It has been us girls at home while the hubby is off working in Houston last week and this week. Friends are heading off for their extended summer vacations to the U.S., and so it has been quieting down on the friend front for my social butterfly. So she asked if we could take a last-minute weekend trip. I said sure, and Dad said to have fun.
We had no destination; we just wanted to go somewhere new. Another expat friend turned me on to Google Flights and their explore option a while back. It is perfect when you don’t know where you want to go. Put in your starting point and leave the destination blank; you can add the travel dates if you have them and click on the blue explore button.
Below is a sample of what pops up when I filter for non-stop flights for this coming weekend. I wanted a non-stop flight, at or near €200 per person, return.
Amazing right? For a chuckle, I will tell you that Dublin is normally a super cheap flight for us from Amsterdam. I have NEVER seen the price even hit €400. But do you know what is going on next weekend in Dublin?
Yep, it’s the Taylor Swift effect. I just thought it was an interesting side note.
But more seriously, our choices narrowed to Barcelona, Lisbon, Prague, and Zurich. I already have a plan for a longer trip to Spain and Portugal, and I was hoping to take the overnight train to Prague in December to see their Christmas market so that left Zurich. And do you know what is close to Zurich? Liechtenstein. We went to Switzerland last summer with our Girl Scout troop, but we had no plans to get to Liechtenstein, so it seemed like the perfect weekend away.
Red, White and Tulips 