Piano World Home Page Forums Fun Stuff! - Parties, Tours, Projects & More... Forum Members Parties, Tours, Cruises, & Meetings Piano & Music Lovers Tour - Europe 2011 - JOIN US!

Lüneburg, Germany which is south of Hamburg, I think by about 1/2 hr / hr. ???

The other wonderful choice could be Lubeck which is northeast of the city.

Look up stuff on the internet. Easier than reading a book. Trip Advisor became my nightly visits! Lots on what to do before and aft.

I am also staying in Vienna area for the weekend after the tour. Traveling up the Danube to Melk and then on to Salsburg/Munich for the jet home, and traveling east to a castle and gardens on Fri. So much to see and do while in the area!

Had a couple people at the NAMM show express an interest in joining us.
I hope they do, but they will need to get their deposits in a.s.a.p.

More later when I get through the emails and stuff from NAMM.

lilylady you have the right idea. You will be in Europe anyway, make the best of it :-)

Come on folks, we have 17 people who have sent their deposits, but we would still love to have some more piano/music lovers join us.

You know this is a super special tour like no other.
Please join us, it's going to be a trip of a lifetime!

What happened to the number 30 that were reported committed? As I've said in the past we will never know if this trip happens unless people put their money where their mouth is.

Frank, when will you decide to "pull the plug" on doing this trip. The longer we're dangling out here the fewer the opportunities for us to make alternate travel plans. I don't want to get stuck with an airplane ticket if this trip doesn't happen!

Well, we've been told that if we have 15, that's enough to guarantee the trip, so that should be settled.

And your post reminded me of an example showing the difference between being involved and being committed. In a ham and eggs breakfast, the hen is involved, but the pig is committed.

See you in June.

From talking with Elle and Hills Travel, I understand the trip will happen. Frank, with your party, is the number of people 19? That would mean we have the middle price? I am very excited and really looking forward to it!!

Thanks Palindrome and Qtpi for your positive input. I really want to hear more from Frank and Elle. Nothing has been posted lately about the trip. Like the pig, I'm committed HOWEVER I don't want my "goose cooked" (in other words - no tour because there weren't the numbers needed to make it happen. And if it is a go I need to know how many dollars I have to have ready and by when. I'm just used to having more concrete information in hand - I'm getting uneasy about lack of details shared with potential participants.

Quite reasonable, given the date, in my opinion. Have you e-mailed Elle? She's been quite quick to respond to my questions.

The tour is definitely on.

Like anything of this type we've had people swear they were joining us, only to have to back out because of personal issues, job losses, etc..

That said there are still some people who we are hoping will come through from the original lists.

And we still have additional people interested in joining us, we will be happy to add them if they get their deposits in quickly.

We have 15 confirmed deposits, plus Kathy & myself.

I put it that way because as the tour organizers we were hoping to get a little break on our part of the tour.
I'm self employed and Kathy only works part time.

We were also hoping to reach the magic 19 number to drop the pricing for everyone.

However, any way you look at it, the tour is a go!

Anyone with questions is more than welcome to contact me and/or Elle (our travel agent) anytme. You can also contact the main Hill's Travel office in St. Petersburg (FL).

My email is frank_baxter@pianoworld.com
My phone number is the main Piano World number.

Elle is at:
Hill's Travel Service
Saint Petersburg, USA
Trier, Germany
P: (877) 845 7437 ­ toll free
F: (727) 896 7167
Email: elle@hillstravel.com

Looking forward to meeting everyone in Germany in June!

By all means, if you think you might no someone who would enjoy the tour, please tell them all about it and get them on board.

Thank you for the solid information, Frank. I needed to hear something like this because there had been little posting since the first of the year. I am looking forward to the great experience you have planned. Thank you for all your efforts. Terry

Terry- I understand. I must have asked at least 5 times is the tour definitely on before I got my airfare, because I did not want to lose the money I spent on that. Once I heard it's a go, I did get the air reservations and the travel insurance. I am hoping more people sign on, but I couldn't imagine a better trip- I love pianos and have always wanted to see Germany. I have been listening to the Pimmsleur German tapes and counting the days!

Kathy

Me too :-)

We had every intention from day one to make the tour work, but we had to reach a critical minimum number of commitments (read: sent money) before we could be absolutely sure.

We had quite a few people claim they were going, only to drop out for one reason or another. Thankfully it's all working out, and I do expect we'll have a few more people join yet. But even if we don't, we're going!

I'm as excited as anyone. I've never been to Europe, and I love pianos, so I'm like a little kid on Christmas morning.

Looking forward to meeting up with all of you in Germany.
And please do keep spreading the word, you never know who might decide to join us.

I am tempted, but realize I have a lot of expensive projects coming up this year. I really wish I could do it.

However, I for sure wish to join the group while they are in Vienna.

tnew, I wish you could join us for the entire tour, but at least we can meet up in Vienna.
Best idea would be to contact Elle, our travel agent about meeting up in Austria.

I have sent her an email and see what she says. I would love to join on the two days of tours and I am always happy for a visit to a Heuriger.

Sorry, Heuriger meaning wine garden restaurant, of which Grinzing is famous for.

I know that there was previous discussion about cell phones but I happened on this while surfing for info on Germany:

http://www.travel.org/cellphone-germany.html

Thanks Agilita,

Phones and Internet service in Europe concern me.
I realize Germany and many other countries have good service, but as this article points out that's primarily for residents.

I wonder if it would be better to use a high-speed Internet connection and Skype?

I'm afraid that I'm not techy enough to answer that. My two little granddaughters use Skype-their parents call the oldest one "the Skype monster". One night they were talking with their other grandmother in Boston and with an aunt who was in Guatemala at the time. They could all see and talk to one another. It amazes me.

The tour books very nice hotels that I would be shocked if they didn't have wireless internet. If I were on the tour, I would be using skype from my laptop. I have been very successful with skype last year with calls to Europe from Africa, S. America and even Asia. I personally think hotels should give free internet access, which more than half do. But a few hotels out there see it as a source of income and charge their guests per hour (means you get a password from the reception to access the connection). So, wifi is extensively spread over both austria and germany. I doubt you will have a problem.

Second preferred method is to use international calling cards (sometimes pre paid, sometimes rechargeable). They usually give a list of access numbers that allow you to make a single 'local call' to activate, and then charge you a per minute fee that is usually quite reasonable. You can get such cards within germany/austria, or maybe even find an international one in the US before you leave. I did this quite a bit in Argentina with great success. Bought 200 peso (30 euro?) card with local activation numbers which were free from the hotel room, dialed to Austria, and this gave me about 100 minutes of calling. Roaming would have cost me probably 6 euro or more a minute.

Thanks tnew, good information.

I've never been to Europe so this is all new to me.
I can't tell you how excited I am though to visit Austria and Germany.

And I already know I will want to go back and visit other countries (Italy and Ireland are on my "bucket" list). If I had the resources I would travel all the time. There are so many wonderful sights to see, and people to meet.

Although I love living in America, I sometimes envy you for living in Europe where you can access so many different cultures and so much history in such a short distance.

Thanks again, all advice is welcomed.

Best,

Frank B.
Piano World