When Down is Up. Modified Relationship Travel.

Two-fer Travel

Ease; Flexibility

Regular family travel.  Exhausting.

Family travel, thought of that way, can be wearing. Too many agendas, abilities, interests, fatigue-patterns, tolerances for uncertainty, and it is difficult to be spontaneous. How to find a place to sleep for more than two, at the last minute? That is not recommended. Family travel also reinforces preexisting roles: who is the parent, who the child, which children conflict, where are the buttons to push. Family travel requires planning.

Modified relationship travel.  A dance

Swans, Poland

Our modified relationship travel sets one adult with one child.

We travel as two, either Dan and me, or Dan and his Dad. Dad likes plans. So they do things that way in the US. Dan and I go farther afield.  We even have a song about who are we? We are the Car-Dan Tour Company, ba-da-bing.


The roles change immediately, whether Dad's way or ours. We are two adults on the road.

For Dan and me, all decisions are pooled, and for as many as safely possible, Dan has the last say. Which way to go on this unmarked crossroads? That way! And we're off. What to eat on this unknown menu? The fourth down this time? Fine. Waiter?  Dad likes to know where he is going, so they stop more for directions, and call ahead for sleeping. That also works.

Teaching economics.

With costs in Europe so high in 2008, and finances tanking here, we did a smaller road trip to and wandering around Quebec. We have hopes for 2009 abroad, but that depends on currencies.

Travel with Down. Down Syndrome On The Road.

The wisdom of twos. This hiatus gave us a chance to look back. First, you would hardly believe how many welcoming smiles we get - every country. From the most rural Romania, a village tavern where a Down young man and his parents were eating; to Madrid.

Second, we see what changes this direct experience approach had with Dan. Dan has become a man of confidence with interesting tales to tell. See Europe Road Ways, Hub. Where did Great-Grandma come from. He now knows. He has been on his own in cities in many ways, has street-smarts. Anything can happen, but we do our best to gauge what is feasible.

Vienna street scene, with Mozart and Dan



See him now. Down Syndrome on the Move! Knows the places when he goes to the movies, wants to see the news, eager to talk with anyone about where he's been.

Third, the FUD people are wrong. Find out that fear of "foreign" loses its hold when you've seen that there are people over there, and you, without a safety net, were welcomed.

The few bad apples we did find, as anywhere, didn't leave a bad taste for long. FUD. fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. In anything, find out for yourself, within reason, and let your child see you finding out, and making decisions as you go. Don't let them tell you what to fear and what not. See Hello, Fodder, Propaganda Study.

Recommendation for a start this way.

Start with Ireland. Food similar, language fine, different side of the road, but so many castles all around, less trodden than England or Scotland. Take one kid to one country. And the next year, the other kid to another country. Skip the camp. See castles, and Cromwell's cannon. Then go further afield.

Next trips. Regret.  The destruction of Iraq. The lack of safety now in the Middle East for Americans, anyone. Yemen. A dream now. The tablets, the parchments, the lands of Eden. History anywhere, tenuous. Barbarians do it through the centuries.

Salute to Ali, who owns the coffee shop and plans to return for a visit to Yemen this month, say hello from people of good will here.

Swansongs.

Maybe imposed by conditions nonetheless. Schwanengesang, see Schubert at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwanengesang; or ://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Schwanengesang. Schwanenlied. See ://everynote.com/songs.show/114453.note. Swan song. Look it up, the last song, in legend, at://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970808. Not for us yet, but as we tell Dan, we have to be prepared to fit the times. My son and I - a child of my heart.

Swans, ever calm except when unsafe and startled, then watch them move.Then it is back to calm. Good lesson.

The Budget - How It Can Become Possible. Antidotes to HGTV addiction

A PRIMER ON SAVING MONEY FOR A TRIP, AND PLANNING FOR SIMPLICITY OVER THERE.

This year, with various monetary and other policies ripening, dollar tanking, market and governmental transitions here and abroad and other international concerns, we may not go away this spring. Maybe not even in the fall. We do not take these for granted. We do cross our index fingers and back away when HGTV says go spend on potlights.

1. At home: Saving up.

Crazy House, Sopot, Poland, from an untraceable source (mass email, no attribution) so, fair use?

1.1 If you have a choice, do not upgrade. One shower head in the bathroom. Learn to turn around.
1.2 One sink in the bathroom. Take turns.
1.3 A stove and refrig that are reasonably easy to clean, and work. Replace at low end.
1.4 Skip curtain fads or anything else that go in or out of style. For example, use a really good Venetian blind deal, even if costly - more flexibility (try the kind that puff out and get fat when they are used to block out light or the neighbors, very soft-looking. Not like daggers of regular Venetians). Whatever.
1.5 Consider two small kitchens, different floors, instead of one mammoth. Eat breakfast on the first floor, lunch and family dinner at cozy lower level if it is bright and a walk-out, possibly, as we do, but of course that all depends. There are only three of us, and all adults. We do not have child supervision issues.
1.6 Buy nothing unless the old one fell apart or depresses you beyond measure. There are no Joneses, just you and your sense of you.
1.7 Enjoy your wall color, or non-color, for a long, long time; no holes in walls - tilt your pictures on something, and change them as you like.
1.8 No jacuzzi or giant tubs. Too much dusting. We hear that people keep their plants in them anyway. Read in bed. Now they talk on TV about bacteria in old soap scum. Sit in that?
1.9 Eat in, occasional happy hour out.
10. Love. Love formica. It is warm to the touch, quiet if a mug drops, and easily and inexpensively replaced if someone damages it. The Formica Swiftboaters are granite salespeople with their own agenda.
11. Love. Love eye-level lamps, no overhead potlights, no overhead anything. See the warmth of soft lamplight. Then see yourself under sparkly potlights. Great, creeping crow's feet! You can even move lamps around. You! Yourself!

2. On the trip: Spending Smart.

2.1 Sleep wherever is closest the center of town, even the tiny places, but after checking room first. We have never had a cleanliness problem. Saves energy driving again, after you check in, and parking in town. Sleep where you can walk.
2.2 Pay bill each morning so hotel fees do not creep up and hit you at the end. Move out if the fees are too high.
Korun, Czech Republic currency, honoring 17th C. philosopher, educator, Jan Komensky (Comenius)

2.3 Do not skimp on parking. Be safe.
2.4 We don't buy things. But we love photos.
2.5 Eat dinner at the tapas time, avoid places with tablecloths. Pub food is fine. Late dinners, with many courses may be customary, but are more expensive.
2.6 Wash hands all the time. Stay well.



3. Preparations: Tips for Smooth Passage

3.1 One backpack or overhead size bag, one big handbag for under seat, in which you can fit a smaller bag for convenience later. Limit may be two pieces of luggage. Don't argue with them.
3.2 Time your arrival and departure to cut out a day of rental car if you can - check when their minimum times start and end, and what the extra day will cost. Return the car if need be, and take the bus back to do what you want.
Le Sars,France

3.3 Prepare to get lost and enjoy the neighborhood. We found LeSars here at the Somme area in France. World War I.

Why We Do It:: After-the-Fact, Spin-Off Interests

Our idea from the start was this: Skip the bus. And it works.

Go on your own. Get a train pass, or plan to walk a lot if you take public transportation - or, as we do, rent a car. Take pictures of things when you don't know why you are taking them. Get them home, look them up, look around, see your own world.

