Hello fellow travelors,
I am going on the Globus Tradional Grand European Trip in one month. I have been doing alot of research, and would like some advice and words of wisdom from fellow travelors who have been to Europe.
Here are some of my questions.
1. I am hearing so much about the crime and pick-pocketors in Europe ( especially Italy). . I will be using a money belt, but what about a backpack, is this safe? 2. How reliable are the wake up calls? Should I bring a ravel alarm clock? 3. How early does the day start? How fast paced is the trip? Do you stay out late with the optionals? 4. How much time is spent on the bus? Do people sleep on the bus? Will you be missing out on much if you have a cat nap on the bus? 5. How confusing is the London airport? Does GLobus meet you there? 6. Should I have a travel language dictionary? 7. Advice on packing and dress code. 8. Is the hotel safe safe to use? 9. How far in advance to you pay for excusions?
Thank you to anyone who is able to give me any information
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HELP! I have lots of questions about Europe
16 posts • Page 1 of 1
HELP! I have lots of questions about Europe
by nursesue » Sat Jul 17, 2004 11:29 pm
Looking forward to making new friends in my travel
- nursesue
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2004 9:54 pm
- Location: vancouver canada
by Guest » Sun Jul 18, 2004 3:04 pm
I just got back and this was also my first trip so I was in the same boat as you are. I had just a bit of time and wanted to check this BB so won't answer everything at once.
>1. I am hearing so much about the crime and pick-pocketors in Europe ( especially Italy). . I will be using a money belt, but what about a backpack, is this safe?
We heard about that too. We felt as if we were going to be accosted at every turn. It was not that bad! However since it does happen, it does pay to be safe. We wore moneybelts and didn't have any problem. I still carried a purse but it only held stuff that I wanted to have with us but that it wouldn't matter if we lost.
My husband carried a backpack. This does brand you as a tourist but he didn't have any problem with anyone trying to get into it.
In Rome, we walked everywhere and did not need to take public transportation (the hotel was in a convenient location). .
We never saw any of those hordes of pickpocketing children that we'd heard about.
We did have someone in a car stop and try to scam us. We were walking near the Tiber and he stopped and asked directions to the Vatican. He was in the traffic lane and made chit-chat about which was odd. I'd read about this scam before we went so recognized it as it went along. Anyway, he asked what my husband did for a living, commented on the traffic, etc. He had some sort of a clothing brochure that he showed us since he was a salesman or the like. Then he asked how tall my husband was. He was about to offer to give him a leather coat in thanks for our help (lots of help - he was about 3 blocks from the Vatican and we pointed straight ahead). . I whispered scam to my husband and we walked away. I don't quite understand the scam but think they either accuse you of stealing it or ask you for money for gas since they've been lost so long. In any case, it was an interesting experience and nothing bad came out of it. That was our last day and we were wearing shorts and my husband was wearing a ball cap and carrying a backpack. Our attire that day screamed TOURIST.
That said - two people in our tour group saw someone being pickpocketed/robbed. The first pickpocket was in Lucerne during a crowded festival. The second was some woman who had slung her purse on the back of a bench in a park in Rome. I'm not sure what was the outcome of the first - but in the second people chased them and got it back. She wasn't being too smart hanging her purse there. Neither of the people affected was in our tour group - people from our group just saw it.
In any case, I felt just as safe in Italy than in big cities in the US - maybe more. Our tour guide commented that thiefs there just want your money - they rarely hurt you. That's not always the case over here.
Debbie
>1. I am hearing so much about the crime and pick-pocketors in Europe ( especially Italy). . I will be using a money belt, but what about a backpack, is this safe?
We heard about that too. We felt as if we were going to be accosted at every turn. It was not that bad! However since it does happen, it does pay to be safe. We wore moneybelts and didn't have any problem. I still carried a purse but it only held stuff that I wanted to have with us but that it wouldn't matter if we lost.
My husband carried a backpack. This does brand you as a tourist but he didn't have any problem with anyone trying to get into it.
In Rome, we walked everywhere and did not need to take public transportation (the hotel was in a convenient location). .
We never saw any of those hordes of pickpocketing children that we'd heard about.
