What do you do when you can’t get an Uber or Lyft?

The logical answer might be to just call a taxi. I don’t know about you, but I am not too fond of taxi cabs. Besides that, I like to book my transfers before I leave home. Call me paranoid, but that is what I do.

The back story; the airlines have changed our flights from Venice to Paris, and I don’t think there is enough time to make our flight after the ship docks and we get off and get a ride to the airport. Unfortunately, as far as the airlines are concerned, the time difference is not enough to qualify for us getting a new flight without paying about $350 per person in penalties along with any difference in the cost of the tickets.

Our solution is to disembark at Trieste, Italy and take the train to Venice and stay the night close to the airport so that we an make our flight. That leaves us with the need to get from the cruise port to the train station in Trieste as well as from the train station in Venice (really Venezia S. Lucia in Mestre, Italy) to the hotel near Marco Polo International airport.

After giving up on Lyft and Uber, I found the perfect solution. GoOpti. Their fares are great, especially compared to a cab. Only 30 Euros in Trieste and 18 Euros in Mestsre for the two of us. That plus 14.80 Euros for the train ride and about 150 Euros for the hotel room sure beats the penalty for trying to change our flights.

The best thing, of course, is a sightseeing train ride in Italy that will cost less than the cost for an excursion that we could buy through the cruise line.

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Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Thinking About a Self-Guided Trip to Europe?

Thinking About a
Self-Guided Trip To Europe?

If you are planning a trip to Europe where you will be traveling via airplanes, trains and the metro and you have never done it here at home, you may be in for a rude awakening.

Most of our trips had been by car or by car to the airport followed with a rental car or a shuttle to the hotel or resort.

Each one of us almost always had one 24″-26″ roller bag that was checked plus a 22″ carry on plus a personal bag like a purse or computer case or book bag style backpack for personal stuff that you wanted to have handy at all times.

We were not ready for the challenge of hauling all of our suitcases up and down 2-3 flights of stairs to get from one metro train to another, nor were we really familiar with how to navigate the metro system with all of those bags.

If you are planning such a trip, I suggest that you do what I heard Rick Steves say in one of his videos(that you will find on this page). He said to pack your bags, take a short trip via train, bus and subway or metro and spend the night and return home one or two days later. You will be ready to trade in your big suitcase and learn to pack light so that you are not lugging 80 – 100 pounds of stuff with you on your European trip. You will enjoy that trim much more if you can learn to travel light.

ebags Backpack

On this trip we will start in Sacramento and spend a couple of nights in San Francisco. First, we will have a friend drop us at the Amtrack train station in Sacramento. From there we will travel to Richmond, take the BART(our version of the Metro) to San Francisco, then walk to our hotel. We will do the Hop on-Hop off bus tour of the city, just like we were tourists, to get the lay of the land. On Saturday we will visit the great farmer’s market at the Ferry Building, then return home on Sunday.

You can try the same thing wherever you live. Do it or you will hate your self and be miserable on your European Vacation.

 

Zurich Revisited, A day trip to Zurich

DSC00534

On our recent trip to South Africa, we arranged for our flight to have a full day stop-over in Zurich, Switzerland.

We did not want to do the long flight from Washington, DC to Johannesburg, South Africa without a reasonable break, so we booked an overnight flight from the U.S. on United to Zurich, followed by a Swiss flight to Johannesburg later that night. If you can get a little sleep on the plane, this is doable. If you cannot sleep on the plane, you will probably be wasted when you arrive in Zurich. If that is the case for you, then you may want to skip this side trip and make use of the transit hotel and day room at the airport. Great for a short nap and a shower before catching your next flight.

DSC00533

Beautiful Downtown Zurich

While in Zurich, we left our suitcases at the “Left Luggage” counter in Terminal 2 at the airport so that we were unencumbered on our day trip into Zurich. After dropping our luggage, we bought round-trip tickets to town to take the 10 minute train ride from the Zurich airport to downtown Zurich (Zurich Flughafen to Zurich Bahnhofplatz/HB). It is very inexpensive, 6.60 Swiss Francs per person.  The only difference is that we would be going from Zurich Flughafen (Zurich Airport) to Zurich HB (The main train station in Zurich).  Here is what the actual train trip looks like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpdAh7wYGuk

From the train station, it is a short walk to the Sihlquai Bus Terminal. We made our way out the side exit on the north side of the train station to Museumstrasse and turned left for a short block, turning right on Sihlquai, then left on Limmitstrasse.

(To make it easier for you to navigate around Zurich, the photo below, has been captured from Google Maps Street View and has a live link back to the original Google Map. Click on the photo so that you can look around to get your bearings.  For example, click on the photo below, turn around, and follow the tracks back toward the main train station in Zurich, then turn around and navigate back so that you are comfortable when you arrive. This is a great tool. I always try to walk the streets before I actually visit a new city.)

SihlaqaiBusTerminalZurich

Map data ©2015 Google

I had pre-purchased the 4 hour Zurich City Highlights with Felsenegg Cable Car Ride tour online through Viator. Once we arrived at the bus terminal, I turned in my voucher at the white ticket building for our actual tickets on the bus. We had a few minutes to wait so we just walked across the street and enjoyed hot chocolate and coffee at the little sidewalk tables at the Starbucks on Limmatstrasse.