And we began to find ways to connect with other like-minded travelers and non-travelers interested in stuff. Your reach is greater than you thought - even in your own head.

That idea grew - we found substantial satellite interests that stem from those trips. We followed up with some sites that began as serious-minded, and still are; and others that are more recreational, cultural interests.

We use the photos from our trips, or out-of-copyright items we have here, or "fair use," and these make the posts like artwork to us - a collage of words and visuals. So, enjoy.

We have succeeded in some outreach, if our sampling encourages you:

• to go on your own, or
  
• to look things up from home, or
  
• to teach your own children the history and culture they can't get in schools. Schools seem focused on leaving all children left behind, culturally and artistically and creatively. Foster your own child's skills. Ours has Down Syndrome - and he absorbs everything around him. Travel is his best education.
  

Many trips are manageable, with careful budgeting. We do little on peripherals. Inexpensive food, lodgings where we find. Skip the stars. The airfare and rental car and gas are the big expenses. For other families, some summer camps cost more than a trip to Europe. And college?

Here are some of the areas we explored after getting back:

1. Petr Ginz. From our trip to the Czech Republic and Poland, see the places known to the child diarist, Petr Ginz, from Prague, World War II, at Places of Petr Ginz; and reflections on what his life means to those of us who come after, at Petr Ginz, Life and Legacy.

2. War. From battlefields in Europe, see World War Sites; and Studying World Wars.

3. Cultural/political looks in the mirror. For political and philosophical topics, and our own culture through our camera's eye and our mind's eye, see Joy of Equivocating and the Fear of Fog.

4. Disposable people. Fodder in the theater of the world, and here: who, why, and others in the play. See: Hello Fodder, Typecasting.

5. Wisdom of storytelling - the weak prevailing. If you are interested in stories from cultures, and what we learn from them, especially freed slaves like Remus and Aesop, we are beginning with our own translations of Uncle Remus at Uncle Remus Tales - Translations.

6. Borderless people, now some settled - From seeing gypsies in most of Europe, particularly Romania, see Gypsies, Roma, Romani.

And all from our Europe Road Ways road trips. Spin-off sites. Satellite sites. Peak aging. Choices.

Pictograph T-shirt for the traveler's holiday

Look up "Traveler's Phrase Book T-Shirt" for a holiday gift idea = a photo of a black T-shirt with the traveler logos in a nice circle, the necessary, the post office, the hospital, hotel, airport, restaurant, all the symbols. Just stop the car and point to your stomach. Or elsewhere. It came in a bulk email. Who holds the copyright to this kind of thing?

Here it is - just found it. At ://store.artlebedev.com/t-shirts/2007/phrase-book/. That one in red or grey. I liked the black.

Pay child support before asking for a passport

If this topic applies, pay up first, seek passport later. New York Times 8/15/07: there is a new passport requirement, where the State Department will not give a passport to a noncustodial parent who owes over $2,500 in child support. Does this mean that joint custodians don't count? Or those sharing residence, but paying child support?

This is just a nice picture of a father and child going through the castle at Bojnice, Slovakia. See Slovakia Road Ways. Look at that child's gaze. How can we ignore the needs of any child anywhere? Using the picture is no suggestion that there are child support issues here. Just people worldwide being family-oriented. Same interests, same loves. This could be Everyman's Anyfamily.

We hope they see this. Salute.

The Necessary; the WC

Euww. More reason, generally, to say that in the US than in Europe. We found facilities, and even if just in time, at each need-related event; and usually very well maintained. Sometimes getting to it from the restaurant means going in hall, down the stairs, and out into the yard.

Or, it meant (often - even usually) paying for the privilege. Keep change handy in a baggy. There are attendants, and they get tips. They earn it.










Sometimes the paper is allocated, four sheets per need-related event. You get the paper when you pay to get in.

So carry your own supplemental resources.












The New York Times today writes of hikers in mountain areas now required to carry their own double sealed disposal bag kits; the remote portabl, toilets are not going to be serviced any more . See www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/us/05whitney.html?th&emc=th. Good idea. Some of the remote ones anywhere may be manageable if you touch nada, but how to do that, really, and then you do have to breathe. Take your own emergency kit. Men have it easy in some areas of that discussion. A bathroom is different. That is where the bath is. Say toilet when you mean toilet. If you don't know the word, still "toilet" is well known, and the national variation may be close.

"The necessary edifice," see outhouse lore at www.outragehouse.com/lore.asp. Or, WC - water closet, loo, "without charge," see dict.die.net/wc/; www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/w/w0067100.

Juggling languages and currencies - Your Own Crib Sheet

Money.

1. Crossing several country boundaries in one trip takes some planning, for money changing, emergencies and eating, and directions.

If you act spontaneously, plan to spend time looking for bank-o-mats - ATM's. They are there, but not always outside. Go into a bank and ask.

2. Plan ahead in the US. You also may need to phone your credit card company to tell them you are going to certain countries, or when you are there (calls in advance from the adjoining country may not work - we tried that from gas stations on the way); tell them that charges are to be expected and accepted so they do not freeze your card.

Best to try to imagine all the places you might go and call the credit card people from the US before you leave, re your dates of departure and return.

You can also use AAA or online sources to get at least $200 in the currency in advance. Do it. You will always use it up. Get even more. Do not get involved with money changing at borders.

3. Baggies. Take many, with zip tops, sandwich and quart size. This trip, we ended up in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and side trips to Vienna, Austria, and to Budapest, Hungary. Each with its own of everything - even the Euro did not go everywhere. Fortunately, credit cards are there, but you still need some cash.

Use a baggie per country. As you leave, dump the currency in it and replace your wallet with the new.

1. Food.

Skip the guidebook menu guides. You will have no time to read when the menu comes. Before you leave, figure out your basic favorite foods, and look them up in the new language. Print them out on Excel or a spreadsheet, and then look at the closest thing on the menu.

We did that for each country in its own column - here is chicken, here is eggs, the basics and then other words as well.

List your own favorite foods or the ones out of the guidebooks down the side, and look up on the internet or from the guidebook the translations for those for each language. Put those in columns corresponding to each country. Presto. A fast breakfast, lunch or dinner ordering sheet, a starting point for any menu.

2. Other vocabulary words. Do the same for topics for getting rooms, car care, directions, emergency, numbers, dates, just with each country at the top and the words cascading below.

Putting it together: No matter how many pages, get out your scissors or paper cutter.

Cut the columns for each country and staple at the top so you have the English on the left, and the country in flip-columns stapled beside. As to use of baggies, put the worset the others aside in a little zip plastic baggie until you need it, and tuck the one you want in your wallet. Also use the baggies for the currency for that country, so you can cross borders happily. This time, we got some currency in advance, while in US, for each country, and were glad we did. Saves the hassle and worry of border changes.

3. Currency. Make a crib sheet for yourself on equivalent amounts, dollars to whatever. Do one little stapled flip-top money kit for each country. Put dollars down the left side, and the currency equivalents (say, in $5 increments or whatever) in other columns.
Put the countries on top of each other so you can flip to the one you need the equivalent for. Cut it to size and it fits in your wallet, ready for the furtive look when you are lost in the market.

Looking back at what Czech food we enjoyed most, we found Eleanor's Kitchen at this site and recipes there look just like the food we had: www.e.schrabal.home.att.net.

Sanity is yours.

Airport tips; Jet lag; Cash stash; Fares

Oops. Wrong airport.

