...aaaand this is why my husband doesn't plan trips

Re: ...aaaand this is why my husband doesn't plan trips

• dragonstarjk member

  

  December 2015

  Haha.  My H would totally be the same way.  This is why I am in charge of all travel planning. 

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• hoffse member

  

  December 2015

  Yeah I really can't complain too much because I was the one who suggested we go there once we realized Christmas day was free (I had been keeping Amsterdam in my back pocket just in case this happened).  

  
  

  It was just kind of painful to pay for those tickets, because I KNOW that we could have gotten tickets for about half price if we had booked earlier.  

  
  

  At least my H had the grace to feel a little ashamed for not figuring this out earlier.  That made me feel better, lol.

  

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• jessica490 member

  

  December 2015

  Aw, that stinks! I want to hear how the Anne Frank house is, I loved that book when I read it in school.

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• smetter04 member

  

  December 2015

  This is also why I'm the travel coordinator, too (heck, I'm our life coordinator)
  
  @hoffse, on the bright side, you get to go to Amsterdam! I'm of the belief that spending extra on travel isn't a terrible thing. Of course I wouldn't let it ruin my whole financial plan/security, but since you'll already be on the continent, you can afford it, and it will bring you joy I wouldn't see it as a big deal.
  

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• hoffse member

  

  December 2015

  smetter04 said:

  This is also why I'm the travel coordinator, too (heck, I'm our life coordinator)
  
  @hoffse, on the bright side, you get to go to Amsterdam! I'm of the belief that spending extra on travel isn't a terrible thing. Of course I wouldn't let it ruin my whole financial plan/security, but since you'll already be on the continent, you can afford it, and it will bring you joy I wouldn't see it as a big deal.
  

  Agreed.  We always build in a decent buffer just in case something pops up, and we try not to penny pinch when we travel.  $300 to spend a day in Amsterdam isn't so bad, and realistically this is probably the only time we will visit before starting a family.  

  
  

  It's hard being cheap, lol.

  

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• simplyelise member

  

  December 2015

  Was just talking about going to Amsterdam last night with H. Good work figuring out an alternative Christmas plan!

  
  

  But I totally feel you. It's like they don't even hear things. DH's last living grandparent is 94 and lives about 4 hours away from us. I keep trying to get him to coordinate something with his mom and aunts so that he can see the grandma. He feels guilty about not seeing her, but keeps acts like it's too complicated to lock his mom in on a date. Don't know how to get across to him that even if we only find out about a good weekend a few days ahead of time, we can afford to drive there and get a room at the Super 8 on the day of. *sigh*

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• smetter04 member

  

  December 2015

  hoffse said:

  smetter04 said:

  This is also why I'm the travel coordinator, too (heck, I'm our life coordinator)
  
  @hoffse, on the bright side, you get to go to Amsterdam! I'm of the belief that spending extra on travel isn't a terrible thing. Of course I wouldn't let it ruin my whole financial plan/security, but since you'll already be on the continent, you can afford it, and it will bring you joy I wouldn't see it as a big deal.
  

  Agreed.  We always build in a decent buffer just in case something pops up, and we try not to penny pinch when we travel.  $300 to spend a day in Amsterdam isn't so bad, and realistically this is probably the only time we will visit before starting a family.  

  
  

  It's hard being cheap, lol.

  Yes, I grapple with this everyday! And I must admit that I'm a teeny tiny bit jealous that you're going to Amsterdam... It's definitely on my bucket list (mostly for the Anne Frank house, tbh)
  

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• hoffse member

  

  December 2015

  smetter04 said:

  hoffse said:

  smetter04 said:

  This is also why I'm the travel coordinator, too (heck, I'm our life coordinator)
  
  @hoffse, on the bright side, you get to go to Amsterdam! I'm of the belief that spending extra on travel isn't a terrible thing. Of course I wouldn't let it ruin my whole financial plan/security, but since you'll already be on the continent, you can afford it, and it will bring you joy I wouldn't see it as a big deal.
  

  Agreed.  We always build in a decent buffer just in case something pops up, and we try not to penny pinch when we travel.  $300 to spend a day in Amsterdam isn't so bad, and realistically this is probably the only time we will visit before starting a family.  

  
  

  It's hard being cheap, lol.