We did have someone in a car stop and try to scam us. We were walking near the Tiber and he stopped and asked directions to the Vatican. He was in the traffic lane and made chit-chat about which was odd. I'd read about this scam before we went so recognized it as it went along. Anyway, he asked what my husband did for a living, commented on the traffic, etc. He had some sort of a clothing brochure that he showed us since he was a salesman or the like. Then he asked how tall my husband was. He was about to offer to give him a leather coat in thanks for our help (lots of help - he was about 3 blocks from the Vatican and we pointed straight ahead). . I whispered scam to my husband and we walked away. I don't quite understand the scam but think they either accuse you of stealing it or ask you for money for gas since they've been lost so long. In any case, it was an interesting experience and nothing bad came out of it. That was our last day and we were wearing shorts and my husband was wearing a ball cap and carrying a backpack. Our attire that day screamed TOURIST.
That said - two people in our tour group saw someone being pickpocketed/robbed. The first pickpocket was in Lucerne during a crowded festival. The second was some woman who had slung her purse on the back of a bench in a park in Rome. I'm not sure what was the outcome of the first - but in the second people chased them and got it back. She wasn't being too smart hanging her purse there. Neither of the people affected was in our tour group - people from our group just saw it.
In any case, I felt just as safe in Italy than in big cities in the US - maybe more. Our tour guide commented that thiefs there just want your money - they rarely hurt you. That's not always the case over here.
Debbie
- Guest
by Guest » Sun Jul 18, 2004 4:10 pm
>3. How early does the day start? How fast paced is the trip? Do you stay out late with the optionals?
Too early. Not too. Not sure but think so.
On travel days, we usually had to have our suitcases in the hallway at 6:30 AM. Our trip had 3 nights in most of the cities so it wasn't too fast paced. I thought the pace was about right.
We only went on two optionals. (most people went on many more) One woman commented that the one in Lucerne kept her out until 10:30 and she wouldn't have gone if she'd known it would be that late. I can't quite remember how late we stayed out on our two - I'd guess 10. We had dinner and it was a long entertaining dinner.
Debbie
Too early. Not too. Not sure but think so.
On travel days, we usually had to have our suitcases in the hallway at 6:30 AM. Our trip had 3 nights in most of the cities so it wasn't too fast paced. I thought the pace was about right.
We only went on two optionals. (most people went on many more) One woman commented that the one in Lucerne kept her out until 10:30 and she wouldn't have gone if she'd known it would be that late. I can't quite remember how late we stayed out on our two - I'd guess 10. We had dinner and it was a long entertaining dinner.
Debbie
- Guest
by Guest » Sun Jul 18, 2004 9:36 pm
>4. How much time is spent on the bus? Do people sleep on the bus? Will you be missing out on much if you have a cat nap on the bus?
I suppose time on the bus depends on your tour. When we got our tour information, it included a simple map and told the distances for each day. The longest for us were Paris to Lucerne - 406 miles and Lucerne to Venice - 350 miles. Those distances didn't seem bad. The busses were comfortable, the driving was very smooth and I wasn't having to drive.
A few people slept on the bus but I didn't. Usually I read on a trip and I brought lots of reading material but didn't finish it. I would usually look out the window - or talk - or read my travel information on the next city.
Some of the kids played Game Boy or cards.
Usually you won't miss a lot by sleeping a bit - but I wouldn't want to sleep a lot. Some of the areas reminded me of Illinois (flat with corn) or Missouri (more hilly). . However other areas were really pretty and we enjoyed the scenery. Also the tour guide will spend some time telling you about your next city and giving you tips.
Debbie
I suppose time on the bus depends on your tour. When we got our tour information, it included a simple map and told the distances for each day. The longest for us were Paris to Lucerne - 406 miles and Lucerne to Venice - 350 miles. Those distances didn't seem bad. The busses were comfortable, the driving was very smooth and I wasn't having to drive.
A few people slept on the bus but I didn't. Usually I read on a trip and I brought lots of reading material but didn't finish it. I would usually look out the window - or talk - or read my travel information on the next city.
Some of the kids played Game Boy or cards.
Usually you won't miss a lot by sleeping a bit - but I wouldn't want to sleep a lot. Some of the areas reminded me of Illinois (flat with corn) or Missouri (more hilly). . However other areas were really pretty and we enjoyed the scenery. Also the tour guide will spend some time telling you about your next city and giving you tips.
Debbie
- Guest
by Guest » Sun Jul 18, 2004 9:43 pm
>5. How confusing is the London airport? Does GLobus meet you there?
It wasn't bad. We flew into Gatwick. We followed the flow to baggage then to a huge line which was customs for those of us from out of the country. We snaked around and back and forth a la Disney World until we got to an open customs agent. They asked a couple of simple questions and stamped our passports. (By the way, they don't stamp your passport at each new country which was a bit of a disappointment but I suppose saves a lot of time). .