A. Airports

1. Be sure you have directions to the specific airport.
The generic airport plane symbols on the road may lead you to a secondary airport, not the one you wanted. Worse, the name beside the plane symbol may be another town, and not the name of the airport itself. As at Prague, where even the ticket did not actually name the airport. Get off at the town exit and waste much time. Some places have two airports, each using the plane symbol. Be sure you are following the right one - see Paris. Orly and DeGaulle.

2. Leave time to walk from the car area to the terminal. Some terminals are for arrivals only, as in Romania. Don't head for the wrong terminal if you are a departure instead.

3. Leave time to return your rental car.Some terminals have rental-return facilities in the arrivals terminal. Others are far, as in Bucharest. Leave walking time.

4. Ask, ask, ask. Are you sure you have not only the right gate. But also the right terminal wing at the airport.

5. Avoid any check-through baggage. If you use the check-through, put nothing of value inside. Locks may well be broken in security checks. I use a floppy, unstructured backpack duffle. Squeezes in the above compartment each time.

B. Jet Lag

Check out the New York Times article by Jane E. Brody, May 22, 2007, in a personal health column. "Cleveland to Cairo, in Coach? Ways to Outwit the Body Clock." As of June 18, 2007, the article is at www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/health/22brod.html. Some nuggets: carbs foster drowse, protein fosters alert. Drink much water. Walk around. Melatonin the day before and day of departure; and when you arrive.

The Travel Insider also touts melatonin for jet lag. See www.thetravelinsider.info/2002/0517.htm. We have not tried it. Also other sites, with a search for melatonin jet lag.

C. Cash stash

several hundred dollars to tide you over, using a direct dollar to the local currency exchange. In a non-Euro country, the airport terminal may not convert Traveler's checks. Example: In Bucharest, there was no Traveler's checks to lei conversion at all. Would have had to go to a bank in Bucharest just to get lei.

AAA or the internet can also get you currency for your countries where you are doing regional travel -in advance. Saves much time at border checkpoints and exchange places. Worked well for our 2007 Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia trip, where we also went unexpectedly to Vienna and Budapest, on whims. Had some Euro just in case.

D. Fares. Always difficult to feel satisfied. Be sure to check, if you have a choice of airports (we go between Boston, or JFK, also have Newark and Hartford in there) for direct flights. Czech airlines apparently now goes direct to JFK, but we had already bought for Boston.

I hear Farecast.com works. Not sure if it does overseas. Or FareCompare.com. That one may help also with when to fly. There is also Kayak.com. Or Airfarewatchdog.com. Those were in an article in the New York Times, see www.airliners.net/1.st/200486766, by Michelle Higgins - "If It's Good, Is It Too Good To Be True?" from 4/15/07.

Do your own search for compare airfare.

Mechanics: Cell phones; Travel insurance

High Tatras, Poland, Slovakia borderExposure travel. Here we are, in the High Tatras, between Slovakia and Poland.

1. So far, we do not carry cell phones. We have always found helpful people and like human contact. Too hard to understand accents on phones anyway. We use email at public internet or hotel internet to contact home.

This may backfire. For you, try the New York Times article /15/07, "Circuits" section, guidelines by Eric A. Taub section c7. He points out the option of SIM cards, chips by Telestial to go in your phone and replace those sold by T-Mobile and Cingular, now AT&T. The technologies and compatibilities are always changing, so this is just an alert to check it all out for your own trip. GSM seems to be the standard technology worldwide, and Cingular and T-Mobile used that; Sprint and Verizon used CDMA, and that is incompatible says the article, for most Europe. Read what to do in the article. Get unlock codes to be safe. Try www.unlocktelecom.co.uk or www.thetravelinsider.com, it says.

Entering phone numbers in your own phone: Put in the plus sign and then the country's area code so it can be dialed automatically. Get a dual voltage battery charger.

2. Insurance. We do have that. We were happy to have good insurance for accidents and medical. The rest, we consider but have so far rejected. For you to consider:

Available now is insurance for whim changes. "Cancel For Any Reason" is offered by AIG Travel Guard, says the New York Times Sunday May 6, 2007, article in Practical Traveler, "Protecting Against the Dread 'What If,' " by Michelle Higgins. It costs, of course. If you get tickets in advance and don't use them for entertainment matters, try Travelers. For more specific coverages, start with that article.

There is also hurricane, weather, strikes, and terrorism coverage available.

We tend to worry about medical - evacuations and the like, in case of car accident because we drive. We do not skimp on that. The rest may be time-specific, for events at the time, etc. Check your credit card coverage first, so you don't get redundant, especially in areas of car theft, luggage issues, car dings. Buy in advance, says the article.

Guide to the blog cluster, Europe Road Ways

The more years that we take our trips, the more complex our homespun sites become. Here is the needed road map:

1. The nuts and bolts of our trips are here at Europe Road Ways - How We Do It.


2. Then, photos, comments, link addresses and history are at country blogs. For example, try the total country name such as www.sloveniaroadways.blogspot.com.

If that does not work, go to our HUB for all countries at Europe Road Ways on the Web. Toggle around. Self-education.

Country links: Romania ; Vlad Tepes (Impaler); Ireland ; England; Wales; Scotland;Orkney; Hebrides; Italy; Sicily; Germany; Spain; Croatia; Bosnia; Slovenia; Montenegro; The Netherlands; Belgium; Luxembourg; the new ones at Poland Road Ways ; Slovakia Road Ways; Czech Road Ways; and seed blogs for side trips at Trieste Road Ways, tacked on the Croatia trip; Sicily Road Ways, tacked on to the Italy trip..

New seed blogs: mostly Budapest so far at Hungary Road Ways; and mostly Vienna so far at Austria Road Ways. Both junkets were tacked on from the Poland-Slovakia-Czech Republic trip.

2. Daniel's views: Dan On Trips. This is not up to date because he gets on to other things.

Miscellany, in the largely trivia department: Martin Luther's Stove.

3. Finally, the major themes that most interested us, in crossing country boundaries, are at Europe Road Ways - Themes .

The previous URL for that topic was for Common Thread Road Ways, a name even I could not remember.

Find Black Madonnas, The Plague, how people treat the dead in cemeteries, and food. We are always interested in WWI and WWII and any battle or migration.

4. Overview of itinerary non-method: We follow signs for any real or fictional person that looked interesting; and look up festivals or events. We compare issues and concepts, such as the Vlad Tepes (Impaler) sites in Romania, with Bram Stoker's "Dracula." See site at Romania Road Ways Vlad Tepes (Dracula). We take 2-3 guidebooks and then it's off in some direction.

5. We celebrate. Often. Usually for just being safe and healthy and the end of another unknown day. This is at the Dracula Club in Bucharest. At Halloween. Time your trip to match something fun. This site lists festivals by country: www.frootsmag.com/content/festivals/europe/; and goeurope.about.com/od/festivalsineurope/a/summer_fests.

6. We find some folks by chance - here is James Joyce at a cafe in Pula, Croatia, near the old Roman gate.

We foundErnest Hemingway is at Pamplona, Spain, of course. Spain Road Ways.
Joan of Arc is all over northern France. France Road Ways. The Brothers Grimm are in Germany.
The Romans were all over. Germany Road Ways.

We dogged Robin Hood, King Arthur, Dickens, Chaucer, Thomas a Becket, and Peter Pan in England. And the Prince of Wales and Edward II in Wales. Wales Road Ways.