  Yes, I grapple with this everyday! And I must admit that I'm a teeny tiny bit jealous that you're going to Amsterdam... It's definitely on my bucket list (mostly for the Anne Frank house, tbh)
  

  I think @Xstatic is visiting for like a whole week in the spring (is that right?)!  People who have visited just love it.  One of the older partners I'm friendly with told me to go to Amsterdam as soon as possible.  He and his wife go to Europe almost every year, but it took him 30 years to get to Amsterdam.  Turns out, it's his favorite city over there by a pretty wide margin. He wishes he had visited earlier.  

  
  

  I hope we can get into the Anne Frank house.  It's very tiny and they only let in a certain number of people at a time, so we'll see what the lines are like.  We are definitely going to give it a shot.

  
  

  I'm actually really excited about the museums.  I came very close to going to grad school for art history instead of law school.  I actually got in to study Dutch and Flemish art, and then I bailed based on job prospects.  Anyway, most of the really famous stuff is in Amsterdam (with a few key pieces in Belgium), and I have never seen any of it in person before.  I guess finally getting a chance to see it is worth $300, even if it could have been cheaper  

  

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• smh55 newb

  

  December 2015

  im a newbie here! amsterdam sounds amazing! safe travels
  

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• hoffse member

  

  December 2015

  simplyelise said:

  Was just talking about going to Amsterdam last night with H. Good work figuring out an alternative Christmas plan!

  
  

  But I totally feel you. It's like they don't even hear things. DH's last living grandparent is 94 and lives about 4 hours away from us. I keep trying to get him to coordinate something with his mom and aunts so that he can see the grandma. He feels guilty about not seeing her, but keeps acts like it's too complicated to lock his mom in on a date. Don't know how to get across to him that even if we only find out about a good weekend a few days ahead of time, we can afford to drive there and get a room at the Super 8 on the day of. *sigh*

  Keeping working on it with your H, and don't let him leave it too long.  It took me about a year and a half to get H worked up to go to Belgium to visit his grandma.  He kept resisting because he didn't think his French was good enough to communicate with her.  I think he was embarrassed by it.  Finally he buckled down and studied his French, we booked the trip, and then his grandma passed away over the summer.  It was awful timing, and H feels really bad that he didn't just go to Belgium earlier.  Instead we visited London and France - and both times I was pushing for Belgium, but he just didn't feel ready.  He realizes now that his grandma wouldn't have cared if his French was poor.

  
  

  We're still going obviously, and we're going to see the rest of his family members, but he's had a hard time getting really stoked for this trip since his grandma passed away.  He is starting to come around, and he did get really excited about the day trip to Amsterdam.  I think that's one of the reasons he dragged his feet getting the plans together though.

  

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• csuave member

  

  December 2015

  @hoffse if you haven't seen The Fault in Our Stars you may want to watch it before your trip to Amsterdam.  It is a cool place and featured nicely in the movie!
  
  

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• bmo88 member

  

  December 2015

  We have the same problem! I left most of the trip planning to my husband. We will be in Rome on Christmas day and everything is closed. So now he wants to change our train tickets to stay in Venice for an extra day and do things there. $115 later...ugh, I don't understand the last minute planning either.

  

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• Xstatic3333 member

  

  December 2015

  I'm going to focus on the positive and say hooray for Amsterdam!  

  
  

  Looks like the online tickets for Anne Frank House are sold out for Christmas Day.  Many of the forums seem to recommend going later in the day for minimal crowds, but if it's your top priority I know that could feel a bit too risky.  There are still priority access tickets available for the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum, though.  

  
  

  There are also a number of museum cards you can buy that will include admission to lots of museums around the city.  The math to figure out which one is the best for you gets complicated-frankly I still haven't decided which one we should get and every time I sit down to try it makes my head spin.  Most include 2 out of 3 of the "big three" attractions.  Some also include public transportation, but you might just be able to walk everywhere.  A good summary is here: http://www.amsterdamtourist.info/tips/amsterdamdiscount-cards/.  The con, I believe, is that using these types of cards rules out buying tickets in advance for certain time slots.  

  
  

  I look forward to hearing how you enjoy the city!  Yes, we are staying there for a full week in March.  We plan to spend several days on day trips around the Netherlands, however, and will also do one overnight to either Bruges or Cologne.  Bruges was the natural choice for us as big beer nerds, but then we started looking into Cologne and it seems like an amazing city.  I should really decide soon, as our three months out opportunity to buy high speed rail passes goes into effect next week.  

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• hoffse member

  

  December 2015

  Xstatic3333 said:

  I'm going to focus on the positive and say hooray for Amsterdam!  

