Burning Bright

After finishing Triangle, I immediately started Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier, who is also the author of Girl With a Pearl Earring. I have read Chevalier's writing before and enjoyed the story. Burning Bright is set in Georgian England and is about a family just moving to London from tiny town England. Something tells me that the plot is going to be predictable--hardships for the family, trouble finding work and paying the bills, horrible things happen. Again, this book laid on the discount section at Barnes and Noble--$5.98.

Itinerary Draft

In between working long 10 hour days I have started to put together a sample travel schedule which includes prices for hotels, flights, and train connection. I won't post the whole 5 page detail because everybody would be more bored than children this summer.

Fly to Dublin-most likely by AerLingus
Dublin
Fly to Amsterdam by AerLingus
Amsterdam--Amsterdam won because Venice usually floods during the time I would be there
City Night Line Train to Munich
Munich
Most likely fly Munich-Naples and then take the train to Sorrento.
Sorrento/Pompei
Rome
Egypt--including a 3-4 night cruise on the Nile from Luxor to Aswan

From this point, I still have some decision making. From Cairo, I have a choice between flying to Lisbon, Portugal or Barcelona, Spain. Nice is also on my list, but no direct flight seems to exist between Cairo and Nice. After visiting either Lisbon or Barcelona, I will fly directly to Nice (or travel by train). From Nice, only one direct flight back to the states is listed.

As for the budget, so far it depends on the calculations of economy/first class, hotel room prices, etc. I have my lowest end through Egypt at $11,000, the highest calculation with all first class accommodations and tickets over $18,000. The middle is probably the route to take.

Amsterdam vs. Venice

For several months now I have been debating which of these two cities I should visit, as there would not be enough time to visit both. Since my busy work season in from April-October, my trip will have to be November-March. Amsterdam is said to be about six degrees cooler than Venice in these winter months, and coming from Nebraska, I have had enough cold weather and snow at home. However, my travel partner has already been to Venice and has not been to Amsterdam but since he/she isn't paying for the trip his/her suggestion only goes so far. Cairo and Luxor, Dublin, and Frankfurt has been added to the list just for them, so I figure I can take the liberty to choose the rest of the stops. So, do I want the red light district of Amsterdam or the lace and blown glass of Venice? My notes seem to have more information on Amsterdam and include a list of hotels suggested from various sites and travel writers. My stay in either city would probably be limited to two or three days at the most.

Other cities that I would like to fit into my itinerary are Dublin, Berlin, Frankfurt, Warsaw (but again, very cold in winter), Munich, Paris, Marseille, Nice, Barcelona, Lisbon, Rome, Sorrento (and Pompei), Istanbul, Cairo and Luxor, Mumbai, and St. Petersburg or Moscow (again, cold in winter). The whole shebang can't be much more than a month long, so obviously more than one of these stops will have to be written on next trip's wishlist!

Triangle just passed my 100 page test last night and I will continue reading it. Finally, the political part of the book looks to be over awhile and the stories of the girls are up front.

Boarding the plane!

After reading several blogs, I have been hesitant about starting my own because I'm not quite sure my life is exciting enough or if my writing has enough oomph. So, here I am starting a blog about travel planning and books. Throughout the next months I will write about planning a major trip to Europe and books I read.

Last night I finished reading the 9th book of the 39 Clues series by Scholastic. The best one so far! Although I am 21, while student teaching last fall I became engrossed by this series because of the action and many different lessons found in the books--geography, problem solving, and math. My mom even became interested after picking up the book and reading a few pages, she'll be starting book one sometime soon!

Currently I am reading a book about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory entitled Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle. I have read several books on this topic, and many better than this one. Not quite 100 pages in, but so far the story is dry and a good bedtime read. It is not often that I stop reading a book, but if by page 100 I am not enjoying it, I stop for awhile and move on to the next story in the stack.  Ashes of Roses  by Mary Jane Auch or Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix was a more heart touching read even though fiction. Triangle is non-fiction and a more in depth discussion of the topic from three years before the actual fire factory fire.