Which one was best: the phone booth or the McDonald's Bathroom?

              Making friends in a TGV train vestibule!

Sometimes the highlights of a foreign country can remain just a little bit elusive as the headline above will reveal. In a few of my prior travel articles I have advocated that if a few things don't go wrong it must have been a pretty boring trip. It is the mistakes and problems that really create discussion when safely back in the comfort of your living room. In this age of internet travel scheduling I have always prided myself on meticulous planning and scheduling, and many of our travel companions have likewise appreciated these efforts. We have laughingly referred to this as Tom's No Fees-No Commission Travel Agency. After our last grand trip it is now referred to as the No Fees-No Commission-No Sleep-No Seats Travel Agency. Read on for the exciting details!

Our recent trip to Europe was a wonderful three week experience, but was a bit complicated with different travel segments involving planes, ferries, trains, metros, boats, cars and ultimately just a few little (in my opinion) glitches. On various parts of the trip our companions included Les and Carol Cooper of Chelan and Tom and Mall Boyd of Leavenworth. Each had an opportunity to experience a "glitch" or two.

So Les and Carol arrive in London ahead of us and check into the hotel I have arranged. Can I account for the fact that they were put in the basement with a view of a concrete wall and a shower made for midgets? When we arrived we of course had a beautiful room on the second floor with real windows, a view and perfectly acceptable shower. I just do not know how this happens! Now I am aware that the Cooper's do have some bad luck with room assignments. The classic was when we went on an African Safari together. This was their plan and had bought us the same deal at a charity auction. How could I account for management assigning us the lodge suite with surround windows viewing the savannah, walk-in closets, hot tub, animals walking outside our windows, while they received a room about the size of our closet. Go figure!

I think Les really has a perspective problem. As he travels around the world for his employer he of course only travels business or first class and stays in the five star famous hotels. He just does not get out and mingle with the people enough, or find out how the rest of world, and frugal world travelers, really live. On this trip it just was not my fault that I planned ahead, way ahead, for Mary Ann and I, and we were able to make our first visit to Europe with all of our flights being first class or business class. When you use frequent flyer miles you really do have to work at it months ahead. Is it my fault that Les seems to procrastinate! By the time they booked their tickets, unfortunately Les could not find any upgrades even though he has a jillion frequent flyer miles and is a preferred super duper mvp whatever on numerous airlines. So they have to fly in steerage. It is just not my fault!

On occasion I do arrange some really early bookings! The difference on a European train leaving at 5:30 a.m. and one leaving at 8:00 a.m. can be as much as $100 a ticket or more. I am just looking out for their ultimate retirement and I am sure Carol appreciates this, even thought Les might be just a bit spoiled. I am not cheap, just frugal. So maybe we did have a little problem with the ticket machines in the train stations. My travel planning does not have guarantees. You pay for what you get. Travel crises are what makes a trip memorable. Who can account for different machines for different types of trains. Wow, only the French could think up that one. So we miss a train or two. This just gives us a chance to help the French trainmaster and his assistant speak English. How did I know many trains were going to be cancelled because of this little wildcat strike problem over the French pension issue. Besides, quit whining, we did get on the TGV train, albeit in the vestibule between cars, and we did sit down…on our luggage. And really, it was only a three hour train trip and it gave us a chance to meet a lot of very nice French citizens, shoulder to shoulder, who found themselves in the same predicament.

After another wonderful self drive yacht cruise on the canals in France, this time in the Aquitaine region of Southwest France, we were off on a road trip to the Pyrenees' and Northern Spain with Tom and Mall. I do have a little (?) quirk about adding countries to my world travel list, so this journey was going to add at least the small remote mountain country of Andorra to the list. Following a beautiful mountain drive from Luchon, France to enter Andorra, we came upon an immigration and customs center. Mary Ann says to me, do you have the passports? Huh? This trip I was in charge of those little gems, ostensibly in my handy dandy neck pack. I said no, I thought you had them. Tom Boyd, with his laid back travel attitude, without a hesitation pulls the car to road edge. Mary Ann goes to the trunk and looks through all the luggage. Nothing. There was no actual check at the Andorra border, so as we enter the first town we pull over at the next phone booth we find. We of course can't make the phone work when trying to call our previous hotel in Luchon, but with the help of some great office people nearby, we connect. Cheers break out all around when the delightful owner says has found a lot of things left by his guests, but this was the first time he has found passports, which had slid down the edge of an extra bed. Thus my experience in Andorra was the use of a phone booth, then using the bathroom at the McDonald's across the street. This country experience obviously beat just buying gas in Luxembourg. I now believe our passports hate each other. You might remember when Mary Ann was carrying them in Johannesburg and had her purse stolen. We are now each carrying our own passports!

Our Favorite Barcelona Experiences!

                    Mercat de La Boqueria

In my last travel article you discovered why you should make Barcelona, Spain, one of the first destinations of any visit to Europe. Now I want to share with you what you should plan to see in this cosmopolitan city. Of course travel is more than just seeing “things”. As you know from many of my prior articles (I have now written 51 of them, not counting my travel blog) Mary Ann and I often have some very often unplanned travel luck experiences. Whether it is seeing the President of Ecuador, escaping a stampede of animals in Mexico, or sheep shearing competitions in New Zealand, we often seem to have some of these “over the top” events. In Barcelona it was arriving, unbeknownst to us, during the biggest festival of the year. It is called the Festes de la Merce, and is a week long very riotous festival honoring the patron saint of Barcelona. For us this festival resulted in thinking no one worked, and they all were spending all of their time with the paseo (the stroll), as there were literally thousands of people on the streets. We enjoyed this fun with seeing street parades such as the parade of the giants and many of the squares filled with human pyramids, and the Plaza blasting out live music and dancing. Our last two days were after the end of the festival, so we did get a perspective of what normal life was like.