DSC00521

Sidewalk Cafe at Starbucks across the street from the Sihlqai Bus Terminal

Our tour took us around Zurich with several stops where we got off the bus to walk through various historic areas with our tour guide.DSC00530

It was a wonderful tour. We drove beside Lake Zurich, enjoying the wonderful sights. Even stopped for some photos.

DSC00523

After the bus ride beside the lake, we headed to a ferry terminal in the town of  Meilen and took the ferry across Lake Zurich.  Most of us got out of the bus and enjoyed the boat ride across the lake to the town of Horgen.

DSC00557

After that it was a short ride up into the hills overlooking Zurich to the little town of Adliswil where we stopped at the Talstation LAF for the cable car ride to the top of the mountain.DSC00568

From there, it was a short walk to the Restaurant Felsenegg Horst. Check out the link to the Google map photo spot near the restaurant. What a great view.  DSC00561

A little more hot chocolate and a pit stop was in order before riding the cable car back to Adliswil where our comfortable coach was waiting.  A short drive later, along the lake, and we were back in downtown Zurich. On our way back into town, we saw some wonderful sidewalk cafes and knew where we were going to have dinner.DSC00536

We were dropped off at the Sihlquai Bus Terminal and we walked back to the train station and checked the schedule for the train back to the airport.

As planned, we had a couple of hours so we walked up to the Movie Restaurant for dinner. They had great sidewalk seating, good food, and great local beer.

By about 6:40 PM, or so, we were back in the train station for our ride back to the airport. Zurich Bahnhofplatz/HB to Zurich Flughafen. We picked up our suitcases from the Left Luggage counter, paid the small fee for their secure storage, and checked in for our overnight flight to Johannesburg. It was almost time to take a nap and enjoy the flight.

Nothing better than a little day trip to a beautiful city to break up a long flight.

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If you want to book your car, tours or excursions on your own, or decide to take an excursion after you have arrived at your destination, click on the link below and make your own booking. I understand that you may want to decide on what to do based upon the weather or how you feel after that long flight. The link below will open on a page about South Africa, which was the last location I looked at. You can easily change it to the city you prefer to view by typing the city name in the search box at the top of the page.

Click Here to book your own tours and activities!!!

If you book within 7 days of clicking on the link, I will earn a small commission on the booking. The price is the same for you on this link or on a direct connection to Viator. If you go directly to Viator, I won’t get a commission. Thanks for your support. And yes, I use Viator to book my tours and activities.

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Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Paris Revisited – Getting around on the Metro

During our recent trip to South Africa, we arranged our flights so that we had an overnight in Paris on the way home. Several people asked why we would only plan for an overnight in Paris. There were two reasons; one was that this trip was all about visiting South Africa and we did not want to do a 30-hour trip from California to South Africa and back without a break. The second one was that we were traveling with friends who had never visited Europe and we wanted to give them a taste of Paris on our way home.

As planned, it was a great little side trip and our friends loved it. We got into Paris after a long day and night of flying. We flew from Livingstone, Zambia to Johannesburg, South Africa, and then an overnight flight to Frankfurt, Germany followed by a short hop to Paris. Whew! (Here’s a tip – try and sleep on the plane!) We arrived at Charles de Gaule airport at about 10:00AM and took the RER train into Gare du Nord. From there it was a short walk to the Hotel Mademoiselle.

GreenhouseGareDuNord

Map data ©2015 Google

LookingAcrossFromGareDuNord

Map data ©2015 Google

Of course, it is only a short walk if you know where you are going. When you exit Gare du Nord you have to know where you are! If you exit from the main part of the station, you will be facing Boulevard de Demain. If you used this exit, turn to your left and walk down to the greenhouse part of the station that you see below. (To make it easier for you to navigate in Paris, each of these photos, except the last one, have been captured from Google Maps Street View and is a live link back to the original Google Map. Click on the photo so that you can look around to get your bearings. This is a great tool. I always try to walk the streets before I actually visit a new city. Also, if it is available, I will do a Big Red Bus tour in a new city.)If you exit from the greenhouse looking part of the station, you will be facing a street directly in front of you, between the Café du Nord on the right and the Paris Nord Café on the left. If you came out the main entrance, turn to your left and walk to the greenhouse looking part that you can see above.

CoverdFarmersMarket

Map data ©2015 Google

You will have to cross the 4 lane road, Rue de Dunkerque and walk down Rue de Saint-Quentin. After a couple of blocks, the road curves to the right at a major intersection.

You should see the Marché couvert Saint-Quentin in front of you and a Western Union on your right.

Go across the main street and enter the very small one-way street, just to the right of the market, Rue des Petits Hôtels. Walk past the SupermMarché and the Vins Restaurant Cafe and you will find the Madamoiselle on your left.

madamoisellehotel

Map data ©2015 Google

This is a beautiful little hotel. We stayed in Room 404 and our friends stayed in 203 and 204. It seems that the “04” rooms were much larger than the “03” room. They have a wonderful dining area in the back of the hotel and serve a delicious breakfast. You can also go up the street to the farmer’s market, Marché couvert Saint-Quentin, for a quick breakfast if you wish. (But, don’t get there too early because not every stall will be open!)

