Planning

This has been quite an ordeal - getting this trip together.  Planning a trip like this is pretty involved, but I know it will be totally worth it.

We are taking 3 kids to visit the 4th kid and my brother in Europe.  I'm taking them for the first week and Paul is taking them for the second.  We weren't sure if Dev would be able to go, so initial plans didn't involve her.

So when all was said and done - a total of 4 separate reservations made at different times, but synchronized to be the same flights with the right people at the right times on the right dates.  This was just to GET to Europe.  Then came seat assignments - 3 different carriers and added fees.  On top of that, we had to get travel insurance for everyone, as well.

Once we had all the flights to and from Stuttgart, we had to book flights within Europe because there's no time to cover what we want to do in the time we want to do it - by train. First - STR-NICE for 4 people, then NICE-BCN for 4 people, then BCN-STR for 4 people.  Got those booked, seats paid for, etc.  When we found out Dev could come, I had to go back and align all those flights, times, seats, etc. with ours.  DONE.  Yikes!

But wait - there's more.  LODGING.  Annie and I spent a lot of time looking at different options - and many, many Airbnbs.  Finally, we settled on one in Cannes and one in Barcelona.  And then... we added Devin!  I had to reconnect with the Airbnb owners to make sure they would allow one more guest.  They weren't super excited about it - but they were agreeable and we settled that.

As of today - 5/24 - I have managed to reserve all the flights, seats, and lodging that I am responsible for. All we need to worry about is trains from airports to lodging - but that's when we get there.

I've created an itinerary on travefy.com, put all of our documents (boarding passes, reservation PDFs, etc. in a shared folder on google drive) and am in the process of letting my bank, credit card companies and Verizon know that I'll be out of the country so there are no problems there.

I've purchased a power adapter, a travel towel, and a money belt - I'm setting aside clothes/items to pack (we leave in 17 days!).

I'm really excited for this opportunity to do this with the kids.  I think it will be memorable in ways that I can't imagine (hopefully all good...).

Over and out for now!