Honeymoon Itinerary and Packs

Sarah and I are pretty much set to go for our trip (hopefully).  We'll be going to The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden in that order.  Along the way we'll be stopping and seeing a couple friends that I've made over the years online playing magic cards with.  Usually just a day or two, but Martin in Denmark will be hosting us for 3 days/nights in Rødekro, Denmark.

Happily we don't have to worry about Covid restrictions this time around, although we'll have our vaccine card pics on our phones, and have a couple masks.  

------------------ITINERARY April 15 - May 3--------------------

Flight from MPLS -> Amsterdam, NL

Leave: April 15, 5:05pm,  Arrive: April 16, 8:15am  (Direct flight, 8h 10m)

All our trips between cities is via train.  Already booked

4/16:  Get to the hotel via train from the airport and drop off our bags.  We'll be a little early for check-in so we'll probably have to leave it at the desk.  Relax, short walk, eat/drink

4/17-4/19:  Amsterdam

4/20:  Enschede, NL - Meet Niek

4/21:  Bremen, Germany

4/22-4/23: Hamburg - Meet Emil

4/24: Daytrip to Lübeck

4/25-4/27: Rødekro, Denmark - Meet Martin

4/28-4/29: Copenhagen

4/30-5/1: Norrköping, Sweden - Meet Karl

5/2: Stockholm

Flight from Stockholm -> Amsterdam -> MPLS

Leave: May 3, 6:30am,  Arrive: May 2, 11:35am

I'll leave out any of the trip deets here so its not spoiled or if things change.  Overall we have a few things planned but not a ton, so it can be a more chill go at our own pace kind of trip.  

---------------BUDGET ---------------

This was our first time using our travel points so it won't be quite as straightforward, but I'll try and show simple dollar amounts along with points.  Accrued a lot of them from credit cards sign up bonuses + big house projects (re-siding and windows).  Getting the points was a hobby by itself, and finding the right way to use them also fits into that.  

Briefly:
1 point = 1 cent.  Some people look at it differently based on how they redeem them but that's a whole 'nother thing.  For instance a flight might cost $500 bucks, but the point redemption for it might only be 35,000 points (or $350).  For simplicity sake I'm sticking with 1 cent per point.

Flights:  140,000 points ($1400) - Combination of Delta and AMEX rewards
Was pretty happy with this worked out.  Involved looking at their flight calendar and picking out dates that for whatever reason were half normal price.  They weren't allowing me to book them with points but calling in the Delta rep could.  So kudos to their customer service.  Pretty darn good price.

Hotels: $345 + 218,125 points, Free Hyatt Night ($95) - $2,621 equivalent
The hotels that we paid money for were Hotel Classico in Bremen, and Borgs Villahotel in Norrköping.  The points are a combination of Chase + Hyatt points (staying at Hyatt Regency in Amsterdam).  The "free hyatt night" is because the Hyatt Credit Card gets you a free stay each year at a Hyatt up to a certain level, but the card costs $95 a year.  To put that into perspective the Hyatt hotel we're using it at costs ~$360 a night this time of year, pretty handily paying for itself.

Travel Insurance: $173 
I did get additional insurance this time around via TinLeg.  My travel card only covers purchases you primarily make with it (flights, hotels, rentals, etc), which wasn't much this time around. 

Trains: $657

Food/Fees/Souvenirs/Misc Budget: ~$2800
1800 cash Euros (100/person/day while we're in Netherlands and Germany)
Went with half that for Denmark, and a quarter of that for Sweden as we're expecting to use credit cards. Rough guess is 2800 usd, which means about 80 bucks per/person/day.  Might be a high estimate, might not be.  Any leftover cash we'll transfer back at the end.

Already purchased tickets: ~$240
Some stuff had to get in advance or likely wouldn't be able to do them

Including spent points Total: $7,891
($3,945/person)
Not including spent points (estimated actual money spent): $4,215
($2,107/person)

We normally wouldn't have a checked bag, we usually try to stick with carry-on, but we're bringing some Amurican snacks for the folks we're visiting.  I'm sure we'll use it for any souvenirs on the way back + just having some more room.

I (Alex) pack pretty light, #guyprivilege so I also added an extra pair of Sarah's shoes in here and her socks and whatnot.  I won't put counts in here but its about 8 days worth and then I need to start cleaning some things or flipping things inside out... Don't worry about it...

My carry-on Fanny-Pack/Masculine Satchel.  I'm bringing one deck of cards with me as I'll likely be joining Niek for a game night, unknown if I'll play any of the other guys. 
Anecdotally its important to take magic cards in your carry-on or have it readily available to show TSA.  Multiple people have reported getting their bags torn open for their deck of cards which on a scanner looks like a solid brick of who knows what.  Last time I didn't have a problem but easier this way with a clear case too. 

Got a book I'm about a quarter way through (Roadside Picnic), battery back, headphones, pencil and notepad, gameboy micro and a couple games (card games and golden sun), facemask, ziplock bag, sunglasses.

Hidden money belt + interior Passport wallet.  Used it multiple times, extremely handy to not have to worry about where your money/passport is, and budgeting via cash is super handy being able to look at what you went through each day and need to pull out.

Sarah's day pack.  Didn't have time to go through it but fairly similar to mine. Snacks, charger, headphones. She's probably much better prepared than me honestly and she has all the toiletries in her bag.

                

Also PSA: Expect the spelling and formatting to get considerably worse from here on out.  I'll be on my phone doing it instead of a desktop.