This weekend we embark on or 3rd European trip together and could not be more excited. Why did we chose Austria as our next big trip? Most of our friends that have not been there say “Why Austria?” and then those who have been there say “OMG, Austria is AMAZING.” That’s pretty much it. When it became evident that we could pull off another trip if we penny pinched, we jumped on the opportunity. We knew we wanted to visit a really laid back area where we could spend some time immersed in the culture and we narrowed our choices to New Zealand, Ireland, Croatia, and Austria. The tickets to Austria happened to be the cheapest at the time we were booking and every picture we Googled looked absolutely stunning, so Austria was it!

We searched on Kayak and Google Flights for the cheapest option and figured we could pul off 4 weeks abroad. I must admit, I was a little nervous about booking our tickets from 3rd party called Vayama through Kayak.com. So far we haven’t run into any issues, but we shall see on Saturday. We will be flying Swiss Air this time. As far as I can tell, our tickets have zero bells and whistles. You have to pay a fee to reserve a seat, meals are provided for purchase only, and the layover is long. Again, I’m a little nervous about it!  I’m used to United which has been awesome on all our other trips. To pull this off, we just had to go with the cheapest travel option. We shall see!

Where are we going?

Aaron did most of the research for this trip so I was at his mercy on the destination choices. We did decide to rent a car because we saw that many of the sites in the mountains are only accessible by car. We actually found it was $400 cheaper to rent the car in Munich and just drive across the border to our location! We will have to purchase a Austrian “sticker” called a Vignette at the border, but I’ll give more info on that when we get there.

Innsbruck

Innsbruck on the western side of the country where we will have a lot of accessibility to other mountain towns. The AirBnB we have is actually next door to the ski resort, so we can walk to the lift in the mornings and hike down the mountain. Definitely a plus in my book.

Zell Am See

Zell Am See is an area that is also nestled in the Austrian Alps, but has a special WWII significance. If you’ve ever seen Band of Brothers, you’ll know that Easy Company was here for a while. I’ll be for sure bringing Aaron along on my self-created WWII Easy Company tour. I’m a WWII nerd and will not apologize.

Graz

Graz is a University town known for its fun night life and amazing “old town.” We’ll be here for two days on our way up to Vienna. It’s a University town, so I’m always up for exploring future places of employment! (…maybe)

Vienna

Let me tell you how stupid stoked I am about Vienna! I hear it’s like Paris but better. That’s all I need to hear. I LOVED Paris (who doesn’t?), but I am excited to explore the classical music capital of the world. We have a Vienna pass so we’ll get to see all of Shonbrunn, the Vienna Opera House, St. Stephens Cathedral, etc.  While we are there we will be seeing a Vivaldi concert in the church that Vivaldi conducted the Four Seasons and the musicians will be playing on instruments from the late 1700’s. Yes, please!

Melk

Melk is just outside Vienna and home to this gorgeous Abbey on the top of a hill. Our hotel is actually IN the Abbey, so I’m very excited about that. It just looks absolutely gorgeous, right? We’ll see what else we can do in Melk once we get there.

Bad Ischl/Halstatt

Halstatt is nestled in the lake district of Austria and may have been the ultimate determining factor on why we chose Austria as our summer vacay this year. We won’t be staying in Halstatt because the cost of AirBnB’s and Hotels were about $250+, but we have a car! My favorite thing about this part of the trip will be that my best friend Ashlin and her husband Todd will be joining us here! Woo hoo! We four traveled together to Scotland a few years ago and wanted a repeat of that adventure. Can’t wait to meet up with you, Ashlin!

Salzburg

I have actually been to Salzburg, but Aaron has not. I’m sure we will explore the Mozart house and the fortress, but I’m also excited to see all the Sound of Music filming locations. Ashlin and I will for sure be singing Do-Rey-Mi through these streets. I am crossing my fingers that my friend Sebastian and his wife Annika will be able to meet up with us on their way to Italy. Basti and I remained in touch from our study abroad trip 10 years ago with Angelo State University. It’s always awesome to have international friends (here’s lookin’ at you, David!) and he and Annika are such sweeties! I’m hoping for a reunion.

So that’s the plan. I’ll be posting as much as possible, but with spotty wifi in the mountains we shall see. Are there any places that you recommend we visit? We are always welcome to suggestions!