For our short introduction to Paris for our friends, after checking in at the Madamoiselle, we visited the largest covered farmer’s market in Paris, Marché couvert Saint-Quentin, then took the metro to the Picasso Museum. Two of our friends decided to skip the museum and catch up with us at the sidewalk cafe close to where we were going to catch the bus to the Eiffel Tower.

From our hotel, turn right at the covered market and go one block then turn left on Rue de 8 Mai 1945 to go to the Gare de L’Est train station. Hop on to the #5 Metro line toward Place d’Italie and get off at the Bastille station and cross over to the #8 Metro line toward Balard and get off at the first stop, Chemin Vert.  (Keep in mind that when I say cross over to the other line, it will involve going down 3 flights of stairs, walking a few hundred feet, then going back up 3 flights of stairs.) When you exit the metro station, cross the street and walk up Rue Saint Giles, cross Rue de Turenne to get to Rue du Parc Royal.  Keep walking west and the road turns to the right, then you take the street on the right at the Y, Rue de Thorigny. The Picasso Museum is on the left.

TuileriesMetroStop

Map data ©2015 Google

After our visit at the museum, we walked south to the St. Paul metro station, taking the #1 line towards la Defense and got off at the Tuileries stop, near the Louvre.

When we exited, we walked across the street and turned right, heading toward the Hotel Regina about one block away. At the hotel, we turned left and walked up Rue des Pyramides to enjoy a great little sidewalk cafe, La Rotonde des Tuileries. This is only a block away from where we would catch our bus to the Eiffel Tower for dinner.

LarontondeWhereWeHadALateLunch

Map data ©2015 Google

After a little snack, our friends met up with us and we walked down to #2 Rue des Pyramides, on the left, at the Hotel Regina.

2paramydes

Map data ©2015 Google

We opted to purchase a dinner and river cruise through Viator so that we didn’t have to wait in any long lines at the Eiffel Tower. This tour was handled by Paris City Vision. As you might expect, our friends loved having dinner in the Eiffel Tower as well as seeing the lights of Paris on the river cruise.

The next morning we planned to take the #7 metro line from the Poissonnière metro stop to the Palais Royal de Musée Lourve metro stop to meet up with our tour guide for a small group tour at the Louvre. We booked the small group tour through Viator as well.

My friends decided that they would rather take a taxi instead of fighting the crowds on the metro. The taxi dropped us off at the Hotel Regina where we met up with our guide at the Paris City Vision (located just in front of the white vans behind the statue.)

ParisCityVisionTours_2Pyramidies_AtHotelRegina

Map data ©2015 Google

If we had taken the Metro as planned, from our hotel, we would have continued down Rue des Petits Hôtels to a major one-way road, Rue la Fayette. Across the street, you will see the Hotel Albion that looks like a Greek Temple. You want to turn left here and walk up the one-way street, against the traffic.

RueLaFayette

Map data ©2015 Google

Continue on for a couple of blocks and you will see the metro sign ahead, in front of Les Volcans. This is the Poissonnière Metro Stop. Take the #7 metro line towards Louis Aragon.

PoissonniereMetroStation

Map data ©2015 Google

LesVolcansAtMetroStation

Map data ©2015 Google

If you have never traveled on the metro in Paris, please check out my other posts on how to use the metro. Don’t leave Paris without experiencing Le Metro!

Get off at the Palais Royale de Musée Lourve metro stop.

PalaisRoyaldeMuséeLourve

Map data ©2015 Google

When you exit the station at the large open square shown above, turn to the west, in the direction of the traffic flow, and walk down Rue de Rivoli to the front of the Hotel Regina about 2 blocks away.  Turn right to get to the Paris City Vision office at #2 Rue des Pyramides to check in and join the tour group.  We booked the small group tour through Viator as well.

DSC07830

Map data ©2015 Google

We had a great guide and a wonderful visit at the Lourve, and were able to get great views of everything but the Mona Lisa. That room was so crowded that unless you wanted to push through a hundred people, you were not going to get very close. As you can see from the photo below, you had to hold your camera above your head and take several shots. None of mine came out without someone or something in the way.

DSC07961After our visit at the Louvre, we caught taxi back to the Madamoiselle to pick up our luggage and the taxi took us back to the airport for our return flight to Dulles International in Washington, DC.

A quick but very enjoyable trip for us and our friends. They are ready to go back to Paris!!!

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If you want to book your car, tours or excursions on your own, or decide to take an excursion after you have arrived at your destination, click on the link below and make your own booking. I understand that you may want to decide on what to do based upon the weather or how you feel after that long flight. The link below will open on a page about South Africa, which was the last location I looked at. You can easily change it to the city you prefer to view by typing the city name in the search box at the top of the page.

Click Here to book your own tours and activities!!!

If you book within 7 days of clicking on the link, I will earn a small commission on the booking. The price is the same for you on this link or on a direct connection to Viator. If you go directly to Viator, I won’t get a commission. Thanks for your support. And yes, I use Viator to book my tours and activities.

———————————————————————

Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Taking a Test Run on Your European Vacation

Just a few weeks ago, a friend was asking about our wedding anniversary trip to Europe back in 2014. Said that he wanted to take his wife on a similar trip in the fall of 2016 for their 25th wedding anniversary. I told him that I would be happy to help them put together a trip, but that I expected him to do a test run before that.

