terrible, but at that point he couldn't pretend he'd never seen it. In my wish to calm the seas, I suggested Brian go back out and mail it, since we had a little extra time.
He took it and headed out. Then we waited. And waited. And wondered if we would make the flight, all for a tiny, cheap snowglobe. Why? I was very relieved to see him coming to our gate. It seems he did not go out and mail it--he put it in his pocket, went through another security lane, and dumped it in the bucket with whatever else was in his pocket. The bucket went through the machine, and voila! It was ours for the keeping. The next time we went through security we just put it in the ziploc with the other liquids and no one said a thing.
Whatever you bring, it will be more than you need. We were pretty careful, but there were still things that didn't get used. The really cool travel towels that fold up into a tiny mesh bag, for instance. Seemed like such a good idea. But since we weren't sleeping outside, a minimum of towels were always available to us. A few items were really great, and I got them all from Ex Officio, a travel clothing website. I recommend spending a few extra bucks for the good stuff. We got some quick dry zip off pants from there, and they were so comfy and wore well. Also I got a nylon and soy sweater that was perfect, and their travel underwear practically dries in minutes. If you want to save a few bucks, I got Natalie's also great zip-off pants at Salvation Army for $4, with the tags still on.
Explore your electronic options. The video games, much as we hate them sometimes, were just what the kids needed sometimes to provide some distance from each other. Ditto the iPods. And the cables that allowed us to charge them in the car were worth the money and luggage space.
And one more thing.
GPS works. Enough said.
Thanks for traveling with us. We're so glad we went, and we're so glad to be home!
Always double check your hotel reservations. See the tragedy of our Venice accomodations for more details.
You will find out things about your family you may not wish to know. Kids fight no matter what continent you are on. I can turn surly when the kids fight too much (to be honest, Brian was already pretty clear on this). Brian is a bit of a control freak--he prefers to carry any sort of important document, cash or anything else of value in his pants (in a waistbelt of course). This does cut down on trip expenses.
You may not want to bring a snowglobe through security. Turns out it's a liquid, and it's in glass, and for some reason that means we shouldn't carry it on a plane. Since we didn't check any luggage through, we didn't really have any other plan for the tiny snowglobe that an unnamed middle school daughter of ours picked out for a friend who requested one. The Swiss security guy who found it in her backpack apologetically told us that it was not allowed by American rules. This resulted in a rather emotional response, which made the poor man feel terrible, but at that point he couldn't pretend he'd never seen it. In my wish to calm the seas, I suggested Brian go back out and mail it, since we had a little extra time.
He took it and headed out. Then we waited. And waited. And wondered if we would make the flight, all for a tiny, cheap snowglobe. Why? I was very relieved to see him coming to our gate. It seems he did not go out and mail it--he put it in his pocket, went through another security lane, and dumped it in the bucket with whatever else was in his pocket. The bucket went through the machine, and voila! It was ours for the keeping. The next time we went through security we just put it in the ziploc with the other liquids and no one said a thing.
Whatever you bring, it will be more than you need. We were pretty careful, but there were still things that didn't get used. The really cool travel towels that fold up into a tiny mesh bag, for instance. Seemed like such a good idea. But since we weren't sleeping outside, a minimum of towels were always available to us. A few items were really great, and I got them all from Ex Officio, a travel clothing website. I recommend spending a few extra bucks for the good stuff. We got some quick dry zip off pants from there, and they were so comfy and wore well. Also I got a nylon and soy sweater that was perfect, and their travel underwear practically dries in minutes. If you want to save a few bucks, I got Natalie's also great zip-off pants at Salvation Army for $4, with the tags still on.
Explore your electronic options. The video games, much as we hate them sometimes, were just what the kids needed sometimes to provide some distance from each other. Ditto the iPods. And the cables that allowed us to charge them in the car were worth the money and luggage space.
And one more thing.
GPS works. Enough said.
Thanks for traveling with us. We're so glad we went, and we're so glad to be home!
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