Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Plant City, Fl

... train to Berlin.

Sunday we go back to Hannover and head down to Heidelburg and/or Kaiserslautern. The next few days are kind of flexible.

Around Thursday-ish, we need to be back at Ramstein to (hopefully) catch a Friday flight home.

That's the rough plan. We wanted to have enough room for error since space-a is unpredictable... and so are we.

Our backpacks are loaded and we are almost ready to hit the road. I was hoping that I could pack lighter this year but it doesn't seem like I am succeeding. My pack is only 35 pounds but full. Brandy's is 28 pounds and Sydney's is 21 pounds. It's not the weight that I am concerned with, it's the size. I'd like to have a little extra space for things I pick up along the way.

I really ...

... Bed Bath & Beyond. Must travel with a neck pillow on long flights!
Back at Gram's, Conrad is working with Bruce doing fix-it stuff. Owning your own hostel allows you to learn how to fix stuff, whether you wanted to know it or not! I took pictures so that everyone could get an idea of what Gram's ...

... His place is better than the Pirate Haus, in that he owns the property, so he can do all the cool things he's done there. Gram's is 80% like the place I dream of owning. We pretty much packed yesterday, and Fran arrived back yesterday to run the Inn while we're gone so it's like we've got the final green light on the 'Christmas Tree' at a drag race....April is the organized one, my god, we've got a spreadsheet of where we'll be. I do appreciate that myself ...

... bed (at least I hope)!
So we headed to my parents' house to say goodbye. There we got to meet George, the CUTEST little chihauha (is that spelled right)? He is SO CUTE!! I want to take him home with us when we get back. Mom & Dad are just fostering him, but I told her that I want him when we get home ...

... You may also include fun information such as what you like best about each place, who you meet, and what you do. Also make sure to sign your first name only at the bottom of your entry so we know who wrote it.

Have fun and be creative. Happy traveling! :)

Ms. Nichols

... for more walking and climbing stairs than you're probably used to. Especially at Versailles if you decide to walk to the Triannons.

- I enjoyed actually seeing Chateaunuf du Papes and the vineyards, but we didn't get to go to any of the winery tours. Basically, we didn't think we had time to do them and get to our hotel. But, seeing how quickly we spent money on wine in CDP, it's probably just as well that we didn't spend more time there. If ...

... enjoyed it though. The cushy leather seats with zero-calorie-chocolate-chip-cookie-like TVs in the headrests were an obvious plus. It seems like Jet Blue is working to be the Disney of airlines when it comes to the appearance of its corporate brand in its attention to detail. The flight attendant uniforms are much less drab than those of other airlines. They’re actually on the verge of chic like those in that Gwennyh Paltrow/ Mike Meyers movie. “I put ...

... a blue color.

Robert was a great tour guide- very informative, funny and kind. He definitely knew his stuff. The Blue Mountains were pretty and somewhat reminded me of our own Blue Ridge mountains, except we don't have cockatoos and colored parrots flying all over them. We also don't have the wild kangaroos and emus like we also saw today along the side of the road. I must say, Australia has much better road kill than we do in the US. Somehow possums ...

... The link will take you to a YouTube video of them performing. They reallyl are SO full of energy and talent - if you ever have an opportunity to see them, be sure you do! The Crystal Gale Concert started promptly at 3, and we were happy to find that her voice is every bit as "Crystal" clear as it always was, and her hair is longer than it's always been! One of her talented sisters (not Loretta Lynn) sang backup with her - she was great, too!