The Planning Continues

Yesterday, while looking at the tour company's website, I noticed that the May 8th departure for our booked trip disappeared and was no longer being offered as an available date. I contacted my travel agent and asked her to investigate. Sure enough, the tour on which Heather and I were booked is canceled. Donna, my travel agent is a superstar. She contacted Insight and had them book us on the next tour and had them provide the same flights 2 days later without charging any additional fees. Very fortunate that she was successful in convincing them to not pass on the additional fare costs as prices have increased since we originally booked.

We are now flying out on May 8th and return May 24th. With luck Donna will be able to convince the Hilton Vienna to change our reservation. It was prepaid and non-refundable.

The Planning Begins

As I have no sense of direction, I decided that a packaged tour would be the only option for the mother-daughter graduation trek. Choosing the tour operator and the itinerary proved to be a time consuming task. Books were read and Internet searches were used to determine the main cities to visit. Next, spreadsheets were prepared to compare tour operators' itineraries.

After countless hours of researching and indecision, the trip is finally booked! We are going with Insight on the Highlights of Eastern Europe tour. Heather and I will be departing Vancouver May 6 for Vienna. We are going 2 days before the tour begins to get over the jet lag before beginning our travels. We are booked at the Vienna Hilton which is the starting hotel for the tour.





Now to decide which optional sites to see and what to pack.