Baseline Itinerary

The first in a series of posts to nail down our itinerary.

The schedule:

Thursday, May 17: Depart Chicago
Friday, May 18: Arrive Budapest
Monday, May 21: Depart Budapest, Arrive Vienna
Friday, May 25: Depart Vienna, Arrive Ceske Krumlov
Sunday, May 27: Depart Ceske Krumlov, Arrive Prague
Thursday, May 31: Depart Prague, Arrive Chicago

I've got airfare into Budapest and out of Prague at $1200/person
Boat from Budapest to Vienna at $150/person
Train from Vienna to Bratislava (round trip) at $75/person. That may be the international line, not the local line, which might be cheaper.
Train from Vienna to Ceske Krumlov at $130/person. There is a bus from Prague that is cheaper/faster, not sure if that's an option from Vienna.
Train from Ceske Krumlov to Prague at $70/person. Bus might be slightly cheaper.

Add that together and we have $1,625 per person in travel costs.

A Hungary-Austria-Czech Republic EuroPass costs $400/person. Slovakia doesn't seem to be included, so that would make our travel cost $1,825/person, so not really worth it.

Passport

Looks like we are all set there. They are valid for 10 years. I don't look substantially different than I did in 2009. I assume I look older, wiser, and sexier, like George Clooney.

I forget if you renewed in 2009 or used yours from your grad school trip, but that has been less than 10 years. Good thing you haven't officially changed your last name, otherwise you'd need a new passport.

Weather

Prague:

http://www.prague-guide.co.uk/articles/prague-weather-and-when-to-go.html

Vienna:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g190454-s208/Vienna:Austria:Weather.And.When.To.Go.html

Budapest:

http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/budapest-weather.html

Bratislava

We should eat here
http://www.slovakpub.sk/hlavna_stranka/

And here for some cheap pizza
http://www.17bar.sk/

And get there from Vienna via
http://www.slovakrail.sk/
Timetable for the line from Vienna to Bratislava
http://www.slovakrail.sk/fileadmin/Dokumenty/gvd_11_12/definitivny/100.pdf

Itinerary Update

Ok, so we the hydrofoil runs

Vienna to Budapest on Tuesday/Thursday
and Budapest to Vienna on Monday/Wednesday

We could leave on Sunday, May 14 and spend one less day in Prague or Vienna so we're traveling to Budapest on Thursday May 24.

We could reverse the whole trip. We could tweak the day we leave.

We could go Thursday May 17 to Thursday May 31. You can play in your playoff game on the 16th. I can play in my game on the 31st. As currently scheduled, that would be Round 1 of our playoffs, but that doesn't include a week off for Easter or Greek Orthodox Easter, which we usually have, so that will be the last game of the regular season. I can play jet lagged and have two weeks shake the rust off, which is plenty. Not like 2 weeks off from basketball will ruin my game or fitness. Probably be good for my old ass.

I think if we do Thursday-Thursday, we have to do Budapest first.

Or we could get crazy and go like May 1 to May 15. We lost Memorial Day, but could avoid other complications. I have a big report due May 2, but it should be wrapped up before that. Someone just needs to print it and send to the client. The heavy lifting will be done.