Mom’s European Vacation + Tips for Traveling Europe

While traveling in Europe we have packed our bags several times and it seems with each trip we would learn something new.

It’s always exciting to land in a new country and experience another culture completely different from the German one we’ve become accustomed to. We find it pretty fascinating how perfectly central Frankfurt is to the rest of Europe, and in less than two short hours your flight can land you in the UK, Spain, France, Italy, even Hungary!

Even more amazing is the direct 10-hour flight that got us home, twice in 2015, to Charlotte. Our last trip occurred the beginning of November and it was incredible.

We loved every moment in our city.

 

When we returned to Frankfurt, my Mom joined us on the flight and it was her first trip to Europe. For sure the most expensive purchase was Mom’s round trip ticket to get to Frankfurt and flying American Airlines from Charlotte, this flight cost her nearly $1,200. Once she landed and with advanced planning, the entire trip was pretty affordable.

If you are planning a trip “across the pond” in the future, I thought it would be helpful to share Mom’s experience and our helpful hints for once you’re here. The plan was to have eight full days (not including the day we landed) and visit three countries. It was the beginning of August when Mom said “I’m coming to visit!” and shortly thereafter, I began to plan.

DAY 1 – 3 (Paris, France)

Mom wanted to visit Paris and it was a no brainer to make it the first stop. My friend Alicia joined us for this portion of the vacation and the three of us met at Frankfurt’s main train station to depart at 8:57am.

Mom’s desire was to travel by train only once she was in Europe because she is not the most comfortable flyer. This wasn’t a problem and with the advanced notice, the tickets were really cheap. It took us slightly under four hours to get to the city of lights and only cost €39 ($43) per person.

We scored an adorable 2-bedroom airbnb for €200 ($216) for both nights. It was in a great location with restaurants and bakeries close by, and conveniently located within a 20-minute walk to the Eiffel Tower.

This was first time for a few things for Mom – first time in Paris, first time trying a macaron (not the coconut version), and first time trying a cosmopolitan! She loved them all 😉

Alicia knew the best place to deliver all three and it did not disappoint. As we walked along the Champs-Élysées we found an incredible place that served cocktails and French macarons, Laduree.

Across the street from where we were staying there was a restaurant, Au Reveil du XV, which gave us a unique experience. Inside the restaurant were two workers, a cook and a waiter. We sat down and enjoyed some wine while we were waiting on our meals. As we were eating dinner, we asked for some water and when the waiter returned to drop off a bottle of water, he said “You girls are so crazy!”.

When he left the table, we all burst into laughter for a solid five minutes because we could not understand why he would make such a comment. It seemed very peculiar and we later learned the reason why. Apparently, I must have a doppelgänger who is a flight attendant and this person must frequent this restaurant on a regular basis because the cook was convinced I was her. As bizarre as this dinner was, we left with our bellies full, sweet tooth satisfied, and as a bonus our wine was on the house!

DAY 3 – 6 (Brussels, Belgium)

Both mornings in Paris began the same, Alicia went to the bakery across from the apartment and came back with the most delicious croissants. After we had breakfast, Mom and I left Paris and boarded our train for Brussels. Alicia stayed in Paris to join her boyfriend Alex for a weekend away from Frankfurt and he sweetly proposed!

To get us to Belgium, the cost for the train ticket per person was €27.50 ($41) and 90 minutes later, we arrived. The weather was not the prettiest we’ve seen, yet we still walked around and after awhile we found shelter by sampling a flight of Belgium beers.

Returning to the States with Belgium chocolate is a must, and Mom found some fun gifts for our family.

For our accommodation I found a spacious airbnb, 2 bedroom apartment which cost €360 ($403) for three nights. On the second night Kevin joined us just in time for dinner at a specialty seafood restaurant, Scheltema. To end the meal, we shared a homemade apple pie that was to die for.

The following day we took a day trip to Bruges and if you caught the Belgium post, then you know about Kevin’s garlic bread. Of course, we had to share it with Mom.

To get back to Frankfurt, we all took the same train and the ticket cost €63.50 ($72) each. Mom was such a trooper who handled jet lag like a pro, but also bounced around two countries and did not miss a beat. When we returned to Frankfurt we took her to a traditional German restaurant, followed by a day of rest before her final stop in Europe.

We introduced her to apple wine (apfelwein) which is Frankfurt’s signature drink.

