Hotels to ogle over

In just a little over 166 days, we will depart on our amazing European tour! To further entice your excitement, I offer herein the hotels where we will be staying so that you might investigate and review photos on the internet to see our beautiful homes away from home.

Rome, Italy: Hotel Pineta Palace, Via S. Lino Papa, 35

Florence, Italy: Nil Hotel, Via Eugenio Barsanti 27/A

Venice, Italy: Hotel Lugano Torretta, Via Giorgio Rizzardi, 11

Murnau, Germany: Angerbrau Hotel, Untermarkt 44 OR Griesbrau Hotel, Obermarkt 37

Innsbruck, Austria: Austria Trend Hotel Congress Innsbruck, Rennweg 12a

Friedrichshafen, Germany: Hotel Maier, Poststrasse 1-3

Strasbourg, France: Hotel Mercure Centre, 25 rue Thomann

Frankfurt, Germany: Movenpick Hotel Frankfurt, Den Haager Strasse 5

Tom and I are very pleased with the choices, and some offer unique experiences–a Finnish sauna, a craft beer brew pub, bidets, heated towel racks, or you might take a funicular ride up the mountain to go for an evening walk down an Alpine trail! Of course, a breakfast buffet is provided at each hotel, and don’t forget to try the local beers or wines at each location during lunch and dinner!

Wi-Fi and AC is available at each hotel, with the possible exception of the hotels in Murnau, Germany. The hotels in Murnau are family-owned and more home-y and in the style of more traditional German countryside Gasthofs. They are also located at the base of the Alps, so AC probably won’t be necessary, even in the summer months. BUT, rooms will have windows to open wide and let in some “frische Luft,” or fresh air, which is great for sleeping.

While we’re speaking about hotel rooms, make sure you purchase several European plugs to re-charge your devices at night in your rooms. Only you know what electronics you’ll be bringing, so make sure you have enough plugs–don’t forget things like a C-pap machine, phone, tablet, or eReader. Some plugs even have USB ports on them to double-up on the charging; those are especially convenient for multiple devices on ONE plug.

Your luggage will be taken off the bus at the curb, and you will be responsible for wheeling into the lobby and up to your room. On the day we depart, you will simply place your luggage outside of your room door, and it will be picked up and loaded on the bus for you. Make sure you’ve chosen a bag/luggage that you can tote and lift.

Finally, just a word about data charges in Europe: EXPENSIVE! I would not plan to use my phone’s data plan during the day, instead, hook-up to the Wi-Fi at the hotel in the evening and take care of all of your texting, Facebook posts, and internet browsing while on the hotel’s dime. This is usually the time I take to post our daily activities and pictures to our blog, so you have a record of what we do for your own personal notes and memories. In addition, most phone providers have a flat fee for phone calls in Europe. Our carrier, Verizon, offers phone use for $10/day when you need to use it, so if we have to use the phone, we try to make multiple calls on ONE day to get the most use out of our money; otherwise, we don’t call until we arrive back home in the States; we text or give the blog address to relatives and friends to follow along with us as we travel.

Have fun looking through the hotel websites! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us or Quest. I know a payment is coming due at the end of January, so please make sure to stay on top of trip arrangements.

Talk to you soon,

Tom and Suzanne