There are Robert the Bruce and William Wallace (Freedom!), Nessie and Rob Roy MacGregor in Scotland. Scotland Road Ways.
King Lot at Orkney. Orkney Road Ways.
Samuel Johnson at Dunvegan at Skye. Scotland Road Ways. Samuel Johnson's biography is at justus.anglican.org. Look at the resources, bio 20 section. Also, information on the Huns is at www.imninalu.net, the section on Huns; and how they helped the spread of the Black Death (among many other factors) and other matters about the Plague are at www.themiddleages.net, the section on plague.

Find Robert the Bruce at www.magicdragon.com, the Wallace and then Bruce6 section; Leonardo da Vinci at www.kausal.com/leonardo;
Charles Dickens at www.victorianweb.org, at authors, dickens,dickensbio1;
Julius Caesar and a historical chronology at www.vroma.org/%7Ebmcmanus/caesar.

7. There will be plenty of road signs for big, and little, sights on the way. The emphasis is "on the way." See as you go.

2007: Back from Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia. Our Domesday Book.

The Domesday Book was a land and other inventory commissioned by William the Conqueror in England in 1085. For Domesday Book, see learningcurve.gov.uk/focuson/domesday; or domesdaybook.co.uk.

Here is our Domesday-type inventory of what we did before leaving for 2007's trip - Dan's chose the countries. There he is modeling his trusty travel rain jacket. For a fast look at what we saw in each country, go to: Poland Road Ways; Czech Republic Road Ways;; and Slovakia Road Ways.

Getting ready: Reading: - Michener's old "Poland." Michener is good for the human, narrative side of a place. See review at www.allreaders.com/Topics/Info_1544.asp. Try also his "Iberia" on Spain.

He wrote of The Hussar cavalry, with feather top battle gear, above their heads, that whistled and sang as they rode, fearfully to all who could not see them yet, but knew doom was riding. Those feathers helped save Vienna from the Turks. World War I and World War II sites and events. Thank you Poland. Continuing the brave tradition: The Polish kept the Red Russians from charging straight to Berlin, Paris and the Channel and beyond in the early 1920's.

Choosing spring: Con. Roads may be worse because of potholes, and repairs not as complete as in the fall. Also, downpours, melt-flooding. Pro. Spring flowers, vistas not blocked by full leaves yet, cheaper than summer, and we can always go slow and turn back fast from the hinterland if roads get dicey. There are motorways. Will take one pair of mud shoes. Put them right under the tap to wash, dry out in the rear car seat shelf.

Palpable change in 2007. America has lost much its good will abroad, so we were especially alert. We wear no US or other English logos.
Travel in black and brown and tan. Other years, people have looked pleased and chatted openly about their relatives in US when learning we are American. Not so this trip.

We were comfortable staying basically with the European Union this trip. Here is a good map for identifying which countries are in the European Union: ezilon.com/european_maps. Euro countries cost more than nonEuro.

Expense. Our Romania and Balkans (Croatia, Slovenia, bits of Bosnia and Montenegro) trips were comparatively inexpensive. This one was higher again. So we avoided real sit-down lunches, unless we were at a special place, and ate gas station sandwiches often. Not bad. And saved time.

Currencies. our currency converter post here somewhere.

Guidebook info: We read in various guidebooks that we would need to show we had cash before we crossed the border. Not so. Never ran into that.

Tip: ATM's. Check the conversion charge for your cards. Vary from 3% for Citibank, 2% AmEx, and 1% BankNorth, these based on today's calls around.

Alphabet issues. No Cyrillic for this trip. Good. In Greece, Jon and I did fine with two of us translating in areas where there was no English on the signs. But in a corner of Bosnia that was totally Cyrillic, Dan and I just followed the sun west instead of even trying to read names and signs. I have worked out our own travel words wallet cribsheet.

4. Non-planning, but not totally random, either. Dan puts a -it on everything in the guidebook he wants to see. Then, we put a red pencil circle for each place on a big map. Once there, when we are nearby, we can see what circles are already there. We can go off in odd directions with a purpose of some sort.

5. Area. How much can we cover reasonably: letterhead, cut just below the address part, like 2 1/2 inches, cut across, fold in half. That is the rectangle size you could cover in two weeks if you generally kept moving (no more than two nights somewhere), as we tend to do. Move that rectangle around the map. Or, for an elongated oblong, cut the rectangle in half lengthwise, and add it. In Spain, the size was 1 3/4 inches rectangle, with longer length, set catty-corner for a figure-8 trip, not long circularish rectangle.

6. Zip baggies. For all the currencies, converters, receipts, odd bits. And a pint (?) size for your liquid toiletries. I have ordered from AAA about $150 in each anticipated currency. Not sure about availability of ATM's, this will get us through a few days in each.

7. Car rental. Choose your airport with car rental in mind. There may be restrictions on where you can go in the car, depending on where you rent. We chose to to land and rent Eastern European, so the car - though obviously rented - would have an Eastern European license plate and not blare "Vienna" or some such target. And, we did have restrictions even then - no inter-country ferries, Sweden, Bosnia, Ukraine, Belarus, and many more. Just know the list in advance. And, I understand that a Vienna rental car may well not be permitted into some countries for car theft reasons.

Get an annual international driver's license (annual duration only, no big deal - $15 or so).

Car theft. Choose a non-fancy car. Routine compact. See Trieste Road Ways for insurance issues. In cities, use ticket garages rather than overnight street parking, etc. Just be aware. Standard shift.

Maps issues. Attention Hammond. Naming names here. Beware of Hammond maps. Unfold and compare. We generally like Hammond because of the attractions symbols. But you pay $11.95 for a Chech Republic and Slovakia map, dipping down to Vienna and Budapest, and up to Warsaw, Poland. Other side of map is blank. Then, you pay the same $11.95 for a Poland map that is identical to the above, but includes the rest of Poland on the other side.

HAMMOND: To be fair to consumers, I think Hammond should do one map, not two. Call it Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia, and print the both sides for the same $11.95 as they already do on the "Poland" map.

DK: Your glossy pages are beautiful but too heavy. We use them anyway, but resent the weight.
Pope John Paul II was from Krakow; Chopin; Dvorak; King Wenceslas in Prague; symphonies all over. Roma (gypsy) population issues - a microcosm of the human dark side in demonizing others, etc. But if it takes a demon to demonize - so we all better watch it, no matter whom we put on our receiving end.

Mapping by Music

We had no place songs for Poland, and only heard a few polkas. Still, we sang Roll Out The Barrel. This group was playing for a Polish banquet in Czestochowa.

We map by songs, where we can. In Ireland and Scotland, or Italy and Spain, we went to a place because there was a song about it. Then sang it loud while we went. If we couldn't get to it, we sang anyway.

Examples:

Ireland: Rose of Tralee; Christmas in Killarney; In Dublin's Fair City; Londonderry
Air (the Danny Boy); The Mountains of Mourne; The Fields of Athenrye. For songs with audio, go to www.traditionalmusic.co.uk, at the irish folk music index. For a reel, listen to www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/irish-folk-music/play.mid.

Spain: Seville (everything from Carmen)

France: I Love Paris, Mademoiselle from Armentieres (World War I), see www.firstworldwar.com/audio/mademoisellefromarmentieres. This site also has audio. To listen to it from 1915, go to www.firstworldwar.com. The rest of the address would be /audio/Jack%20Charman%20-%20Mademoiselle%20From%20Armentieres.mp3.

