A Vacation Without Kids

Tomorrow Sharon and I are heading to Switzerland for our honeymoon...err, I mean our 10th wedding anniversary. We have always wanted to visit Switzerland and we had planned on going there for our honeymoon 10 years ago. Then we had kids, and well...that never happened.

We have taken a few pretty nice vacations so far with the kids. There was a trip to Wales and two trips to Scotland, as well as one trip to Disney in Florida, and really they were all quite enjoyable. The kids were not really that bad to travel with, and of course we all had fun. But this is the first time we are going away and leaving the kids behind, and it is a little frightening to be quite honest. Sharon's mom is retired now and she is here watching them (we're only gone for a week), so they are in good hands but it is always hard to leave them behind.

Ah well, I guess it is only a week and I'm sure they won't miss us one bit. Perhaps once we all get a taste of what it is like to be away from one another for a few days, it will make us want to do it more often! At any rate, what I am looking forward to the most is the week of dinners without the usual 3 hour marathon of whining, bribery, and threats to get kids - who want to do every *but* eat - to finish their dinner. That's worth the price of admission alone in my book!

So, I am going to attempt to post regularly (internet connection permitting) while we are traveling. It should be fun. The rough itinerary will be:

- Fly into Zurich and head to Grindelwald for 2 nights where we will see the Schilthorn (we are big Bond fans), and hopefully Jungfraujoch.
- One night in Neuchatel to take advantage of the legendary hospitality of some colleagues from our Swiss office
- Two nights in Montreux where we will meet up with another former Swiss colleague and see Chillon castle, as well as take a Panoramic Train to Gstaad and back
- Spend a final night in Lucerne, where we will get up early and grab a train to Zurich to fly home on the 10th.

It is going to be a full week, but I think I have kept it loose enough so that it is relaxing rather than stressful. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Now I need to pack! As usual, I have all of my electronic gadgets sorted out (laptop, portable printer, cellphones, digital camera, chargers, etc.) and no clothes packed. Ah well, if I'm poorly dressed and totally unprepared at least I'll be connected!