The plan...and an invitation.

A couple of people have been confused about our plans, so I am going to lay out what our agenda is here so people will know..if they want to know. If you don't, you can skip this.

We decided early on that we really didn't care where we landed in Europe as we wanted to see everything, so our plan was to buy the cheapest airplane tickets we could find to anywhere in Europe and then go on from there. We came across a sale on Iceland Air back in September of last year, and we were able to get 4 tickets to Paris (or we could have gone to London or Amsterdam) for less than $1600 US. We decided on Paris...well, because it's Paris, and because it would be the tail end of winter when we arrived. The window made us leave about a month earlier that we had originally planned, but the departure date was so far in the future that Chris was able to move her retirement date up..so we bought the tickets.

Paris is a pretty expensive place to stay. The apartment we were able to get on Airbnb cost us over $600 US for the week. But we had lots we wanted to see in Paris, and didn't know when we would be coming back, so we booked the apartment anyway. We had a blast in Paris, and didn't really get enough, even in a week. There is sooo much to see and do there...we will probably try to go back when the weather is better if we can.

Our kids had never been on a train, so we decided that we would take the bullet train from Paris to Barcelona. You can read about that experience in another post if you like. It was a way to see the countryside, and it was relatively fast. It was a good experience. I've never gone that fast that close to the ground before, and I was amazed at how smooth and quiet the ride is. It is a very relaxing way to get somewhere, if you are not in a huge hurry, and have a few extra bucks to spend. It is not quite as comfy as a first class seat in a US airliner (and nowhere near as expensive), but close, and it was neat to sit facing each other with all of us together in one sitting area. Low budget airlines here are much cheaper, though, and get you there is a bigger hurry. For instance I will be flying to London to buy a car next week, and that ticket costs $59 Euros (about $67 US).

We had planned for me to buy a car in Barcelona, but have found that the law in Spain prohibits one from buying a car unless you have a "permanent local address." They have no such requirement in England, and our landlords in London have been gracious enough to offer us the use of their address for the receipt of the registration papers when they come.

We have paid for 3 weeks here in Barcelona, and it is a little less expensive that Paris, but not as cheap as our next stop. We are paying $1,110. US for 3 weeks here.

After we leave Barcelona, we will be going to Cartagena, Spain, which is about 300 miles south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast. We chose Cartagena, because we were able to secure a 3 bedroom 2 bath condo, fully furnished, with security and parking and swimming pool located a couple of blocks from the beach for a little over $600 US per month!!! We have booked that through Homeaway.com (a VRBO.com affiliate). Cartagena is not a big city, but it has lots of golf courses around it, and there is an LDS stake center there. Since we will be there for awhile, I am hoping that I can get more involved in the volunteer activity of the church whle we are there. Note that we have 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms. Also, because it is so inexpensive for us, we are thinking we'll be able to afford to strike out to Madrid, Toledo, and down the coast to Malaga and Gibralter while we headquarter in Cartagena. We are hoping that some of our friends will be able to come and join us for part of the stay. If you would like to come, please let me know as soon as you have interest so we can plan.

After three months, we are required to leave the Schengen Zone. The Schengen Zone is a group that includes most of continental Europe, and is a treaty that all have signed that makes it possible for people to move freely between countries in the Zone. You can visit without a visa if you are a US (and some other countries) citizen, but they limit you to 90 days. After 90 days you must leave and cannot return until another 90 days has elapsed, then you can reenter for another 90 day period. There are a couple of ways around this, but they are difficult, and I won't go into that here. If you want to know what I have learned about it, feel free to contact me.

The UK is not in the Schengen Zone. So we have booked the month of June in a mobile home...what they call a static caravan...in the shadow of Carrick Castle on a farm right next to a Loche (lake) 16 miles up a one lane canyon road in Scotland. This rental was secured through Airbnb and cost $1775 for the month. They have horses and cows and a dog, and I'll probably be bored out of my mind, but my wife and kids will be in heaven. I'll probably have to see what kind of fish you can drag out of the Loche, and do a lot of reading, and hiking the countryside. We only have two bedrooms here, so having visitors is probably not going to work.

From there, we have booked the month of July in a 3 bedrrom 2 bath apartment in New Galloway, Scotland. We went there because we were hoping my good friend Keith could come and stay, and we would be a 15-20 minute drive from the site of the Open Golf Championship, which will take place in Troon next July. But, alas, Keith can't come, so we have the whole month with an extra bedroom, and I would love some golfer to come and share the Open Championship with me. We secured this rental through Airbnb for $1736 for the month. We'll have lots of time to explore the surrounding area as well.

For the month of August, we have booked two bedrooms, one bath, and a sitting room in the house of a couple in a suburb of London. We booked this through Airbnb at a cost of $1608 for the month. We will share the kitchen, laundry, and patio with the couple who are 50-year-olds with a dog, and who are professional photographers (with excellent work...check it out on http://modopublishing.com/). We are really excited to have an opportunity to live in close contact with another couple for a month..especially since they speak a form of English. There is so much to do and see in London, that we are sure the time will fly by.

After August we will be legal to reenter the Schengen Zone, so we have planned to take our car on the ferry crossing from Dover, England, to Calais, France. We will drive from Calais to Brugge, Belgium, and have booked 3 nights there. We are holding our plans moving forward from there until we hear from my sister, who was born in Stuttgart, Germany, and who wants to join us. Chris and I would like to see Amsterdam, Cologne, Berlin, Munich, Saltsberg, etc, on our way to Italy where we hope to find a long term (month or more) rental somewhere that will allow us to explore Italy. We have seen good long term rentals on Lake Como (3BR 2 Bath) for under $800/mo US in the past...but we won't book anything until we have the plans with my sister firmed up. We are hoping to have some company in Italy.

When we get to the end of that, Chris thinks we will all want to come home. Maybe. Maybe not. Time will tell. She agreed to a year, but we are loathe to spend a winter in the UK, where it is cold in the summer...let alone the winter. I am talking about going to Croatia or Turkey, which are not in the Schengen Zone, but Croatia will be cold (not as cold as the UK), and Turkey is too close to Syria for my scaredy cats. We'll see how things evolve. I hear a lot of people from the UK winter in Turkey..it is kind of like the Florida of Europe. I'll update as things evolve.

PLEASE COME AND VISIT IF YOU HAVE A MIND TO.