The Plan

Planning is under way in the Guille house.

- 14 weeks of leave

- 2 very excited kids

- 400 emails to book our six home-exchanges

- 4 bargain-basement-dodgy-brothers return flights

- 1 GPS (our new gadget, thanks Mum & Dad)

- 1 brand-spanking-new leased Peugeot wagon

- Less than 15kg of luggage each (mmm?)

- School work (for Mrs Cooper & Mrs Hennig)

What a different trip this one will be compared to the Eurail trip Dave & I took back in 1991. The intinerary is heaps more relaxed but there's so much more planning! With kids in tow, we'll have to make compromises (Paris without The Louvre!) but we will find a small slice of the real Europe in a scaled-back, kid-friendly itinerary.

The kids have helped decide where we are going. For starters, NO museum/monument queues... and we’ll be skipping the big cities (too scary with the car) EXCEPT London for Tom to ride on a red double-decker bus, and Paris because Isobel wants to see Madeline’s “Old house in Paris, covered in vines...” which I don’t think exists – hoping the Eiffel Tower will be a good substitute for her!

But our destinations have really been dictated by where the house-swaps are which has meant we’re going to some places we wouldn’t have thought about before - all part of the adventure. And Albany will have some visitors from the USA, Italy, Holland & France who might not have heard about Albany otherwise! (See, so we're really doing this for the best interests of Amazing Albany!)

1st stop: Kuala Lumpur (25th June) ... we figured the Asia Air X flight will need a 2-day stop-over to survive the trip to the UK, especially as the seats apparently don't recline- ahhh! Also, Isobel has her heart set on visiting the butterfly park in KL.

2nd stop: Mick & Pip’s near London, for 4 nights so that our five kids can meet (Isobel & Katherine were younger than 5 months when they saw each other last!) Also, a side-trip up to an old haunting ground, Glasgow, to see Jennifer & kids!

Then: Portugal for a month (pick up the Peug') ... France ... Holland (staying near Germany & Belgium) ... Austria.... and finally Italy ... and home by 3rd Oct.

We hope you’ll keep in touch with our little adventure via this travel blog... but I am begging forgiveness for any typos you have to suffer thru – it will be written “on the hop” at internet cafes and the like.