FAMILY EUROPE TRIP
2028
EUROPE
2028
How this board works
- One master doc, this one board. The doc holds the detail. The board holds the state. Nothing else exists.
- Either of us can change anything. If you change a decision, change the flag next to it the same day, or the board starts lying.
- A gold flag means agreed but not paid for. It can still move. A black flag means money has left the account and it is fixed.
- Photos and references go in Resources. Drop them in the folder, not in a text thread, or they are gone by next week.
Nothing on this board is booked yet. The first real deadline is September 2027, when flight schedules load about eleven months ahead. Everything before that is deciding, not spending.
Who Is Going
Ages at travel, mid 2028Jona
41 now, 43 by then.
Leta
51 now, 53 by then.
Tokyo
22 now, 24 by then. On Option C she joins for the last ten days, which now means arriving around 25 June. Which airport that is depends on the route and is not settled.
Vrendan
25 now, 27 by then. He officiates.
Hiro
17 now, 19 by then. He crosses 18 before we go, so rail, museums, cable cars and ETIAS all charge him full fare.
Akira
5 now, 7 by then. The only child fare on the trip.
Five adults and one childNot a young-family trip, which is what the budget is built on. It also means Hiro, Tokyo and Vrendan can cover Akira on the two nights we are away.
Ages are approximateEveryone is plus one or plus two depending on where their birthday falls against the travel week.
The Date
Everything counts back from here13 June 2028
Set the departure date in the code block to start the countdown.
Why 13 JuneHiro graduates at the start of June, so we go as soon after as makes sense. It also puts his birthday on the 23rd in the middle of the Vienna leg rather than on a train.
What we gave up to get itNothing much. Late May to mid June was always the best window on weather, crowds and price. Graduation moved us a fortnight later inside the same window rather than out of it.
Where the wedding landsZell am See, 27 to 30 June. Late June in the Austrian Alps, which needs checking on crowds and on what is open at that altitude before the exact spot gets picked.
Home 4 JulyTwenty-one nights. Confirm the graduation date and the whole thing shifts together.
Our Journey
The Route
13 June to 4 July 2028Prague
13 to 20 June. The long stay. Cheapest city on the route, so the days here cost the least and buy the most. It is also the only one with the alchemy and magic material.
8 nights
Vienna
21 to 24 June. Palaces, coffee houses, and the one city Leta picked first. Hiro's birthday falls here on the 23rd, mid-stay, which is why the departure date is what it is.
4 nights
Salzburg
25 to 26 June. Two nights is right. It sits on the line between Vienna and the mountains, so it costs almost nothing to add. Hellbrunn and the trick fountains are here, which is Akira's.
2 nights
Zell am See
27 to 30 June. The wedding, and the two nights alone straight afterwards. Salzburg to here is roughly an hour and a half by train, so the arrival day is not a write-off.
4 nights
Munich
1 to 3 July. Neuschwanstein day trip, and the last stop before home. Moved to the end so the whole route runs one line west with no backtracking.
3 nights
In to Prague, home from Munich, 4 July
Twenty-one nights. Zurich is gone with Switzerland, and so is the 6.5 to 7.5 hour travel day that used to sit in the middle of the trip.
Master doc, not created yet
Paste the link here when it exists
Prague, 8 Days
The occult cityWhy eight daysPrague is the cheapest city on the route, so the days here cost the least and buy the most. It is also the only one with the alchemy and magic material, which does not exist anywhere else on the line.
Museum of Alchemy, Speculum Alchemiae
Low, per personWhyA real 16th-century alchemical laboratory under Haštalská 1, in what is believed to have been Edward Kelley's house. Not a recreation. The vaults were only found in 2002, when the square outside collapsed during the Vltava floods.
- The underground lab was linked by passages to Prague Castle and Old Town Square, an escape route, because practising alchemy was punishable by death.
- Tours every half hour, 30 minutes long, open daily 10am to 6pm. Easy to slot into any day.
- They also run a guided tour of Prague's magical sites, taking in the Castle, Vyšehrad, Charles Bridge and Old Town Square. The Prague Magical Triangle.
- Some visitors find it touristy and overly dramatised. Small, so intimate but limited.
Worth checkingThe Museum of Alchemists and Magicians and Speculum Alchemiae may be the same operation, both tied to Edward Kelley's house and both under alchemiae.cz. Confirm before buying two sets of tickets for one museum.