England: Robin Hood, Robin Hood; London Bridge; for audio on many British Isles songs, go to www.contemplator.com/folk.

Germany: A Mighty Fortress; Ach Du Lieber Augustine; Lili Marlene; for a list of many country folksongs alphabetically and with downloads, go to ingeb.org/folkso_g.

Italy: When The Moon Hits Your Eye; Three Coins in a Fountain; Funiculi Funicula; Santa Lucia; O Solo Mio (bits); see www.italianfolkmusic.com/home.

Scotland: Danny Boy; Barbara Allen; see www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/scottish-folk-music/index.

Staying alert: route-timing, theft, credit cards

Watch the time of day. Match daylight with mountains and hills, dusk with levels if you can. Example: Ireland. Do not start around the Ring of Kerry so that you are doing the easy part first, in early afternoon. You will be in mountains and eye to eye with mountain goats at dusk, and where the lodgings are scarce. Fortunately, opposing headlights warn you of vehicles snaking your way, but the animals sneak and graze on.

Theft. Theft happens. Example again for Ireland. Do not leave a window cracked open in the Blarney parking lot. Car emptied out, practically. Jon still had his passport and some cash and a credit card, so we coped. But watch to see who you are parking next to. If it is a red van, with dark windows, and people just sitting in there, go elsewhere fast. As soon as we opened the trunk, they peeled out. All gone.

Croatia. Do not rejoice the night before leaving, that all was ok. We got billed twice for the hotel nearest the airport. Thank you, credit card, but it was a nuisance coping.

Do not relax too soon.




Romania: Do not wait to pay your several days' bill in Bucharest and do it when you are just about to go to the airport. Pay every day. Every day in full so there can be no unexpected fees and charges you just can't cope with at the last minute and didn't know about.

Croatia. Do not go up any little staircase to a bridge where people are walking across, without scouting it all out first.

There may be a train track there. If so, leave fast. Local pedestrians are used to it, we aren't. Luckily no train came, and if one had come, we could have just pressed back, arms around a pole as the people did, but that takes practice and advance planning. Just keep off. Don't expect signs to warn you of dangers, train crossings or climbing around castles. Life changes and can be lost in an instant. Can never be too careful.

France. Do not eat sweetbreads in an out of the way town. Sick all night. Ok by morning.

Serbia, Bosnia - or any country with its own currency (non-euro). Do not stop to mail a postcard. There will probably be a minimum for any exchange to get the currency to buy the stamp or the card. We had to get $20 in Bosnia in order to mail some cards. Had to spend the rest (tasty) at the local deli. Then found we could not bring food across some borders. Just eat up. We had 6 checkpoints in one day coming from Ostrog, Montenegro, down to Dubrovnik.

Slovenia - now using the euro. Good. Not necessarily financially better, but easier than carrying several change purses for the differing currencies. Romania is now in the European Union as well - no more kuna.

Translating; Self-Scripting

People smile when you try to speak their language. Great start. Go ahead. This Distaff Pilgrimage group to the Black Madonna at Czestochowa, Poland, turned out to be a lark for all of us. We enjoyed meeting them. I had wanted to capture also the fabulous shade of fuschia-red-henna hair that we saw so often in Eastern Europe, and came to see as quite flattering, as on the one back row, second from right, but it did not photograph accurately. I like it. I have it in mind. Seriously. If we do blue, why not henna?

For websites on a search engine that provides many languages, see dmoz.org/World/.

Do It Yourself Scripting. Anticipate your basic needs. Script out and translate for yourself what you think you will need, in the words that you would use, and keep it on one sheet if you can - thank you's, where is, what is, how far, how much, is there a bathroom near here? two beds one room, attached bath ("en suite"). You can make a blog out of it and go to Babelfish at Altavista at babelfish.altavista.com/, or other such site and translate what you need.

Guidebook translation sections are too convoluted. You can't just stand there and read through phrases. All you need is sensible body language, fingers for pointing, a little dictionary and a lot of good will.

Then - go see your room before accepting it, and see the price in writing. They may place you in a pricey one because the assumption is that you can pay.

Go here if you come across a site in another language - free translations. http://www.humanitas-international.org/newstran/index.html. And this page from that site shows how it works: www.humanitas-international.org/newstran/more-trans. Or just use Babelfish, at babelfish.altavista.com/, but this larger site seems more efficient for entire web pages.

This came courtesy of this splendid history-angle site, where a coin person finds the stories of history in the country's coins and writes mostly in Italian - go to www.roth37.it/COINS/GENERAL_INDEX/index and say thank you. While you are there, look around - Luxembourg, Venice, Trieste, so much.

Links, posts, archives

Links. Recommendations to visit other third-party websites fare in word form. Given the lack of firm guidance on fair use, or transformative use of resource material (see www.bitlaw.com. for example), this is prudent, but a pity. So slow. Must be a better way to provide appropriate protections than hobbling us all.

Posts - These may be presented in a chronological order for the countries; or by topic, here at our nuts and bolts site. We do that by adjusting dates.

Archives - With posting dates used to arrange the information, Archives do not necessarily contain older posts. They may continue a topic, or offer new ones. Do check often.

Technorati Profile

Paper Wins - No e-Tickets. Other passport issues.

Be sure to have paper tickets for travel abroad. Do not rely on any e-tickets once out of US. When between flights abroad, also avoid using electronic ticketing. Passengers must have passport and visas, and some countries require passengers to have a paper ticket for any entry, even if the passenger is just changing planes on a connecting flight. See more on paper tickets at www.freetraveltips.com/Airlines/Air08.

Be careful on internet cheap ticket sites and affirm in writing (fax to a specific person there) that they know you need a paper ticket and will fast-mail it to you, so you have it by a stated date, or else you do not need to pay for any of it. Be willing to pay the fee for mailing and handling. And add that they will fax you back immediately if all that you understand, as stated on your fax, is not so. Whether that holds up or not, who knows, but it gets their attention. Get one person's name to deal with until you have that ticket in hand.

Do not order your ticket on Friday from some sites. They may sit on it over the weekend, then say on Monday that the booking is now full and please pay more for this other one. Use a site where you get immediate proof of your reservation.

We are renewing our passports before expiration. Never wait too long, and some coding things are being put in that you may not want in there until the kinks are out.

More blogs about Europe Road Ways - How We Do It.

PIN-Up with Credit cards; Gas Stations

Gas stations will probably require a PIN with your credit card. Be sure your credit cards have PIN's before you go. Also, tell the credit card company when you are leaving, what countries you will be in, and when you will return. Otherwise they may deny use, thinking the card is stolen. They may call your house to check also.

Change your pins when you get back so your old PIN will not work. I even change card numbers.

Debit cards. Leave only enough in there that you could lose out on, and not die about it. Fraud is everywhere.

Some gas stations do not have attendants, especially in outlying areas. Carry cash so you can ask the person as the next pump if he would pump yours and you would pay him. I had to do that once when the card would not work. Walk around and check your tires each time, especially if you are driving on the left side of the road and missed a curb or two. Check water and oil far more than you would here.

Travel Outside the Turret

Advantages of independent traveling. If you have any interest in travel on your own, and accept the unexpected, try it. To us right now, tours look like travel in a turret, or a bunker - all protections, and narrow, fixed sightlines. This one, a bunker, is at Omaha Beach, Normandy.

