First, I'm making sure I've not forgotten any major planning tasks. All train tickets to our final destination in Oviedo? Check. Return plane tickets to prove to the airline we're not planning on illegally immigrating to Europe? Check. But still need to print out this and a bunch of other stuff. Tickets purchased for any venues in the south of Spain that require advance purchase? Check. Lots of piddly stuff like this on the to do list.
Earlier this week I made contact with the apartment owner for our first stop in Lisbon. She has someone picking us up at the airport and knows we need a crib in the apartment when we get there. Too bad we cannot get into the apartment before 3PM since we'll all be jet-lagged when we arrive, but that would have been lucky. She has a place for us to stow our luggage and that is good enough. Hopefully the Little Lady can nap in the stroller while we walk around central Lisbon the first day we arrive.
Our current mobile phones will not work while in Europe. They are not world phones. So we'll take some old flip phones along in case we decide we need to buy local SIM cards while we're over there. But the smart phones will still work on wireless networks. So, I downloaded a bunch of maps to the phone that we can use offline for walking directions since the GPS will still work whether on a network or not. The app is OsmAnd. Free. With 10 free maps downloaded onto the phone at a time. I'll let you know how it works when we're on the ground. I also updated our Garmin unit with free OpenStreetMap maps. These are free, are a little tricky to work with, but not too bad. Let me know if you're ever interested in getting free maps for a GPS unit. I can point you in the right direction, and could do a longer post at some point if there is sufficient interest.
While we are living in Oviedo, we're planning on doing a number of weekend trips to explore the region. I've been trying to get those arrangements made before we leave the states. Happy to say that a trip to the Picos de Europa and a trip to Galicia are both now more or less planned. I'll just wait until we are there to provide more details.
And we need to pack soon since we're departing from Newark and will hang out with Jana's parents for a few days before our flight. How long will it take to pack for a trip like this? About half a day in all. But lots of laundry to do and mental checklists to go through. How can packing for three months be done in a half day? Because packing for 3 months is not much different than packing for 10 days. You take outfits that have components that mix and match - no more than 4 pairs of trousers (for adults) and maybe seven or eight shirts. One dressy outfit. I'll wear a sport coat on the flight as I like to have the extra pockets in airports. You limit the pairs of shoes. You do laundry every week at least, and there you have it. Toiletries? You take what you usually use and cannot get at destination. We're going to Europe after all, and will be able to find what we need there even if we forget something, so that does take some of the stress out of the equation.
Finally, found out some really great news earlier this week about Cordoba, one of the towns in the south of Spain we'll visit over the next couple of weeks. We are going to be there during their patio festival. Patios are courtyards that are decorated to the hilt with flowers. These are a big deal in Cordoba, and the festival celebrates the patios, opens many patios that are usually closed, and there is a competition for best patios. Also, lots of free concerts and flamenco performances and other cultural activities during the festival. So it is a great time to be there. And totally blind luck!
Earlier this week I made contact with the apartment owner for our first stop in Lisbon. She has someone picking us up at the airport and knows we need a crib in the apartment when we get there. Too bad we cannot get into the apartment before 3PM since we'll all be jet-lagged when we arrive, but that would have been lucky. She has a place for us to stow our luggage and that is good enough. Hopefully the Little Lady can nap in the stroller while we walk around central Lisbon the first day we arrive.
Our current mobile phones will not work while in Europe. They are not world phones. So we'll take some old flip phones along in case we decide we need to buy local SIM cards while we're over there. But the smart phones will still work on wireless networks. So, I downloaded a bunch of maps to the phone that we can use offline for walking directions since the GPS will still work whether on a network or not. The app is OsmAnd. Free. With 10 free maps downloaded onto the phone at a time. I'll let you know how it works when we're on the ground. I also updated our Garmin unit with free OpenStreetMap maps. These are free, are a little tricky to work with, but not too bad. Let me know if you're ever interested in getting free maps for a GPS unit. I can point you in the right direction, and could do a longer post at some point if there is sufficient interest.
While we are living in Oviedo, we're planning on doing a number of weekend trips to explore the region. I've been trying to get those arrangements made before we leave the states. Happy to say that a trip to the Picos de Europa and a trip to Galicia are both now more or less planned. I'll just wait until we are there to provide more details.
And we need to pack soon since we're departing from Newark and will hang out with Jana's parents for a few days before our flight. How long will it take to pack for a trip like this? About half a day in all. But lots of laundry to do and mental checklists to go through. How can packing for three months be done in a half day? Because packing for 3 months is not much different than packing for 10 days. You take outfits that have components that mix and match - no more than 4 pairs of trousers (for adults) and maybe seven or eight shirts. One dressy outfit. I'll wear a sport coat on the flight as I like to have the extra pockets in airports. You limit the pairs of shoes. You do laundry every week at least, and there you have it. Toiletries? You take what you usually use and cannot get at destination. We're going to Europe after all, and will be able to find what we need there even if we forget something, so that does take some of the stress out of the equation.
Finally, found out some really great news earlier this week about Cordoba, one of the towns in the south of Spain we'll visit over the next couple of weeks. We are going to be there during their patio festival. Patios are courtyards that are decorated to the hilt with flowers. These are a big deal in Cordoba, and the festival celebrates the patios, opens many patios that are usually closed, and there is a competition for best patios. Also, lots of free concerts and flamenco performances and other cultural activities during the festival. So it is a great time to be there. And totally blind luck!
You have been busy! the patio festival sounds like fun! The Little Lady is in for some fun!
ReplyDeleteI'll put together a more detailed post on this sometime later this summer.
ReplyDelete