Glühwein Ahead!

Planning travel can be aggravating. Between deciding on what to do, sifting through reviews, separating hype from what is truly worthwhile, figuring out complicated logistics and then actually getting stuff booked; a lot of people just give up, overwhelmed by choice or drowned in confusion and doubt.  But once you get past the overwhelmed stage and learn enough about a destination to kind of have an idea of what you want to do, and an itinerary starts to gel, it gets a lot more fun.  And that is when the anticipation kicks in.

If you’re not anticipating a trip, I think you’re doing it wrong. For me, the anticipation is almost half the enjoyment.  Sometime, as an experiment, I’d like to fully plan a trip without any intention of going anywhere, just to see how much I can enjoy it without being there in real life.  Oh, wait a minute – I already do that!  It’s called planning trips for other people!  But I digress.  I’m writing this to talk about what I’m looking forward to in a little over a month, when we visit Budapest, then cruise up the Danube all the way to Nuremberg.

Here are a few things that I am excited about (a few out of many):

1. Having a good soak in the thermal baths of Budapest. Gellert is closed for renovation for several years, but I can’t wait enjoy the thermal baths, the Turkish steam bath and the magnificent pool at Rudas.
2. Being dazzled by the lights of the Hungarian Parliament at night as seen from the Danube.
3. Cake. Nuff said.  Oh, and strudel…
4. Boarding the AmaReina on Day 1.  AmaWaterways has this gracious way of making you feel warmly welcomed and looked after the moment your foot hits that gangplank.
5. Trying to see how many cherubs I can count in the Baroque frenzy that is the Melk Abbey.
6. Sinking my teeth into bratwurst straight from a street vendor’s grill with freshly grated horseradish.
7. Buying dark chocolate-coated marzipan in Vienna.  I’ll also buy Mozartkugel with the intention of giving them to friends, but will probably just hoard them (sorry, guys).
8. Strolling through various romantic Christmas markets arm-in-arm with my sweetie, with a pleasant little buzz from the hot spiced wine.
9. Lebkuchen.  Not just any lebkuchen, but the Elisenlebkuchen in Nuremberg.
10. Just not worrying about stuff for a while.

Yeah, it’s a pretty hedonistic list. But this is a holiday getaway, the point of which is to be cozy and just feel good. Once in a while, we all need that.