Now on to sharing our favorite “things”:

La Rambla: The strolling boulevard is one of a kind. You experience music buskers; local artists; flower and bird stalls, book stalls; human painted statues; open air restaurants, and at each cross street you can enter the Gothic Quarter (Barri Gotic) on the narrow alleys and streets into the original city of Barcelona. At the end of the street you are at the Port Olympic and Rambla de Mar. The waterfront has been completely modernized and has shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, trams to Montjuic (the Olympic site), trade centers, and a great pedestrian bridge to the boat harbor.

Mercat de La Boqueria: This has to be one of the best food and flower markets in all of Europe. It is about midway down La Rambla and off to one side. It is a huge covered collection of hundreds of fruit, meat, poultry, and every other kind of stand you would need to satisfy your fresh food shopping. It is very photo friendly and there are a lot of little stands to buy fresh food snacks.

Antoni Gaudi: You can hardly go anywhere in Barcelona without experiencing the influence of Gaudi, a modernist late 19th century architect who designed some really crazy stuff. You can see his buildings on the Passeig de Gracia (the shopping boulevard), along La Rambla, the Park Guell (don’t miss this), and the Sagrada Familia church. Even apart from the specific Gaudi buildings and designs, he influenced much of the Barcelona architecture. A building not to be missed is the icon of Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia Church. It is #1 of the tourist stops. It was only partially finished by Gaudi’s death in 1926 and is not expected to be complete until 2030. Good luck!

Barri Gotic and La Riberia: These two neighborhoods are the historic central district of the city. You can spend days wandering the narrow lanes and it is mostly vehicle free other than an occasional motorbike trying to skewer you. These areas contain not only some interesting tourist sites, but also many quaint craft shops. The world’s greatest shopper spent many hours here, while I leaned against walls in the lanes enjoying the people watching. In these neighborhoods you also will find the exceptional Picasso Museum which concentrates on his early works, and the huge Barcelona Cathedral which currently is getting a needed cleaning and is covered with scaffold.

Parc de la Ciutadella: This was an amazing first find for us. A former fortress (Ciutadella) converted into a huge public park near La Riberia and not far from the waterfront. This is where the zoo and the Catalan Parliament are located. I am sure there is no connection there! It is pleasant quiet park with some outstanding fountains and lakes. A good retreat from the busy city.

Montjuic: This is one of several mountains overlooking the sprawling city. It is the location of several major tourist venues which will require more exploration by us when we return again. Located on the mountain are the Olympic stadium and other Olympic venues, the Catalunya National Art Museum, the Joan Miro Museum, the Spanish village and much, much more. You always need to leave some things unexplored giving a great reason for a return visit.

For a complete look at the selected photos of the trip to: http://picasaweb.google.com/mawarren.chelan/Barcelona2009

                              Gaudi Buildings everywhere

(Published in the Winter 2011 issue of the ABA Senior Lawyers Division The Voice of Experience Newsletter)

Could Barcelona be just about the best city in Europe to visit?

                 A beautiful visitor to Montserrat

When you have traveled a lot, many people ask what is your favorite place to visit. This is always a hard question, as rarely do we not like somewhere we have traveled. However, a good test of a favorite is whether we have made a return trip to the destination. A few years ago we enjoyed a Mediterranean cruise and it happened to start with a couple of days in Barcelona, Spain, a favorite beginning of many cruises. At that time we thoroughly enjoyed our short visit in Barcelona, and always thought it would be a great place for a more in depth visit.

This thought became a reality this fall, when we booked a full week in Barcelona. So what makes this city worthy of such an investment in time and travel? The city has all the characteristics of what great travel is all about. It is walk-able and the Spanish citizens enjoy being out on the streets at all times of the day and night, so it is a great people watching place. There are wonderful sights to check out with the influence of the architect Gaudi and the city having been made very clean and safe as a result of the Olympics a few years ago. Barcelona is known for its cuisine so there is great eating and socializing.

Barcelona is located on the northeast edge of Spain on the Mediterranean Sea. It is proud of its Catalan heritage and language and the citizens consider themselves Catalan first and Spanish second. Because of its geographic location the weather is pleasant with very few extremes. Our visit in October had constant temperatures in the high 70’s. You can always enjoy a city in more depth when you conquer the public transit system. Walking into a subway and trying to figure out how everything works is always somewhat intimidating. The subway stop near our hotel was an important one with two lines crossing so they had people who were very helpful in showing us how to buy and use the ticket system. We bought a multiple day ticket so we were good to go all over the city, thus gaining access to many interesting unique tourist sites.

As you know from previous articles, I am a big believer in taking a city tour on the first full day after arrival. Barcelona has two excellent choices with hop-on and hop-off open top bus companies. This gave us the orientation we needed and gave us the options for later exploration. Even without exploring out from the city center there are wonderful things to do in the downtown area. The city center is bisected by two amazing boulevards. The first is La Rambla, which is a pedestrian walk along the edge of the Gothic historical quarter going from the main city square (Plaza de Catalunya) to the waterfront. Thousands of people walk it, sit in sidewalk cafés, and enjoy the ambience of street performers and some of the best people watching in Europe. The second is the magnificent shopping boulevard called the Passeig de Gracia which goes the opposite direction from the Plaza. This magnificent tree lined street rivals Paris’ boulevards for shopping and beautiful unusual architecture. Many of the Gaudi buildings are on this street.

We had enough time on this visit to spend a day on a tour outside of the city enjoying exploration of the Catalunya countryside. Our all day tour started with a visit to one of the famous local wineries, the Torres family estate winery. Needless to say we sampled even though it was about 10 in the morning and brought back some to sample later. Next it was on to the famous mountain area of Montserrat and the remote Benedictine Monastery at the top of the mountain. We arrived at the monastery by an excellent modern cog railway. It is quite a tourist destination and the Benedictines are reaping the benefits of tours, shops, and restaurants. The views from the mountain are spectacular and worth the visit. We then drove around the mountain range on roads certainly not built for 40 passenger buses, and then on to the seaside town of Sitges which is about 50 miles south of Barcelona. This is the summer destination of the wealthy and chic Barcelona citizens. It is a gem of a beach town with great beaches, historic homes, shopping, and beachside seafood restaurants. This is a place you would like to return to for a longer stay.

