Cruise

Suitcases and Travel

ebags Backpack

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.

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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

the-bridge-in-lucerne-photo

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

Viking-River-Cruises-Logo

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