Zurich Revisited, A day trip to Zurich

View of Zurich from Falsenegg cable car ride

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.

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.)

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

After 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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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

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.

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.

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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

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.

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.)

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.

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

After 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.

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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

Scheduling Tours and Excursions

It is really easy to go overboard when you are scheduling tours and excursions, especially if you see your trip as a once-in-a-lifetime trip. You feel the need to cram in so many things, that you don’t have any downtime to rest and enjoy your vacation.

When I first started to plan our first trip to Europe, I think I had something in mind to schedule everyday. If I would have had the cash on hand when I was planning the trip, I am sure that I would have booked everything that I had planned. Fortunately, as I look back on the trip now, I was not able to book everything that we wanted to do, so we initially booked only one or two special things in each city before we left home; one in Zurich, two in Amsterdam and two in Paris. If you wish to at least look at what is available, keeping in mind that there are dozens of websites and dozens of vendors that provide excursions and tours, here is the one that we use. We have been very satisfied with the quick and easy booking and the tours themselves.

Click below to book tours and excursions!

Shop thousands of destination activities worldwide!

Since part of the reason that we chose the Spring for our trip was to see the tulips at Keukenhof Gardens in Amsterdam, we booked that excursion. And since my wife had visited Belgum as a child, we booked a day trip to Brussels as well. As for Zurich, we booked a day trip to Lucerne and the Alps. Finally, for Paris, we booked dinner in the Eiffel Tower and a night time cruise on the Seine.

Of course, on our first day in Zurich, we booked nothing so that we would have some time to deal with the jetlag of the long flight from California to Zurich. Also, we purposely did not book anything the last full day in Paris so that we could just take our time and walk around hand-in-hand to enjoy the romance of being in Paris.

Probably one of the best excursions you can do in any new city is to do an on-off double decker bus tour. You get a chance to get the lay of the land and see all of the major sites. You don’t even have to pre-book this tour. Just find one of their bus stops, hop on and pay the fare, plug in your headset and you in for a full day or two of relaxing while they show you their city. Hop off when you want to take more time at a particular site, shoot some photos, and catch the next bus. It will be there in about 10 or 15 minutes.

This was not like any of our other vacations in so many ways. Most vacations have been to the beach in Baja or Hawaii where the goal was to just relax. Yes, we took in some sights, did some ziplining, or something adventurous, but mostly to relax. The trip to Europe was to see the sights. Just a suggestion, but make sure that you take some time for romance. Set aside some down time to enjoy the ambiance of the place you are visiting. We did, and that was better than any excursion.

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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

Before and After the Cruise–Do it Yourself or Buy a Packaged Deal

No matter what kind of cruise you plan to take, it is always a great idea to plan to arrive in port at least a day early to get over any jet lag and to make sure that a flight delay won’t cause you to miss your ship.

Once you accept the need for the early arrival, you now need to consider arriving a couple of days early so that you can take in the sights of the port city. Sort of a mini vacation before you start your cruise.

Do you want to do this on your own, or do you want to be fully pampered? If you do it on your own, you will have to take care of your airline reservations, your transfers (taxi or shuttle) to your hotel, and the subsequent transfers to the ship the following day or even a couple of days later. You also need to make sure that all of this time is covered by your travel insurance so that any problems won’t come out of your pocket.

The same set of issues come up at the other end of your cruise, but remember that the larger the ship the more time it will take to clear the ship and head to the airport. All of that adds stress that you just went on vacation to relieve. I would suggest that you really make the best of your vacation and add a little time to each end of your cruise so that you can enjoy each port and so that you can leisurely arrive at the ship and so that you can leisurely disembark as well.

The real question is – do you want to plan all of this yourself or do you want to let the cruise line take care of it all? Generally, it may be a little cheaper to do it yourself, but it will be a lot easier to let the cruise line do it all.

Quite often, many cruise lines, especially if you are cruising in Europe, will give you special prices on airfare if purchased with your cruise, and they will arrange that airfare to fit around your before or after cruise stay in the port city. They will also take care of all transfers of luggage from the ship to your port city hotel. Additionally, they will be able to set up shore excursions in your port cities so that you will be able to see the local sites.