Karlštejn Castle
Ticket + trainWhyAn hour out of Prague by train. The storybook one, more so than Prague Castle itself.
- A full day out that costs almost nothing beyond the fares. Good use of a long stay.
- Gets everyone out of the city centre, which after five days is worth something.
- Uphill walk from the station. Fine, but not nothing with a seven year old.
No link yet
Records and books
Whatever you spendWhyBontonland, the smaller vinyl shops around Vinohrady, and Shakespeare and Sons. This is the category that quietly eats the discretionary budget, and the one that makes the shipping line heavier on the way home.
- Prague prices are the lowest on the route, so if records are getting bought anywhere, buy them here.
- Records are heavy. Every one bought adds to the $500 to $800 return shipping and the $300 duty buffer.
No link yet
For AkiraLetná park to run in, the Petřín funicular, and the mirror maze at the top. Plus as much pastry as the day can hold.
For Hiro, Tokyo and VrendanVyšehrad, the skate and music scene, and the bars around Vinohrady well away from the tourist centre. Give them a transit pass and a free day, which lands better than anything planned.
Where to stayMalá Strana or the Old Town, so everything is walkable and nobody is on a tram at the end of a long day.
Vienna, 4 Days
Galleries and music historyWhy four daysThe strongest city on the route for galleries and for music history, and the two barely overlap. Four days is what it takes to do both without rushing either.
Kunsthistorisches and the Leopold
Combo from about €15WhyThe Klimt and Schiele day. The Leopold holds the world's largest collection of Egon Schiele paintings, plus Klimt, Kokoschka and Gerstl. The Kunsthistorisches is the older, grander one: Bruegel, Caravaggio, Titian, Rubens, the Kunstkammer and the Egyptian rooms.
- A combined ticket covers both museums, and it works on different days, so you can split them.
- The Kunsthistorisches stays open until 9pm on Thursdays, which is the quietest time to go.
- The Kunsthistorisches alone is 2 to 3 hours for a general look, 4 to 6 if you want the Kunstkammer and the Egyptian collection too. That is a whole day for the pair.
- Six people, so even a €15 combo is €90 before anyone buys a coffee.
Worth knowingWeekday mornings around 10am or Thursday evening avoid the worst crowds. Buy the combo rather than two singles.
Official links to add
Mozarthaus and Haus der Musik
Combination ticket existsWhyMozarthaus is the only Mozart apartment in Vienna that survives, and he composed more there than anywhere else. Haus der Musik is the interactive one, and it is the museum on this list that will actually work for Akira rather than being endured by her.
- A combination ticket covers both, and they pair naturally as one day.
- Haus der Musik is hands-on, so it buys goodwill for the two gallery days either side of it.
- Beethoven's apartments are in the same city and the same theme if the day has room.
- Mozarthaus is a preserved flat, not a spectacle. Quiet, and better for you than for a seven year old.
Official links to add
Schönbrunn and the zoo
Palace + zoo, per personWhyThe Habsburg summer palace, and the world's oldest zoo sitting on its grounds. One ticket area, one afternoon, and everyone from Akira to Leta gets something out of it.
- The rare stop that works for all six at once. Worth planning the rest of Vienna around.
- It is a long way round the grounds. Half a day minimum, realistically a full one.
Official links to add
The rest of itTeuchtler, a legendary old record shop. The Prater and the old ferris wheel. Stephansdom. And a long unhurried sit at Café Central, which is the point of Vienna as much as any museum.
Where to stayOn or just off the Ringstrasse. Most of the above sits around it.
Salzburg, 2 Days
The cheap add-onWhy only two daysSalzburg sits directly on the line between Vienna and Munich, so adding it costs almost nothing in travel. Two days is the right size. It is a small city and a third day would be padding.
Hohensalzburg Fortress
Ticket + funicularWhyThe fortress on the rock above the city, reached by funicular. Then walk down through the Altstadt to the Mirabell gardens, which makes one clean downhill day with no backtracking.
- The funicular means nobody has to climb it, which matters with six people of very different energy levels.
- Downhill through the old town afterwards is the natural route, so the day plans itself.
- The single obvious thing to do in Salzburg, so it will be busy whenever you go.
Official links to add
Hellbrunn and the trick fountains
Ticket, per personWhyA palace built by a bishop with hidden water jets throughout the gardens, designed to soak his guests. They still work, and they still soak you.
