When our boys were growing up, Ted was putting in crazy work hours and I was working during the school year.

March Breaks were the time for family trips to timeshare destinations. The beginning of summer holidays were a signal for baseball and soccer leagues, outdoor swimming lessons, and occasional short road trips.

One of my traditions was a mother and son day with each of our boys, whose interests were wildly different. Son #2 inevitably wanted the same thing each year: a trip to Niagara Falls. Those days became some of our favourite memories. Sadly, before cellphones and without Ted along, there are no photos of those trips.

Nonetheless, the idea of a “grown-up” mother and son trip has long been brewing.

#2 has been floating the trial balloon of a “heritage” trip to Germany for some time now. His criteria were: (1) that we visit the town in which his grandfather (my dad) lived as a “displaced person” before emigrating to Canada, (2) that I help him learn about his German heritage, and (3) that we take the trip while I was still energetic enough to act as tour guide/translator and “young” enough to drink beer with him.

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So here we go!

Our itinerary is 13 days long, two of which will be travel days. We could easily have used another 7 days, but 2 weeks was both the maximum amount of time #2, who is with the RCAF, can get off work right now, and the maximum amount of time we wouldn’t feel too guilty about leaving my daughter-in-law on her own dealing with their 3 high energy boys while also juggling her multiple jobs.

DAY 1: Fly from Vancouver to Bremen, via Frankfurt. We have a 4 hour layover in the Frankfurt airport, where we’ll grab our first German breakfast.

DAYS 2-6: Introduce #2 to his German family in the county of Verden, attend the annual Verden Dom Festival, travel to the new Emigration Centre in Bremerhaven, and tour the old city centre of Bremen.

DAYS 7-9: (Train to Berlin) The plan in this amazing city is to immerse ourselves for 2-1/2 days in pre and post WWII history.

DAYS 10-12: (Train to Munich.) In addition to raising a glass at the iconic Hofbräuhaus, we’ll touch on much older history here (back to the pre-“Germany” days of Bavaria as part of the Holy Roman Empire), plus have a chance for #2 to connect with a friend in the restaurant business.

DAY 13: Fly from Munich back to Vancouver, via Iceland.

We’re doing it all on public transit once we’re off the plane, so the goal was to pack carry-on, even though we can check our bags on the flight.

For me, that meant a standard carry-on bag and a nice big shoulder bag. In the suitcase: 8 lightweight shirts in blue/white/yellow, 3 pairs of pants(1 long slim navy, 1 long white cotton, 1 navy/white capri), a lightweight sleeveless maxi dress in a yellow print, my packable maxi raincoat, a pair of yellow sandals, a pair of white flats, costume jewellery, 2 lightweight scarves, pyjamas, and undergarments. The outer pockets will have my clear TSA “liquids” pack, and some small souvenirs from Africa for my cousins. In the shoulder bag: a small purse with travel documents, wallet and phone; iPad; a bag of cords and chargers; some minimal makeup items, and an umbrella. I’ll wear stretch jeans, a tee, a white knit blazer, and navy walking shoes on the flight.

Knowing that #2 has big “man feet”, I suggested he pack his extra shoes and raingear in a backpack, leaving his carryon free for 3 pairs of pants, 5-6 nice tees, 5-6 button-up shirts, undergarments, and travel-size toiletries, but he’s young and strong, so he chose a slightly larger suitcase and a few more clothing options. I wouldn’t want to lift a big suitcase into train luggage rack (although Ted and I did it in 2016 when we were much younger and travelling by train to Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna) but #2 has muscles. Bonus: he had room in his suitcase for my dirndl!

We fly tomorrow.

It will be a bit of a whirlwind trip, but we’re both looking forward to it!