If that is not enough, the better companies, such as Viking Cruse Lines, will have someone there to meet you and to lead you through the process and they will also be available at your hotel should you encounter any issues. Although, more for the adventure and the experience of doing it the hard way, I booked all of my before and after cruise activities myself for our most recent European vacation, my neck and back still aches from lugging the suitcases from the ship to trams to trains to hotel rooms.

The next time, I will follow the lead of my friends on our Viking Romantic Rhine River Cruise and let them handle all the work. If you are less adventurous or if you don’t really want to have to lug your suitcases around as you go from air travel to train travel to subways or taxis, etc… I would suggest that you opt for the cruise line’s before and after the cruise offerings.

Friends that we met on the cruise did both and we have exchanged emails since returning home and they had nothing but wonderful compliments to Viking River Cruises for their experiences before and after the cruise.

For example, most our recent cruise, the Romantic Rhine River Cruise from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam, was with Viking River Cruises. They provide a 2-night Lucerne package for $599 per person and a 2-night Amsterdam package for $499 per person. They provide all transfers from airport to hotel to ship and from ship to hotel then to airport on the other end. They also provide something that is very important: a real live meet and greet person wearing a Viking River Cruises red jacket and signs so that it will be easy for you to connect with them. All you need to worry about is your carry-on and going through customs. They will walk you through everything else. They have also set up excursions at each end of the cruise as well. Visit the world-renowned museums featuring works by the Dutch Masters in Amsterdam and explore the traditional Swiss town along the banks of Lake Lucerne with its dramatic Alpine backdrop.

Best of all, is that with Viking River Cruises they regularly offer 2 for 1 pricing on their cruises; and they also provide discounts for air fare on the all-inclusive trips. You will also find that they include beer and wine with lunch and dinner without any additional cost and they provide excursions in each port, also without any additional costs to you. If you did not see enough with the provided excursions, they do provide additional excursions at some ports at an reasonable additional cost.

For more information about their cruises, please spend some time on our website at www.TeamEdwardsTravel.com to look at the videos. Then, click the banner and it will take you to the Viking River Cruises website where you will find more information about their cruises. We will be happy to make your reservations for 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

Planning The Trip of a Lifetime, A European River Cruise

Have you ever dreamed of taking a European River Cruise? You see them advertised on TV more and more these days. We have been on large ocean cruises, but wondered what it would be like to take a river cruise.

I did my homework and finally decided that my wife and I would have a wonderful time celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary on a Romantic Rhine River Cruise. I checked out all of the various companies that cruise this waterway looking for the one that I thought would best meet our needs. I also talked with friends who have taken river cruises and was not surprised that they all had their favorite cruise lines. Some recommended Viking, some AMA Waterways and some Avalon.

We got more recommendations for Viking than the others combined. I then went to several seminars at our local travel agency office that were put on by the river cruise companies before finally deciding to book our trip of a lifetime on Viking River Cruises. Of course, making that decision was the easy part.

Now, we had to decide what we really wanted to see, when was the best time to go to see these sights, how much time we wanted to travel, if we wanted to do a before and or after cruise add-on that we could purchase from the cruise company, which airline, etc… The other things to plan ahead were train tickets, having Swiss Francs and Euros in our pocket before the trip, and of course, learning about the tram or subway systems in the cities we planned to visit. It was almost getting to be too many things to think about, but as they always said when I was a Boy Scout, “Be Prepared”; so I always plan ahead.

Our other consideration was that if we were going to spend the dollars to fly that far, we were going to get more out of the trip, so we planned for three days in Zurich before the cruise to deal with jetlag and then three days in Amsterdam so that we could visit Keukenhof Gardens and see the sights. We added 5 days in Paris to really make it a trip of a lifetime. So, back to the first question. What did we really want to see? I love flowers and gardens, so I wanted to see the Keukenhof Gardens in Amsterdam. And, my wife wanted to go back and taste a real Belgium waffle. So, of course I included that in our itinerary!