- Akira will find this the funniest thing on the entire trip. Possibly the whole point of Salzburg for her.
- Outdoors, so it is a good weather day rather than a museum day.
- You get wet. Actually wet, not theoretically wet. Plan clothes accordingly.
- Bad in cold or rain, so keep it flexible against the forecast.
Official links to add
Where to stayThe Altstadt. Two nights, so being able to walk out of the door into it is worth more than the nightly rate saved anywhere else.
Zell am See, 4 Days
The weddingWhy hereSwitzerland was too expensive and too far. Zell am See gives us the Alps at Austrian prices, an hour and a half from Salzburg rather than seven hours from Munich, and it puts the ceremony and the two nights alone in the same place instead of splitting them across the trip.
Everything in this section
The ceremony spot, the lake, the Schmittenhohe, the Kitzsteinhorn glacier at Kaprun, the Grossglockner road, whether we need a car and for how many days. None of it researched. None of it priced.
Why this is blankPrague and Vienna above are researched. This is not, and putting plausible-sounding names here would be worse than leaving the gap visible. Same rule as Salzburg and Munich in Block 2E.
The car questionTrains handle Vienna, Salzburg and Munich. The mountains around Zell am See and Kaprun probably do not, so a rental for part of this leg is likely and is not in the budget yet.
What we lost with SwitzerlandJungfraujoch, Schilthorn, Staubbach and Trummelbach. Whatever replaces them goes in Block 6, with a price and a link like everything else.
Munich, 3 Days
The last stop, and the flight homeWhy it moved to the endWith Switzerland out, Munich is the natural exit. The route runs one line west, nobody backtracks, and the flight home leaves from here instead of Zurich. It also means the last three days are a city wind-down after the mountains rather than a travel day into them.
Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau
Timed tickets + transportWhyTwo castles in one day trip, and the one everybody pictures when they picture Bavaria.
- Doing both in a day is efficient. They sit opposite each other.
- Timed entry tickets, and they sell out. Book the day they release, which is roughly March 2028.
- A full day including travel, so it takes one of your three Munich days entirely.
- Uphill to Neuschwanstein, or pay for the shuttle.
Worth knowingThis is the only thing on the whole trip that has a hard booking date attached this far out. Put it in the timeline.
Official links to add
Deutsches Museum
Ticket, per personWhyAn enormous science and technology museum with an entire children's floor. The one indoor day that works for all six of you at once.
- Akira gets her own floor while the adults do the rest. Nobody is being dragged.
- The obvious rainy-day answer for Munich.
- Big enough to be exhausting. Pick two or three sections rather than trying to see it all.
Official links to add
For the three of them
VariesWhyHiro, Tokyo and Vrendan will all be adults. Munich has more for them than anywhere else on the route, and splitting up for a day is not a failure of planning.
- BMW Museum, and Allianz Arena if a match is on.
- Optimal Records, one of the best vinyl shops in Europe.
- Englischer Garten and the river surfers, which is free and genuinely strange.
- The Chinese Tower beer garden, where children are entirely welcome, so it works either as a split or as all six.
Official links to add
Where to stayHaidhausen or near the Isar. Airport access matters more now that we fly home from here.
The shipment does not come here any moreAustria is in the EU, so the dress and tux go straight to Zell am See. Munich was only ever a workaround for the Swiss border. Records bought here still ship home from here, and they are still heavy.
COFFEE, RECORDS,
BARS AND BOOKS
The other half of the trip. Galleries, specialty coffee, independent bookshops, record stores, live music and the kind of bar that has a point of view. This is the section that grows, and none of it needs booking. Add anything either of us finds.
Prague
Eight days, so it earns the deepest listVnitroblock
Free to wanderWhyA converted industrial space in Holešovice holding clothes and homewares by local and European designers, a cinema, a bar, art on the walls and excellent coffee. Regular events. Not crowded, and you can sit on the sofas for an hour without anyone minding.
- Gallery, shop, cinema, bar and coffee in one building. The single best value stop on this whole list.
- Well outside the tourist centre, which is the point.
Cross Club
Cover chargeWhyThe kitsch one. Steampunk décor built out of scrap metal and moving machinery, in the formerly industrial Holešovice. Late-night club downstairs, quieter above.
- Nothing else on the trip looks remotely like it.
- Late and loud. This is a Hiro, Tokyo and Vrendan night, not an all-six night.