After that, we followed the flow of traffic and as soon as we got to a public area, there was a Globus woman in a neat red suit (think stewardess from the 50s) waiting for us. She greeting us and had us wait for a few minutes until a last group arrived. Then she led a group of us to a Globus bus.
The Globus bus took people to various hotels depending on your tour. There was information on the way about optionals in London.
It took longer than I would have thought to get to the hotel. We arrived at 7:30 AM and I think it was about 10 when we got there. We left our luggage in the lobby and were encouraged to go out and do whatever we wanted until at least 2 when the rooms would be ready. I was a little iffy about just leaving the luggage there but I guess they do it all the time. It also amazes me that you can just leave your luggage in the hallway at 6:30 AM on travel days and not worry about someone just walking off with it. I suppose it must be fairly safe though or else they would have a different procedure.
Debbie
It wasn't bad. We flew into Gatwick. We followed the flow to baggage then to a huge line which was customs for those of us from out of the country. We snaked around and back and forth a la Disney World until we got to an open customs agent. They asked a couple of simple questions and stamped our passports. (By the way, they don't stamp your passport at each new country which was a bit of a disappointment but I suppose saves a lot of time). .
After that, we followed the flow of traffic and as soon as we got to a public area, there was a Globus woman in a neat red suit (think stewardess from the 50s) waiting for us. She greeting us and had us wait for a few minutes until a last group arrived. Then she led a group of us to a Globus bus.
The Globus bus took people to various hotels depending on your tour. There was information on the way about optionals in London.
It took longer than I would have thought to get to the hotel. We arrived at 7:30 AM and I think it was about 10 when we got there. We left our luggage in the lobby and were encouraged to go out and do whatever we wanted until at least 2 when the rooms would be ready. I was a little iffy about just leaving the luggage there but I guess they do it all the time. It also amazes me that you can just leave your luggage in the hallway at 6:30 AM on travel days and not worry about someone just walking off with it. I suppose it must be fairly safe though or else they would have a different procedure.
Debbie
- Guest
by Guest » Sun Jul 18, 2004 9:46 pm
>6. Should I have a travel language dictionary?
I bought a small 3 language dictionary and never used it.
I did already know some French and my husband knows some German. However neither of us knew any Italian. One of our travel books had a page of commonly used phrases and those were the only ones that we needed.
You don't need much. Hello. Thank you. You're welcome. How much? Your fingers for numbers. Pointing for buying things in a bakery.
The street vendors all know some English. If you venture off by yourself for public transportation, a museum, or a locals store, they may not. However like I said, you don't need a lot.
Debbie
I bought a small 3 language dictionary and never used it.
I did already know some French and my husband knows some German. However neither of us knew any Italian. One of our travel books had a page of commonly used phrases and those were the only ones that we needed.
You don't need much. Hello. Thank you. You're welcome. How much? Your fingers for numbers. Pointing for buying things in a bakery.
The street vendors all know some English. If you venture off by yourself for public transportation, a museum, or a locals store, they may not. However like I said, you don't need a lot.
Debbie
- Guest
by Guest » Sun Jul 18, 2004 9:57 pm
>7. Advice on packing and dress code. 8. Is the hotel safe safe to use? 9. How far in advance to you pay for excusions
7. Take the biggest suitcase you are allowed. The Rick Steves website has tips on packing. I'm not a dressy type of person and didn't take any dresses. I had two pairs of black pants and several pairs of khaki shorts. If anything, I wish I'd taken a couple more shirts so that I wouldn't have had to wash them. If you plan to wash underwear, take nylon which drys more quickly than cotton. Actually, how much room does a few pair of underwear take up.
I took binoculars and didn't really need them. I also took more reading material than I needed.
There wasn't any dress code to speak of. A lot of the women would look a little dressier for evening dinners - but not cruise ship type dressy. They may have had on a blouse over a knit shirt.
8. Some of the hotels had safes in the room but we never used them. We did leave our tickets in our luggage. We later also left our passports in the room. I took my American money out of my purse and left it in the room too. I am not saying that this was a good idea - but we never had any problems with things being taken out of the room. (I never have on a domestic vacation either.)
9. Our tour had 3 nights in London at the beginning and the optionals there were paid for when booked. The Paris optionals were paid for on the bus ride to Paris (stop #2). . On the next leg, we were given a list of optionals for the rest of the tour and had to sign up for them at that time. I do remember that those optionals totalled $591 if you took them all - including the trip to Pompei. That did not include the optionals in London or Paris. The optional to the Moulin Rouge was $190.