After doing my homework, we decided that we needed to be in Amsterdam there before Mother’s Day if there was a late spring, and a week or two earlier if it was an early spring. The next thing was to decide to utilize the cruise line’s before and/or after cruise offerings. Since we wanted to have a less structured trip, other than the cruise, we chose to put together our own before and after cruise itinerary.

If you are less adventurous or if you don’t really want to have to lug your suitcases around as you go from air travel to train travel to subways or taxis, etc… I would suggest that you opt for the cruiseline’s before and after the cruise offerings. Friends that we met on the cruise did both and we have exchanged emails since returning home and they had nothing but wonderful compliments to Viking Cruises for their experiences before and after the cruise.

We booked the cruise from Basel to Amsterdam, which meant that we would fly in to Zurich, Switzerland and spend a couple days there seeing the sights and getting over jetlag. We then made our way to Basel on the train to start the cruise.

Also, since I did not want to have to carry 3 weeks worth of clothes, during the planning process I found a laundromat in an area of Amsterdam that we wanted to explore, then booked a hotel in that same neighborhood. We really wanted to stay in local hotels rather than in the big hotels for a better feel of the local area. Upon our arrival in Amsterdam, we disembarked and walked to the hotel. After dropping off most of our luggage at the hotel, we took one suitcase full of dirty clothes to the laundromat.

We were pleasantly surprised when we found that it was also a full service laundry. We left our dirty clothes and enjoyed lunch and a walking tour of Amsterdam, and picked up clean clothes for the rest of the trip later in the afternoon. After three wonderful days in Amsterdam, we caught the high speed train to Paris. What a wonderful way to travel! Since we made sure to visit the Centraal Station before it was time to leave, we knew exactly where to go to catch our train to Paris.

We had reserved seats so it was as easy as flying – other than putting our own luggage on the train. We arrived in Paris and took the B2 line south to the subway that took us to our hotel. We stayed in a cute 1 bedroom apartment near the Grinnel train station. Again, another smaller hotel that also had apartments in a nice neighborhood close to a farmers’ market. We chose this location because there were 3 trains that used that terminal, so we could go almost everywhere from there.

We spent 5 days seeing the sights in Paris before reversing directions, taking the B3 train to the airport to fly home.

While you are in the process of planning your trip of a lifetime, or any expensive trip, make sure to get travel insurance and do at the beginning, the day you pay your deposit for your trip. Why, because the insurance will cover you for pre-existing conditions if you do it at the initial booking stage. If you wait to do it just before you leave, and a medical issue causes you to cancel, you won’t get your money back if it was a pre-existing condition. Some of us are getting up in years and you don’t want a health issue to rob you of the trip along with the money you already spent. It would be bad enough to have to cancel the trip, but to lose all that money too, that would really hurt.

One of the great planning tools that you should use is the availability of videos of your travel destinations. I went online on my Blockbuster account to search out travel videos. Hard to find because they are included under a separate category. (Yes, I know that you cannot use Blockbuster anymore) I also searched my Amazon Prime Account. If you look in the index you won’t find Travel videos there either; but if you search “Documentaries” you will find the travel videos hiding there. For Paris, we viewed the following videos: Cities of the World, Paris, France and Modern Times Wonders, Tour D’Eiffel and Burt Wolf’s France. Finally, for France, we viewed these last videos: The Greatest Journeys on Earth, France, The Journeys of the Sun King, On Tour… BLUE DANUBE CRUISE WACHAU A Journey Through The Middle Ages and Paris France, The City Of Magic: A Dream Vacation Tour. We also viewed the Burt Wolf; The Rhine and The Danube, and the Burt Wolf; Holland and Belgium. Yes, I do know that the Danube is a different river, but I was thinking ahead to the next river cruise.

In the next several blogs, we will share more about our trip and what we learned along the way. Hopefully, you will be able to learn from our mistakes so that your trips will be trouble-free!

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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

Panama Canal Cruise, 15 Days Before Departure

TWO WEEKS LEFT!!!

I cannot believe that we only have two weeks to go before we take our cruise of a lifetime.

I guess I better get my checklist out and go over everything to make sure we are ready.

Go over the cruise docs again, check!
Get the luggage tags ready, check!
Start packing, check!