CoffeeEMA Espresso Bar in New Town is the benchmark, white-tiled and high energy, standing room. Café Letka in Letná for high ceilings, distressed walls and communal tables. Super Tramp Coffee hidden in a courtyard off Opatovická, properly hipster, no wifi on purpose. Onesip in the Old Town, tiny, closed Thursdays. Miners JZP in Vinohrady. Dos Mundos in Holešovice.
Books and recordsShakespeare and Sons for English-language books. Bontonland, plus the smaller vinyl shops around Vinohrady. Remember every record adds to the return shipping.
Bars with a point of viewBukowski's in Žižkov, classic cocktails by candlelight, deliberately the opposite of kitsch. Veltlin in Karlín, natural wine exclusively from countries of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. Kontakt Bar, a New York style dive with live acoustic sets. Lokál Dlouhááá for retro Czech pub culture at long wooden tables. Cobra Bar, which is a café, a bar and an art gallery at once.
Live musicAghaRTA Jazz Centrum and Jazz Dock for jazz in cellars. Vagon Music Pub does live rock and blues every night at 9pm. Lucerna Music Bar runs 80s nights on Fridays and Saturdays, which is kitsch by design. Palác Akropolis and Club 007 for alternative and underground. Roxy on Dlouhá for DJs and live nights, with the NoD cocktail bar attached.
Vienna
Where the coffee house is the cultureSupersense
Free to browseWhyAn analogue cultural centre devoted to music, design and art, housed in the Dogenhof, the only Venetian palace in Vienna. Record shop, coffee bar, gallery, studio, restaurant and supper club, all at once. Cited as one of the most interesting concepts of its kind in Europe.
- Records, a gallery and coffee in one building. If one place on this list is going to be your favourite, it is probably this one.
- Costs nothing to walk in, so it is a free afternoon that does not feel like one.
Café Schopenhauer
Price of coffeeWhyA coffee house that is also a bookshop and a small live music venue. Wienerlied with a modern twist, some world music, some jazz. Readings and book launches. And puppet theatre and interactive concerts for children.
- Live music, books and coffee in one room, which is three of your four categories at a single table.
- The children's programme means Akira has a reason to be there rather than being parked with a drink.
- Programme is small and scheduled. Check what is on before building an evening around it.
Bookshops, one streetWollzeile, running east from Stephansplatz, is Vienna's specialist street: Britischer Buchladen for English-language books, Hartlieb for Austrian, Doblinger for sheet music, plus antiques. Manz on the Graben is the historic one.
An afternoon of browsingThe Servitenviertel, a small residential district around the 17th-century Servitenkirche, has quietly become a cluster of independent specialists: cookbooks at Cooks Atelier, tea at Schönbichler, antiques along Servitengasse, vintage along Berggasse. Described as the perfect non-touristy Vienna Saturday, about two hours.
RecordsBlack Monk Records for jazz, rock, metal and punk, with bargain bins at three euros and ten to fifteen. Teuchtler, the legendary old shop. Moses Records on Lerchenfelderstrasse.
Coffee houses with musicCafé Ritter on Mariahilfer Strasse has piano on Thursdays from 3 to 6pm. Café Sperl, open since 1880, thonet armchairs and marble tables and glass chandeliers. Schmid Hansl in the Vorstadt for live music and readings.
Salzburg and Munich
Not researched yetMunich, the one thing already known
Optimal Records, one of the best vinyl shops in Europe. Everything else here, the coffee, the bars, the bookshops, still needs doing properly.
Salzburg
Two nights only, so one good café and one good bar is probably the whole ask. Nothing found yet.
Why these are blankPrague and Vienna above are researched. These two are not, and putting plausible-sounding names here would be worse than leaving the gap visible. This is the board working as intended.
How to use this sectionNothing here needs booking, which makes it the most useful part of the board on the day. Pick one thing per city that everybody agrees on, and leave the rest as options for whoever wants them.
Add freelyAnything either of us finds goes here. A name and a line is enough. A link is better.
Lauterbrunnen
Church
The Wedding
Symbolic, family onlyZell am See, the Austrian Alps
Switzerland is out. Too expensive, and the Swiss Alps are too far. The Austrian Alps make more sense and put the ceremony and the two nights alone next to each other instead of splitting them across the trip.
The exact spot
Needs to be free, flat enough for a cello, and close to wherever we are staying. Nothing picked yet, and nothing goes on this row without a link.