DAY 7 – 8 (Rothenburg, Germany) 

When we were discussing which places to see, she had suggested Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany. This was a new place for me, so I was definitely excited to check it out. It’s certainly not easy to get to from Frankfurt for it requires 3 trains and nearly 3 hours, yet it was completely worth it and affordable with the roundtrip ticket costing €51.50 ($58) for each of us. This medieval town was pretty majestic and felt like you were transported directly into a fairytale.

We stayed at the Historik Goldener Hirsch for €93.50 ($105) and it included breakfast for the next morning.

This place is known for ‘snowballs’, which are a tasty and delicious pastry from Rothenburt o.T. which a really long tradition, which dates back to the middle ages. There are well over 20 different flavors and they were amazing!

On Mom’s to-do list was to visit Käthe Wohlfahrt – which is a unique Christmas store with over 30,000 traditional German Christmas decorations. It is open year-round and attracts people from all over the world. This place had it all, including more gifts for the fam :).

To sum up the cost of Mom’s European vacay (excluding meals and gifts):

Flight $1,200 + airbnb’s/Hotel $258.50 + Trains $214 = $1,672.50

If you are like us and limited to a budget, setting aside $50 per week for one year would give you $2,600. Given what this cost Mom, it’s absolutely doable to come to Europe on that budget. To explore these places with the first person who showed me love was priceless, and something I will never forget.

******

Now for The Sachson’s Travel Tips:

10. Don’t forget the conditioner! There is something about Europe and whether you are in a hotel or airbnb, you most likely will find shampoo and very rarely is there conditioner. We have purchased at least a dozen conditioner bottles during our travels abroad. We realized after those dozen that it was a must to bring our own.

9. Passports, camera/batteries, and chargers. Do the triple check before you close your bags.

8. Read the details from your airbnb host. We have found airbnb to be much different in Europe versus the U.S. This did not happen to us, but we had friends that showed up to their place and the host did not provide towels or bed linens. Yikes!

7. Make sure to pack proper walking shoes. If you do not have these with you, chances are you will spend the money anyway to buy them. Save yourself the hassle and come prepared.

6. Get cash from the local ATM. If you get cash from the currency exchange at the airport, more than likely their fees are much higher than any fee you would receive if you pulled the cash directly from the local ATM. When using this option, just be careful to know your balance for daily withdrawals beforehand, otherwise the machine may eat your card!

5. Tripadvisor is great…as a guide. When we travel I like to get ideas/view customer comments from tripadvisor, however a restaurant that is #1 today might be #200 in a month. I hardly pay attention or give merit to the numeric order. On each trip we’ve found excellent places and those worth mentioning can be found on each travel blog post :).

4. If a restaurant is begging for you to come in, DON’T. These sly guys will use all kind of tactics to lure you into their establishment. A big red flag is if a place has a huge menu outside of the restaurant and it says “visitor menu”, we guarantee it will be less than stellar. Better to ask your airbnb host or hotel staff for recommendations.

3. Pack light. When you set out the clothes for your trip, cut the quantity in half. I guarantee you won’t need it all.

2. Cut cost and calories by splitting meals. Kevin and I love to do this on our trips and it’s fun to share. When we go out to eat we usually get one appetizer and one entrée, and it’s more than enough.

1. Plan ahead as much as you can. Mom’s European vacation would have been so much more expensive if I waited to book it. I began a solid three months in advance and our train tickets were next to nothing in terms of cost.

So, that’s it.

Before signing off I leave you with a favorite quote of mine, as it encourages a step out of the comfort zone. Whether you are traveling to Europe, Asia, or even somewhere in the good ol’ U.S. of A., “Once a year, go some place you’ve never been before”. – Dalai Lama

You’ll be so happy you did!

BELGIUM: “A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear”

It was on the flight home from our vacation in Greece when Kevin asked, “Should we check out Belgium?”. Knowing this place is famous for chocolate, beer, mussels and fries – my reply was “Yes! How soon can we go?”. We wasted no time at all as it was 11 days later when we boarded the 6:29am train, ya know – to maximize our limited time, and boy did we accomplish this goal.

We had four days and decided to check out three places, and settled on Brussels, Antwerp and Bruges. It has been well over seven months since this trip and I’m not sure why it took so long to write about it. It seems if you were to google Belgium, all that pops up is the bad press surrounding the tragedy which happened in Paris.