What, a test run? Yes, since we learned so much from our first trip to Europe in 2013 which made out trip in 2014 so much better, I realized that my friend needed to really experience traveling the way we did so that he could avoid the pain of hauling 2 large roller bags and 2 carry on bags and 2 personal bags like we did in 2013. I even remember watching a Rick Steves video where he suggested loading you bags and taking short weekend trip to get the feel of how much a pain the excess baggage can be. (Here is a link to the Rick Steves video as well as other packing light videos.)

It does not make sense to most of us because we generally travel in the US and are only hauling bags from the baggage claim area to the rental car bus and from the bus to the rental car and from there to the hotel room.  When we traveled to Europe, we used public transit, not rental cars. When you take trains, some of which are double deckers, and take metro lines some of which are three flights of long stairs below ground, without an elevator, you learn quickly what a pain in the back it is to haul those heavy 50 pound roller bags up and down stairs.

So, I told him that he should take a test run of a trip that uses the same type of transportation that he would use in Europe, and of course, to load their suitcases as if they were headed to Europe. First of all, they will take the Capital Corridor train from Sacramento to Richmond, transfer to the BART Metro Train from Richmond to San Francisco. Depending upon which hotel they staying at, they can get off at Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell or Civic Center, etc… From there, they walk to their hotel, hauling their suitcases.

Then, while in San Francisco, they should spend a day on one of the hop-on hop-off buses to take a tour of the city. Get off and enjoy the various stops just like they might do in Paris. This is a great way to get the feel for a city that you have never visited before. You get to get a look at all of the main sights so that you can decide which ones you want to visit and spend more time exploring.  I think they enjoy food as much as we do and they should check out the great Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Building.

Of course, he should plan for a nice 24th anniversary dinner with his wife and enjoy a wonderful test run visit to San Francisco.

eBagsWeekender

eBags TLS Mother Lode Weekender Convertible

 

How much do you want to bet that they will lighten the load before they take their big trip in 2016. As I mentioned earlier, we went from 2 large roller bags and 2 carry on bags and 2 personal bags to 2 backpack style carry on bags and 2 small backpacks like our kids use for their books in high school. Take a look at my earlier post about suitcases.

If you have not tired this trip, you should do it if you live anywhere within a hundred miles or so of San Francisco. We just did a similar trip. We spent 5 days at our timeshare in Napa and did two day trips into San Francisco. We drove from Napa to the El Cerrito BART station and took the train into the Embarcadero station in San Francisco. Spent the day at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday. On Sunday, we made a return trip and got on the hop-on hop-off bus for a day trip throughout the city. We hopped off and on, did a lot of walking through Chinatown and various other areas. A great trip. No downtown SF parking challenges either. Of course, since we were staying in Napa, we only had our small backpacks because you always want to carry a jacket with you, maybe some snacks for a little picnic lunch as well.

If you have never used public transit, or BART or other types of metro train systems, you really do want to try those things out here in the US where at least you can read the signs. Don’t wait until you get to Europe to learn. Most transit systems are organized by the names of the stops at each end of the line. For example, the BART train that I noted here today is the Richmond-Daly City line. When you are looking for the right train, because several different trains use the same underground tracks, look for the name of the town at the end of the line in the direction you are traveling. I think BART has 5 or 6 lines. Some are not in use on weekends so you have to be ready to use a different line to get where you are going. Also, you put your ticket in the slot to get into the station and you put it in the slot again to exit. If you did not put enough $ when you bought the ticket, you will have to add $ to it to get out of the station. For example, currently the cost from the El Cerrito station to the Civic Center is $5.40. If you bought 2 $5 tickets because you were in a rush, you will get into the station and get to the Civic Center station, but you have to take each ticket to the machine on the wall to add an extra $.40 to each one to exit the station.

Check out this video on how to buy BART tickets.

I recently created a page on this topic with several videos for you. Check it out.

Remember, life is short, vacation today. You can always rest later. Don’t wait until “sometime” to see the world. If you wait until then, you may not be able to do it. Do it while your health is good.

———————————————————————-

Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Suitcases — Update

As I said in my earlier post about going with the backpack style carry-on bags, I would do a follow-up story to tell you how it went.

First, a little more background on my efforts. I did a sample pack with enough clothes to make up 20+ outfits. Packed it and left it for 3 weeks then opened it up to check to see how wrinkled the clothes were. I packed 8 short sleeved shirts, two long pants, 2 shorts, underwear for a week and my DOP kit. I used the techniques shown on RickSteves.com.  Best of all, the total weight was about 22 pounds. I can carry that and it will fit in the overhead of any airline that we planned to use during our trip to Europe in the spring of 2014.

Since we planned a week in Malta and a couple of days in Barcelona, prior to our 12 day cruise on the Mediterranean, we split our packing into two parts. First of all, we packed a 24″ roller bag with our cruise clothes. Both my clothes and my wife’s clothes. I pre-ordered the rental of my tux on the ship so that I did not have to pack a suit or sportcoat and slacks. All of my wife’s dresses would take up less space and weight  less than one sportcoat, so I figured that it would be well worth the cost. Since it was a 12 day cruise, we needed enough clothes for a dozen outfits for each of us and a pair of dress shoes in addition to the shoes that I would wear to Malta. Also, since we had our carry-on backpacks from the week in Malta, we would have some extra clothes there as well. The roller only weighed in at about 35 pounds. Quite a drastic reduction from two 48 pound roller bags the year earlier.