One woman wanted to cancel an optional and was told that it had to be done 48 hours in advance. I'm not sure if anyone tried to do it that far in advance or not. Usually it seemed when someone did not go on an optional that they'd already signed up for, it was because they realized that they were too tired and needed the rest instead.
Debbie
7. Take the biggest suitcase you are allowed. The Rick Steves website has tips on packing. I'm not a dressy type of person and didn't take any dresses. I had two pairs of black pants and several pairs of khaki shorts. If anything, I wish I'd taken a couple more shirts so that I wouldn't have had to wash them. If you plan to wash underwear, take nylon which drys more quickly than cotton. Actually, how much room does a few pair of underwear take up.
I took binoculars and didn't really need them. I also took more reading material than I needed.
There wasn't any dress code to speak of. A lot of the women would look a little dressier for evening dinners - but not cruise ship type dressy. They may have had on a blouse over a knit shirt.
8. Some of the hotels had safes in the room but we never used them. We did leave our tickets in our luggage. We later also left our passports in the room. I took my American money out of my purse and left it in the room too. I am not saying that this was a good idea - but we never had any problems with things being taken out of the room. (I never have on a domestic vacation either.)
9. Our tour had 3 nights in London at the beginning and the optionals there were paid for when booked. The Paris optionals were paid for on the bus ride to Paris (stop #2). . On the next leg, we were given a list of optionals for the rest of the tour and had to sign up for them at that time. I do remember that those optionals totalled $591 if you took them all - including the trip to Pompei. That did not include the optionals in London or Paris. The optional to the Moulin Rouge was $190.
One woman wanted to cancel an optional and was told that it had to be done 48 hours in advance. I'm not sure if anyone tried to do it that far in advance or not. Usually it seemed when someone did not go on an optional that they'd already signed up for, it was because they realized that they were too tired and needed the rest instead.
Debbie
- Guest
by Guest » Sun Jul 18, 2004 10:00 pm
Extra advice
My favorite tour books were Rick Steves Best of Europe and his Mona Winks. I had a bunch of others but those were the ones that I really used.
The AAA Europe book had some nice simple maps for most of the towns that we visited.
I comb bound the information for each city separately so that we didn't have to carry everything around with us when touring. The AAA maps were each two pages and I used those for the front and back cover (covered with Contact paper). .
The Rick Steves website that I mentioned has a graffiti board with lots of packing information, money advice, and lots more.
Debbie
My favorite tour books were Rick Steves Best of Europe and his Mona Winks. I had a bunch of others but those were the ones that I really used.
The AAA Europe book had some nice simple maps for most of the towns that we visited.
I comb bound the information for each city separately so that we didn't have to carry everything around with us when touring. The AAA maps were each two pages and I used those for the front and back cover (covered with Contact paper). .
The Rick Steves website that I mentioned has a graffiti board with lots of packing information, money advice, and lots more.
Debbie
- Guest
by admin » Mon Jul 19, 2004 9:22 am
Sue,
1) When you travel you always need to be careful. I recommend you take one of those hiden puches you put inside your pants. Don't worry about the back pack.
2) I say 95% reliable. I always carry an alarm clock with me.
3) Depends on the schedule of the day and the tour director. Could be as early as 6 am or as late as 9 am.
4) Depends on the tour. When I travel I spend half my time sleeping on the bus.
5) Which London airport?
Gatwich is awful, but you will find your way. Yes, someone some Globus will meet you there.
6) No, you don't need a dictionary. Just learn 3 or 4 basic words in every language, such as: Yes, Bathroom, please, and thank you.
7) Informal most of the time. In August it will be very hot. Especially Italy. You might want one form outfit or two.
Yes
9) The tour director will ask you for the money. Sometimes in advanced and sometimes after.
Have a great trip.
1) When you travel you always need to be careful. I recommend you take one of those hiden puches you put inside your pants. Don't worry about the back pack.
2) I say 95% reliable. I always carry an alarm clock with me.
3) Depends on the schedule of the day and the tour director. Could be as early as 6 am or as late as 9 am.
4) Depends on the tour. When I travel I spend half my time sleeping on the bus.
5) Which London airport?
Gatwich is awful, but you will find your way. Yes, someone some Globus will meet you there.
6) No, you don't need a dictionary. Just learn 3 or 4 basic words in every language, such as: Yes, Bathroom, please, and thank you.
7) Informal most of the time. In August it will be very hot. Especially Italy. You might want one form outfit or two.
