It all started when my sister was invited to speak at a threeday conference in Budapest. Mom and I thought we would join her because she was not able to take her husband or daughter. After all, how often does a trip to Budapest come along? We began planning a week long trip to Budapest. It was the first visit to Europe for all three of us, and there was so much we wanted to see that we couldn't narrow our base destinations down any further than Venice, Budapest, Rome, Sorrento and Florence. We immediately applied for passports. We looked over maps and through books trying to decide exactly where to stay. I spent hours and days researching hotels, transportation, museums. We waited and waited to book tickets so we had a starting point on our dates. Finally everything fell into place and we decided our plans. The excitement continued to build day by day. I researched packing tips online and my list of necessities grew. Mom and I compared notes for weeks trying to decide what to wear, what to bring, what to buy ... in the end, however, we just chose whatever was comfortable and to be honest, mainly wore the same couple of clothes day after day, washing them in the hotel as necessary. The only good clothes we took were for the ballet in Budapest. And thank goodness for that -- I can't imagine lugging   a larger suitcase on and off during the journey to Florence, and some other places. The big day arrived and with bags packed and repacked, it was off to the airport for our first European adventure! They made the following preparations for the travel EXCEPT that they   _  .
applied for passports booked hotels online searched for advice on travel online wrote down what they would carry along