The Genesis of S's Birthday Trip

A couple of months ago S mentioned that this would be the first year in several that she wasn’t going to have Korean BBQ for her birthday. And I immediately thought: What if she could? I told her it was probably possible to hop a flight to somewhere in Europe and take a weekend trip. “Mom, that’s so extra,” she said, rolling her eyes. I mean, yes, completely. But also: How many times in your life will you have the ability to do something like that? Probably not many, so carpe diem.

I started looking at options and landed on several possibilities: Rome, Florence, London, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and Bucharest. There were others, but they were a bit farther or more complicated to get to for a long weekend getaway. (Nope, nothing in the Balkans.) We had recently been to Vienna and Budapest, so I nixed those (though we loved both). Direct flights to Bucharest only happen several days a week, so that was tricky. Prague had multiple Korean BBQ options but, upon further digging, they predominantly served pork, with few beef options. We are a beef family. So that left Rome, London, or Florence.

The girls had been to London and Rome, but not Florence, so I suggested Florence. I went last fall and loved it! The downside is that there’s no direct flight from Tirana, so it requires flying into Pisa or Bologna and taking a train, but from a time perspective it’s about the same as going to London (especially once you add in the train ride you have to take from Stansted).

Everyone gave it the green light, so I booked the flights (into Pisa and out of Bologna), the train tickets from Florence to Bologna, and the AirBNB. Most importantly, I also made a dinner reservation at Hallasan, the Korean BBQ restaurant in Florence. I even got us appointments to get our hair cut and looked up places where I could buy new running shoes (mine are getting to end of life). Later, I added a second dinner reservation at a steak place S’s physical therapist recommended. Our long weekend was shaping up excellently!

Of course, you know what they say about best laid plans…Continue reading the story.