In my next article I will share with you our favorite Barcelona sites and why you must visit this easy to enjoy city.

(Published in Summer 2010 issue of ABA Senior Lawyers Division The Voice of Experience Newsletter)

Eastern Europe? Let’s Go!

               Checking out the square in Krakow

When checking out travel opportunities recently, I was reminded that many destinations in Eastern Europe are now travel hot spots, and at some very reasonable prices. We have traditionally traveled in the fall, spring, and early winter for the reasons of reduced prices and fewer tourists. Our trips have included November in Vienna, Thanksgiving in Tuscany, and Poland in the spring. Mary Ann and I have enjoyed generally good weather, although certainly not beach temperatures.

Prices for such locations are so cheap you can hardly stay home. Checking on two different websites I found that starting November 1, you can head for Budapest, Prague, Vienna, or Moscow for $1,500 for two persons from New York City and $1,900 for two starting from Seattle. These prices include airfare, hotel (usually for six nights), breakfast, and in some cases, transfers from and to the airport. Our travel pattern has been to often use these city destination city packages, and on occasion have added days when we wanted to stay longer. We always start with a city tour to get our bearings, and then explore on our own for the rest of the stay. Mary Ann has enjoyed these vacations as you get to stay in the same hotel for the week, and you don’t end up in a rat race of changing hotels each night with the unpacking and repacking that you sometimes find with on a traditional guided tour that often tries to include too much in too short of time.

As I thought back about the trips we have made, I realized I have never written about our trip to Poland. That adventure included a week split between Warsaw and Krakow, connecting the two with a train journey. The two cities are completely different due to their experience in World War II. Warsaw was nearly completely destroyed by the Germans and the Russians, and so the current city was completely rebuilt since the 1950’s. They have even rebuilt the “old town” as a replica of what was historically there. The old town and its connection with the “new town” are easily walkable and can be explored and enjoyed at a leisurely pace. There are a lot of tour opportunities (which we took advantage of) so you can visit the World War II memorial sites, the Royal Route connecting the very nice parks, and the public buildings to include the Parliament, Warsaw being the capital of Poland.

The train trip to Krakow was a real pleasure as it gave us the perspective of what the rural Poland was like, and the agricultural plains that tempted so many conquerors to overrun to the country. Krakow is very different from Warsaw. It has the feeling of a small town. This city has become the new discovery tourist destination supplanting the lure of Prague, Czech Republic. Krakow is a university town so it is loaded with beautiful Polish young people. The city was never destroyed in the war so it is quite a delight to explore. The old town portion is ringed with the city wall, and the moat has been made into a walking park around the entire historic section. Inside and outside the old town are the historic markets, churches, squares, castles, cathedral and a lot to discover. We thoroughly enjoyed Krakow, and if you have to make a choice between Warsaw and Krakow, Krakow is the one to visit. Krakow is clearly one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The region around Krakow, in the southern part of Poland, is one area we would definitely return to for a driving visit.

If you are contemplating a trip to Eastern Europe and I can provide any insight or help, please send me an e-mail to t.ma.warren@verizon.net. So many places to travel and so little time!

“Doesn’t Everyone Want to go to Albania?”

           Waterfront promenade in Sarande, Albania

I have to admit, that I may be a bit strange. Our kids think Mary Ann and I are just plain crazy, but surely they are just exaggerating. My slight quirkiness may have exhibited itself on a recent cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean. Was I hyped about stopping in Rhodes, Milos, Santorini, Corfu, or Dubrovnik? Of course not, I was excited about a stop in Saranda, Albania! Anybody can go the Santorini.

Now just how often in your lifetime do you have a chance to visit Albania? This little country emerged from the dark ages of a very repressive form of communism only eight years ago. Very few U.S. citizens have ever been there, so how could you not have this right at the top of your travel list? For some perspective there is only one international airport (Mother Theresa International – she was a native daughter of Albania) located in the capital city of Tirana. There are only three paved airports in the entire country. Where is Albania? On the east it faces the Ionian Sea opposite Italy, Greece on the south, Macedonia on the east, and Serbia, and Montenegro on the north. It is physically a small country with 3 ½ million people and the poorest economically in Europe. For a full overview of Albania and its current situation take a look at the profile of Albania : https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/al.html.

Fortunately, in order to satisfy my travel quirk, our cruise line had a port stop in Saranda, Albania (hmmm, we were the only cruise ship in Saranda while there were 12 cruise ships in Dubrovnik, Croatia – go figure!). Saranda is one of the main (only?) resort towns in Albania with about 40,000 residents. It is trying hard to emerge from the 46 years of communist suppression resulting in a totally isolated country. Currently there is 25% unemployment which explains why 7 million Albanians are living elsewhere in the world. There was a lot of construction in Saranda, but much of it was abandoned or unfinished. There were a few upscale hotels and a very nice waterfront promenade. There was not yet a lot of tourist infrastructure.

The rumors were that if you took a tour out of Saranda, the buses would be without springs, there would be no air conditioning, and any bathrooms would be the proverbial hole in the ground. This did not seem to be very appealing to “wonder woman”, but it certainly was not a deterrent for me! We took a tour to Butrint, a UNESCO World Heritage site about 12 miles south of Saranda. The road was a narrow one lane highway, but it was paved. For goodness sake, what more could you ask for. The bus was up to our air conditioned soft ride western standards. It did take some time to travel the 12 miles as everyone had to stop at wide places on the road so either the bus or the oncoming traffic (usually old Mercedes) could pass by. You see a lot of trash and litter about, but no more than in many emerging and developing countries.

Butrint is an amazingly restored archeological site that goes back to the Greek occupation in the 3rd Century B.C. The ruins then trace the subsequent Roman occupation up through 500 A.D. and finish off with a Venetian fortress atop the hill from about 1500 A.D. The entire site is set on a peninsula which juts out into Lake Butrint which is connected to the Ionian Sea. Helen of Troy is rumored to have been a one time resident, but she did not seem to be around when we were there.

