Pics still being curated. : ) .Pics and recap to follow in a new post when I can. My photography staffers (kids) have not yet submitted their portfolios.

1. We (well DH) did a lot of driving on our vacation. Car Play was a game changer, it was better than any other GPS systems I’ve used
2. I took my new Brics luggage. I was impressed and loved the features. (this one:

I also took my 2yo Brics 30” spinner , and Air France sheared a wheel off on the trip home. I was not impressed. I filed a claim with them.

1. I bought a dual voltage hair dryer and never.used.it.once. Day one DH plugged something in, there was a pop and the circuit went. Happened again to my DDs on the last day. I didn’t want to plug in anything the hosts/hotel didn’t provide. I am sorry for letting down my country’s image by traipsing all over the country with limp hair. Take heart, many people thought I was Dutch. (is that a good thing?)
2. We stayed in 6 cities. Half of the stays were Airbnb and half were hotels. I liked the mix. It was handy on such a long trip to have laundry. I was particularly glad to have a full kitchen when, on New Year’s Eve in Krakow, I discovered our reservations, a fancy NYE dinner for five, were for a cozy spot in old town..but not the old town we we were in. Another old town … 3 hours away … in the city of Warsaw. Oops (Opentable often gives results over a wide area so you need to check that all results are actually where you want. Not the first time I made reservations without noticing how far afield they were.)
3. We all got COVID boosters. Four of five of us were sick, but none of us were sick enough to miss any activities. I don’t know if it was COVID or not, but I am glad we got the booster. Only OTC meds there are all mixed in hot water, blecchh.
4. Schengen area countries are not supposed to have border controls between them. However, we were stopped at borders twice and had to show passports.
5. If you have not D/L the Google translate app on your phone, it is a godsend. You use your phone to take a pic of and it translates any words on the image. A godsend for figuring out washing machine settings written in Czech, LOL
6. I was embarrassed by how many countries we saw (eight) in three weeks but they are so close together; most cities we visited were within 4 hours of each other, and 3 were within 90 min. We only had to fly between Amsterdam, where our flight from home landed, and Prague. Four of the countries - Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia - used to be part of one Empire. I think most any city can be done justice in 3 days; more than three days is a different experience but I think the choice is really 3 or “n.”
7. I had two bad experiences with invalid credit cards in Europe. My experience is that if you make a reservation in the US with a card that does not work at the time the vendor processes the charge, they contact you for new card info. In my case, my card was compromised a few weeks after I made the bulk of the reservations for this trip, last summer. The card was replaced and I got a new card number. Months later and only a few days before we were due to leave, I got an email saying my Amsterdam hotel was canceled because my card didn’t work. It was a small boutique hotel and so, even though I called immediately, I had some stress waiting until the next morning when the reservation staff arrived to make sure we could rebook our three (!) rooms for the busy Christmas holiday.

In the same vein, I booked tickets well in advance via Viator (never used them before) for the Schindler Factory (as in the movie) in Krakow. The card didn’t work and it was canceled and there were no tickets available. I was so.so.so mad that they never tried to get a new card from me

8. This I “learned” before but forgot. Never buy new shoes for a trip. You can’t know how shoes will fit and feel until you have worn them. I happened to throw in an old pair of boots and some old suede clogs and that was all that really worked for long walks.

9. Speaking of walks. We did walking tours in most cities. I used Airbnb experiences because I like their guides; they are usually young and interesting. One thing I realized touring Zurich on a blustery cold 27’ day. Even if I had a map of the same route, and had the same anecdotes, my family would have bailed before the 2hrs ended. Family is more polite and cooperative with strangers, and in fact I myself would have bailed but for the obligation.

10. Tote bags. I took an Ella tote by Tory Burch. Holds everything, can be dressed up, and best of all, it got snow covered and soaking wet but recovered completely. I wiped it off, left it inverted over a chair back, and it was good as new the next morning.