The Destination

All that family visiting was leading up to... my final destination.  Here I am - back at the Munich train station.  How not to travel in Europe by train... with lots of luggage.

There is my tired boy - in the past 24 hours I think he slept 2 hours.  About that luggage - in my defense, we had to pack our winter coats, his rubber and snow boots and rain gear, favorite blanket, etc.  My clothes I kept to a minimum, but I had to pack a functioning office for the winter.  I tend to prefer smaller suitcases/bags so I can actually lift them up.  So - we have 2 suitcases each, his little carry-on, my carry on and laptop bag.  But when you are all by yourself - this is alot of luggage to manage.  Fortunately, DH met us in Munich and helped.  Because look...

All your luggage has to go way UP over your head on the train.  That's why I like smaller bags!  In Europe when you buy a train ticket they usually don't tell you - but for another $3 per person you can RESERVE a seat.  This tells you what coach and what seat is reserved just for you.  The reservation is well worth it... because the trains can be full and finding seating together for 3 people and luggage would have been impossible.  Plus - with a reservation you just stand there and watch the coach numbers carefully and then you can jog down the track with all your bags and get on the correct coach.  Sure beats hauling your bags, single file, through train coach after train coach looking for seats.  We had reservations, but there were already people in our seats and they did not want to move.  Geez!  Our seats were clearly marked "reserved".  So - the conductor had to oust the squatters and we got our reserved seats.  This particular train had 6 seats to a cabin and each cabin has its own temperature control.  Really comfy!  But take a tip from me - if you go to Europe and plan to travel by train - do yourself and favor and get a really good hiker's backpack and make everything fit in there and then make sure you can lift it up over your head.

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We changed trains here - I think at this point in time we were in Austria.

I love that the farmer's fields are full of these old fashioned hay huts, which are still heavily used despite new, modern hay-wrapping techniques.

And, finally, somewhere along the way - a little, tired, someone got some sleep.  Our flight left Boston at 9 pm and they did not serve dinner until 1 am and then they still kept the lights on.  Finally 3 hours before we landed they did turn off the lights, but 2 hours later they turned them back on for breakfast. 

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Fortunately, we got to Boston in PLENTY of time - well ahead of the internation flight check-ins so we had no line at check-in and just a small line at security.  Because we were so early we were able to "enjoy" an airport meal while waiting for our plane, which is a good thing because my son would have never lasted until 1 am for meal!  We went that early because we were taking the bus and the bus schedule is such that I didn't want to take any chances.  Good thing too - because our bus broke down along the way and we had to go to the bus garage and get a new bus, which then needed the tires pumped up.  But, I didn't have to get all stressed out like some of the other passengers because we went on such an early bus.  Phew! 

After a bit, I laid him down in my lap and he never even stirred.  I am so lucky that he is such a good traveler.