We were not going to be using the “cruise clothes” in Malta and since we did not want to haul the roller bag to Malta and back, we made arrangements to drop the roller bag off at Citadines, the hotel we were using when we returned to Barcelona the following week.  I planned a 6 hour layover in Barcelona before heading to Malta so that we had time to put our carry-on bags in the locker at the airport, take the R2 train into downtown and the L3 metro to our hotel to drop off the roller bag. The staff at the Citadines locked our bag in their secure storage room and it was there waiting for us when we returned a week later. We even had time to walk the La Rambla and enjoy some tapas and a cold beer before heading back to the airport.

As many of you know, most timeshare condos have a laundry room or a washer and dryer in the room. The place in Malta had a laundry room, so, on the night before the last day at the condo in Malta, I put on my bathing suit, and went to the laundry room and washed everything else. That meant that we would have week’s worth of clean clothes to add to what we packed in the roller bag and left in Barcelona.

I know you are just waiting to hear how it went. It went great but I know that we can go lighter next year. I still had too many shirts and pants and not enough underwear. My wife had a couple of outfits that she didn’t wear as well. Doing the week in the timeshare before the cruise worked out well because we had access to a washer and dryer which meant that we could get along with fewer clothes.  The other thing that worked out well is that by sharing one checked bag and having a week’s worth of clothes in our carry-on bags, we did not have to worry about a lost bag. Fortunately we did not have a lost bag and could change clothes as often as we wanted during the cruise.

Already looking forward to next year’s vacation, especially since we will be going to Africa for a couple of weeks before we spend a week in Myrtle Beach for a family re-union. That means that we will need one set of clothes for the safari and an entirely different set of clothes for a week on the beach because it will be winter in South Africa and summer in Myrtle Beach.

———————————————————————-

Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Riding the Metro in Barcelona

I noted in a post last year about how to get the best use of the Metro when travelling in Paris. This year, we traveled to Barcelona and after doing my homework, we were ready. Of course, I printed out the map for the local trains and the metro so that I had them in hand when we arrived in Barcelona. I also downloaded the RENFE application to my phone before the trip. It provides info on the train schedule in Barcelona.

I knew that we would take the shuttle from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 to catch the R2 train into Barcelona. We would get off on the 4th stop at Passeig de Gracia. You should know that the name you see on the map is not always the name that you see on the board on the train. For example, our stop showed up as pg Gracia not as Passeig de Gracia. I always count stops so that I don’t miss my stop. A couple we met from Grants Pass missed their stop, the one at Sants, before our stop at Passeig de Gracia. We helped them off the train and over to the platform to get them back to their stop before we proceeded on to the Metro.

My wife saw some pickpockets getting ready to put the squeeze play on the man and she rushed them and shouted at them to leave the man alone and they snuck off into the crowd. Another thing that we noticed when we got on the train was the “helpful” man that assisted people with their luggage, placing it on the far side of the train, out of sight of the “victim” where their partner in crime could take the bag while the victim was still getting their other bags onto the train. Another reason that we opted for smaller and lighter bags for our trip.

Barcelona-Metro-Map

 

Click on the map to enlarge it.

From there,we would walk over to the L3 Metro, which was three floors below the train, and take it two stops to the Liceu station in the middle of La Rambla. Only a half a block to our hotel from there. My research also provided several additional tips to make it a more enjoyable vacation. 

First of all, I discovered that there are lockers at Terminal 1 in Barcelona where we could store our suitcases while we went into town. I planned a 6+ hour layover because we wanted to leave our carry-on bags in the locker and take our 24″ roller bag to the Citadines Aparthotel, (the hotel where we will stay before our cruise but after a side trip to Malta).  I had made contact with the Citadines hotel on La Rambla to make arrangements to leave our suitcase with our cruise clothes so that we did not have to haul them to Malta and back. If you remember my earlier blog about Paris, we stayed at a Citadines Aparthotel there and loved it. It was a 1 bedroom apartment in the hotel. The one in Barcelona, we chose to use, is a studio apartment in their hotel right in the middle of the action. They are a great chain of hotels and apartments. When we vacation in England in the next year or two, I have already picked out a Citadines that we will be using there.

Second, to make the process a little easier, we purchased the 10 ride metro ticket that was good on the train as well as the metro.  My research told me that I would need to have some Euros in small denominations to use the machine to buy the 10 ride ticket. We used 8 rides to make it downtown and back to the airport.  We picked up second 10 ride ticket at the same time so that were ready for our return from Malta without having to pick up the extra ticket during the rush. We had 6 rides left when we started our cruise and gave the ticket to a couple we met from Tazmania who were going to spend a couple of days in Barcelona after the cruise. Even with giving the left over rides away, it was still cheaper to buy the 10 ride tickets than to buy single ride tickets for each leg of the journey.

If you are thinking of visiting, you may also want to have a look at this video. We did not make it but want to share it with you.