We like the places - and trivia - we find by being on our own. We like the way the interest grows after we get back. If we had stayed in the box, for example, we probably would never have learned this - an example of the odd bits out there --

That, yes, the kitchens at Dunluce Castle in Northern Ireland slid into the sea in 1648. We also found out that seven cooks and their pots were lost, but the cobbler survived. See Ireland Road Ways, Antrim post. The stuff of stories.

This travel site is also serious. We follow and discuss topics like death and wars, as well as the arts, and people and history.

Safety: We are mindful. We hold our wet index fingers to the wind. We stay under the radar and wear a lot of black. Stealth travel. We may even be safer than we would be in a group. A rental car can be identified, but a small one blends in better than a bus. And nobody knows our plans. Neither do we. We decide on the spot. We and use an occasional phone, but usually e-mail home from the internet cafes. Europe seems far ahead of us in wiring up and in speed.

This rootlessness can backfire. We could be at the wrong place at wrong time. If it does, that's life. Jon won't be able to sue the tour company. Like-minded people? Out of the bunkers.

Yours with enthusiasm,

The ad hoc Car-Dan Tour Company

Queasy? Happens seldom. Relax

Stonehenge Single Stone, England
1. Illness. This Stonehenge fellow illustrates a consequence of hapless indulgences. I have had only two stomach bouts - one near Verdun, France, after sweetbreads, see the offal list at www.frenchfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa082202a; and one in Trujillo, Spain, after a delicious dish of migas, the traditional fried breadcrumb meal that I still recommend highly: See www.blogger.com/%20http://www.tourspain.org/recipes/migas.asp.

Usual duration: less than 12 hours. Just do the trotting and upchucking, go back to bed and don't fuss.

2. Preparations: For illness and first aid, check first the Center for Disease Control for the country you are going to. See, for example, for healthcare resources in Eastern Europe , you can go to www.cdc.gov/travel/easteurp.

3. Backup. Have the phone numbers for the US consulate or embassy, example site is www.blogger.com/%20http://projectvisa.com/regiondisplay.asp?regionname=europe"

4. Logistics. Baggies. Take lots for small amounts of basic medicines for a variety of ailments. Minimal. Use original packaging these days for customs identification. You can buy whatever else you need when you need it. Global drugstores.

5. Know the infrastructure. Exception: For countries where you are concerned with medical infrastructure and available treatments, you may want to ask your doctor for help in advance - perhaps have an antibiotic in advance for treating sinus/respiratory infection, or medication for back pain or other things if you are susceptible, just in case.

Keep receipts; pay in cash (see currency conversion post here)

Always so good to be home, safe.

But no final cheering for a disaster-free trip until you have all the credit card statements. Keep all receipts. In a baggie.

Horror story: We were charged double, for a hotel nearest the airport the night before the flight out. Didn't know until we saw the credit card statement 2 months later. Credit card company straightened it out, but having the receipt was vital.

Another trip: We also were hypercharged for all sorts of fees, again when we were off to another airport, and when we had least time to object. It was sign or miss the flight.

Moral: Pay up daily if you are at a hotel more than one night. See all fees daily, so you can leave, thank you. Better yet, do not give your credit card at all when charges can be openended - just pay hotels the cash in advance. Lots of ATM's.

Mapping with World Heritage Sites in mind: BBC, travel sites

1. UNESCO World Heritage Sites. A map is here: thesalmons.org/lynn/world.heritage.

You can also find all these United Nations-certified fabulous sites, the established ones and the proposals, for all the countries at whc.unesco.org/en/list/. Most guidebooks also show them. For the British Isles, see www.thesalmons.org/lynn/wh-england.. For Romania, see www.thesalmons.org/lynn/wh-romania. These were not on the earlier site list. Don't know why.

You may want to note where the Heritage sites are on your map ahead of time, but we don't organize a trip around them. That is work.

We went where we wanted, and found later that we saw most along the way anyway. England, Wales and Scotland have their own listings. See www.thesalmons.org/lynn/wh-england. And www.information-britain.co.uk/worldheritage.cfm".

2. Travel websites. I like the BBC. Go here to get the basics on any country. Excellent site also for history. See news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm.

For overviews of the major movements and empires (get a handle on Rome, Greece, Vikings, etc. see www.bbc.co.uk/schools/vikings/links. Use these for revving up your enthusiasm and learning what to look for. But focus on just getting there with an open mind, not a list. Then look around. It is exhausting trying to organize your trip around someone else's ideas.

Example: When we got back from Croatia this time, we saw a travel site that has as its motto something backwards like getting truth first, then going. We don't. Whose truth? How determined? Nonsense. Do the opposite. You will see more. Just start driving. Photo here, Dalmatian Coast, Croatia. Croatia Road Ways.

3. This site gives a realistic and helpful overview on unplanned travel: goeurope.about.com. Look around there for the spontaneous kind.

Driving Rules : The Rule of Ears; Passing; International Road Signs

Accidents. I see more accidents while driving in the US than I have seen in Europe. I see skilled drivers there: quick, but following different rules of the road. Learn this part of your trip before driving. See www.ideamerge.com/motoeuropa/roadsigns/.

Rules. They vary. Here is a site for overall driving tips and customs: europeforvisitors.com/europe/planner/blp_driving. This one is detailed, for truckers crossing boundaries - excellent - at ://www.roadtransport.com/Articles/2008/01/23/129609/how-the-rules-of-road-differ-across-europe.html.

My own observations:

1. Passing. Passing is fast in and out, scouting before committing, and people make room for changing minds. Usually you do not have to go fully into the oncoming traffic lane to pass.

To do that, cars use the burm area - the slower car slides half over the burm line; the passing car slides half over the midline, looks and then either whizzes around and passes, or tucks back in, fast. Seldom does anyone have to go into the full opposing traffic lane to pass. Everyone makes room. The burm lanes are usually well-maintained.

2. Rule of Ears for Focus. Keep your eyes beside and ahead, most of the time. We follow a Rule of Ears whenever possible, and especially when things get dicey.

When traffic and motorcycles whiz in multiple directions, focus first on who is alongside or in front of your ears. Period. Let the people behind worry about themselves. This approach has worked in Sicily, Naples, Romania, Croatia, England, wherever. Look in the rearview enough to see the general layout, but your focus is always ahead and beside.

3. Signs. Learn them. Here they are. Print it out. ://www.travel-island.com/road.traffic.signs/warning.road.signs.html.

Some international driving signs are not self-explanatory, but not all. I mistook one sign to mean no entry at all, when it only meant no trucks. Wasted much time trying to find another way to the hotel. And no parking and tow zone means just that. Take no chances. Particularly in Spain, police are not there to help and socialize. They are there to enforce.

4. Lay-Bys on One-lane roads. These are frequent in the Highlands, or Skye, for example, or any mountainous road. Watch for the lay-by flagpoles. If you see a car coming, the one closest to the lay-by is supposed to pull over and let the other go by. If nobody pulls over, then somebody has to back up - usually the one nearest a lay-by will do that. I did not see people playing chicken. People give a courteous flutter of fingers on the steering wheel as they go by.