Following our walk about the restored and excavated ruins, and having completed our tour around the entire peninsula and up to the fort, we had time for refreshments at a perfectly respectable café just outside the gate. Mary Ann assures me their restroom was very acceptable, modern and clean, and certainly not just a hole in the floor. All I can say is that those passengers on the ship who did not take advantage of this rare chance to visit Albania certainly missed out. World travelers must be brave and ready to experience some less than ideal conditions. It would be interesting to see how Saranda might have changed by returning in a few years!

                          Sarande, Albania

Where were we headed, Croatia or Portugal?

One of the hot travel spots in Europe to visit is Croatia and Slovenia. There is a lot of attraction to the ancient coast cities of Split and Dubrovnik. Thus we had planned for most of a year to do a road trip with our frequent traveling companions through the two eastern European countries. It is a good thing we are flexible as at the last moment our friends were unable to join us. Wanting to save that adventure for the four of us, we opted for a driving trip of Portugal as we had always wanted to return to Portugal for greater exploration after a brief cruise ship visit to Lisbon a few years ago.

Whenever either flying to or from Europe we try for a few days in London in order to get a full fix of theatre and museums. On this occasion we also had a chance to have a long delayed visit with British friends who we met a few years ago when we were both traveling in Costa Rica. Meeting people when traveling, and then making life long friendships is one of the bonuses of world travel. With our friends we enjoyed the back-roads of Southern England, the Southern coast, their wonderful home, and favorite pubs.

Now on to Portugal! As you know, Mary Ann and I are pretty venturesome judging by our driving experiences in Chile, Costa Rica, Continental Europe, South Africa, Ireland and Great Britain. Usually our biggest crisis is airport arrival and getting to our first hotel or destination. At the airport in Portugal we got lost going from the terminal to the car rental pickup lot. Geez! Of course we then became lost leaving the airport and nearly ended up wandering Eastern Portugal by incorrectly crossing the Tagus River, instead of finding our way northward. I’m sure you will be surprised to learn that the “Judge” really doesn’t handle these mini-crises very well. I guess that is why it important to have a calm, cool, and collected spouse navigator, who is only partially, map challenged.

With a few unintended side-trips behind us, we eventually landed on the Portuguese freeway system and made our way to Óbidos. Our itinerary was to generally drive around the country in a clockwise direction. The country is 380 miles long and 140 miles wide so if you want to get to any region quickly it is easy to do on their excellent limited access freeways. Their sign and roadway marking system is as good as any country in the world, which makes planning and executing a road trip that covers most of the country in a couple of weeks a breeze..

The plan was to spend one or more nights in Óbidos, Coimbra, Évora, Tavira, Salema, and Cascais (a beach suburb of Lisbon). In some cases we spent multiple days in a location and used it as a base for exploration in the region. I am a great believer in guide-book research in order to generally develop a road trip itinerary. For this trip I used Frommer’s Portugal, Rick Steves’ Portugal, and Insight Guide Portugal. Each guide book will bring different resources and perspectives to any trip. One is never enough! To give you just a flavor of each of the areas we visited:

Óbidos – This folklore castle hill village is an easy drive north of Lisbon so makes a great stop on your arrival day in Portugal. It is near the northern coast beaches and fishing villages. One of those nearby fishing towns which is a “must see” is Nazaré, just a few miles from Óbidos. Other interesting close-by towns are Fatima and Batalha. Óbidos has a picturesque main pedestrian street going up the hill to the castle; all loaded with regional craft shops.

Coimbra – This delightful walking city is famous for the University of Coimbra, the leading university of Portugal. We love university towns because of the many young people and the usual vibrancy of the community. The city has several outstanding shopping boulevards in the old town, with the University situated on the hilltop above. We used Coimbra as a base for a drive north to Porto, the country’s second largest city and the center of the port wine business. We then returned to Coimbra via some very interesting back roads through the Rio Duoro river valley...

Évora – Driving from Coimbra to Évora is very interesting as you can take the back roads through the mountains (only a few side trips dead ended in dirt paths) and then down into the central heartland of the Alentejo region. Here you will find interesting agriculture and cork tree forests. Évora is a must visit UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a museum city enclosed by ancient walls and cobblestone meandering streets climbing up the hill through Moorish arches to the hilltop cathedral.

The Algarve – The south coast of the country is the Algarve region. We covered the entire region from Tavira, near the Spanish border to Sagres, the western most point of Europe. We stayed in Tavira and in Salema, both on the recommendation of Rick Steves. The entire area is a favorite vacation beach area for Europeans. The larger cities of Faro, Albufeira, and Lagos are a bit grimy, although Lagos has a very nice waterfront harbor, promenade and shopping street.

Cascais – West of Lisbon, but within a short train ride, is the jet set beach region known as the Estoril. We stayed in a very nice hotel on the beach in Cascais and then explored the royal town of Sintra, Estoril, and into Lisbon for day trips. It was an easy hop from Cascais to the Lisbon airport, so we ended our trip with no further driving trauma!

Driving trips, wherever you might find yourself in the world, can be the easiest and least expensive way to explore and to learn about the country. If you can drive on a US freeway you can drive anywhere in the world. Give it a try.

The Great Things About London

My very first trip to Europe was with my wife Mary Ann and our two young children. It was a visit to London and a driving trip around England and Scotland. This experience hooked all of us on foreign travel and particularly our love for London. Since that time we have visited all over Europe, but we always try, if possible to spend a few days in London when coming or going. It is such a fun and exciting city with endless things to do and see. People are often complaining about how expensive a city it is, but with some planning you can stay modestly, eat well but frugally, and enjoy yourself without having to mortgage the farm. The following are five things we always do in London. It should just be a start for your visit.

