A2K MEET IN EUROPE, 2005

Oh yes, it's nice at Walter's, all righty. And W and his charming wife are the hosts par excellence.
I can definitely vouch for that.
But what else would you expect from an urbane, sophisticated, concerned A2K-er like W and Mrs W?

Anyway, thanks Clary for opening the thread, I am following this with interest. Walter and I nearly got to Berlin last year, and that thought has not disappeared yet. I have been to so few eastern European cities, I am ashamed of myself. I would like to see Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Berlin, so many more. have thought about getting a roamer ticket on DB, the railway company.

Later.

I must admit - I love Vienna, and haven't seen Prague and Budapest - they're on my list. But...I may not be making all the decisions on the next trip!

The airport is Paderborn/Lippstadt "PAD" - 15 mins by car from here.

There are several flights by Lufthansa to/from Munich and Francfort.

For cheap flights I suggest, to take the AirBerlin flights (twice daily) from London-Stansted, because most certainly youÄll get cheaper flights to London than to Germany.

Hey, I'll be on a cruise from the Black Sea to BudaPest on September 1. How about you guys joining?

THIS year? No, I'm going back to HK and Thailand - have left over tickets there. A Danube cruise, very picturesque. I drove it.

Yes, this year. Still in the planning stage for another trip towards the end of this year or very early next year. Anybody want to join me?

So it is settled then we all stay with Walter.

Walter, I love those houses. I think your town looks wonderful, and it would be a good idea to meet there.
Wondering already about trains to italy - I've only previously studied the train schedules within italy.
I see I will have to/get to do some map perusal.
I have no idea if I can meet anywhere in 2005, but I have a little twinkle of hope.

I think there will be more than one get together. Some of us coming from afar might make it to one or the other or the other...

And Margo, if you ever plan to go to Seattle or San Francisco, just yell, I'd surely meet you somehow (unless you do it on the first saturday of the months between now and June 05... our gallery openings.)

osso

There are cheap flights from Dortmund Airport (40 minutes by car) to Rome :wink:

TRAINS

Yes, yes!! Have tent, will travel.
Actually Walter, are you anywhere near Môdling? Because I have very old friends there I'd love to visit, so combination would be easy. A long drive through Europe, just me and the VW. Delightful!

Isn't Mödling situated in Austria? ... Yes, I think so.

Yes, it is, I suppose I thought as adjacent countries it might be a simple journey... but I haven't located you on a map yet (Padaborn, yes?) so am probably talking through my sombrero.

Exactly here it is, where we live. You can enlarge that map easily :wink:

Oh, I seeee, Walter, you are up there, somehow I thought you were in the south-east!

My youngest son spent a very instructive week working in a Blumenhaus in Munster as a work experience programme to improve his spoken German! He didn't know any flower names in English to start with so it was a somewhat unusual vocabulary to learn; but the lovely ladies working there took him under their collective wing and gossiped and chatted, so it really helped him get a good mark in his exams.
But I haven't been there - goody, a new place!

Clary, we are in southwest - a lot closer to Mödling which is on the way to Hungary. My parents live in Hungary...

Walter, alright! And we don't even need AirBerlin - we'll take Alfa Romeo :-)

C.I., that sounds wonderful. I would love to make such a cruise. I will probably be in Denver some time in September...

Hmmh : an excellent model of low-flying plane :wink:

Yup, especially with me as the pilot! I will go to a one day driver's training on May 21. It is held by Alfa Romeo at Hockenheimring! Sounds like fun!

Urs, where exactly are you? I want to know if it's easy to drive from Walter's to your place just to wave hello, and on to Môdling. And if so how expensive a hire car would be! I know your parents live in Hungary because you moaned about them on the Dear Diary website over Easter!!

Clary, we live in Balingen - that's almost exactly in the middle between Stuttgart and the Lake of Constance (Bodensee). It is a very nice region, too, with castles and lots of trees.

Did I moan, well, yes, I guess... I just called my parents to tell them we got back from Florida. We got back on Monday - couldn't make myself call earlier...

Would be this DIRECTION , Clary :wink:

Hiring cars ... you could look at the websites of any of the known firms like Hertz, Interrent etc.

Perhaps sixt is a bit cheaper - you can get discounts when you are a member of the AA (or RAC) as well.