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Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Suitcases and Travel

I don’t know about you, but after our trip to Europe last year where we hauled our suitcases on and off the metro and the trains and airplanes, and up and down three flights of stairs in the metro, I don’t want to have to go through that again.

At the time, I did not think that we had really over-packed by too much.  We were going to be gone for about 21 days and even planned to stop to do laundry about 10 to 12 days into the trip.  We each had one checked bag and one carry-on bag and one personal bag.  The personal bag had our medicine, travel docs, one change of clothes, my kindle and snacks. Nothing was over-weight; but when you figure that the checked bags were close to 48 pounds each and the carry-on bags were about 20 pounds each, that added up to a lot of stuff to carry. The three flights up from the metro station to the street was the final straw. We were going to pack lighter next time.

I bet you would think about what you needed to bring with you if you went through something similar. In fact, I challenge you to experiment before you leave home. Pack your bags, get on a bus or a train or the metro locally, haul your things to a hotel in a town a hundred miles or so away from home, carry your stuff to your room and then decide it it was too much.

Well, it is almost time for the next trip to Europe. We spent many hours over the past few months studying and watching seminars.  I really liked the RickSteves.com video on packing light. I also looked at one from PackingLight.com that demonstrated how to travel with the equivalent of enough clothes for 60 outfits that will fit into a carry-on.  Unfortunately the video from PackingLight.com is no longer available online. In both cases you would have to wash underwear and sox every couple of days to make their packing plans work. Well, I only needed to have 20-30 outfits for our trip, which meant that I could bring extra underwear and sox and not have to hand wash them every night or two, so that looked pretty good to me. Still need to find out if my existing carry-on bags would work or if I wanted to buy  a new convertable bag that could be used as a backpack or hand carried luggage so that my hands were free when we hopped on and off the metro.

Before spending any money on a new carry-on bag, I also looked at what airlines allowed in the way of carry-on bags since it seemed that every airline had their own rules, especially the smaller airlines in Europe. So, to save you from having to do the same research, here is the results of our research. What you will see is a summary of several airlines rules followed by a summary of luggage that you own then a table showing examples of replacement carry-on luggage. I deleted the specifics of my luggage to leave you space to print out this article and to enter your info so that you can do your own survey. Click here for more on Packing Light.

American Airlines

Type of Bag

Size

Weight

Checked Bag Max of 62” HWD 50#
Carry On Max of 45” 22x14x9 40#
Personal Bag Max of 36”

British Airways

Type of Bag

Size

Weight

Checked Bag Max of 35.5×29.5×16 50# or 23kg
Carry On 22x18x10 or a total of 50” 50# or 23kg
Personal Bag 16x12x6 or a total of 34”  50# or 23kg

Veuling Airlines

Type of Bag

Size

Weight

Checked Bag Max of 62” HWD 50# or 23kg
Carry On 21.65×15.78×7.87 22# or 10kg for carry on and personal bags combined.
Personal Bag purse/briefcase/laptop

As of January 2018, Ryanair’s cabin baggage policy will change. Only priority boarding passengers will be permitted to take one small bag (35 x 20 x 20cm), plus a larger cabin bag (55 x 40 x 20cm) with a maximum weight allowance of 10kg into the cabin.

Alaska Airlines

Type of Bag

Size

Weight

Checked Bag Max of 62” HWD 50#
Carry On 24x17x10=51” 25#
Personal Bag purse/briefcase/laptop/daypack

 

Fill in Your Currently Used Wheeled & Non Wheeled Bags

Description of Bag Size in Height, Width and Depth  Total Size

 

Convertible Backpack Style Carry-on Bags

Name

Size

Weight

Wheels

Price

eBags eTech 2.0 Weekender- *3091 cubic inches 22x14x9 2#12oz No $75
eBags Motherlode Weekender Expandable-*3299 to 3651 22x14x9 4# No $80
Rick Steves Classic Back Door Bag *2500 cubic inches 21x14x9 3# No $80
Rick Steves Convertible Carry On (expandable)*2500-3000 21x14x9 3# No $100
Rick Steves Rolling Backpack *1960 cubic inches 20x14x7 5.5# Yes $160
Eagle Creek EC Weekender *2500 cubic inches 20x13x8 2#9oz No $150
 *The numbers above with the asterisk is advertised cubic inches of space within the suitcase.

You should know that if you go for wheels, you will give up about 20% of the total carrying capacity.  Also, most airlines have a restriction on how long wheeled bags can be for carry-on purposes because the wheels stick out beyond the end of the bag. EBags have lifetime warranty. They also have shoulder strap at no extra cost. It is $10 extra for Rick Steves Bags. Eagle Creek has a “no excuses” warranty. External compression straps cover bottom half of case with Rick Steves bags and the whole bag with eBags. This last item is important if you are trying to squash the bag down to fit in the overhead. Prices were online prices in March 2014.

After watching the webinars and doing the reading and re-thinking what I really needed to bring on my trip, it was time to decide to either stay with my existing roller type carry-on or buy a new convertible carry-on.  I bit the bullet and bought the convertible carry-on because I knew that it would be much easier when we were on and off the metro trains.