The Tube: The subway in London is called the Tube (or the Underground) and remains one of the world marvels of urban transportation. Get a multi-day pass. You can then jump on, jump off, cross the city from one end to the other, and never worry about getting to your hotel, your event, or the tourist site. There is always a tube station within a few blocks of wherever you want to go. There are now 12 different tube lines criss-crossing London making getting anywhere in this huge city fast, safe and simple. A three day travel card costs about $32 U.S. A real bargain. The website for the underground is: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/

Female Shopping (super shopper version): Mary Ann is constitutionally unable to be in London without a visit to Harrods Department Store at Knightsbridge (get off the tube Piccadilly Line at the Knightsbridge station). Harrods is a true British institution and not to be missed, even if you are not a shopper. It is a visual feast, even if you cannot afford most of what is sold there. We seem to end up with a lot of logo type gifts – bears, coffee cups, tea, biscuits etc. One thing we can’t get enough of are the food halls on the first floor. There is a department for every type of fresh food, right in the middle of this huge department store. The presentation is so interesting and colorful you can spend a lot of time just watching the staff and customers. The website for Harrods is: http://www.harrods.com

Male Shopping (travel geek version): While Mary Ann is spending her day drooling at Harrods, I am at London’s leading bookseller, Waterstone’s. It is five stories with tens of thousands of books. I suppose Barnes and Noble has as many, but for some reason they seem to not be the same books. Maybe it is just the British taste in authors and reading. I first fell in love with Waterstone’s when spending a week with an ABA group at Oxford University. Since then we have found Waterstone’s in various cities across Europe. I head for the travel literature department and always find lots of books by travel writers I don’t seem to find in the United States. I can’t usually stay for more than an hour, because if I have any more time there, I can’t lift the sacks of the books I bought. The website for Waterstone’s is: http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/home.do

The London Theatre: London certainly is fun for its history, architecture, museums, and shopping, but what we think makes it really unique for us, is the London Theatre. Our regimen is to always plan to attend a play every night that we can (plan your visit on days other than Sunday as that is the night most plays are closed). We are very eclectic in our selection of plays as we equally enjoy drama, mysteries, comedies, and musicals. If you don’t go to London determined to see a particular play (for which you will pay full price) you can take advantage of the Leicester Square Half Price Tickets. I am sent (while Mary Ann is shopping!) about 11 a.m. to see what is up on the board of the kiosk, and then I buy tickets for something that looks fun and interesting. This makes attending the theatre relatively inexpensive and sometimes you can even avoid buying dinner. Information about the Half Price Tickets can be found at: http://home.clara.net/rap/half/. For a listing of what is showing and reviews check out: http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/.

Some of the Free Stuff: Recently we gave a gift to our daughters of a trip to London. I think they tried to experiment on just how frugal you could “do” London. I thought they may have been pushing the envelope by visiting The Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret. Take a look at the surgical operating theatre at http://www.thegarret.org.uk/. The real good news about London is how really free many of the great sites are. So many world cities charge you for everything you visit, but not in London. We enjoy art and art galleries and appreciate the free museums and galleries. A partial list with their websites include:

National Gallery of Art -
 http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/

National Portrait Gallery -
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/index.asp

Victoria and Albert Museum -
http://www.vam.ac.uk/

British Museum -
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/

Museum of London -
http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/

British Library -
http://www.bl.uk/

Whatever you do in London, it will be a great experience. There are always reasonable airline tickets to London. The website for visiting London and all the delights is http://www.visitlondon.com/.

  

 (Published in the  Summer issue of the 2007 ABA JD Record)

NOT a directions argument. It is a navigational discussion!

My children tell Mary Ann and I that the only time they remember their parents arguing was on the car trips, when we might discuss proper direction and navigation in a louder than normal tone. As we have certainly matured in our midlife extravagances, we now only have navigational discussions. This fun part of our life together came back to visit us this past year on our two car trips in Europe. Having had a driver’s license for 45 years, and even driven on the wrong side of the road in the United Kingdom and Ireland, I figured that driving on the continent would be a snap. Well it was a snap, but there are always a few high points as we shall see.

 In the last issue of the JD Record you will recall the great boat trip in France. That vacation also included renting a car in Frankfurt and traveling in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France. Things didn’t start out real well in the lot where we picked up the car. Even at my age, I really don’t like to be embarrassed or to appear to strangers that I might be an idiot. We pack the car with all our stuff (mostly Mary Ann’s!), start the car, and I then try to put the Opel station wagon into reverse. I would have sworn to God it had no reverse gear! I really did not want to go back to the desk and ask how to get it into reverse, due to the aversion of appearing crazy, and their then revoking my rental contract. Fortunately, one of the employees was parking a car nearby and we signaled him for help. Even with the language problem, with some hand motions and body language, he got the picture. It seems on many European cars, there is a ring at the bottom of the shift knob, which must be raised as you move the knob into the reverse position. Ah, so simple when you know about it.

 On to the autobahn. You learn quickly to get out of the fast lane, also known euphemistically as the “Mercedes lane”. My little Opel was whizzing along at a speedy 80 mph (130 kph) and we were being passed like we were standing still. Mary Ann humorously wondered how that silver car always seemed to be getting behind us, and then passing again. All the high powered BMW’s and Mercedes seem to be painted silver just like the speeding bullet.

 You know you should be able to figure out all those international traffic signs since they are supposed to be visually simple. Oh sure! Maybe, I didn’t study the chart enough. I had a little trouble with the “No Entry Signs” and found ourselves driving down the pedestrian only mall on a busy Saturday in Bern, Switzerland. From then on I paid close attention to such a simple sign.

For those of you who are going to be driving in Europe I suggest you take a look at the following website: www.aviano.af.mil/newcomer/signs/

 This past Thanksgiving we had a wonderful trip to Tuscany and Florence, Italy. Alas, again a car, a Ford Focus this time, and I got it into reverse right away. Then things went downhill. From the airport in Florence our destination was a villa (take a look at www.palagina.it) in the Chianti region of Tuscany but first we had to get on the autostrada going the right direction. We had a Hertz map, the map to the villa, but not a good road map. We ended up going to Bologna (wrong), then Pisa (wrong), and finally decided we should be headed to Rome. Back at the autogrille on the airport access road we bought a map, had a cappuccino, and figured it out. You learn in Italy that they do not give you directional hints.

