Just wanted to let all of you know that we are closing in on our trip to Sweden and Germany! We will be leaving on Monday, June 19th. I think we have all of our major city hotels, trains, and car rentals taken care of. But we still do not have any hotels or bed and breakfasts booked in between the major cities. Are we totally stupid to just start driving and hope to find somewhere to stay? I hope we aren't. Just wondered if anyone can tell me if I am being too optimistic here. We are truly excited about getting to come to Sweden and Germany. We are hoping to find some records for my husbands family in Ljungsbro, Sweden, and one of my families in Schwalenberg, Germany. We would even be thrilled to find someone still in Sweden and Germany that is related to us! Wouldn't that be terrific? Anyway, I am sitting here not knowing for sure if what we are planning is the right thing! Help! We are just hoping things come out right. Janice Danielson

At 1:10 AM -0500 6/17/00, Janice Danielson wrote: > I think we have all of our major city hotels, trains, and >car rentals taken care of. But we still do not have any hotels or >bed and breakfasts booked in between the major cities. Are we >totally stupid to just start driving and hope to find somewhere to >stay? I'd say you are probably over-planned. If you travel the main auto-bahns you should have no trouble finding something. They don't have motels at every intersection like we do, but you will find them. Just give yourself plenty of time. In the US we start looking for a motel around 9 or 10 in the evening, over there you would be smarter to start looking much earlier. Last year we spent two weeks in Europe and only had a reservation for one night. We got in the habit of starting to look for a place to stay around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. If we found something right away, it gave us plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely meal and an evening exploring the local countryside. If we didn't find something, we had enough time to keep looking. - John