  
  

  Looks like the online tickets for Anne Frank House are sold out for Christmas Day.  Many of the forums seem to recommend going later in the day for minimal crowds, but if it's your top priority I know that could feel a bit too risky.  There are still priority access tickets available for the Van Gogh and Rijksmuseum, though.  

  
  

  There are also a number of museum cards you can buy that will include admission to lots of museums around the city.  The math to figure out which one is the best for you gets complicated-frankly I still haven't decided which one we should get and every time I sit down to try it makes my head spin.  Most include 2 out of 3 of the "big three" attractions.  Some also include public transportation, but you might just be able to walk everywhere.  A good summary is here: http://www.amsterdamtourist.info/tips/amsterdamdiscount-cards/.  The con, I believe, is that using these types of cards rules out buying tickets in advance for certain time slots.  

  
  

  I look forward to hearing how you enjoy the city!  Yes, we are staying there for a full week in March.  We plan to spend several days on day trips around the Netherlands, however, and will also do one overnight to either Bruges or Cologne.  Bruges was the natural choice for us as big beer nerds, but then we started looking into Cologne and it seems like an amazing city.  I should really decide soon, as our three months out opportunity to buy high speed rail passes goes into effect next week.  

  Thanks for the tips!  Actually, an end-of-day visit for Anne Frank would work perfectly, because I think we're going to do the museums in the morning and the Christmas concert at the Concertgebouw in the early afternoon.

  
  

  H and I are basing ourselves in Cologne for the German bit, and we will be visiting Bruges while we are in Belgium.  If you guys decide to wait a couple weeks, I can let you know which one I prefer, because I have never seen either.  H has been to Bruges a few times and loves it. It really is the beer capital of Belgium.  The entire city of Bruges is a world heritage site, but Cologne has a monster cathedral that's been on my photography bucket list for years.
  

  
  

  I'm going to buy priority access tix to the two museums we want to see in Amsterdam - that's a good tip.  I looked at those museum cards a bit, but got really confused.  Realistically, we'll probably only have time for two museums, the concert, and the Anne Frank house if we can get in... and I think that's going to be a big "if" on Christmas Day when many other things are closed.  Alright, it's expensive but I'm getting excited!  

  

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• hoffse member

  

  December 2015

  bmo88 said:

  We have the same problem! I left most of the trip planning to my husband. We will be in Rome on Christmas day and everything is closed. So now he wants to change our train tickets to stay in Venice for an extra day and do things there. $115 later...ugh, I don't understand the last minute planning either.

  Oh no!  Well hopefully you guys will have fun with an extra day in Venice

  
  

  Being in Rome this time of year is really cool.  And the holy year just started.  They haven't had one of those in 15 years, so it's a special time to be there.

  

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• JoanE2012 member

  

  December 2015 edited December 2015

  hoffse said:

  We're leaving in 8 days for Germany and Belgium.  As of Monday we still didn't know what the plans were for Christmas with H's family because he didn't feel the need to get that info so soon.  So this morning I finally got him to contact his family to get details, and he finds out that they aren't getting together on Christmas day like we thought, but the day after.  Not a huge deal because we aren't flying out until the 27th, except now we have an unexpected free day on Christmas day and literally nothing is open in any of the Belgian cities we were planning to visit.

  
  

  So I just booked a train to Amsterdam for Christmas Day and paid out the nose for tickets since it's so last minute.  On the bright side, the Rijks, van Gogh museum, and Anne Frank house are all open, so there should be plenty to do there, and hopefully we'll get a feel for the city in case we get a chance to go back for a longer trip.  We have lots of friends who rave about Amsterdam, and neither of us has ever been there.

  
  

  Anyway, we are $300 in the hole on our trip budget, and we haven't even left yet.  Sigh.

  
  

  I love H a lot, but next time he's not allowed to be in charge.

  Looking forward to hearing about your trip!  We're going to Belgium and Amsterdam in the spring.  We're trying to buy the Anne Frank House tickets online ahead of time because I hear the lines are very long, but they're not on sale yet.  Hopefully on Christmas you won't have the crowds!  You could always check the website in the days to week before Christmas - people mention that sometimes more tickets are released.

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• Xstatic3333 member

  

  December 2015

  @hoffse I'd love to hear your thoughts on Cologne versus Bruges. We talked some more about this last night and Cologne is pulling into the lead, only because we think we're much more likely to give Belgium its own trip in the future than Germany. I'd love to do Germany, but it is lower on my European list. The cathedral does look amazing, and I'm also very interested in seeing the Roman ruins there.

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