How do I use this phone?

As I mentioned in a recent post, I'm working on planning travel for us for this year. At times this requires me to actually call to a different country to make a reservation for various activities. Somehow every time I have to call I am stumped on how the hell to make a phone call to another country from Switzerland. Really?

I call my parents and sisters on a regular basis, so why is it that I can call the US and not anywhere else in the world? I partially blame it on the fact that they are programmed into my cell phone, so outside of clicking on their name, I don't have to do much to call.

Also, for those of you who don't know, the US country code is +1. So you dial 001 then continue on with the number. European countries on the other hand have a two digit country code (for example, France is +33). So when you call you're supposed to dial 00, then the country code, then continue on with the number. Every time I try to make a phone call I'm convinced I need to drop one of the zeros or something; it's like the two digit country code trips me up every time.

Long story short, pretty much every time I have to make a phone call to somewhere other than the US or Switzerland I end up Googling how to call [insert country here] from Switzerland, and then am provided with directions.

Nothing like a simple task to put you right back in check about how smart you think you are. Maybe now that I've written about it I'll remember.

Trying not to have SO much to say...

As I mentioned the other day, I've been looking at other expat blogs lately and noticed that I have a tendency to have A LOT to say anytime I post. I'm trying to get better about not making my posts SO longwinded. In an effort to actually make some progress on this, I thought I would just post some pics from the last week or so. 

Basel sunset from our balcony

BK's handiwork in Baby K's room

Baking adventures: Red Velvet Cupcakes

33 weeks last Thursday

A look down the river, walking BK to work

Good morning from Abbs

I'm no expert photographer, but you get the idea. I may need to take more random pics during the week...

Let the travel planning begin!

Have baby will travel?

A throwback to traveling with friends (and baby) in Europe in 2010

When you read our blog, specifically about all the places we've travelled to, you may think to yourself, "How fun is that? LK and BK just jet around Europe on a whim, as they please." I hate to disappoint, but as fun as that sounds, it's not exactly how it works with BK and me. Spontaneity is not really our strong point. For those of you who know me well, I like a plan; I want to know what's going to happen, when it's going to happen and how it's going to happen.

All that said, we've started planning travel for this year. We do this so that BK can go ahead and take time off of work, we can look at where else we want to go during the year and make sure that happens, and so that we don't get locked out of hotels/flights/activities we want to do while traveling. 

So…we've started planning for 2014! The one huge difference this year? We'll be traveling as a party of three for the first time. My dad recently told me that my organized world was about to be in for a big change. I know this is true, but hopefully we'll figure out how to manage. I refuse to miss out on travel while living in Europe just because we've had Baby K.

Here's what we have planned so far:

• Day trips to other regions of Switzerland
• Lake Como/Lugano (Italian part of Switzerland)
• Prague, Czech Republic
• British Open (UK) and Ireland
• Two trips back to the US

And here's the other stuff we want to do:

• Istanbul, Turkey
• French wine country
• Exploring more of Germany
• See some World War II landmarks
• Budapest, Hungary 
• Morocco
• Spain (not sure which part)
• Lisbon and other parts of Portugal

Our first day trip is planned for when Baby K will be around six weeks old. I figured we would start with a day trip by train, then a long weekend by train, then try a long weekend via a short flight; hopefully we'll be good at this by the time we hit that long-haul flight back to the US.

I'll admit, I've started reading and researching blogs that talk about traveling abroad with a baby, although I've been told they are easiest to travel with when they are really young and not yet mobile. I quickly found that I was annoyed by the ones written by your typical American sources, as all they talk about is how hard it is going to be and that you have to take everything you own with you to be successful. 

I've found I really enjoy the ones written by other expats or Europeans who act like it's not that big of a deal, and no, they are not going to give up travel either. I'm hoping because so much of our day here will be spent being transported around to various places, similar to how we'll move around on vacation, that it won't be that big of a shock to her system. I honestly think going to the US will be the biggest change and challenge because it's will be such a change from our usual routine.

BK and I are headed to Zermatt, Switzerland this weekend with some friends for our last trip as a party of two. We'll live it up…as much as you can at 7.5 months pregnant!