But, will it all really fit like they showed on the videos?  It was time to pack my carry-on suitcase to verify what I had learned. I also wanted to see how wrinkled everything got when things were scrunched down with the compression straps. So, I decided to try out the packing method showed on the Packing Light video. I was able to pack 4 pants, 7 shirts, 1 sport coat, 7 sets of underwear, my DOP kit and a few other items. Total weight was only 20 pounds, including the carry-on bag. I did not put in an extra pair of shoes or sox, but I will probably put the DOP kit in my personal bag and replace it with the shoes and sox and the weight will be about the same. Now I need to follow the advise on Rick Steves’ website and go downtown and walk around for a while. Better yet, take the bus or the metro to town, do some window shopping and come home. I bet I will be taking out some things when I get home.

I will get back with you after I take a test run with the new bag.

———————————————————————-

Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Zurich –

During our first trip to Europe, to take a Viking River Cruise down the Rhine, from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, we planned a three day pre-cruise trip to Zurich to see some sights and to get over the jet lag.

Good thing we did, because when we got to our hotel in Zurich, we went out to explore the town. It was obvious after a few false starts about what to see, that we realized that we were too strung out to make any decision other than to return to the hotel and get some sleep.

After a nap of a couple of hours, we were ready to explore. We went to the train station to scope out where we would be catching the train to Basel in just a couple of days.train2

I even picked up our tickets from Zurich to Basel while we were there. We wandered throughout the station to see where we would catch the train and watched a couple of trains come and go so that we knew that we would be comfortable when it was time to head to Basel for our river cruise.  In fact, we found an train leaving for Basel and checked it out as well.

It was a beautiful train station, but most surprising, was that there was a compete shopping center under the station. Grocery store, restaraunts, deli stand for take-away sandwiches (which we used before our excursion on our second day in Zurich) as well as a bottle shop where we picked up a nice bottle of wine for back in our room.

We wandered through the Migras grocery store. Always fun to see what is up for sale in a foreign super market. I did note that the wine was across the hallway in a bottle shop, and that their deli was adjacent to the store, but through a separate entrance. We picked up the makings for dinner as well as a couple of sandwiches for our excursion to the Alps the following day.

We walked around the downtown district, enjoying the sights and taking several photos. We also checked out the location for our tour to the Alps for the next day. I called to verify our reservations and then we walked back to your hotel to settle in for the day. This is a beautiful city and we really were looking forward to our bus tour to the Alps the next morning.

We met up with our bus for the trip to Mt Titlis at the Sihlquai Bus Terminal. (To make it easier for you to navigate to the bus terminal in Zurich, some of the photos like the one below, has been captured from Google Maps Street View and has a live link back to the original Google Map. Click on the photo so that you can look around to get your bearings.  For example, click on the photo below, turn around, and follow the tracks back toward the main train station in Zurich, then turn around and navigate back so that you are comfortable when you arrive. This is a great tool. I always try to walk the streets before I actually visit a new city.)SihlaqaiBusTerminalZurich

The guide, Trudy Carvalho from the Best of Switzerland Tours, was very friendly and told us about the sights we were seeing in English, followed by the same information in French and Spanish.

The sights were beautiful. Everything was so green. We made two stops in Lucerne, first to visit the Lion Cave then to visit the covered bridge and farmer’s market.

the-bridge-in-lucerne-photo_997323-770tall

Above is the Chapel Bridge, the oldest covered bridge in Europe.

from-the-top-of-mt-titlis-photo_1003415-770tallAfter our stops in Lucerne, we were off to Engelberg, Switzerland. Upon arrival in the small town of Engelberg, we went to the cable car facility to ride three different cable cars to the top of the mountain. One of them was the famous Rotair, a rotating cable car, to travel to the summit of gorgeous Mt Titlis, central Switzerland’s highest mountain. Although there was a blowing snow blizzard at the top of the mountain, is was still a sight to see.

We visited an ice cave and went out on a suspension bridge that hung along the side of a cliff. We bought a cup of hot chocolate and enjoyed our sandwiches from the Migras deli that we brought with us.

On the ride back down, we talked with a local resident who was up there to ski. He shared a photo of what it looked like earlier that morning before the snow started to fly. Beautiful. Looks like we will have to go back so that we can see it when the snow is not blowing.

———————————————————————-

Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Simplify Your Vacation — Buy Your Train Tickets Online

A major part of our planning process is to make sure that we have all of our connections such as airline reservations, train tickets, etc… pre-purchased before we leave home.  Of course, you can have your travel agent do that for you, which is one of the many reasons to use a travel agent.

If you are the independent type and don’t use a travel agent, then at least follow their lead and make your reservations and purchase your reserved tickets before you leave home. Make sure that you give yourself plenty of lead time, at least a month or two, so that the tickets can be shipped to you.  That way you know that you have a seat on the airplane or train and won’t be going standby or with an open ticket. Once you start looking, you will find everything you need on Rail Europe.

RailEurope

We recently took a grand vacation to Europe that involved a flight to Zurich, Switzerland, a train trip from the airport to the city of Zurich, a bus tour to the Alps, a train trip to Basel, a river cruise down the Rhine to Amsterdam, two bus tours plus an on-off bus tour and a canal cruise in Amsterdam, the high speed train to Paris, intercity train and subway to our hotel, several trips on the subway, an on-off bus tours of Paris. the intercity train to the airport, and finally the flight back home.