Since I am still working, a little, I need to make sure to get everything organized for my friend, so that she can take care of business for us while we are gone. I will probably spend the next week or so doing that. I also need to notify clients so that they know who to call, if they need assistance. Wow, so much to do, maybe I should have started earlier.

I think I will log on and book some more dinners and excursions. Don’t want to miss out on any fun.

———————————————————————-

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

Panama Canal Cruise, 24 Days Before Departure

Today’s email from Norwegian Cruise Lines, “Do this, Do that, Do it all!”

Yes, we are less than a month away from our cruise. More excited everyday.

Back to the checklist…

Cruise documents, check!
Double check with the State Dept to see what is happening with the places we will visit.
Go through the packing list again. It is time to start removing things from the pile. I really don’t need all those clothes. (My wife doesn’t necessarily agree <grin>)
Time to double check to make sure that any necessary prescriptions are up to date.

Just for the fun of it, I go back online to the Norwegian Cruise Line page to check out the dining options and excursions. I think I will book a couple more so that they are out of the way and we don’t have to worry about missing out if they get booked up. We really want to do the zipline excursion in Costa Rica. Don’t want to miss that one. Better pre-book online.

I am sure you remember my blog post about excursions. Yes, you can often get them cheaper if you book them off the ship or through independent vendors online. My biggest concern for an excursion is that it takes the whole day, and the possibility of getting back to the ship late and missing the departure. If I book it through the cruise line, they get to worry about me getting back to the ship. I don’t want to have to worry about that.

Only about 3 weeks left to go.

———————————————————————-

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

Panama Canal Cruise, 31 Days Before Departure

Well, only 31 days left before we board the ship in Miami.

In fact, only 30 days before I catch the plane to Florida. Want to be there the day before we board so that we don’t have to worry about a late flight.

So, we go online and check out the links to all of the onboard entertainment. Can you imagine it? We will be enjoying dinner and a show every night while on our cruise. Wow!!! That’s living.

But, back to the check list and planning.

Arranged for transportation to Sacramento International Airport on the 14th, check!
Shuttle service booked from Fort Lauderdale to Miami on the 14th, check!
Room booked at Miami on the 14th, check!
Get out the luggage and start laying out the clothes in the spare bedroom, check!

We will be staying at the Holiday Inn at the Port of Miami. Looking forward to having a leisurely evening, strolling around the port, and having a nice dinner overlooking the water.

We are counting down the weeks!

———————————————————————-

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

Team Edwards Travel

Turning Dreams into Memories

Excursions

Zurich Revisited, A day trip to Zurich

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

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

Paris Revisited – Getting around on the Metro

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

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

Taking a Test Run on Your European Vacation

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

Zurich –

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

Scheduling Tours and Excursions

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

Before and After the Cruise–Do it Yourself or Buy a Packaged Deal

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

Planning The Trip of a Lifetime, A European River Cruise

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

Panama Canal Cruise, 15 Days Before Departure

Today’s email from Norwegian Cruise Lines, “Two weeks to go. Start packing your excitement!”

TWO WEEKS LEFT!!!

I cannot believe that we only have two weeks to go before we take our cruise of a lifetime.

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

Panama Canal Cruise, 24 Days Before Departure

Today’s email from Norwegian Cruise Lines, “Do this, Do that, Do it all!”

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

Panama Canal Cruise, 31 Days Before Departure

Today’s email announces, “We have a world of entertainment on board for you.”

Well, only 31 days left before we board the ship in Miami.

In fact, only 30 days before I catch the plane to Florida. Want to be there the day before we board so that we don’t have to worry about a late flight.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today’s email from Norwegian Cruise Lines, “Two weeks to go. Start packing your excitement!”

TWO WEEKS LEFT!!!

I cannot believe that we only have two weeks to go before we take our cruise of a lifetime.

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

Today’s email from Norwegian Cruise Lines, “Do this, Do that, Do it all!”

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

Today’s email announces, “We have a world of entertainment on board for you.”

Well, only 31 days left before we board the ship in Miami.

In fact, only 30 days before I catch the plane to Florida. Want to be there the day before we board so that we don’t have to worry about a late flight.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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