Yes
9) The tour director will ask you for the money. Sometimes in advanced and sometimes after.
Have a great trip.
- admin
- Site Admin
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2002 12:02 pm
- Location: Houston, Texas, USA
by Guest » Mon Jul 19, 2004 9:23 am
Don't be nervous. It will be much easier than you think. My husband did not really want to go and he now says it is the best trip we've ever taken. I think he is a bit sheepsh that it took me all these years to get him to go. He only went because he knew that I've wanted to go for years. Now we both wonder why we waited so long.
>SO, do you sign up for ALL optionals early on in the trip, and it seem like if you are feeling ill or tired, you cannot cancel it?
That's what I understood. I never tried to cancel any but a woman in my group did try and was told about the 48 hour thing.
>Did you do all the optionals?
We only did two optionals and they were in Rome - our last city. We did the orientation tour/dinner our first night there as we were a bit iffy about Rome. We also did the farewell dinner because it was, well, the farewell dinner.
Doing only two was very unusual. Most people did a lot. I did a lot of research on our own and we did many of the same things on our own. It was a LOT cheaper plus gave us a lot more flexibility.
>Did they take good care of you?
Yes.
>Did you feel safe?
Yes. Very.
>What did you think of the hotel rooms?
The hotel rooms were better than I expected. The first one in London (London Hyde Park) was a bit small but we had three beds in it. All the hotels that we stayed in were very nice. A couple were great enough to make special comments in my trip journal.
>Did they all have hairdryers in them?
I was thinking about this later. I did take a hair dryer and an adaptor. I'm pretty sure that all the hotels EXCEPT maybe one had hairdryers. However if you need a hairdryer, "except one" is not good enough. I'd take one if I were you. To use it, you need a set that includes both a plug thing and a voltage adaptor. Ours came in a set at Office Max. England used different plugs than the mainland but both came in the set.
My son took his Game Boy and wanted to be able to recharge it. My voltage adaptor said it was just for heating appliances so we went to Radio Shack and got him another which was made for lower voltage things. I'm not sure if you'll have another besides a hair dryer/curling iron but if you do, you need to pay attention to that. Now his was made all in one piece - the plug things pulled out of the adaptor.
I read somewhere that it is a good idea to attach your plug thing to the adaptor with electrical tape so that you don't end up leaving it in the outlet when you leave. I thought that was kind of silly until one day I did it. Fortunately, it wasn't a travel day and it was there the next morning. I had some duct tape stuck on the side of my suitcase (to mark it and in case I needed duct tape) and used that.
>Did you drink the water?
I was iffy before we went but our tour guide said it was OK to drink all over Europe. We drank it everywhere. We had water bottles and refilled them. I don't normally carry a water bottle with me on trips here but I did there and did want it with me everywhere I went. The Rome tour day, I left it in the bus since it was extra weight and I thought we'd be back before we did. I ended up asking my son for some of his. (It was hot that day.)
To tell you how good the water is.. .. .. . Our last day was in Rome. All over Rome, they have these fountain like things. You might not notice them. However they are set up so that you can stick your finger on them and it will make the water go up like a drinking fountain rather than down. I read an article about a family's trip and they said that they drank out of them. That last day, we'd run out of water in our bottles and we saw one of those fountains. I had the article in the back of my mind and decided that those people didn't get sick and we drank out of the fountain. We didn't get sick.
To give you an idea, when I went to Mexico years ago, I not only did not drink the water, but I didn't drink the milk, and I wouldn't eat vegetables that had been washed in the water. I'm not the type that will just drink anything hoping for the best. You don't need to worry about the water.
If you do buy bottled water, try to find a local store to buy it in. Water and Coke in restaurants were REALLY expensive. Cokes were over 3 Euros so about $4. The best deal on bottled water was in a local grocery that I happened on in Venice. They had a six pack of liter bottles for under 50 cents. I almost bought it just because it was so cheap (G). . However I didn't want to carry it and since we were drinking the water, we didn't really need it.
>Sounds like you do not get much sleep?
We did OK - but remember we didn't do the optionals. I am not a morning person but I figured that time over there is like Monopoly money - after a six or seven hour time change, what's another hour or two. Most nights we were in bed by 10. Our last night in London, we went to bed at 8:30.
How was the food?
>The food was good. If you go on the optionals, the food is really good. They feed you very well. The optionals are expensive and they want you to have the feeling that you got your money's worth.
I am not an adventursome eater and was worried that they'd have all weird food that I wouldn't eat. Wrong. The food is mostly like ours.
