Jack, Merry & The Trumanator: Travels in Europe Rowe Style

You might have noticed that we like to travel. We love it! And it doesn't even really matter where we go. Each new place is an adventure. In fact just the other day, Jack surprised us with a fun day-trip to Richmond, VA. It was great! But, of course, we do especially love to go to Europe.
I mean, who wouldn't?

Some have accused us of being "fancy" with our trips. But we pride ourselves on trying to be cheap. How do we do it you may wonder. Well...

#1. Airline Miles: We save these up like they are gold. It also helps if you have a husband who travels to far off lands (like Mongolia) for work and earns lots of miles that way.

#2. Per Diem: When the husband is on these trips to far off lands (like Mongolia) for work, his work provides him with a daily stipend called Per Diem, as in per day. With which he buys his food and pays for transportation and such. Then when he gets back if he hasn't used it all he gets to keep the excess!! Are you kidding me? Awesome! The husband at our house is super cheap and always has lots of extra "Per Diem" which we then use to fund our travels.

But along with funding the trips, we also try to do things on the cheap while we are there. Would you like those hints as well?
I hope so, because here they come.

#1. We stay in reasonable hotels that provide breakfast.

#2. We have found that now that we are taking Trum with us, renting a car is more affordable and more convenient. But you need to book from home, it's cheaper this way. Jack doesn't count the cost of gas as a trip expense since we would be buying gas if we were home anyway. Plus you will probably be driving a tiny, fuel effecient car!

#3. Picnic lunches! We try to eat out only once a day. We usually make a picnic out of bread, cheese, sausage and of course Fanta. But when traveling with an American child in Europe, you have to throw in a hamburger a few times as well.

#4. Travel in the off season. This trip we went in November. Admittedly, it was a bit chilly once in a while and a few sites were closed, but for the most part it was beautiful and free of crowds.

#5. Take it easy with souvenirs. You can easily get carried away. I try to stop and consider how this would fit into my home and if it will be a pain to pack or carry on the plane. For example, I love these things, but they would be hard to get home so I just took a picture instead.

#6. Never skimp on experiences! We have found this out the hard way. When we got home and wished we had just gone ahead and paid the ridiculous and probably exorbitant price to try something new or unique. But I will never regret paying to ride a camel in Jerusalem or paying for Truman to try archery in Budapest!

I am sure we have other things we do but that's all I can think of right now. Here are some more pictures from our trip.

Prague

Prague Castle

Wenceslas Square

Charles Bridge

Vltava River

Love Locks

John Lennon Wall

I LOVE Mucha!

Krakow

Wawal Castle Dragon

Main Market Square

Renaissance Cloth Hall

Basilica of the Virgin Mary

Hi! Below Wawal Castle

Wieliczka Salt Mines

Underground chapel, carved from salt

Birkenau Concentration Camp

We only went for an hour, we weren't sure if Trum could understand it or handle it. And just in that hour we could still feel the horror of that place.

Spiš Castle, Slovakia

Eger, Hungary

Budapest

Andrássy Avenue

Heroes' Square

Budapest has the most beautiful metro stops.

When we got off the metro we ran into our friend Lana!


Anonymous. We had to wait for like 20 minutes to get this picture. Two woman took like 40 different pictures of themselves here. I'm not sure why.

This Market Hall was my favorite. We had the best food there and it was not full of tourists. Look at that apple pie!

Chain Bridge

Parliament


Trum with his Bag O' Milk

Bratislova!

We only stopped for the day & I was kind of annoyed at Jack for making us. But it was so beautiful. I should really have more faith in my husband...maybe.

Melk Abby, Austria