Day 1

After what seemed like eternity, we arrived last night in Prague. We continued to have our challenges as all of our luggage arrived except for one. However, Air France had already sent word to the Prague airport that they would be sending it o the next flight and we should have it by morning.

Right before our flight from Salt Lake we were notified by the people renting us the apartment, that the Mozart apartment we booked had water issues and they would need to move us to a different apartment down the street. Although this new apartment didn’t have the reputation of having Mozart staying there, it is a beautiful apartment and is much closer to Old Town Prague than the Mozart. The building was built in the 15th Century and has room for seven. The kids all slept in the main room where they combined beds to make a giant bed, while Michelle and I had the bedroom. It has a full bath and a large kitchen, which will come in handy and will save us on our food budget. If you are planning to stay in Prague we highly recommend www.pragueresidences.com. As we walked to the bridge last night we stopped at a Hostel just to compare prices. The cheapest, dorm style rooms with no privacy was only $3 per night, per person cheaper than our apartment.  $17/night/person compared to our $20/night/person. 

A few blocks to the left is St. Charles Bridge where you can get the most incredible view of the Prague Castle. A few blocks to the right is Old Town Square where we will begin our exploration of the city tomorrow.  Tonight we took a short walk to the bridge and to get acquainted with the streets around the apartment. Prague is lively, streets full of people, small shops tucked away in every corner. We can’t wait to discover some hidden treasures. 

We have begun to work out our accommodations for our Prague. We will be in Prague 3 nights and have decided to stay in a beautiful apartment perfectly located near old town and near Charles Bridge. It is reported this is the house where Mozart stayed when he was in Prague and where he wrote the opera Don Giovanni. This is a great place for less than a hotel which sleeps 6, has a kitchen an wifi included in the $95 a night price. That is cheaper than a hostel. (Hostel - $20/night per person times 5) We have also booked our hotel in Vienna. We decided on the Marriott Courtyard. We will stay three nights and the total cost? $0.00. nada, nothing. I love the tips in Have Kids - Will Travel, http://www.havekids-willtravel.com/ on how to get free hotel nights. We are in the final stages for our accommodations in Italy, but it will include a hospitality stay in the Amalfi Coast.

Can families really travel the world?

We hope as you read our blogs you will get a sense of how absolutely possible it is for families to travel the world. We have been traveling like this with our family for over 10 years now and the difference it has made in our children's lives is incredible. Our favorite quote is from St. Augustine - "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." It truly is our goal to help families realize how affordable travel can be if you know the right travel secrets and are willing to invest a little bit of time. 

We would like to take you along, by words now, on our next family vacation and explore Prague, Vienna, Milan and the Amalfi Coast of Italy. Right now we are in the middle of planning so check back for the changes we make as we book the trip of a lifetime for the cost of going camping. 

Why Prague? How do we get there?

First of all, I'm the reason we are going to Prague. My wife and kids have pretty much dictated our past vacations to destinations they wanted to go. Our oldest daughter has always been fascinated with France. So much so that her minor in college is French and I believe she has been there every summer since she was 13. Second, why not Prague? It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Untouched by the wars that ravished Europe and full of so much history, it would take years to take it all in. Un fortunately we have only a few days this time around. My hope is that we get enough of a taste to lure us back many time as other countries have. 

As our children get older it becomes more and more difficult to schedule these family trips. Both of our sons will have to miss this adventure. One will be beginning his MBA at the University and the other is in North Carolina for the next 2 years. So our oldest, married daughter quickly let us know that her and her husband would gladly fill in for them. So there will be five of us traveling. Since there are no gas stations or roads for that matter from the U.S. to Prague, we opted for the quicker more conformist mode of transportation, the airplane. After a few hours with the airline figuring which route would be the best we booked our flight in to Prague and out of Milan Italy for only $98 round trip for each of us. Ok..... wait you are saying.... Did he just make a huge typo? let me spell it out so there is no confusion... ninety-eight dollars and zero cents. Total. Air, taxes, fees. 

Now up to this point you were probably thinking this was going to be a cute family blog on how some rich family flew to some exotic European vacation and how jealous you would be as you lived vicariously through their words. Well, I think I have your attention. We don't travel like a normal family and the thing is, anyone can travel this way too, if you know the secrets. These aren't some weird join some time-share or travel club that you will never use type of secrets. They are time tested, every day, any trip kind of secrets you can use too. Now the point of this blog isn't to go through all the nuts and bolts of how we do this, because that would be way too boring and not everyone is going to do it the same way each time. There are many different ways to get airfare like we mentioned and one might work better for you than for someone else. So the best place I can send you to read all about how this is done is to visit our website, http://www.havekids-willtravel.com. there you will be able to get a copy of our book and read how you too can travel like a King for the price of Disneyland or less. You can also attend one of our one day seminars if you want us to walk you through each step of the process, http://www.learntotravelcheap.com. 

But I digress for a moment, I'm sure that price was just too good to be true and I had to let you know where you can get flights like that too. 

Currently this is where we sit with our trip... Airfare, done. Still looking for a place to stay and as always starting to plan out the adventures. This we do know. My wife found out that Vienna is only 3 hours from Prague and has always wanted to go, so we will spend 4 days in Prague and 3 days in Vienna. We are looking for the best and least expensive mode of transportation now along with accommodations. In our next blog we will fill you in on how those are coming along. We hope you are enjoying this, your mouth is watering and you want to go with us. - May all your travels be Free -