We really ARE going to Europe!

On Saturday, April 14, most of the Touring Ensemble and their parents had the opportunity to meet Sandra, our tour director, and the singers enjoyed lots of great German food. Since I was out of town, I enjoyed my great German food today!

Based on my wife Amy's notes, I'll summarize some of the key points. Dr. Jacobs will send me the Powerpoint soon so that I can share it on the blog. I'm looking forward to seeing it myself.

• Bringing traveler's checks is not recommended due to extra fees and possibly poor conversion rates. An ATM card (and PIN) is a good way to go, as well as bringing some Euros to get by at the start of the trip before you have a chance to withdraw from a machine.
• Since most lunches are not included in the tour price, consider allowing about 10 Euros per required lunch.
• Bring some granola bars, trail mix, etc., if you need to supplement for any possible food that you may not like -- but at least try it!
• Tipping is 5-10% for a very nice restaurant. No restaurant tipping is expected in the Czech Republic, however.
• Expect temperatures in the upper 70's to mid 80's during the day.
• All electrical outlets are 220V (2 round plugs). It's a good idea to check the AC input voltages on your camera battery chargers or any other electrical devices that you plan to bring. Many can handle a wide range of voltages (including 220V), but you need to make sure. If you don't need a transformer to change voltages from 220V to 110V, then you can get by with just an adapter to go from our American plugs to the European outlets.
• An additional $20 will be needed from each person to cover airport tax and fuel surcharges.
• Also, another $20 will be needed from each singer to cover the cost of the four T-shirts that they will receive. For those new to this, we have four tour-specific shirts of different colors. On certain days, certain colors are worn. Other days are free selection (following the rules, of course).
• If you want to start looking ahead on the Internet, you can generally find out about a certain German city by typing its name followed by '.de'. For example, for Chemnitz, type www.chemnitz.de. For Austria, use '.at' instead of '.de', and for the Czech Republic, use 'cz'. You will USUALLY have the opportunity to choose English. If you don't, you can go to http://babelfish.altavista.com/ and use it to translate the website from German to English. The translation is usually pretty entertaining.

Well, that's enough for now. Lots more in the coming weeks.

Auf Wiedersehen