Thalys-train-brussels

Over 90% of all of the tickets were purchased and in our hands before we left home. No fuss, no muss. No worrying if we will be able to get from point A to point B or how to do it.

So, I will walk you through the process for getting tickets for your train travel in Europe just in case you don’t want to use my services as a travel agent to do it for you.

The first job, of course, is to decide where you are going and when you are going.  For our recent trip to Europe, everything revolved around the Romantic Rhine River Cruise with Viking River Cruises. The cruise was scheduled from May 5th to May 12th. To deal with jet lag, we flew to Zurich early, leaving home on the 2nd of May.

Here is where the first issue comes up. We arrived, because of the time difference, at about 11:00 on the 3rd of May. So, make sure to double check for the local time. That meant that we needed a train or a tram ticket from the Zurich Airport to the City of Zurich at about noon. I wanted to take the train because I was going to be taking the train from the Central Station to Basel in a couple of days, and I wanted to be familiar with the train station. I also considered taking the tram if it would deliver me directly to the hotel.

1024px-BOB_Interlaken_Ost_Station
I Googled, “train from Zurich airport to Zurich Central Station” to locate the info that I needed. I also read several of the posts to get some insight from other travelers. After some searching I discovered that I could take the #10 tram and it would deliver me directly to the hotel. It would take about 30 to 45 minutes because of all of the stops enroute. The train would get to the central station in about 10 minutes. Since our hotel was only a few blocks from central station, we opted to take the train.

Almost everything you need to know about trains is found on the Rail Europe website.   Here was the site that we used for additional information.  Just fill in the blanks, and order your ticket, but don’t forget to look at the fine print.  After looking at the fine print, I discovered that there would be an $18 fee to order the tickets and have them sent to me. That combined with the fact that the trains ran every 15 minutes or so, left me to decide that we would buy our tickets when we arrived at the airport. I just had to make sure that I had Swiss Francs available to make the purchase. I will talk more about Swiss Francs and Euros in another blog post.

So, even though I am not booking this part of the trip before leaving home, I am not done yet. I still want to know how to get from the arrivals gate at the air port to the departure gate for the train. More homework.

To find out about getting from the airport to the train, I went back to my original Google search and found the link for Swiss Federal Railways – Zurich Airport. After clicking on this site I found that the train travel center was located beneath the airport. Looks like all-in-one service from this airport. I also found that the tram also runs every 15 minutes as well. I spent a little extra time on the airport site to check out the info on getting through customs.  Now,  I have done my homework and know that it will be an easy transition from the airplane to the train.

I also spent a little extra time online learning about the Central Station in Zurich.  I found that there was a complete shopping center under the train station, including a grocery store, bakery, deli, etc… Our favorite was the Migros grocery store. We saw them every we went in Switzerland. Not mom and pop stores like we would look for in France, but very convenient and with decent prices. We picked up fresh bread, pastries, wine and cheese to take back to our room.

MigrosUnderTrainStation

They also had a separate entrance for their Migros Take-Away, a deli where you could get sandwiches to go. Great for taking on the bus trip to the Alps.MigrosTakaway

For the next leg of the journey, I went back to the Rail Europe website and checked the schedules for the train from Zurich to Basel, our next major connection. Just like before, I typed in the from and to cities and found fares from about (25 Euros) $35 to $48 for economy and up to $74 for comfort seating per person. The trip would take about an hour.  There were very frequent trains so I wasn’t too worried about getting tickets. I checked into the Basel area and found that there was more than one train station, so I checked to see which station would be closest to the pier where we were getting on the ship. The ship was closer to Basel Bad Bf than it was to Basel SBB, but it would require a transfer to an intercity train and it cost more, and the baggage would be more of a hassle, so I opted to take the train to the Basel Central Station and then take the taxi to the pier. A quick check on the taxi fares showed that it would be about $35 Swiss Francs, total for both of us.

The last major connection would be from Amsterdam to Paris France. Back to the Rail Europe site once again. Searching from Amsterdam Central Station to Paris Gare du Nord shows that we would be using the Thalys Rail Service for this trip. The cost for economy was from $124 to $206.

Thalys-train-2nd

We did book this one online because we wanted reserved seats for the longer trip and I wanted my tickets in hand before leaving home. Also, I wanted to make sure that we were going forward, not backward. If you are traveling as a family with 3 or 4 people, you can get facing seats with a table in the middle if you want. (see the photo above) Regular seats have a drop down tray table just like an airplane. Just like ordering airline tickets online, you just fill in the blanks, provide the credit card info, and you are finished. The $18 fee for having the tickets sent to me was worth it to know that it was already paid for and we did not have to worry about getting a seat on the day we wanted to travel.

Always get to the train station early so that you don’t have to rush. We made sure to stop by the train station a day or two before we were leaving to find out where we would be catching the train. In fact, unlike air travel, you can actually go out to the loading platform where your train will leave from to really get the lay of the land. We also found out where to look on the side of the carriage, next to the door, to see about where to expect our carriage the next day so that we were there and ready to go when the train arrived for us.  Just hop on, put your big luggage on the rack, sort of like the one on the airport shuttle, and take your carry-on back to your seat and put it in the overhead area just like on an airplane.

———————————————————————-

Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel