Final preparations

We leave today and we are in the final wave of stuff to do. Bag packing is almost done. We have one carry-on rolly bag which we will check in and another one which we will carry on. Not bad for two people. We are taking with us two backpacks from kathmandu which stuff themselves in a pocket. They are now in stuffed form but then if (who am I kidding - when) we buy stuff it can go in backpacks. The longest flight is only 7 hours! Flying between Australia and America makes everything else seem short. Sleep a bit and watch a movie and you are done.

I am excited!

Book for the plane

As part of the preparations I thought I should go get myself something not too serious for the flight and waiting times in the airports. I was partially inspired by the $5 voucher I got for signing up as a member at Borders when I bought the Austria travel guide. It had to be used by 24 July!

Long story short I got Terry Pratchet's "Small gods" for a whole 38 cents!

In other news Laurie and I have bought travel insurance. I highly recommend squaremouth as a comparison website.

Accommodation finally all booked

The title says it all. It is amazing how long it takes. So many websites. That said the pain of doing this without the internet is too much to contemplate - go technology!

I think we did it rather cheaply in the end. The interesting thing was how on average places in Salzburg are more expensive than in Vienna. I have added as links the websites of the hotels involved for your stickybeaking fun.

First blog post of my first blog ... what to say? I guess an outline of the following weeks is a good place to start. Laurie and I will be leaving next Saturday for Munich. There we will stay for 2 weeks - language school in the mornings and touristing in the afternoons (or vice versa depending on the school schedule). After that we go to an early music seminar in Zell an der Pram, stopping at Salzburg for 2 nights on the way. Next is Vienna for 3 nights - probably jam-packed with tourist stuff. Finally we are staying for a few days in London at our friend Julian's place.

We are currently in the hype of organizing the final touches to the practical side of the trip. Only yesterday did we decide to go via Salzburg. We have tried to book accommodation there but not heard from the hostel there yet. Similar accommodation situation in Vienna.

Plan for today: Buy a guide to Austria. I know websites have a lot but there is nothing like flipping through a paper copy.