We’d been living out of our backpacks for so long, what would it be like to return to the States? We had our 34th country to visit before we found out–Iceland! We flew from Stockholm to Keflavik via Icelandair. We were pleasantly surprised by the service. They gave the children a complimentary snack box, an activity pack and… Read More Reykjavík, Iceland
As I’m in a time-crunch before I head off to college, this one’s by Mom We flew from Helsinki to Stockholm and could look out the window and see the beautiful archipelago beneath us. We checked into the attractive and comfortable Comfort Hotel Kista. The location was very convenient for economical groceries and public transportation to the… Read More Stockholm, Sweden
We were excited to return to Helsinki, having previously spent a day there through our Baltic Cruise. We enjoyed plenty of daylight, sunshine, and had an awesome Airbnb home owned by a helpful family that was close to grocery stores (no alcohol sold after 9:00 pm) and the bus line. As we were going to be there… Read More Helsinki, Finland
After we disembarked the cruise ship and said goodbye to the grandparents, we immediately headed to the airport where we caught our flight to Kaunas, Lithuania! Flying in, we were surprised to see the green, rolling hills and thick forests. A curious customs agent casually reviewed our passports, and asked us a few questions,… Read More Vilnius, Lithuania
A cruise doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the blog does it? It’s not the budget-friendly travel we usually talk about. Well, our grandparents hoped to join us on the trip at some point, but they weren’t up for backpacking, so we found a wonderful cruise that let them take it easy, as… Read More Cruise of the Baltic Sea
By the parental figures We had been looking forward to Scotland the entire trip, and although we had been to Edinburgh many years ago, we were eager to see the mythical highlands for the first time. We said goodbye to London with a great English breakfast at Cafe Solo, and our pre-arranged ride picked us… Read More Scotland
We decided to use our short time in Ireland to stay in a small town amid the famous green beauty of Ireland, rather than in the big city of Dublin. So we flew into Kerry and rented a nice townhouse with lots of room to spread out. Kenmare was a cute town where we could… Read More Kenmare, Ireland
Dad loved Wales so much he requested to write this blog post. Snowdonia, seacoast, and … sunburn? Departing England for Wales, I was getting comfortable with driving a left-handed stick shift and driving on the left side of the road while successfully negotiating roundabouts in the opposite, for me, direction. More difficult was managing the… Read More Barmouth, Wales
London, New Market, Bath, Buckinghamshire We traveled back and forth between different areas of the UK, so this post is organized by city rather than chronologically. London First visit: We were excited to visit England, as both Mom and Dad had lived there before marriage in the 90s and still had friends and relatives in… Read More England
by Ken Holliday (guest blogging for Greta) After much anticipation, we arrived in Germany – the land of my birth and Cindy’s family heritage. Our kids would be surrounded by a familiar language too as they were lucky enough to participate in a German-language immersion program through elementary school. If I were to summarize our… Read More Germany
Vienna, Graz, and Salzburg Vienna After a peaceful 7 1/2 hours on a train through the gorgeous Alps, we arrived in Vienna. As we toured around Vienna, we had a wonderful tour guide — my grandmother’s great friend, an American who has lived in Austria for many years. He showed us churches and buildings around… Read More Austria
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