Time of day
Dawn was the Lauterbrunnen answer, because the falls face east and the crowds came mid-morning. Zell am See is a different problem, so this gets decided once the spot is picked.
One hour, one place
Vows and portraits in a single spot. An hour does not cover moving between two. Vrendan officiates and sets the running order the night before. No flowers, no hair, no guests.
A backup for bad weather
Wanted, not yet found. In the valley we had Winteregg above the cloud line. Zell am See needs its own version, decided the evening before rather than that morning.
Photographer, on a flexible window
One hour inside a two or three day range, confirmed 24 hours ahead. Book a fixed date and we marry in whatever that day brings. Ask for it up front, before any deposit. $600 to $900.
A cellist, if one can be found
Ask wherever we are staying first, then Zell am See tourism. Tell them it is outdoors on grass, because a cello needs flat ground and an endpin stop. $300 to $400.
Celebration dinner
Alpenblick was Swiss and is gone with it. Needs an Austrian replacement, and the same question asked of it: will they seat a seven-year-old at dinner service. Book about three months out. $1,700.
Already marriedThis is symbolic, which removes the entire legal track: no permits, no apostilles, no certified translations, no three-month lead time. It saved roughly $800 and the single biggest thing that could have gone wrong.
The dress ships straight thereAustria is in the EU, so the Munich workaround is gone. Ship it to wherever we are staying in Zell am See. Six weeks ahead, insured for full replacement.
What Switzerland took with itThe Lauterbrunnen meadow, the Winteregg backup, Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn, the Jungfrau pass, and the whole excursions ledger below. Those need rebuilding around Austria before this board is honest again.
Hiro: Graduation and 19
Two of the three celebrations are hisThe trip runs on his calendarHe graduates at the start of June, which sets the departure date. His birthday is on the 23rd, which sets where Vienna falls. The wedding fits around both. That is the right order and it is not a compromise.
His birthday, 23 June, in Vienna
Roughly $300 to $500Why it lands thereDeparting on the 13th puts the 23rd in the middle of the Vienna leg rather than on a travel day. That was chosen, not luck. Shift departure by two days and his birthday becomes an arrival day spent hauling bags.
- He turns 19, so he can drink with us legally in Austria.
- Vienna is the right city for him: Supersense, the record shops on Wollzeile, Black Monk. A serious dinner costs less than the same night in Switzerland.
- Mid-stay, so no packing, no trains, no early start.
- Books out three months ahead if it is anywhere good. Put it in the timeline.
Ask him what he wantsA booked restaurant, or a night he plans himself with Tokyo and Vrendan. Both are fine. Guessing is not.
The graduation, celebrated in Prague
Roughly $300 to $500Why Prague and not homeThe ceremony is at home in early June. The celebration can be the first proper night of the trip, in the cheapest city on the route, where a serious restaurant costs a fraction of the same meal in Switzerland.
- Two separate nights for him, ten days apart, so the birthday does not absorb the graduation.
- Not the first night. Jet lag. Day three or four, so around the 15th or 16th.
One day he plans himself
Whatever he picksWhyA transit pass and a full day with no input from us. Munich suits it best: BMW Museum, Allianz Arena if a match is on, Optimal Records. Prague works too.
- Costs nothing to offer and outlasts any dinner.
- Needs to be a real day on the itinerary or it gets absorbed by everyone else's plans.
He is 19, not 18He crosses 18 in June 2027, a year before we travel. The adult pricing on this board is already correct and nothing moves.
A role at the ceremony, if he wants oneVrendan officiates, Tokyo and Akira are there, Hiro has no part yet. A reading, or he walks Leta up. Ask him. An answer of no is a fine answer.
Two Nights, Just Us
Straight after the ceremonyWhy it moved againIt was two nights in Murren, then it moved to Cesky Krumlov because four Swiss nights minus two left the kids almost nothing. Both of those problems came from Switzerland. With the wedding in Zell am See, the two nights sit right after the ceremony instead of ten days before it.
Close in time to the ceremony
Not split away to another country and another week. That is the decision. Where exactly, and whether it is in Zell am See itself or somewhere an hour out, is not.
Where
Nothing picked. Needs to be close enough that the kids are not stranded, and different enough from the family lodging to feel like something.
Which two nights
The Zell am See leg is 27 to 30 June. If the ceremony is early in it, the two nights are the back half. If the ceremony is late, they push into the Munich leg, which does not work. Ceremony date decides this.