Makes me sad because Belgium is an amazing place to see and so, just as I choose to live life in a positive way – I choose to fill this post with all of the smiles/good times found in this gorgeous country. Due to the neighboring countries, there are a few spoken languages – Dutch, French and German (which came in handy when reading the restaurant menus).

Each of the three places were vastly different, yet all had unbelievable architecture, which Kevin more than captured with our camera. We started our adventure in Brussels and stayed for one night. We found a great airbnb right in the center of the city, which was perfect for walking around, checking out the sites, and experiencing everything this city had to offer.

The first order of business was to locate the best fries. Did you know French fries are claimed to have originated in Belgium? Yeah, I didn’t know either, which was why we had to find the them.

To work off the fries, which were good, we decided to walk around the city.

Next order of business was beer. Kevin was in his glory and I made the decision to step out of the box and try a cherry beer*.

*Note to self, should’ve trusted my instincts.

I found my next smile when we spotted a macaron bakery!

Kevin’s jaw dropped when we went to dinner and they had an entire menu devoted to their vast selection of beer complete with description and history.

The following morning we packed our backpacks (gotta love traveling in Europe during the summer) and headed to Antwerp.

We arrived slightly before lunch and our airbnb host was not available until after 5pm, so we decided on a spot for lunch. We shared a couple of sandwiches and had a few beers. As we were walking around, making or way to the airbnb, we noticed some really dark clouds beginning to roll in.

We met our host and he popped open a bottle of prosecco to welcome us in his home. This place was wonderful and he was too, offering stellar recommendations for dinner and brunch.

We were preparing to leave for dinner and quickly glanced out the window and saw the sky open up, raining cats and dogs.  We were in no rush to get soaked outside, so instead we decided to relax a bit longer and finish off the bottle of Prosecco. Fortunately, the restaurant was a short walk, just a couple blocks away.

The dinner was tapas style and we enjoyed sharing various plates of food. The camera did not make it with us to dinner, so you must take our word for it. If you are living in Antwerp or plan to visit, put this place Bon Bini on your list.

Picture taken as we left Antwerp to go back to Frankfurt. Can you believe the beautiful color palette of blues between the building, sign and sky? Love it!

We had one full day remaining and on the agenda was to travel from Antwerp (the train station is one to remember!) to Bruges. This medieval looking town was so majestic, it almost didn’t seem real.

Unbeknownst to us, there was a food truck festival in Bruges and it was the perfect place to find a cappuccino and finally try the infamous mussels and fries.

Making our way to the center square, there were clothing and chocolate shops galore and this probably added to the reason why I loved this town so much.

It was time for a coffee and dessert break, so we settled on a place and I shared a lemon tart with my love.

Walking a couple of miles and taking in the sun, it was time for a beer.

This place was packed and the only spot available was just in front of a window at De Garre.

After a couple of beers, it was dinnertime and as we left De Garre I noticed a sign next door that said Cookie’s. At first glance I assumed it was just another bakery, however, to our surprise it was so much more. As soon as we opened the door, I knew we had to eat there. It was a hunch and unlike the cherry beer outcome, my instincts were correct.

I asked begged for any available seats. All tables had reservations and even though we were the first people to arrive, we were directed to our spots at the bar….the last two spots available for the night.

We enjoyed our chats with the staff, happily received their food recommendations, and took pleasure in seeing the tiny restaurant fill up with the buzz of conversation.

We began our meal with mozzarella garlic bread and after the first bite, Kevin exclaimed “This is the BEST garlic bread of my life!”. We had two orders and he was begging for a third. I think there was even a tear in his eye when he ate his last bite.

We loved everything about this meal – great food, great ambiance, and great staff.

After a few hours, we left the restaurant and the sun was still up. This is typical of Europe in the summer – you generally will see the sun until 10pm. I snapped a picture of Kevin on the train and I believe his ear to ear smile was because of the “best garlic bread of his life”.

Now brings us to Sunday, our final day in Antwerp, Belgium and something about brunch on Sunday makes sense. We took the recommendation Caravan from our host and we were so thankful we did. It was a 45-minute walk each way and so worth it.

For our takeaway item, we wanted something a bit different. We found a small bookstore and as I perused the selections, I came across a fun book called “Lost in Translation”. In it was the Dutch word gezellig and when I read the description, it made me think of our travels abroad.

Moral of the story and our time in Belgium, sometimes in life the unexpected can happen. You can choose to keep walking and move forward.

– OR –

You can daringly turnaround, give a spontaneous dance and flash your prettiest smile.