We are booked! Our flight goes into Vienna and out of Prague, as that was the best connections I could get for the price that didn’t leave us with overnight layovers in Warsaw. My son said he wanted to go to Munich instead of Berlin. I think he is eager to try out the 16-year-old drinking law at one of the beer halls.
For several of our nights we are staying in “hostels,” although we will have private rooms rather than “dorm” accommodations. Where possible I’m getting the kids their own room, because they don’t want to hear me snore.
Our schedule is lightning fast, the kind that gets you yelled at over on the Fodors forum. Here’s the plan:
Pre-trip: Leave as soon as school is out Friday afternoon, perhaps sooner. Drive towards Chicago until we get there or have to stop. If time permits, unofficial tour of University of Chicago campus on Saturday just to see what it looks like, then head to airport and board 9:25 p.m. flight.
Day 1: Arrive Vienna at 6:30 p.m., via Warsaw, almost 15 hours of travel. Have dinner and look around. There is a 4.5 hour layover in Warsaw, and we may get a day room at the Courtyard across the street to take a shower and clean up.
Day 2: Breakfast in Vienna, plus two or three hours to look around, then four-hour second-class train to Munich, arriving 4:40 p.m. Maybe buy some provisions at the big underground supermarket in the Aldstadt (including mangosteens!). Dinner at a beer hall.
Day 3: Munich or environs; schedule unknown. Gotta see the clock thingy.
Day 4: We board train toward university town of Tubingen at 10:30, with a 3.5 hour stopover enroute in Stuttgart. I think we will pack a picnic lunch to eat on the train, so we can check our suitcases at the Stuttgart HBF and spend the full time seeing the cathedral, palace, and Merecedes museum. Arrive Tubingen 5 p.m.
Day 5: We see whatever there is to see in a university town. This will just be a relaxed day. Hopefully the kids will at least try to speak a little bit of German here and there. We’ll see.
Day 6: Up at crack of dawn to catch train to Paris, arriving 10:30 a.m. Amazingly enough my son’s friend has never been to Paris, so I plan a busy day of churches: Notre Dame, St. Chapelle, St. Germain church, plus maybe the Musee d’ Orsay, or maybe something I haven’t seen before. I’m always revved up for a day in Paris. We’ll find some place to have a decent dinner!
Day 7: Another full day in Paris, followed by a $65 flight to Prague, leaving 6:15 p.m., arriving 7:50 p.m. We won’t arrive in Old Town Prague until after 9 p.m., so we’ll have just enough time to grab something to eat and walk around for a few minutes. Our purpose on this trip wasn’t to see Prague, so anything we see is lagniappe.
Day 8: Our flight home leaves Prague at 12:45, so we need to catch a cab or Uber to the airport by 10 a.m. at the latest. That gives us enough time to walk around the Old Town area for a couple of hours before heading to the airport. We arrive back in Chicago at 8:40 p.m.
Post-trip: On the Monday after our return we may visit the Northwestern campus, as my son’s friend has an interest, after which we will start the drive back home. Otherwise we will start towards home as soon as we arrive, to cut down on the drive the next day.
A final note: I think these fares are still available out of Chicago on LOT until Jan. 28. It’s a great deal for anyone wanting to travel on the cheap!
Is Stuttgart more of an industrial area? We haven’t been there. OK, now that I’m typing this out I like options 1 and 2 the best. And those fares are wonderful!