 OK, we are going good, then enter the toll gate for the autostrada, and immediately find no way to pay. The cars are backing up behind me, my blood pressure is climbing when the guy behind me yells (maybe in English) to hit the flaming red button. Will wonders never cease, a toll ticket prints out just like in a parking garage! The next challenge is to exit the autostrada. There were seven or eight exit lanes, so which should we take? We elected wrong. Do not go the vincard or telepass lanes. When there was nowhere for me to pay, I back out and head to where we see a human. The lesson is go to the Biglietto (ticket) lane or where the big signs are with the man with his hand out for money. All I can figure out is that all these problems were the fault of Mary Ann for not giving me correct directions!

 Driving in Tuscany is really very simple, just be careful on all the winding, twisty roads, and in my case watch for deer, as I am known to hit one every couple of years (local nickname: the Deerslayer). In November it gets dark early, and so we were always trying to return to the villa from a Tuscan hill town, when it was pitch black and sometimes raining. The city of Poggibonsi, between Florence and Siena, will always be indelibly engrained in my driving mind. Italian road signage, particularly on the roundabouts, tends to be at the last moment, with a whole stack of signs, thus making you drive right past your exit or where you want to turn.

Poggibonsi required leaving town (and returning) four times, before finding the miniscule sign to “Greve in Chianti”. I hate Poggibonsi!  I want to reassure my children, and all of you, that our navigational discussions have not resulted in a marriage dissolution. These little problems just make each of our trips more memorable.  (Published in the Spring 2004 ABA Judicial Record and the July 2006 Chelan County Employee newsletter)

Boats, Bicycles, Friends & Fast Cars

A trip for your 40th wedding anniversary has to be really something special, and ours turned out to be one heck of a great travel adventure! With the encouragement of friends, I put together a self-drive yacht cruise on the Rhine canal in the Alsace region of France with four couples. It was not easy to get 8 busy people to coordinate a trip to Europe, and commit to putting up their money for the yacht while the Iraq war was starting. However, we are talking about experienced and intrepid travelers, who probably would not let predictions of the end of the World deter them from an interesting trip. The group consisted of a Judge (me) and spouse of 40 years who is a social service program manager, a lawyer (also a graduate of West Point) and his wife a retired legal assistant, a world traveler consultant production engineer (breweries) and his wife, and a CPA/business chief executive with his wife, a medical center marketing manager. Now to get this organized we had to divide up responsibilities as you will see as the story unfolds. I became the tour director and put together the boat arrangements, meeting places etc. We also had to have a yacht captain and it was obvious the one guy who was in the Navy in the Viet Nam war was most qualified, even if he was only responsible for firing the guns from a destroyer. Thus the CPA was elected captain. He sure had fun giving orders. A frustrated officer?

Now this voyage was not your average canal barging, with crew and French chef. We had to do everything, with the limitation that our very independent wives said no cooking, except maybe continental breakfast and possibly picnic lunches. And then only if the guys behaved themselves and consumed only moderate quantities of the Alsace wines and beers. This meant dinner out, hopefully at fantastic restaurants and brasseries in the villages along the canal. Boy, this put a lot of pressure on the tour director! We traveled on an elegant 42 foot yacht (no mere barge for us!) with four staterooms, galley, two heads with showers, dining area and captain’s controls both from inside and from the top deck. Calling the sleeping areas staterooms may be a bit of an exaggeration. Mary Ann and I took the smallest stateroom because we were the smallest people. My bunk crossed over her bunk crosswise and only one of us could dress in the “stateroom” at a time. All of the arrangements for the boat and cruise were made on the internet. For information about this kind of travel take a look at www.crownblueline.com. A good website to learn about the French Alsace region is www.visit-alsace.com. The major city in the region is Strasbourg which can be found at www.strasbourg.com. The boat lease was $3200 for seven days so the cost for each couple was $800. Each couple put $100 into a common fund for purchases when boating and we all got about a $10 refund. Out of the common fund we bought all the drinks and food for on the boat, which included breakfast and lunch, mooring fees when we parked in a marina, and incidentals like shower tokens when available, when we parked for the night. I can tell you that the fund always bought daily fresh bread, cheeses, fruit and juice and all the wine, beer, and soft drinks we could drink.

So what did we know about running the boat and going through the 43 locks on the canal? Crown Blue Line told us we would get a half hour orientation on the boat and if we had ever driven a boat before we were “good-to-go.” It took about 45 minutes because it was provided by a fellow who really did not speak English. But at the end of the training we were sent on our way.

The initial problem was we got caught in the first lock at 5 p.m. which is the time canal locks were shut down for the night. This gave us an opportunity to meet the mobile lock master, who we saw often the next couple of days. Because of our timing, we just moored on the side of the canal and sent the scout (the West Point guy of course) out to check on the restaurants, on one of the two bikes we had on the boat. Naturally it was one of the numerous French holidays, so we had little hope of anything being open. We were enjoying wine and hors‘d oeuvres, laughing about calling Domino’s, when our scout Bill shows up with three pizzas on the back of the bike. So miracles do happen!

This canal cruising was not a speedy business. In the 7 days we only traveled about 125 miles from the South of Strasbourg near Colmar, through Strasbourg and into the Vosges Mountains via Saverne to the West. We only had to motor 5 hours a day to keep the batteries charged, and even with the many locks we made enough time to have a layover day in Saverne, keeping everyone happy with shopping and visiting the nearby castle. One of the challenging things about the boat was that it did not respond real well to the helm. Backing was particularly interesting. However, our captain really did know what he was doing and never ended up crosswise in the canal like other obvious rookies we saw. By spending some of the evenings in marinas we were able to regularly replenish the water supplies and use shore power for nighttime electricity. Everyone had a job on the boat. Our job assignments were: captain; navigator; tour director and ladder monkey (me); linesmen and lineswomen; bike scout; deck crew; galley slaves; and beautiful woman on the stern of the boat reading a book.

