I started this blog because I figured it would be easier to keep everyone informed about what's happening with the Schneegans clan using this format, so for our inaugural post I ask you to sit right back and hear a tale; a tale of a fateful trip that started in Bamberg, Germany aboard this not-so-tiny ship.
Croatia sits right across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. It was once part of Yugoslavia and involved in the bloody, genocidal wars that took place after the death of the Communist Yugoslavian dictator, Tito. If that doesn't sound like the kind of place you'd want to take your kids, then that would explain why so few Americans go there. However, the fighting is long over; Croatia is a member of NATO, in consideration for EU membership and a major destination for Western Europeans looking for a beautiful, warm destination with a favorable exchange rate that isn't too far away. Aimee and I were looking for the same thing, so we started planning the trip when I was home for R&R back in December.
Aimee did the vast majority of the planning; picking out a place to go, booking a place to stay, etc., and ran the options by me over e-mail or phone. We settled on a town called Rovinj (pronounced ro-VEEN) on the northeastern peninsula you can see on the map on the right. You can see a larger version of the image by clicking on it.
Aimee booked us an apartment through an agent online. Lots of people in Croatia convert parts of their homes into apartments and rent them out to tourists. The prices are much more reasonable than most hotels in Europe, and in our case we got a kitchen and a washing machine, which meant we could cook at least some meals at the apartment and save money.
One of my duties on most of our trips is planning the route. You can see an image or our route, planned with help from Yahoo Maps, on the right. It took us south from Bamberg through Nurnburg and Munich, then through Austria, Slovenia, a tiny chunk of Italy and the city of Trieste, back through Slovenia, then to Croatia. Believe it or not, that was the most direct route, but it turned out not to be the fastest or the smartest to take. Hold that thought.
Aimee and I got up bright and early on Friday, 15 August and packed up the last of our stuff. Aimee had already packed the kids' things the night before. The kids were excited and Heidi, our dog, could tell something was up. She wouldn't leave my side.
Another of my usual chores on Schneegans Misadventures is packing the car. It's a curious phenomenon, but in our family the amount of luggage a person requires seems to be inversely proportional to their size and/or age. Thus, Abi requires a section of the kids' suitcase, her backpack, a diaper bag, extra diapers, water toys and a humongous stroller, while I get a laptop case. OK, I exaggerate, but not by much.
I don't know if you can tell from the two pictures of the car, but the weather was grey, dreary and rainy - in other words, typically German. We were really looking forward to our beach vacation.
With the kids and the mutt loaded in the car we were finally ready to go... around 11:00 am! Our slow pace would come back to haunt us!
Your navigator on this Schneegans Misadventure will be Aimee Schneegans. Please keep all appendages inside the vehicle at all times and refrain from making rude gestures at bad drivers in Porsches. Will the Schneegans Clan make it to Croatia? Will there be any crying, potty accidents or motion-sickness-induced vomiting? Will they get lost (du-uh!)? Join us here next time for the exciting continuation of Schneegans Misadventures: Croatia!
This here, ladies and gentlemen, is how I spent the bonus I received from the Army while in Afghanistan - the Schneegans Baby Wagon, a 2006 Honda Odyssey. It's a great vehicle, built with typical Honda precision and attention to detail, and it rides a lot better than something its size should. It handled the twisty mountain roads of Slovenia much better than I expected it would, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Ever since Aimee picked up the kids in Ethiopia, we decided that our big family vacation when I returned from Afghanistan should be to somewhere with a beach, since the kids had never seen anything resembling an ocean. But, because of cost, we also wanted to go somewhere we could drive. Even with ridiculous European gas prices, it's still less expensive to drive seven people and a dog to your destination than it is to fly or to take a train. Also, once you get to your destination, you have to get around somehow. That's difficult and/or expensive to do with five kids and a dog without a car to stuff them all into. That made driving our best option, but driving limited our destinations to Italy and France. We would be taking our vacation in late August, and northern Europe starts to get cold at that time, and Spain is too far to drive with kids.
