We had a great introduction to our 12 week adventure, after flying Air NZ to Houston, then onto Cancun in Mexico and meeting our daughter and son-in-law for their 3rd wedding anniversary in the same place they got married. We had so enjoyed the wedding experience at Moon Palace; it was good to do it again at the start of this adventure, without the wedding stress.

Our daughter and her husband totally surprised us at dinner the first night, presenting us gifts and photos that announced the impending birth of our first grandchild in November. What a wonderful start to our holiday. We now have to make plans to return to see our new grandchild…oh dear, how sad!

The next 5 days were just what we needed as transition from the busy year previously and the trip ahead. The resort is all inclusive with numerous restaurants to choose from for evening meals, pool loungers to while away the days and optional activities if we felt the urge, and nothing to worry about at all. I did make it to the gym twice, Chris checked out the resort bikes as well as the gym bikes, we played the “kids” at mini golf and took a day excursion to Isla Mujeres to enjoy calm turquoise seas. It was the rest we needed to recharge and pre-condition ourselves to the heat we are likely to experience in Europe in the following weeks.

But then, the joy, the confusion, the what? the worry and the relief of passing through US airports… we were told that because we were connecting to an international flight on same airline, our bags would be checked right through to Munich; we didn’t need to collect and recheck them in Houston. We assumed that we too would bypass immigration and security but no! Thankful for the MPC which shortened our immigration check significantly but then we wondered if our bags would appear on the carousel (it’s surprised us before) but thankfully they do seem to have been processed behind the scenes. But then to navigate security once again, multi back and forth lines that moved irregularly and spat us out the other side and into the airline lounge for another 5 hours wait. This trip was a treat trip, we had purchased Business Class fares, so we knew we would get some comfort on the long haul flights but it was still a very long day and a half of travel – based on our arrival time zone, we were on the go more than 28 hours from Cancun to Houston, to Munich, wandering Munich railway station searching for our next train, to Salzburg, and finally to our hotel. I had changed our hotel booking last minute, discovering that the cheaper option I had booked was a long way out of the town (and was cancellable up to the arrival day) we splashed the cash and booked right in the centre of Salzburg – a very wise decision in the end as it made for a much more enjoyable and relaxing stay.

Salzburg was a beautiful city, but we did not focus on the sound of music tours. Our first day, recovering jet lag, we took it easy, wandering around the pedestrian streets and acclimatizing to the 29° heat and the time zone, enjoying the beauty of this area.

The following day, we purchased a Salzburg card that gave us unlimited public transport and entry to numerous sights around the area for the day. We headed 40 minutes out of town to ride the Untersberg Gondola up for views across to Germany and down to the Salzburg plains. Next to Helbrunn Palace to enjoy the pretty water gardens and trick fountains. Returning to Old Town Salzburg, we wandered past St Peters where we saw familiar gates from the Sound of Music, before taking the funicular up to the Fortress Hohensalzburg, enjoying stunning views over this pretty town.

It was a short but sweet couple of days to recover from our long travel days and adjust to a new time zone. We were ready for the next adventure, heading by train to Passau in Germany.