Just Back - Central Europe

[hilarys]

Just returned last night from the July 5 Central Europe Adventure trip. It was an amazing trip and it is going to be fun looking through all the pictures. There were four of us DISers on the trip. Since our trip had some differences from PixiePrincess I may try to do a trip report, but in the meantime I would be happy to answer questions. A few observations:

1) Pack for all types of weather - It was hot in Prague and Cesky, but pretty miserable weather for the rest of the trip except Saturday in Vienna. I almost did not bring my rain jacket. I am so glad I did. We only brought two umbrellas but should have brought one for each family member. I definitely did not bring enough clothing for cooler weather.
2) Many days are jammed packed and you do not even go back to the hotel before dinner.
3) The ice cave was exhausting but well worth it. I would definitely recommend wearing gloves. My husband did the hike in shorts but I think he was the only one.
4) The guides are absolutely amazing. We had a 9 our delay leaving San Francisco which completely through off our schedule. We were supposed to arrive about 1:30 on Friday afternoon (pre-day) and ended up getting into Prague at 11:00 pm. I had been sending Jennae messages via Facebook to update her since we sometimes waited on hold for a long time with the ABD emergency number, she and her co-guide Betti picked us up personally at the airport at 11:00 pm. It was so nice to see their welcoming faces when we landed after a bad travel day.
5) Since this has been discussed on several trip reports, the meals for adults (lunch and dinner) always included beer or wine. I am not sure if this is specific to this trip since it is so customary to have beer and wine with lunch in dinner in these countries or if it is a new policy. As far as I know, no one asked that question, we just enjoyed being able to have German, Czech and Austrian beers and wines.
6) All the hotels are nice - I think Berchtesgaden was a favorite with most people on the trip. I think many people in our group would have loved to have a day or a half day to just enjoy the hotel and explore the hiking trails. They also had a really cool play structure for the kids but because of weather/lack of time they did not get to explore it. All of the hotels have pools and the Junior Adventurers enjoyed swimming at each stop.

Please ask away with any questions. The scenery and sights on this trip are amazing - especially the mountains.

Hilary

 

[alagille]

Hi, what were your youngest Junior Adventurers and how did they fare? Did the kids seem to to well with the food choices? Thinking of this one to follow a Baltic DCL trip next summer!

 

[hilarys]

The youngest Junior Adventurers were two 9 year old girls (one included my daughter). The food choices seemed absolutely fine - there were always several things for the kids to choose from at the set meals and breakfasts were buffets. Granted, I don't think any of the kids on the trip were the type that were super picky about what they ate. Choices for the kids often included a pasta, chicken fingers, german sausages, pizza, schnitzel. There were several people on our trip with allergies/dietary issues and the Guides did a great job of handling this.

As I mentioned above, there were several really long days where we would meet at 8 and not be back to the hotel until after dinner. Those days were tough and I definitely saw that my kids were absolutely wiped out. Because the kids were so tired, we took some of our free time on other days and rested at the hotel or took them swimming to decompress where as I would have loved to have gone out to explore the cities more. Because the schedule on the website does not tell you times I think the part I was unprepared for was how many days we would go straight through without a break.

The kids loved all the activities especially the Ice Cave and Salt Mine and touring the stables in Vienna. I noticed my daughter especially getting overtired and overstimulated but both kids (DS is 11) loved the trip and were sad to see it come to an end.

It was a really nice mix of history/city touring and active activities.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Hilary

 

[cmcgardner]

Thank you for the heads up on the long days. Our youngest will be 8 so it sounds like I need to remember to slow down and let her rest when possible.

The youngest Junior Adventurers were two 9 year old girls (one included my daughter). The food choices seemed absolutely fine - there were always several things for the kids to choose from at the set meals and breakfasts were buffets. Granted, I don't think any of the kids on the trip were the type that were super picky about what they ate. Choices for the kids often included a pasta, chicken fingers, german sausages, pizza, schnitzel. There were several people on our trip with allergies/dietary issues and the Guides did a great job of handling this.

As I mentioned above, there were several really long days where we would meet at 8 and not be back to the hotel until after dinner. Those days were tough and I definitely saw that my kids were absolutely wiped out. Because the kids were so tired, we took some of our free time on other days and rested at the hotel or took them swimming to decompress where as I would have loved to have gone out to explore the cities more. Because the schedule on the website does not tell you times I think the part I was unprepared for was how many days we would go straight through without a break.

The kids loved all the activities especially the Ice Cave and Salt Mine and touring the stables in Vienna. I noticed my daughter especially getting overtired and overstimulated but both kids (DS is 11) loved the trip and were sad to see it come to an end.

It was a really nice mix of history/city touring and active activities.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Hilary