Tip - I took Quaker Chewey Granola bars and kept some with us all the time. That way if you need food when it is not convenient to eat, you'll have something with you.
You are going to have the time of your life.
Debie
>SO, do you sign up for ALL optionals early on in the trip, and it seem like if you are feeling ill or tired, you cannot cancel it?
That's what I understood. I never tried to cancel any but a woman in my group did try and was told about the 48 hour thing.
>Did you do all the optionals?
We only did two optionals and they were in Rome - our last city. We did the orientation tour/dinner our first night there as we were a bit iffy about Rome. We also did the farewell dinner because it was, well, the farewell dinner.
Doing only two was very unusual. Most people did a lot. I did a lot of research on our own and we did many of the same things on our own. It was a LOT cheaper plus gave us a lot more flexibility.
>Did they take good care of you?
Yes.
>Did you feel safe?
Yes. Very.
>What did you think of the hotel rooms?
The hotel rooms were better than I expected. The first one in London (London Hyde Park) was a bit small but we had three beds in it. All the hotels that we stayed in were very nice. A couple were great enough to make special comments in my trip journal.
>Did they all have hairdryers in them?
I was thinking about this later. I did take a hair dryer and an adaptor. I'm pretty sure that all the hotels EXCEPT maybe one had hairdryers. However if you need a hairdryer, "except one" is not good enough. I'd take one if I were you. To use it, you need a set that includes both a plug thing and a voltage adaptor. Ours came in a set at Office Max. England used different plugs than the mainland but both came in the set.
My son took his Game Boy and wanted to be able to recharge it. My voltage adaptor said it was just for heating appliances so we went to Radio Shack and got him another which was made for lower voltage things. I'm not sure if you'll have another besides a hair dryer/curling iron but if you do, you need to pay attention to that. Now his was made all in one piece - the plug things pulled out of the adaptor.
I read somewhere that it is a good idea to attach your plug thing to the adaptor with electrical tape so that you don't end up leaving it in the outlet when you leave. I thought that was kind of silly until one day I did it. Fortunately, it wasn't a travel day and it was there the next morning. I had some duct tape stuck on the side of my suitcase (to mark it and in case I needed duct tape) and used that.
>Did you drink the water?
I was iffy before we went but our tour guide said it was OK to drink all over Europe. We drank it everywhere. We had water bottles and refilled them. I don't normally carry a water bottle with me on trips here but I did there and did want it with me everywhere I went. The Rome tour day, I left it in the bus since it was extra weight and I thought we'd be back before we did. I ended up asking my son for some of his. (It was hot that day.)
To tell you how good the water is.. .. .. . Our last day was in Rome. All over Rome, they have these fountain like things. You might not notice them. However they are set up so that you can stick your finger on them and it will make the water go up like a drinking fountain rather than down. I read an article about a family's trip and they said that they drank out of them. That last day, we'd run out of water in our bottles and we saw one of those fountains. I had the article in the back of my mind and decided that those people didn't get sick and we drank out of the fountain. We didn't get sick.
To give you an idea, when I went to Mexico years ago, I not only did not drink the water, but I didn't drink the milk, and I wouldn't eat vegetables that had been washed in the water. I'm not the type that will just drink anything hoping for the best. You don't need to worry about the water.
If you do buy bottled water, try to find a local store to buy it in. Water and Coke in restaurants were REALLY expensive. Cokes were over 3 Euros so about $4. The best deal on bottled water was in a local grocery that I happened on in Venice. They had a six pack of liter bottles for under 50 cents. I almost bought it just because it was so cheap (G). . However I didn't want to carry it and since we were drinking the water, we didn't really need it.
>Sounds like you do not get much sleep?
We did OK - but remember we didn't do the optionals. I am not a morning person but I figured that time over there is like Monopoly money - after a six or seven hour time change, what's another hour or two. Most nights we were in bed by 10. Our last night in London, we went to bed at 8:30.
How was the food?
>The food was good. If you go on the optionals, the food is really good. They feed you very well. The optionals are expensive and they want you to have the feeling that you got your money's worth.
I am not an adventursome eater and was worried that they'd have all weird food that I wouldn't eat. Wrong. The food is mostly like ours.
Tip - I took Quaker Chewey Granola bars and kept some with us all the time. That way if you need food when it is not convenient to eat, you'll have something with you.
You are going to have the time of your life.
Debie
- Guest
by Guest » Mon Jul 19, 2004 9:25 am
I've never been to Vancouver so can't compare Europe to that.
