Planning, and now off to Venice!

I haven't written too much this week because I have spent the majority of my time making travel plans for the 20 days I will be in Europe after my program ends, not to mentions some plans for this weekend. You'd be surprised at how much time is effort is needed in order to make sure your travel goes smoothly, and then sometimes it still doesn't. Beginning April 3 I will be completely on my own for providing food, lodging, and transportation for myself. At first that was kind of scary to think about, but the more plans I make, the better I feel about it. I will spend the first ten days travelling with Eldon and perhaps a few others. We will go to Paris, visit a mutual friend in Ireland, stay in London for a night, then head to Munich and stay there until Easter. After Munich we will part ways, and I will head for Florence, as my mom and brother Matt are coming to visit. They will be here for ten days, and I will essentially be their tour guide. We will mostly visit places where I have already been, so I will know how to get around. I'm looking forward to both of these adventures, and I have been doing a lot of searching for decent hotels and hostels. You'd be surprised how much more difficult it is to book hotels in Europe than in the U.S. Everything is privately run, so there are no Motel 6's or Super 8's or Holiday Inns where you know exactly what to expect and what you'll be paying. The hotels are rated on a five star system, but there is not standard way of deciding how many stars a hotel should receive, so some one star hotels are more like three stars and some 3 stars should be one stars. The prices are also a lot higher here for what you are actually getting. The cheapest hotel I could find in Florence was about 60 euros per night for a triple, which is about $80, depending on the exchange rate. In the U.S. you'd probably be able to get a fairly decent room for that. Here you get the most basic room you can imagine: three beds, that's it, no decorations on the walls, nothing. There is a sink and a shower in the corner, and they toilet is located in the hallway for sharing. Now I don't mind getting by cheaply, as long as the place is safe and clean, but it takes so much research just to find a place that will be suitable. In order to book our hotel in Florence I spent hours checking online rates and reviews, then I went into town to visit the hotel. I guess I could always just go with the blind date method and just hope for the best, but I just prefer having some idea of what I am getting.

On another note, I will leave for Venice tomorrow morning, and I am staying two nights there with Ania and Allyson. I booked a cheap hotel for us near the center of the city, so hopefully it's decent. I'm really looking forward to seeing Venice, as I've heard that it is beautiful. You probably won't hear from me until Sunday, then I'll tell you all about it.