Fortunately, German and American friends of ours told us about Croatia.
Ever since Aimee picked up the kids in Ethiopia, we decided that our big family vacation when I returned from Afghanistan should be to somewhere with a beach, since the kids had never seen anything resembling an ocean. But, because of cost, we also wanted to go somewhere we could drive. Even with ridiculous European gas prices, it's still less expensive to drive seven people and a dog to your destination than it is to fly or to take a train. Also, once you get to your destination, you have to get around somehow. That's difficult and/or expensive to do with five kids and a dog without a car to stuff them all into. That made driving our best option, but driving limited our destinations to Italy and France. We would be taking our vacation in late August, and northern Europe starts to get cold at that time, and Spain is too far to drive with kids.
Fortunately, German and American friends of ours told us about Croatia.
Croatia sits right across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. It was once part of Yugoslavia and involved in the bloody, genocidal wars that took place after the death of the Communist Yugoslavian dictator, Tito. If that doesn't sound like the kind of place you'd want to take your kids, then that would explain why so few Americans go there. However, the fighting is long over; Croatia is a member of NATO, in consideration for EU membership and a major destination for Western Europeans looking for a beautiful, warm destination with a favorable exchange rate that isn't too far away. Aimee and I were looking for the same thing, so we started planning the trip when I was home for R&R back in December. Aimee did the vast majority of the planning; picking out a place to go, booking a place to stay, etc., and ran the options by me over e-mail or phone. We settled on a town called Rovinj (pronounced ro-VEEN) on the northeastern peninsula you can see on the map on the right. You can see a larger version of the image by clicking on it. Aimee booked us an apartment through an agent online. Lots of people in Croatia convert parts of their homes into apartments and rent them out to tourists. The prices are much more reasonable than most hotels in Europe, and in our case we got a kitchen and a washing machine, which meant we could cook at least some meals at the apartment and save money.
One of my duties on most of our trips is planning the route. You can see an image or our route, planned with help from Yahoo Maps, on the right. It took us south from Bamberg through Nurnburg and Munich, then through Austria, Slovenia, a tiny chunk of Italy and the city of Trieste, back through Slovenia, then to Croatia. Believe it or not, that was the most direct route, but it turned out not to be the fastest or the smartest to take. Hold that thought. Aimee and I got up bright and early on Friday, 15 August and packed up the last of our stuff. Aimee had already packed the kids' things the night before. The kids were excited and Heidi, our dog, could tell something was up. She wouldn't leave my side.
Unlike most parents with five kids, we got ours all at once, so we didn't get a chance to improve our chaos management skills over time with a gradually increasing number of kids. Thus, we're not as efficient at getting our clan from point A to point B as most parents of five. In short, it takes us for ever to go anywhere, we're chronically late, and this day was no exception. Even though Aimee and I got up at 4:00am, we were already running late by the time the kids had breakfast.
Another of my usual chores on Schneegans Misadventures is packing the car. It's a curious phenomenon, but in our family the amount of luggage a person requires seems to be inversely proportional to their size and/or age. Thus, Abi requires a section of the kids' suitcase, her backpack, a diaper bag, extra diapers, water toys and a humongous stroller, while I get a laptop case. OK, I exaggerate, but not by much.I don't know if you can tell from the two pictures of the car, but the weather was grey, dreary and rainy - in other words, typically German. We were really looking forward to our beach vacation.
With the kids and the mutt loaded in the car we were finally ready to go... around 11:00 am! Our slow pace would come back to haunt us!Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speak... Holy Crap! Where'd all that grey hair come from!?
Your navigator on this Schneegans Misadventure will be Aimee Schneegans. Please keep all appendages inside the vehicle at all times and refrain from making rude gestures at bad drivers in Porsches. Will the Schneegans Clan make it to Croatia? Will there be any crying, potty accidents or motion-sickness-induced vomiting? Will they get lost (du-uh!)? Join us here next time for the exciting continuation of Schneegans Misadventures: Croatia! 