However London reminded me a lot of Toronto and Paris was a bit like Quebec City. The only comparison I can think of to Rome was New York City.
Obviously they are different but if you have never been there and have been to those places, that will give you an idea.
Debbie
However London reminded me a lot of Toronto and Paris was a bit like Quebec City. The only comparison I can think of to Rome was New York City.
Obviously they are different but if you have never been there and have been to those places, that will give you an idea.
Debbie
- Guest
by Guest » Mon Jul 19, 2004 9:49 am
I just checked out your Traditional Grand European tour. WOW. You are really seeing it all, aren't you. I thought that we saw the "must sees" but you are seeing twice as much. Our trip was 16 days.
Our tour included London, Paris, Lucerne, Venice, Florence (Pisa) and Rome. So those are the only places that I know about. The only hotel that we had in common was the London Hyde Park.
I see that you are also leaving from London. The London airport seemed much more straightforward than the one in Rome that we left from - primarily, I suppose, since we knew the language.
We stayed three nights in most of the major cities. That affected what we could do on our own too. In most of them, we had a half day city tour and then we things things on our own the rest of the time. For example, in Paris, we did an evening boat tour on the Seine, went up in the Arc de Triomphe, walked down the Champs d'Elysees, went to the Louvre and Orsee museums, took a train out to Versailles, went to St. Chappelle and the Rudin museum etc. You can do a lot on your own if you want to but you need to do research in advance (like you've been doing) to see how doable it is and to be ready to go and not waste time deciding and planning once you get there.
Do you have any feel on whether you'd want to do things on your own or sign up for the optionals? If money is no concern and you'd rather be with the group, you might prefer doing optionals all the way. On the other hand if you want to save money where you can and have a sense of adventure, you might want to do what we did and do some things on your own. You just don't have as much time to play with since you are traveling almost every day. Actually maybe there won't be as many optionals on your trip because it is set up that way. On ours, they knew that we'd all have a certain amount of time to "fill" and they offerred the right amount of optionals to fill the time.
I can tell you about the towns that we had in common and what we did on those days. Actually I'm getting ready to send my trip journal to some friends when I finish it. Maybe you'd be interested in that.
Debbie
Our tour included London, Paris, Lucerne, Venice, Florence (Pisa) and Rome. So those are the only places that I know about. The only hotel that we had in common was the London Hyde Park.
I see that you are also leaving from London. The London airport seemed much more straightforward than the one in Rome that we left from - primarily, I suppose, since we knew the language.
We stayed three nights in most of the major cities. That affected what we could do on our own too. In most of them, we had a half day city tour and then we things things on our own the rest of the time. For example, in Paris, we did an evening boat tour on the Seine, went up in the Arc de Triomphe, walked down the Champs d'Elysees, went to the Louvre and Orsee museums, took a train out to Versailles, went to St. Chappelle and the Rudin museum etc. You can do a lot on your own if you want to but you need to do research in advance (like you've been doing) to see how doable it is and to be ready to go and not waste time deciding and planning once you get there.
Do you have any feel on whether you'd want to do things on your own or sign up for the optionals? If money is no concern and you'd rather be with the group, you might prefer doing optionals all the way. On the other hand if you want to save money where you can and have a sense of adventure, you might want to do what we did and do some things on your own. You just don't have as much time to play with since you are traveling almost every day. Actually maybe there won't be as many optionals on your trip because it is set up that way. On ours, they knew that we'd all have a certain amount of time to "fill" and they offerred the right amount of optionals to fill the time.
I can tell you about the towns that we had in common and what we did on those days. Actually I'm getting ready to send my trip journal to some friends when I finish it. Maybe you'd be interested in that.
Debbie
- Guest
by Guest » Mon Jul 19, 2004 10:06 am
Since you are going to a bunch of countries, you might want to make a little spreadsheet with the most common words in every language. Then you could look in the first column at "Where is" for example and then go over to the right column for the country you are in and say it in their language or point to it. One of my tour books had something like that and it seemed like a good idea.
One word that we didn't know and should have was ATM. ATM's are not just "A" "T" "M" in France for instance. I knew my French letters but it didn't make sense. Fortunately the young man at a hotel that we asked was very nice and he figured it out from what I could say, "We need money" and our pantomine of putting a card in a machine and taking out money. Of course, he might not have been able to understand my French at all and it might have been the pantomine that got it across.
By the way, he spoke terrific English. It helps to start out in their native language even if you know very little. It makes them feel like you aren't just expecting them to know English. But if they do (and lots do), they'll they use English after they quickly figure out from your French that English is going to work a lot better.
