Central Europe: Austria, Germany & Czech Rep. Meets Thread

[hilarys]

I picked up the lonely planet Pocket Prague, and I am quite pleased with it. It is small, so it will be easy to take with us on the go. It also has a pull-out map of Prague. It is organized by neighborhood and includes sites, places to eat, shopping, etc. It provides tips for how to approach certain cites and also how to get to each one. It also provides a bit of historical background.

We were talking about the trip at dinner last night. Starting to get excited. Have either of you on the July 5 trip called to find out the ages of the other kids on our trip?

Calfan do you want to send me a message (or post here) which flights you are taking home? My goal is to get this all booked tonight. I think we are going to stick with United the whole way (except within Europe) hoping to be able to use miles to upgrade (maybe) since all the free tickets are gone. I want to take one of the Lufthansa Vienna to Frankfurt flights on the Sunday our trip ends.

Hilary

 

[Calfan]

We were talking about the trip at dinner last night. Starting to get excited. Have either of you on the July 5 trip called to find out the ages of the other kids on our trip?

Calfan do you want to send me a message (or post here) which flights you are taking home? My goal is to get this all booked tonight. I think we are going to stick with United the whole way (except within Europe) hoping to be able to use miles to upgrade (maybe) since all the free tickets are gone. I want to take one of the Lufthansa Vienna to Frankfurt flights on the Sunday our trip ends.

Hilary

I have not called to find out the ages of the other kids on the July 5 trip. But I would be interested to know.

We are staying one extra night in Vienna and are flying home on Mon. We are on flight OS121 leaving Vienna at 7:10 am and arriving on Frankfurt at 8:40am. Then we are on flight LH454 leaving Frankfurt at 10:20 am and arriving at SFO at 12:45 pm.

 

[hilarys]

Flights are now booked and guidebooks ordered so not it is fully official and time to start getting excited. CalFan, unfortunately we are headed home on Sunday so that I can be back to work on Monday We are coming in one day early. Our flight gets in at about 1:00 on the 4th of July. Very excited for the trip, but a little nervous as to how the time changes will impact the kids. We have done the 3 hour change to Hawaii/East Coast many times, but this will be a whole new thing. I counting on the fact that they will have so many distractions with the other kids that it will keep the grumpies at bay.

Hilary

 

[Woodview]

A few points to Bring to your Attention

ON Internal Flights in Europe Carry on luggage Size & Weight

Are Strictly Enforced .

Remember your Plug Adapters ( 2 pin round )

MOST Places will only have " Chip & Pin " swipe machines for money

 

[PixiePrincess310]

The discount was only 5% on the cruise. Boo!

 

[PixiePrincess310]

Hi there! My husband and I are traveling on June 14th as well. We can't wait and are leaving our kiddos at HOME! Looking forward to meeting you.

 

[aggiemomx3]

We can't wait for the trip too!! Looking forward to meeting you too.

 

[OhanaCuz]

MOST Places will only have " Chip & Pin " swipe machines for money

Are you talking about credit cards? How did you get around that?

 

[Bobo912]

Are you talking about credit cards? How did you get around that?

I used my credit cards a lot in Vienna, Salzburg and Munich in the summer of 2012 - no chip and pin. But maybe something has changed since then.

 

[Woodview]

I am talking about " Your everyday money " from your Current Bank account

( Your " Debit A/C " )

NOT your Credit Card which is a different account.

In Europe you have a " Chip & Pin " card Which you enter Your

Chosen 4 digit code ...... There is .. or are very few places where you

Sign your name on a pad .

This is used for everyday spending and buying " Gas "

Your Money is taken out of your Bank account right away.


...... Now Your Credit Card also has a " 4 Digit " pin code or you

sign it at your point of sale .

Most people would use this Credit Card to Buy Airline tickets & pay Hotel bills Or to pay for expensive goods

 

[sayhello]

I am talking about " Your everyday money " from your Current Bank account

( Your " Debit A/C " )

NOT your Credit Card which is a different account.

In Europe you have a " Chip & Pin " card Which you enter Your

Chosen 4 digit code ...... There is .. or are very few places where you

Sign your name on a pad .

This is used for everyday spending and buying " Gas "

Your Money is taken out of your Bank account right away.


...... Now Your Credit Card also has a " 4 Digit " pin code or you

sign it at your point of sale .

Most people would use this Credit Card to Buy Airline tickets & pay Hotel bills Or to pay for expensive goods

I would not suggest using your ATM/debit card for "every day" expenses in Europe. Use it at the ATM to get cash, definitely, but you'd want to use an actual credit card for most other transactions. Most places can let you sign for it, since the US doesn't have chip-and-pin. And there are some credit cards (like Capital One) that don't charge you a foreign transaction fee. I don't know of any debit cards that don't charge foreign transaction fees.

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

I would not suggest using your ATM/debit card for "every day" expenses in Europe. Use it at the ATM to get cash, definitely, but you'd want to use an actual credit card for most other transactions. Most places can let you sign for it, since the US doesn't have chip-and-pin. And there are some credit cards (like Capital One) that don't charge you a foreign transaction fee. I don't know of any debit cards that don't charge foreign transaction fees.

