Sabbatical Trip, 2022
A Cruise on the Danube and Exploring the Alps by Train
This was a scaled-back trip for Jim's sabbatical in 2022. One driving consideration was that we didn't know how much Amy would be able to do in a physical sense.
That consideration prompted the first half of the trip: A Viking river cruise up the Danube. We figured that this should be within Amy's abilities, and Amy really wanted to see Budapest.
Sam, on the other hand, had no interest in a river cruise. In fact, she was dead set against it. (This was probably the right call, as pretty much everyone on the boat was over 50, and most over 60.) On the other hand, she was interested in a scenic train trip through Switzerland, e.g. the "Glacier Express".
This led to some rather odd trip logistics. Amy and Jim would go to the Danube Cruise for the first half of the trip. Then Sam would join us for the second half of the trip in Switzerland. To complicate matters, Sam would not be comfortable traveling alone. So while Amy took a train from Budapest to St Moritz, Jim would fly back (do some laundry and repack) and then fly with Sam to Switzerland. On one hand, Jim flying over the Atlantic twice in a few days seems somewhat gratuitous. On the other hand, the cost of those plane tickets was still less than it would have cost to have Sam join us on the boat.
You can skip the text and just look at a slideshow of the pictures: first or last.