Off We Go!

Last year, I sneaked a quick trip to New York right before the wedding season kicked into full gear. This year, my hubby and I decided to be more adventurous and planned a last minute trip to Europe! (Thank you to buddies like Augie Chang and Jean Mark who kept encouraging me to get away with my hubby for some 'us' time and to do it in ITALY! )

Honestly, I use to love planning our vacations because I LOVE traveling. But these days, I am so busy with my business and with my 2 year old daughter that I just did NOT want to spend hours pouring over 'deals' and forums on the Internet. I would much rather catch up on my sleep, or spend more time with my family. I am sure many moms will agree--once you have a child (or two) you just have to be smart in time management, and make good choices on where to spend your time. Otherwise you will just constantly feel overworked and burnt out!

Luckily, I was able to go to Dianne Tatro of Honeymoon Under the Sun to help me plan this impromptu trip! I have known Dianne for years, because she helps many of my clients plan extraordinary honeymoons...anywhere from Hawaii to Tahiti to Europe. A few years ago, she helped my hubby and I plan our unforgettable Costa Rica trip! I just LOVE Dianne, because she takes the time to listen before she recommends the right type of vacation/honeymoon for her clients. Then, she helps you plan every detail flawlessly, from air travel to accommodations, to airport transfers to excursions. When I called her this time, I told her how much I needed to get away to decompress but that my hubby really wanted to go to Europe. My question for her was, 'How can we plan a trip that would make both of us happy?' To add to the challenge, I did not want to be away for much more than a week including the travel time.

Dianne was SO awesome. She suggested a few options, truthfully telling me the pros and cons to each. We finally decided on what I would consider a 'perfect' itinerary to please both my hubby and my vacation needs. Rather than revealing the entire itinerary right now, I'm going to blog about it day by day (or at least every other day!).

So here we are, our first night in Barcelona, Spain. The travel time was extensive...11 hours from SFO to Munich, and then another 2 hours to get to Barcelona. Lufthansa was comfortable for the most part, and they fed us a lot!

Pretty sunset view as we descended in Barcelona, Spain