The Ferry Rule: If you see one, take it

This Rule led us to the Hebrides from Skye, and to the Orkney Islands from the John-o'-Groats area in northern Scotland, just beyond the Highlands. See Scotland Road Ways

It saved us from the wild cloverleaf overpasses-underpasses in Germany at Worms (we just got off and drove toward a river and there a ferry was. It let us off at a lovely country area - we were two cars and a motorcycle on that one. See Germany Road Ways

It also took us from Naples to Palermo, Sicily - but that was a standby luck matter. Our internet reservation had not gone through the system. We did try to make a reservation for that one, because it is a huge ferry with cabins overnight. We lucked out and got on board. Try anyway. See Sample ferry, Naples-Sicily

In England, it got us off the little peninsula near Down to the mainland.

The picture here is the local ferry from Orebic to the island of Korcula. We watched them get those cars squeezed in at right angles with not even a ding. In Croatia, skip the big car ferry from Dubrovnik. Why not set your own schedule, drive a little north, and out the peninsula to Orebic, and take that local ferry to Korcula. Goes back and forth all the time, no advance reservations needed. See Croatia Road Ways

Bad hair days: Pinking shears

Skip the curlers and clips. Cut your hair with pinking shears before you go. Hang your head over the sink, part it straight down the back as though for braids, and then comb it all forward over your whole face.

Take pinking shears in a steady hand, peek carefully in the mirror, and cut up from in front of your ears, at the bottom, in a diagonal up to - and here you choose - the bridge of your nose, for bangs; or the end of your nose, for not. Fling your head back and comb as usual. Love it. Wind and rain matter not.

This is not a solution for the back. Don't look there.

If you must cope, figure out how to hang your head, and in what direction, for that. I go all the way upside down and comb it all according to gravity and grab it and then snip across or wherever to get a layered salon look.

This fellow followed these instructions and is somewhere in Croatia.

Wardrobe: One to Wash, One to Wear, One for Spare. Border issues.

In addition: Take one robish-thing in case the WC is down the hall; and opaque nightwear. We take three pairs of day-shoes. One is for the daily mud. the second doubles as slippers and end-of day lighter wear. The third is a sacrificial pair for total wet. All light weight, except if we seriously plan to hike. In Ireland, we did take hiking boots - and just wore them to keep from having to carry them. No jogging shoes. Too big, get too muddy.

Organization: Use supermarket plastic bags and ziplocks for all types of things, all including toiletries. They pull out easily for inspections; and stuff back in easily. It also makes it simpler to find what you want.

Weight. It adds up. We layer and do quick wicking-dry, lightweight things --that pack flat flat flat. That outlaws fleece except for a jacket.

How to: The back seat is the dryer. Once at a border checkpoint, the guard took one look at the socks and stuff draped all over the back seat and just rolled his eyes and let us through.We could have been carrying who knows what, or whom, under it all.

Moral: there is no way to seal a border. People are people both ways. Whole idea needs to be rethought.

Currency conversion gimmick

Go on Excel and list dollars in one column
And each needed currency beside, in another column-
And with reasonable increments

Cut off the extra.
Fold it so you can pull it out sideways from your wallet,
Quietly,
To see what the cost really is, each time.

For one trip, we needed five columns:
For Bosnia; Slovenia; Croatia; Serbia
And Montenegro, none of which were reliably
On the Euro.

I ended up cutting and stacking the columns
So I could flip to where we needed to be.

Travel by the Shape of the Country - Summary of Loops

It doesn't matter where you start or where you go. You will see signs for the big stuff anyway. Do them as you see them. When in doubt, head for a coast and just go clockwise. As you see signs for forays inland, go. If you are lost, pick a direction.

Spain and Gibraltar: For large countries, like Spain, to see the most variety, do a figure-eight from Madrid -- a loop northeast Segovia, Vallodolid, Burgos Bilbao, San Sebastian and Pamplona; then back toward the Madrid area and Cuenca, Avila, Salamanca, then a loop toward the southwest to Trujillo, Guadalupe, Seville, Gibraltar, Cordoba, and back to Madrid.

Germany: large circle from Frankfurt to Marburg and over to Berlin, then south to Nuremberg and Bavarian Alps, and north through Dinkelsbuhl and fiddle around up to Aachen and Koln and down the Rhine with whatever time you have.

Ireland: Several trips here. Overall, Limerick and loop to Galway and north and around- Sligo, Donegal, Giant's Causeway, Downpatrick and Dublin, then south through Glendalough to Wexford, and around coast (forays up) to Cork and Ring of Kerry, and with extra time, Rock of Cashel, then Limerick again.

Scotland: Glasgow to Stirling, dip to Cambelltown and up to Skye (and Hebrides by ferry); Ullapool around northern Highlands if weather is good, ferry to Orkney, then down to Wick and Pitlochry, southern border if time and back to Glasgow.

Italy - linear by train, Venice all way to Naples, stopping off along the way at Florence, Bologna, Rome. Rent car and long loop: do Pompeii, Amalfi Coast and Herculaneum and ferry to Sicily. Back to Naples, Anzio, and Ostia Antica and Rome.

Romania: Bucharest, loop up to Snagov and Brasov, down again to Curtea de Arges and up through Transfagarasan Pass (Vlad ruin castle at Poinari Cetate) to Sibiu, Sighisoara, Bistrita and Bucovina. Across top and west to Sighetu Marmetiei and south to Cluj Napoca, Hunedoara,Horezu, and Taragoviste. And Bucharest.

Croatia-Slovenia-Bosnia-Montenegro: Much driving here, but we enjoy that. Knew we may not get back, so did a lot. Zagreb, loop west to Rijeka, Pula and Trieste, back through Slovenia to Rijeka and south long loop Pag, Nin, Zadar, Split, then Bosnia-Mostar and Medugorje, south back to Dubrovnik, Croatia; then another loop south to Montenegro - Kotor, Budva, Cetinje, Ostrog, and cross-country back down to Dubrovnik (some 6 checkpoints) inland north to Karlovac, and more Slovenia (Ljubljana, Lake Bled, Kranj) and back to Zagreb; west loop to Jasenovac, Osijek, up to Hungarian border and east again to Verazdin and Zagreb.

England and Wales: London, Wiltshire and Stonehenge, Dartmoor, Mount St. Michael, Cornwall, north to Wales (northern castles) and back to Chester, England. Nottingham, Oxford, Rochester, Dover, Canterbury, Hastings, Brighton, London.

France: Loops. Paris, north to Amiens, Abbeville and Somme areas, loop over to Rheims, Caen, Normandy Beaches, Mont St. Michel, Angers, Loire Valley castles, Orleans, southern loop to Dijon, back to Metz, Sedan, Reims, Epernay and Paris.

Netherlands-Belgium-Luxembourg. A late loop back to see the British Bridge too Far (Operation Market Garden WWII) at Arnhem - so illogical here. Amsterdam, Zandvoort, Lisse, Leiden, The Hague, Rotterdam, Kinderdijk, Nijmegen (American Operation Market Garden forces) and Groesbeek (VE Day), around past Mastricht (inaccessible - Mr. Bush's traffic jam and diversions) to Venlo; Bastogne (Belgium); Ettelbruck, Diekirche, Hamm Cemetery (General Patton) and Luxembourg City; Waterloo (back to Belgium), Brussels, Ghent, Ypres (my uncle Len there in WWI), Bruges, Antwerp; back to Holland: Middelburg, Domburg, Breda, Gouda, Alkmaar, across dype (dividing Waddenzee and Ijsselmeer) to Urk, Arnhem, Haarlem and Amsterdam.

