we were at my parents' house on sunday working out some trip details, as they were to a lot of the places mike and i are going, and they have experiences we're curious about. we ended up getting a few things figured out, so i thought i'd post them. we're going to start in england and stay there for 3 to 5 days. we'll pay dev a visit in exeter and check out some touristy stuff thereabouts and london. from london, we're going to take the chunnel over to paris, where we'll spend a day or two checking out the sights there. mike's really interested in the louvre, and i'd love to see painter's square. we'll head toward germany, but i'd like to at least visit a small village or two in france beforehand. we'll see if we can take a train out of paris and either into germany or to a place inside france where we can get a rental car. it'll depend on the circumstances. in germany, we're going to check out some castles as well as the city of rothenburg. we'll have the rental car by this point, but we haven't gotten any more specifics than that so far. (i'm not even sure how many days we're going to spend there, either.) we're working on it. then we're heading to austria, where we'll focus on vienna and salzburg. again, not sure how many days we'll spend here. after that, it's on to holland, where our trip will end. we'll be visiting my friend, etan, for awhile, taking a trip to amsterdam to check out the anne frank house, and see what else we can find. etan also will help direct us toward job centres and such if we decide to stay, though this will probably be in the venray area (we'd like a smaller city, and i'd like to be near someone i know in the event we -do- stay). we're going to make a point to see a concentration camp or two, though we're not sure which ones to see yet, so that'll also help the determine the amount of days spent in the latter three countries. also, if we like it enough to stay, we'll shorten the 'trip' time a bit and spend more time in holland; if we just want to keep it a visit, then we'll extend our travel time elsewhere. we've got a month to figure it out. we were originally going to go in march, but we'll have to push it to april, i think, as rental car fees are insane if one's under 25. in paris, it's an additional 25 euro PER DAY, which is worth between $40 and $50 right now; in germany, the fee is 10€ more per day, and in austria, 11,3€. we're trying to save as much as possible, so, as i turn 25 in april, it seems it'd be better to go then, instead. i'll update this as we get more things set up. (= [edit] we're planning on being gone for a month. i should've mentioned that part, heh.