fatima | Taking my parents to Europe, yay. :)

Ok, so "taking" is somewhat misleading as they are paying for themselves, but I'll be doing all the organizing and tour-guiding. My parents have always wanted to see Europe, but they are not particularly suited for independent travel (language and experience), while the Chinese language tours are always so horridly hectic with no time to savor anything. So here's to hoping that we don't end up at each others' throats. ^_~ I haven't spent a whole month with them in...more than a decade.

I've already taken the first step and booked tickets to Amsterdam from NYC on April 3rd. In the two months left before take off, aside from all the travel preparation, I really hope to finish my L&O AU. (Knock on wood...) Places on my hit list so far: The Netherlands, Italy (maybe), Spain, and Portugal (maybe). In addition, I might do some solo traveling in Eastern Europe or Turkey after seeing them flying back home.

Already booked all the plane tickets plus the cruise tickets. Go me.

So the idea is: NYC - Oslo - Amsterdam(+Lisse) - Brussels(+Bruges) - Paris(+Chantilly) - Seville(+Cordoba) - Granada - Barcelona - (some cruise going to France/Italy/Greece/Turkey) - Venice(+Padova) - Prague(+Kutná Hora) - Cesky Krumlov - Vienna - Budapest(+Szentendre) - NYC. 11 countries in 7 weeks. If this works out maybe I'll go with my parents to Southeast Asia next time (God knows when).

Still need to book some train tickets and hotels. After that it's research time. Oh fun. (Which, to be honest, it actually kind of is. At the same time frustrating, though.)