Sayhello

Agree 100%. After multiple trips to Europe, I've never had a problem with just having an Amex and Visa (neither with chips).

 

[OhanaCuz]

I am talking about " Your everyday money " from your Current Bank account

( Your " Debit A/C " )

NOT your Credit Card which is a different account.

In Europe you have a " Chip & Pin " card Which you enter Your

Chosen 4 digit code ...... There is .. or are very few places where you

Sign your name on a pad .

This is used for everyday spending and buying " Gas "

Your Money is taken out of your Bank account right away.


...... Now Your Credit Card also has a " 4 Digit " pin code or you

sign it at your point of sale .

Most people would use this Credit Card to Buy Airline tickets & pay Hotel bills Or to pay for expensive goods

Thanks for clarifying that! I've read about how overseas they're moving to chip and pin. I haven't been overseas in several years so I wasn't sure if that meant a regular credit card would cause problems.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

We are going on the August 2 trip

It's myself and my 22-year-old son ( he will be 23 on the trip) .

Waiting to see if they can fit a third person (my 11-year-old daughter doesn't really want to leave camp, but we'll see if they can accommodate her before deciding!)!

We have already booked flights and are looking into hotels in Prague. We arrive on July 30th, so I'm not sure if we will be staying at the Marriott for those nights or night. I'm seriously considering the Emblem.

Looking forward to the trip!

 

[sayhello]

We are going on the August 2 trip

It's myself and my 22-year-old son ( he will be 23 on the trip) .

Waiting to see if they can fit a third person (my 11-year-old daughter doesn't really want to leave camp, but we'll see if they can accommodate her before deciding!)!

We have already booked flights and are looking into hotels in Prague. We arrive on July 30th, so I'm not sure if we will be staying at the Marriott for those nights or night. I'm seriously considering the Emblem.

Looking forward to the trip!

I've added you to the Roll Call in the first post. Looks like you're on the same trip as tsgirl and her family!

Sayhello

 

[hilarys]

It is now less than 3 months until our trip. We need to start planning and reading up. Although, the beauty of ABD I guess is that you don't need to do too much planning.

The first trip leaves in less than 2 months, I hope that those of you headed on that trip will give us updates/reviews/tips.

I called ABD today to find out how big our group is. It is currently at 42 total which she said is 2 over the max, so we do not have any risk of cancellation

She did not give me the run down on all the kids ages (was just focusing on those around my kids) so I don't know how many teens there are or if there are any really young ones. This is what I do know: the girls are definitely outnumbering the boys. In the 9 to 13 age range it looks like it is just my son (11), Karen's son (11) and Calfan's son (9). We will need to find those boys a special place on the bus so they are not overrun by the girls:
2 - 11 year old girls, 1- 13 year old girl, 1- 10 year old girl, 2 - 9 year old girls (3 if this does not include mine), Hopefully there will also be quite a few "big girls" as my daughter loves to hang out with the teen girls.

Hilary

 

[Calfan]

It is now less than 3 months until our trip. We need to start planning and reading up. Although, the beauty of ABD I guess is that you don't need to do too much planning.

The first trip leaves in less than 2 months, I hope that those of you headed on that trip will give us updates/reviews/tips.

I called ABD today to find out how big our group is. It is currently at 42 total which she said is 2 over the max, so we do not have any risk of cancellation

She did not give me the run down on all the kids ages (was just focusing on those around my kids) so I don't know how many teens there are or if there are any really young ones. This is what I do know: the girls are definitely outnumbering the boys. In the 9 to 13 age range it looks like it is just my son (11), Karen's son (11) and Calfan's son (9). We will need to find those boys a special place on the bus so they are not overrun by the girls:
2 - 11 year old girls, 1- 13 year old girl, 1- 10 year old girl, 2 - 9 year old girls (3 if this does not include mine), Hopefully there will also be quite a few "big girls" as my daughter loves to hang out with the teen girls.

Hilary

Thanks for sharing this information. 42 is definitely more than we had on our first ABD, but not by that much. Thanks also for the scoop on the kids. You are right that we will have to find a place for the boys! Evan turns 10 right after we get back so hopefully he will do ok with the slightly older boys. I can't believe how quickly this is coming up. Looking forward to the early trip reports.

 

[west&east]

Thanks for sharing this information. 42 is definitely more than we had on our first ABD, but not by that much. Thanks also for the scoop on the kids. You are right that we will have to find a place for the boys! Evan turns 10 right after we get back so hopefully he will do ok with the slightly older boys. I can't believe how quickly this is coming up. Looking forward to the early trip reports.

I am sure the boys will have a great time although it crossed my mind last night that I may have to set some limits on electronics to be sure my son Aaron (11) really soaks in the adventure and spends time visiting with his grandparents who are joining us too!

 

[PixiePrincess310]

I am sorry. I meant to say June 14th! We are actually going on the 11th for some extra days in Prague.

 

[PixiePrincess310]

Strange, we were told no discount available for booking ABD on our Fantasy Cruise... was that just for DVC members or something?

I don't think so. It wasn't mentioned.