Undoubtedly, the most fun was the evening dinners. We had scouts out every afternoon looking for the best village to be in with the most interesting restaurants. We never had a bad one. In one remote village we ended up at a converted farmhouse barn restaurant where we were required to raise our hands as to whether we wanted a hot or cold dinner. Certainly a modest menu! The dinner was terrific and one which none of us will ever forget.

The four couples each did different parts of Europe before and after the cruise. As for Mary Ann and I, we flew into and out of Frankfurt. This was our first experience driving in Europe. Those silver BMW’s, Audi’s, and Mercedes sure do blow by an Opel Astra station wagon. I thought I was really moving on the autobahn at 80 to 90 mph, but little did I know the standard in the fast lane was 120 to 150 mph. You do get an appreciation that Europeans drive a lot better than folks do in the United States. Stay in the slow lane if not passing! Our before and after travels included Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland, but all that fun will have to wait for the next article. Foreign travel really is fun. Driving is easy and the food is wonderful. Give it a try.

(Published in the Winter 2003 ABA Judicial Record)

Prague - A Wonderful Place to Visit

After getting over the psychological barrier of a trip behind the former “Iron Curtain”, it seemed so simple to plan a trip to Prague and Budapest. That barrier is probably limited to all of us who grew up during the cold war, and until the last few years never expected that we would ever travel to the Czech Republic or Hungary. I was so far into the past that I did not even realize that the Czechs and the Slovaks had divided into two countries after the fall of communism.

Mary Ann and I became interested in such a trip, particularly after visiting with many travelers who were raving about Prague and its Old World charm, beautiful river and bridges, and favorable exchange rate. No one seemed to ever have anything bad to say about Prague. This was all that the “frugal judge” needed.

Thus we found an unusual travel package where we would stay for a week in an apartment in Prague and then another week in Budapest. More about that in a moment. We were scheduled to leave for this grand adventure on September 11, 2001. The suitcases were packed waiting to be put in the car, for transfer to the airport that afternoon. As I got up in the morning (usually after little or no sleep because of the excitement of another trip) I began seeing and hearing of the tragedies of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Needless to say, we did not depart on this trip. Fortunately, the travel company was terrific about honoring our purchase, and everything was rescheduled for September, 2002. About two weeks before our new departure date I started hearing news of the worst rains in 100 years in Eastern Europe. We got the news that the Vlatava River in Prague was flooding and many parts of historic Prague were threatened. Am I Jinxed? Will we again be thwarted in our effort to visit Prague?

I was anxiously checking daily the Czech English language newspaper (www.praguepost.com) for updates. Soon the travel company sent us information of what was really happening, as reported by their representatives in Prague, and it looked like we were going to make it with only some difficulties in our apartment neighborhood, and not being able to use the subways. So off we go. The jinx has been exorcised.

Arriving in Prague we find that the rains have ended, the sun is out, the river is receding, and the hordes of tourists are not there because of fear of the floods. How good could it be?

Prague is an entirely enchanting city to visit. It is extremely walkable and we never missed the use of the subway. For those times when we needed transportation we used the excellent tram system. Our “frugal deal” this time was from a company called Untours (www.untours.com or 1-888-868-6871). For a very reasonable price they provide airfare, airport transfers, a wonderful apartment in each city, a cultural event in each city, air transportation between Prague and Budapest, a briefing meeting to help you with all the things you want to explore on your own, and transportation passes for all the busses, trams, and subways (if working!). You are then on your own to create your own adventure. This company provides this kind of travel in many cities throughout Europe.

The heart of the Prague experience is the Charles Bridge. It is a pedestrian only bridge connecting the Stare Mesto (Old Town) on the east side of the Vlatava River with the Mala Strana (Lesser Town-dating from the 13th century) and Prague Castle on the west side of the river. The bridge is a happening all by itself. It is covered with local artists and entertainers (buskers) vying for sales and attention. At any time of the day and night something fun could be experienced on the bridge. The Royal Route of past kings goes from Old Town Square all the way to Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral. It is a delightful walk with baroque buildings, colorful craftspeople, cafes, shops and entertainers. You get a new perspective when enjoying 14th and 15th century architecture.

Our apartment was in the Lesser Town, about four blocks from the Charles Bridge and a block off the Royal Route. It was a wonderful huge apartment overlooking a UNESCO protected garden on the back side of the U.S. embassy. Our first experience of European apartment living was great. Seeing all of the permanent residents in our building, shopping for food in the grocery stores, buying bread in the bakery across the street, learning how to use three keys for the outer gate, inner gate, and apartment, all added to the learning fun. We walked our legs off, just to keep the calories away from eating lots of Czech food which emphasizes hearty meat and game dishes. We, of course checked out the other neighborhoods of Prague such as Wenceslas Square in New Town, Petrin Hill for its views, and the fortress of Vysehrad, the founding center of the Bohemian State. To get a flavor of other parts of the Czech Republic we used the train system to visit Karlstejn Castle and the hunting castle of Konopiste, the pleasure center of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Hmmm, you are probably wondering about Budapest, but that will just have to wait for the next Time Off The Bench, but maybe we should talk about traveling to Mexico. You will just have to read the next article. My apologies to any Czechs who read this article, as I just can’t figure out how to put in all those accent marks! For more in-depth information about Prague take a look at www.czechsite.com and www.aroundprague.cz.

We Sure Do Love London!

When we last discussed travel, we were enjoying Vienna, and promising to do some impulse or holiday trips to London and Paris. As a frugal traveler, I am usually keeping my eye out for the vacation bargain. Our first effort at this was an impulse trip with our grown children to London over Thanksgiving.

In late October and early November the airlines often put many of their European flights on sale due to most people going home to grandmas’ instead of thinking about a travel experience. When I spotted these sales, I got thinking about how much fun it would be in London for a long Thanksgiving weekend. Even flying out of Seattle the price round trip was impossible to pass up. The per person flight price was just over $200. To check out a future son-in-law, we also took him along to see whether he would be compatible with the “traveling Warren family.” All five of us made it to London for just over $1100 total.