The occasional day bus tour

If you are in a big city,
Tired,
Then take a double-decker bus tour
And hop on, hop off.
Best on Mondays when many countries close things. Museums shut.
Perfect for getting the mobile overview.

Precautions: Safekeeping your documents, luggage

1. In pocket: For each traveler, carry an ID and where the current hotel is.
Put copy of passport also
In wallet with USA contact phone number.

2. In waist pocketbelt - tickets, passports, traveler's checks, extra cash. Keep different currencies separate in their own baggies.

3. In any parking lot - do not hurry. Scope out where you are: the vans, with covered windows where people are just sitting there. Once we lost it all, at Blarney - they waited until we left for the attraction, broke into car, removed all they wanted, and then moved to another place in the lot before careening out when we realized.

4. Leave no touristy items in car visible when you leave the car. Every time. And close the windows all the way. Carry your backpacks in restaurants if at all concerned.
That's why we have backpacks and not rolling suitcases.

Car rentals, insurance, parking Lost

1. Cars: Compact size. No bigger. Roads are too narrow and twisty in many places. Standard shift is cheaper and gives better control.

Insurance: Check carefully your coverage. Duplicate any doubtful insurance. Contract for medical evac. If you are going from country to country, see that you are covered for each. This includes the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and parts of Serbia and Bosnia, that may require separate insurance policies. Be sure you state the countries you are visiting when you contract. I have not bothered with theft insurance. We keep plane tickets, extra money, ID, debit card and passport on us at all times. Never leave in car.

Equipment. Check the equipment in your rental car before leaving. We were given a car in Romania (big rental company) that had no cover at all for the hatchback open luggage area. Did not notice until well away. Had to pile up floor mats as best we could.

At airport: Check before you leave where to bring the car back when you return. Some return places are not near the departure terminal, and there may be no signs. See airport at Bucharest.

Parking: Write down, or photograph for fast reference later, where you park. Put a dot on your city map. Every time. Street name, sketch of buildings, dot on map. Cars lose easily. We were particularly dumb in Manchester, England, by noting we were near half-timber buildings. Ha. The whole town is half-timber.

Buying: We don't

Skip it. Too much time away from seeing what we want to see.
We do photos, postcards, maps and local guidebooks. Other than those, I recall these touristy purchases:
Ireland: a woven scarf; a mineral-stone necklace
Germany: mug of Weimar
Scotland - Hebrides - Orkney: hand-screened silk scarves in Orkney; otherwise, nothing
Spain: mug with Don Quixote
England: A print of spouse's family's historical village in Wiltshire; otherwise, nothing
Italy - Sicily: nothing
Romania: face cream mentioned in the guidebook, at $4; tried to order here, and it is $25. Sigh.
France: nothing

Museums - One Big per City, rest Small

We do one big museum per big city,
Then choose
Out-of-the-way, topical museums
Like the one for the Brothers Grimm
In Kassel, Germany.
Or the wayside mineral
Or early pagan artifact
And customs museums
In backroads Ireland
Where the wells
May still have ribbons
Placed on twigs nearby.
Sto to find out what they are.
Note:
Many are closed on Mondays.
In some places,
In the warmer climates,
Museums and attractions
Close between 1-2 PM
For lunch.

Packing SuggestTakes- minimal and in supermarket bags

1. Pack everything in supermarket plastic bags.
2. Easy to unload for inspections, finding things.
3. Main categories: One to wash, one to wear, one for spare
4. Two basic dumb colors, with one brighter thing
5. Two daily pairs of shoes, one to get wet. Then a third light-weight pair to double as slippers to get to the bath down the hall, and wear for dinner.
6. You can buy what you need over there, so underpack. Noone cares if you wear the same thing because you are your own tour.
7. One flimsy folding duffle to keep in the trunk with rain gear, or cold gear. Ours has even weathered being checked through with the hiking boots inside, on return.
8. Avoid checking anything through on the way over.
9. Packing find of the year: The Go-Lite backpack that doubles as a duffle, and is expandable upwards. No back frame, just straps.
10. Plan to share with your travel-mate rather than duplicate everything.
11. Rule. Wash most things out each night. If not dry, drape it in the trunk.
12. Take an alarm clock and flashlight

Email - Provide general pending routes from internet cafes

Email beats phoning. We don't know where we are going next. We email home whenever we see an internet cafe and say where we are, and what the non-plan next is. We phone seldom. Even dedicated phone cards are inconvenient, and may not work in all phones in the country - multiple systems. Postcards are difficult because then you have to find a post office to buy the stamps. We could drop off the face of the earth sometime, but that's life and we don't focus on that. Could happen at home also.

Language issues: Dictionaries, not grammar books

In my next life, I will do a good country dictionary for travelers. It will contain nothing but the actual single words you really need, and not in the grammar form in the guidebooks or usual travel dictionaries. I will go heavy on menus, road words, and words you need for lodging and car care.

Skip learning full sentences at the outset. Use benign body language (check the hand gestures for cultural meaning before using). Even imitate the animal sound like a 2-year old. Pork, beef, chicken, you get the idea. An egg?

Learn instead: Where is. Who is. What is.

Your prior knowledge of Latin or French or Spanish may or may not help. Eat what you get anyway.

Food specifics: Oreilles.

Oreilles may look like ear-shaped pasta on the menu, but the real thing may be pig's ears - as in Spain. We thought we were ordering the little pasta. When the dish arrived, we thought they were bulls' ears, but I learned later that their ears are kept as trophies and we probably got the porker. Try them braised, a little fuzzy and cartilagenous, but delicious. Eat it anyway and you may be a devotee. If in doubt, pick anything on the menu and see what comes. All you need is enough to last you until the next meal. Enjoy.

Tidy time. In transit: We take a dishtowel for the car, wash and wet it and good for cleanup after snacking. Neighborhood deli-places are great for lunch when there is no restaurant-- or if you are looking for food before the custom allows food. And that happens. Find out when the real eating times are. There may not be an in-between.

The Laundry Rule - Every night, thank you

Socks and underwear every night. If still wet in AM, drape over back seat. Every night also do one bigger thing. Keeps the cycle going. Other things you can figure out.

Here is open-air laundry, upper right extending across the way, and through the doorway, Korcula, Croatia.

Benefit time: The Fruits of our Trips for the Nuts - Travel with Dan

What we do: We talk current events, he types, he reads, he takes volumes and volumes out of the library social studies sections on countries, he clips from newspapers, he is plotting the next trip as soon as we land from the one before.

What you might do: Instead of camp, if you pay for that already, try just 7 days in Ireland with one parent, one child. You could start off easy: land at Limerick, run around Bunratty Castle, start in on the middle ages and cannon and just drive around.

How our family reacts: It has become a laugh and an avenue and a joy. And a refresher for the grown-ups on all of history and politics through the ages. Enough. Just try it. And he earns at his job, and decides not to spend what is left after room and board and his usual needs, and saves for the trips. Now, that's responsibility. For any kid. Us: Ours is grown, and has the advantage of Down Syndrome, and travel fits.

Down is up. Travel with someone with Down syndrome and you will find kindred in every country. It may be a nod and a smile, a conversation suddenly opening up with an innkeeper, other patrons in places to eat, a storefront with services. We laugh a lot. And, for anyone who can benefit from improving reading and writing skills, try the guidebooks (we look up anything obscure in the indexes) and logs, carefully entered each evening.