Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Provence, Cannes, Pisa, Florence, Assisi, Rome. . .

.. Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri, home

That's (part of) my daughter's itinerary for the next 16 days. She leaves for Europe at 4 a.m. tomorrow with 30 friends from school.

Her days and nights are pretty much mapped out for her, but I'm understandably a little it anxious.

Besides showing her Hostell, Hostell II and the Lizzie McQuire Movie, any last minute travel/packing tips I should give her?

 

I got nothin... nothin you'd appreciate, anyway..

 

Re: Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Provence, Cannes, Pisa, Florence, Assisi, Rome.

Confirm that she knows that they speak Catalan in Barcelona and that she has a phrase book. Everyone understands Spanish, but some signs and printed matter might only be in Catalan.

 

Sounds like fun. A long time ago I drove from Madrid to Zaragoza, then up into the Pyranees to see Andorra, and back down along the rugged Costa Brava coastline to Barcelona. Not knowing Catalan didn't hold us back a bit.

Spain has a system of state-operated hotels called Paradores, which are kind of cool. Many of them started out as medieval castles. We stayed at one in the foothills of the Pyranees called Sea D'Urgell.

Idaho, she'll be fine and have a great time. As the dad of a 15-year-old, though, I feel your pain. Beginning to "let them go" is a tough thing.

 

Buy the rubbers here. They may be difficult to find in a pinch over there and you can't be certain of the quality.

 

Re: Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Provence, Cannes, Pisa, Florence, Assisi, Rome.

Make sure she has a huge memory card in her camera, and a backup disposable camera just in case.

Are they allowed to bring their cellphones? Does she know how to call collect from a payphone?

Do they get to carry their own money? Send extra cash in a secret place.

Lots of bandaids for foot blisters, an extra pair of flipflops just in case. Don't forget the ipod/phone chargers.

She's going to have the time of her life, and you will be a wreck. As it should be. 8)

 

I've never been overseas...does she need the thing that will make her chargers work in different outlets? Whatever in the world that's called?

 

You so do not hate being a snark.

And yes, adapter. It was a long night, and the mind has not had enough rest.

 

As long as she watches both Hostel movies before she goes, she'll be fine...

 

Brand new 8gig card in the camera. Settings adjusted to get her twice as many photos as we had it set for. Extra battery, too.

No cell phone, but I bought he two calling cards -- one for her daypack, the other to stay in her luggage in case she loses one. Instructions for using them written down in an index card.

I'm sending a few euros with her. A few American dollars and a reloadable Visa-debit card that I can track from home. One of her traveling partners lives down the street from us and I will load extra cash on that person's card if my kid loses her card.

I bought her a good pair of walking shoes. Flip flops are horrible on feet if you walk for hours every day on them. But she's taking a pair anyway. Good idea about the bandaids. I'll grab a pack for her today.

We also set her up with a hotmail account just in case she wants to send us an email and she has a chance to do so. I would imagine a group of 30 kids might not have easy email access in the hotel lobby because it would take forever to cycle them through.

There are five teachers/adults on the trip in addition to the tour director and bus driver. So I think she'll be OK.

I guess I'll never actually feel like she's got EVERYTHING she needs.

As for getting knocked up/drunk/lost/etc... this is why we decided sending her at 14 was smarter than sending her at 18.