Well, that sounds good, but what about the room costs in very pricey London? When browsing the travel section of a bookstore, I came across a book titled “Sandra Gustafson’s Great Sleeps London” (Chronicle Books 2002). This was just what the frugal guy needed! This book gives you district by district low priced suggestions that can just fit the pocket book. Most offerings also include a full English breakfast which further saves on a third of the meal costs. We needed some special housing to fit three women, and two males. We surely wouldn’t want the young unmarried’s sleeping together! Thus we needed a room for three and one for two, so I could reside with my future son-in-law. Great Sleeps gives you hundreds of options and valuable information as to the nearby underground stations, bus stops, and nearby visitor sites. The newest version of the book also lists the web sites and e-mail addresses of most of the hotels and B & B’s in the book. Recently, I used the most recent edition and was able to book the room I needed on the internet.

So now we have covered the transportation and lodging. What about the outrageous cost of meals, especially if you have your whole family along? Again, Sandra Gustafson helps out with her book “Sandra Gustafson’s Great Eats London.” The book lists restaurants in every neighborhood and every type of cuisine at very reasonable prices. I would also suggest that because of the many great public parks in London, you might put together a lunch picnic on occasion. London is a very easy city to get around because of their terrific transportation system. You can buy bus and underground day or week passes and save a lot of money when criss-crossing the city. To select your sightseeing selections many of the greatest tourist venues are free of charge, such as the British Museum, British Library, the National Gallery of Art, the Tate Art Gallery, and the National Portrait Gallery.

Finally, you can’t visit London without experiencing live theater. We always try to figure out how to see a play or musical every night we are there. (This also cuts down on buying dinners!) To keep the cost of theater tickets reasonable, we most often visit the half-price ticket booth in Leicester Square. All but the hottest shows will usually have half-price day of performance tickets available. You can visit the half-price ticket facility in advance at www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk .

Well, I guess we didn’t get to France on this visit because of having too much fun in London. Next time we will visit Paris, or maybe Prague and Bud

apest. You will just have to wait and see!

(Published in the Fall 2002 ABA Judicial Division Record)

The Delights of Vienna - A Favorite

I hope my first travel article whetted your appetite for some interesting, good quality, and hopefully inexpensive travel. Now let’s go traveling.

A couple of years ago Mary Ann and I decided to go to Vienna, Austria. We are sort of working our way around the fringes of Europe. Prior to Vienna we have visited Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Israel and Egypt, mostly on separate trips. Our style is go to one country and try to spend some quality time rather than doing all of Europe in one 14 day blitz. I suppose we will eventually get to the heart of Europe so we can visit France, Germany, the Netherlands, etc. Oh, so many trips and so little time!

Right I digress, back to the story of Vienna. We prefer to travel in the fall as the summer tourists are gone, the weather is good, and often prices are reduced. In my surfing on the internet (and with the touting of Arthur Frommers BudgetTravel) I came to love the website www.go-today.com. This is a “sell on the internet only” travel agency that puts together inexpensive fly-drive (airplane tickets and rental car) and city tours (airplane tickets, 5 days in a hotel, daily breakfasts, and a half day city tour). We actually booked for early November so we were between the summer tourists and the winter skiers.

This was the second time I had booked a trip on the internet and there is always a degree of fear when you commit the VISA card and don’t have a real person to yell at (or sue) when things go bad. I was amazed about Go-Today.com as everything they promised happened and usually faster and quicker than promised. The itinerary was confirmed within hours, if not minutes. The materials, hotel and city tour vouchers, and real honest to goodness airline tickets on scheduled airlines arrived within a week.

I would note that by living in rural Washington State, Mary Ann and I fly out of Seattle, so we always pay extra as usually travel deals are quoted out of New York or other East Coast departure cities. Most air and destination deals will have a reasonable add on rate depending on your departure city. From Seattle we usually pay $150-$200 extra, which is normal for West Coast departure cities. The airlines used by Go-Today.com are regularly scheduled airlines, not charters or discounters. We flew American Airlines to Chicago and then Sabena Belgian Airlines to Vienna. Coming home we flew Swiss-Air and American.

Arriving in Vienna we found our hotel to be delightful. It was probably 150 years old with about 45 very large rooms and a wonderful breakfast room. The hotel was about 4 blocks from the ringstrasse, the major circle boulevard around the old part of Vienna. Our first full day in Vienna we scheduled our pre-paid half day guided city tour, so we could get our bearings, and decide where we wanted to return to. We purchased a weeks pass for the trams and subway so we could easily get around. Most European cities have an honor system where they only randomly check tickets or passes. In Vienna we were never checked. Apart from selecting all the attractions to visit, my most important task on our trips is to make sure the “world’s greatest shopper” doesn’t go overboard. I just hate carrying big pots back on the airplane! Actually, we usually limit our buying to small gifts and street art (no frames!) that all pack easily.

The highlights of Vienna included, to my amazement that the Viennese take their dogs everywhere, including restaurants, stores, and markets. It was quite a surprise to have a dog sniffing your leg when you were having dinner in a very elegant Viennese coffee house! They really like their dogs. We spent one of our days taking the train to Salzburg which is just as beautiful as the pictures show. By the way, although we traveled in early November, the weather was sunny the entire week with the temperatures in the high 60’s. Our big splurge of the week was orchestra seats for the Nutcracker Ballet and the Vienna Opera House. It was a real once in a lifetime experience.

Even with the two long flights the trip was a restful, exciting, and fun holiday. Not having to change hotels each day makes for a very convenient vacation. For a week “off the bench” it worked out great. Oh, by the way the combined cost from Seattle for the two of us for the Go-Today.com package, including a hotel upgrade was $1786.

Next time, how about an impulse trip to London or a New Years celebration in Paris?      (Published Summer 2002 in the ABA Judicial Division Record)