Trip Report: Austria 2014

It was the trip of a lifetime. Okay, let's back up a second. On paper, there was plenty that could go wrong, right? A European vacation with an 18-month-old and the in-laws? Get real -- what was I thinking!

Moving back to real time, as I mentioned, the trip of a lifetime. The five travelers in our group were completely compatible, due to shared interests and a total can-do attitude. It would have been tough not to have fun. Ali and I -- despite limited practice (okay, who am I kidding... I did not practice at all) -- had a great time communicating in German. In fact, my understanding of the language was the best of all five times I have visited this area of the world. I can't wait to go back.

We biked, hiked, ate amazingly good food, sampled the local beers and wines (and plenty of them), and did a few tourist things. There were three legs of the trip -- Obertraun (a tiny little Austrian mountain village), Ruhpolding (the hometown of old friends the Pichler family), and Salzburg (tourist central -- and we were right there with 'em).

Leg One (6 days): Obertraun. Stayed at Haus Hepi. The longest leg, we were surrounded by amazing mountains, we did three great bike rides, we ate exquisite food prepared by Larry, co-owner of Haus Hepi, and we had just a fabulous time. Here, Gunnar established that he was going to travel like a champ. We also jumped in the Kaiserlauf -- Bad Ischl's local half-marathon.

Leg Two (2 days): Ruhpolding. Pam Pichler hooked us up with the Heigermoser family who have a couple of vacation apartments (and who make the best cakes in Ruhpolding) and took us on a breathtaking hike through alpine meadows to a Gipfelkreuz on a knife-edge ridge that came out of nowhere. Thank you Pam for the locals' knowledge! We also took Gunnar to the local pool -- which had the most amazing kiddie pool setup I have ever seen (Ali and I also took turns hitting the water slide).

Leg Three (2 days): Salzburg. Ali and I had both been here before but mostly passing through. My memories of prior visits: (slightly fuzzy) large beers, bad food, no flow. This visit was different on all counts. It turns out one can order a half-liter beer at the Augustiner beer garden (not sure if this option was available last visit or if I only saw the full-liter option). Meanwhile, we had incredible food both days, and we had a great time wandering the city.

I love visiting a place and speaking the language. I love how beautiful Austria and Bavaria are. I love Austrian and Bavarian beer, wine, and food. Most of all, I loved traveling there with our team -- Ali, Gunnar, Doug, and Ruth.

Two take-aways from this trip. It is possible to travel with an 18-month-old... and have a good time.

Second, let me know if you hear of any ski instructing jobs in the Obertraun/Dachstein area. I'd take it in a second.