Cost
The old line was one splurge night at $750, then two Murren nights at roughly double that. Austrian alpine prices in late June are lower than Swiss but not low. Get a quote before this gets a number.
Who has AkiraHiro, Tokyo and Vrendan, in the family lodging, in a town they will have been in for two days already. Same arrangement as before, shorter distance.
Order fixed itselfThe Cesky Krumlov version fell before the ceremony, which was a technicality but a slightly odd one. This one falls after it.
The Last Stop
Where We Stay
Zell am See, 27 to 30 JuneOne place for the whole leg
Six people, three weeks of luggage and a wedding dress. Moving twice inside four nights is not worth whatever it saves.
Reachable by car and by train
The Lauterbrunnen rule stands and it is why Wengen and Murren were ruled out. Anywhere that can only be reached by cable car is out for the same reason.
Candidates
None yet. Wanted: sleeps six, kitchen, walkable to the lake or the station, and somewhere the dress can be delivered and hung six weeks ahead. Nothing goes on this list without a price and a link.
Ask Leta what she wants in it
Kitchen, laundry, bath over shower, fewer moves. The only thing she has asked for so far is her own blanket from home, which is already on the packing list.
The two nights, just us
Separate booking, straight after the ceremony. See the section above.
Book this early anywayLate June in the Austrian Alps is not as tight as the Lauterbrunnen valley was, but it is still summer season. October to December 2027.
Prague, Vienna, Salzburg and MunichNot on this board yet. Four more bookings, all cities, all easier than this one.
Jungfrau
Railway
The Money
Being reworked for AustriaWhy there is no totalFour of the eleven lines changed at once when Switzerland came out. A number here now would be a guess dressed as a budget, and the whole point of this board is that we do not do that.
What leavesFour Swiss nights at Swiss lodging rates. Food at $300 a day for six, against $210 in Austria. The Swiss regional pass. Jungfraujoch and Schilthorn. And most of the shipping line, because Austria is in the EU and there is no customs workaround to pay for.
What entersA rental car for the Zell am See and Kaprun days, which the old rail-only plan never had. Whatever replaces the Swiss mountain excursions. And a fifth city booking, because Salzburg is back in.
What does not moveFlights are the same six seats, though the return is now from Munich rather than Zurich. Insurance, spending money and the ceremony are unchanged. Do not cut the 8 percent contingency.
The three options still stand as shapesA is the full 21 nights with everyone throughout. B is 14 nights and still will not reach $25,000, because flights and shipping do not shrink with a shorter trip. C is Tokyo and Vrendan joining for the last ten days. All three need recosting.
Memories Made.
Mountains and Excursions
Pick two, not fiveThis section emptied outJungfraujoch, Schilthorn, Staubbach, Trummelbach and the Jungfrau Travel Pass were all Swiss, and all five went when Switzerland did. Nothing Austrian has been researched to replace them. The section stays here, empty, because pretending otherwise is how a board starts lying.
Around Zell am See and Kaprun
The lake, the Schmittenhohe, the Kitzsteinhorn glacier, the Grossglockner high alpine road. Names only. No prices, no links, no idea yet which of them work with a seven-year-old or what is open in late June.
Around Salzburg
Hohensalzburg and Hellbrunn are already in Block 2C. Anything else in the Salzkammergut, including whether Hallstatt is worth a day, belongs here.
Do we need a car, and for how long
Trains cover Prague, Vienna, Salzburg and Munich. The mountains probably need a car for part of the Zell am See leg. A rental for six is not in the budget yet and this decides that line.
A regional pass, if one exists
The Swiss version of this question was the one that quietly doubled budgets. Austria will have its own. Decide it last, once the excursion list is final, not first.
How this section is meant to workEvery new idea gets added here with a real price and a real link, even a rough one. The list is supposed to outgrow the budget. That is the point: the choosing happens on this page instead of at the ticket window.
Nothing goes on without a linkIf we cannot link it, we do not know enough about it yet to argue for it.
One thing already learned the hard wayThe Swiss franc was worth more than the dollar and an early version of this board converted it the wrong way. The euro is closer to parity, but check the rate rather than assuming it.
THE
RESOURCES
Everything either of us finds. Pictures, dress references, Instagram saves, places to eat. This is the part of the page that grows, so almost none of it is code. Add ordinary Squarespace blocks underneath and they will match the rest of the board.