By the way, the key word that I should have used was "banque." In Venice, it was something like "bankomat." I kind of like the image of that one - makes more sense than ATM.
The great thing about traveling today is that ATM's are open all the time. You don't have to worry about bank hours.
Later in Italy, I asked at the desk about our group picture which we'd bought and which was supposedly going to be delivered to our room. The man had to repeat himself several times before I understood that he was saying "tour director." The accents that we all have in different languages can really make it hard to understand each other.
I have learned from traveling in Quebec City and now France that I can understand almost no French if a native is talking. However I can read it (well somewhat considering it has been a really long time since I took French). .
I guess the jist of this rather disjointed note is that it is good to know a few words in every language but that it is also handy to have them written down so that you can point to them if needed.
Debbie
One word that we didn't know and should have was ATM. ATM's are not just "A" "T" "M" in France for instance. I knew my French letters but it didn't make sense. Fortunately the young man at a hotel that we asked was very nice and he figured it out from what I could say, "We need money" and our pantomine of putting a card in a machine and taking out money. Of course, he might not have been able to understand my French at all and it might have been the pantomine that got it across.
By the way, he spoke terrific English. It helps to start out in their native language even if you know very little. It makes them feel like you aren't just expecting them to know English. But if they do (and lots do), they'll they use English after they quickly figure out from your French that English is going to work a lot better.
By the way, the key word that I should have used was "banque." In Venice, it was something like "bankomat." I kind of like the image of that one - makes more sense than ATM.
The great thing about traveling today is that ATM's are open all the time. You don't have to worry about bank hours.
Later in Italy, I asked at the desk about our group picture which we'd bought and which was supposedly going to be delivered to our room. The man had to repeat himself several times before I understood that he was saying "tour director." The accents that we all have in different languages can really make it hard to understand each other.
I have learned from traveling in Quebec City and now France that I can understand almost no French if a native is talking. However I can read it (well somewhat considering it has been a really long time since I took French). .
I guess the jist of this rather disjointed note is that it is good to know a few words in every language but that it is also handy to have them written down so that you can point to them if needed.
Debbie
- Guest
by Guest » Mon Jul 19, 2004 10:14 am
Tip - laundry.
We found that our laundry did not dry overnight.
We had taken beach towels to use as blankets on the plane. We found out that we didn't need them for that as the plane gave us blankets. However the beach towels came in handy for the laundry.
After wringing out all the moisture that we could, we rolled the things in the beach towels. That took out a lot more moisture. (You could use the hotel towel but then it would be pretty damp to use for yourself.)
Take some garbage bags and then if things don't get dry, you can pack them and hang them up again at your next hotel.
Try to do laundry ASAP at the places that you are staying multiple nights so that it will have more time to dry.
My husband thought that he'd find a laundromat in Lucerne. Wrong. We did later see a laundromat in a couple of towns but never when it would have been handy to use one.
Try to take things that dry more quickly. Our tour guide wore mostly nylon (or something like that) Hawaiian shirts. My guess is that they made him easy to pick out in a crowd and also dried easily.
Some of our heavier golf shirts took a while to dry. Same with our socks. In retrospect, I'm glad that I took as many clothes as I did. I would not have wanted to take 3 or 4 shirts and washed things out that often. Plus I don't think our things would have dried quickly enough for it to work with that little.
Debbie
We found that our laundry did not dry overnight.
We had taken beach towels to use as blankets on the plane. We found out that we didn't need them for that as the plane gave us blankets. However the beach towels came in handy for the laundry.
After wringing out all the moisture that we could, we rolled the things in the beach towels. That took out a lot more moisture. (You could use the hotel towel but then it would be pretty damp to use for yourself.)
Take some garbage bags and then if things don't get dry, you can pack them and hang them up again at your next hotel.
Try to do laundry ASAP at the places that you are staying multiple nights so that it will have more time to dry.
My husband thought that he'd find a laundromat in Lucerne. Wrong. We did later see a laundromat in a couple of towns but never when it would have been handy to use one.
Try to take things that dry more quickly. Our tour guide wore mostly nylon (or something like that) Hawaiian shirts. My guess is that they made him easy to pick out in a crowd and also dried easily.
Some of our heavier golf shirts took a while to dry. Same with our socks. In retrospect, I'm glad that I took as many clothes as I did. I would not have wanted to take 3 or 4 shirts and washed things out that often. Plus I don't think our things would have dried quickly enough for it to work with that little.
Debbie
- Guest
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