How to add things
No code needed below this lineThree ways in
- A picture. Add an Image block. Drag it where you want it. That is the whole job.
- An Instagram post. On a computer, open the post, click the three dots, click Embed, copy the code. Then add an Embed block, click Code snippet, and paste. It renders the real post, not a dead link.
- Anything else. Add a Text block and paste the link with one line saying what it is. Tidy it later.
Instagram only offers Embed on desktop, not in the phone app. From a phone you will only get a plain link, which is fine. Paste it as text and whoever is next at a computer can turn it into a real embed.
Say what it is, and what it costsOne line under anything you add. If it has a price, write the price. An idea without a number cannot be weighed against anything else.
Do not both edit at onceSquarespace lets two people edit the same page and the second save wins. Text first, then edit.
Delete freelyThis section is meant to be pruned. If we have decided against something, take it off the page.
The Dress
LetaWhat it has to surviveA shipping crate to Munich, one long train, and wet grass at dawn. Anything that cannot take all three is the wrong dress, however good it looks in the shop.
Photo References
Both of usCollect these before we approach anyoneShowing a photographer eight pictures is faster and more accurate than describing what we want. It is also how we find out early if someone does not shoot this way.
Places and Everything Else
Any city, any timeRestaurants, sights, things the kids wantThree weeks is long enough that everyone should get one thing they chose. Ask Akira and Hiro, then write it down here before it evaporates.
First Light.
Open Threads
Gold is blocking- Password-protect this page.Page Settings. It names the children and their ages on a public company domain, alongside travel dates and a budget. This has been the top item for a while.
- Recost the whole thing for Austria.Four budget lines changed at once. Until that is done there is no total, and no way to pick between A, B and C.
- Pick the ceremony spot in Zell am See.Everything else in the wedding section waits on it: the time of day, the backup, the photographer brief and where the two nights sit.
- Confirm the graduation date.Everything counts back from 13 June. If the school says otherwise, the whole trip shifts together.
- Ask Leta what she wants in the accommodation.Kitchen, laundry, bath over shower, fewer moves. The only thing she has asked for so far is her own blanket from home, which is already on the packing list.
- Research Zell am See and Kaprun.Block 2F and Block 6 are both empty. Excursions, prices, links, and whether we need a car.
- Find somewhere to stay in Zell am See.Sleeps six, kitchen, walkable, and somewhere the dress can be delivered six weeks ahead.
- Find an Austrian replacement for the celebration dinner.Alpenblick was Swiss. Ask whoever replaces it whether they will seat a seven-year-old at dinner service.
- Find a cellist.Wherever we are staying first, then Zell am See tourism. Say outdoors, on grass.
- Book the photographer on a flexible window.Negotiate it up front, not after a deposit.
- Ask Hiro what he wants for the 23rd.Booked dinner in Vienna, or a night he plans himself. Nineteen is old enough to decide. Do not guess.
- Ask Hiro about a role at the ceremony.A reading, or he walks Leta up. No is a fine answer.
- Fill in the official links in Blocks 2B, 2C and 2D.Vienna, Salzburg and Munich all still say "links to add".
- Create the master Google Doc.Then paste the link into the empty hub button in Block 2.
The Timeline
First real deadline is Sept 2027Now to mid 2027
Research Austria. Recost the budget. Pick the ceremony spot. Confirm the graduation date against 13 June. Pick the option.
July to September 2027
Flights for 13 June 2028 load about eleven months ahead. In to Prague, home from Munich. Book the Prague and Vienna apartments too.
October to December 2027
Book Zell am See and the two nights just us. Salzburg and Munich as well, since five city bookings is now the shape of this.
January to February 2028
ETIAS for all six. Book the photographer.
February to March 2028
Book the celebration dinner about three months out. Neuschwanstein timed tickets the day they release. That is the only hard deadline on the trip.
March to April 2028
Advance rail fares on all four legs. Rental car for the mountain days. Travel insurance. Call Zell am See tourism about the spot.
Six weeks out
Ship the dress and tux to Zell am See. Budget $500 to $800 to send everything home again, since records are heavy.
Passports are doneAll six. This was the one urgent item and it is closed.
ETIAS is a certainty by 2028Twenty euro each, online, about ten minutes. Akira's fee is waived because she is under 18, but she still has to have one. It is not a visa.
Build a buffer on arrival dayThe EU biometric entry system has been live since April 2026 and passport control queues are long. Do not book anything tight on the day we land.