Travel Tips to Europe

After two recent trips to Europe which we had planned and executed completely on our own, I think I/we can give you some useful tips for travelling to Europe. These are all based from the perspective of an Indian traveller.

How to plan a budget Europe tour on your own.
1. Know the season of your choice - Do you like winter or summer (which is a lot cooler than Indian summer). Is it spring or autumn that you like? Each season has its own advantages and disadvantages but choose the correct season.
2. Plan at least 3 months in advance of your travel
3. We took SOTC and kesari sites as a baseline for making an itinerary. (Thank you kesari and SOTC for doing such good research into your programs. We made nice use of it). This gives us a brief idea of the route to take and tourist locations. SOTC also gives a list of hotels to stay. These are 3 or 4* hotels and you can check the rates of it on the web. So plan the destinations according to it.
4. When going on your own, please note that you cannot follow their program as it is. Kesari guys will do the travel by coach and the luggage and food are taken care of by them. You don't have to lift your bags while trying to catch eurail or metro. You don't have to wait to catch the next train or stand in queue for reservations or entrance ticket. You don't have to walk from the station to the hotel. Due to these differences, it is not possible to do everything they do but then exploring a place on your own has its own charm. You will discover so many things which those people wont. You get to interact with locals and get a flavour of the place which they will not. This is what I like.
5. Once you have your itinerary in place, go to the eurail site and check if you can get a pass for the chosen countries. The countries you choose have to be bordering each other.
6. Study the pass and the extra benefits it offer. Additional tips on eurail pass are well documented here by my husband. http://schweinhaben.blogspot.com/ http://schweinhaben.blogspot.in/2009/05/railathon.html
7. Go to the OBB site and make a schedule for yourself to follow.
8. Make an estimation sheet for your project (see how managers think ;-) ). Cross check your sheet by taking a quotation from Kesari LOL
9. Pack light. Remember you have to lift your own luggage
10. Choose hotels based on your budget. Contact me if you need help. This service comes at a minimal charge. :D
11. Ensure you don't have to spend money on things like camera batteries and SD cards. Carry an extra pair from India. It will cost you 4.25 euros for a pack of 4 batteries depending on the place you buy. Paris is damn expensive and so is Switzerland and Germany. Netherlands was cheaper as was Austria. Breakfast in Paris hotel which costs 12 euros costs 8 euros in Amsterdam in the same hotel chain.
12. Shopping was out of our budget so no tips here :(
13. Keep one day leave for visa procedure (for people outside of Bombay). If you have an option, apply in a country which does not need biometrics.
14. Carry a warm jacket and umbrella irrespective of the season you travel. I bet you will need it.
15. Carry Indian snacks with you. After eating a lot of bread, cheese, burgers and potatoes, you just want to eat something that has good taste. Quick is another chain similar to McDonald's.
16. Read about the places you are visiting from the net. This will ensure that you don't miss having a guide.
17. Use your sky miles and hertz points for booking air tickets or renting a car.
18. Send me a cheque of 50 euros for having saved you a lakh rupees at least and the effort of planning (if you are travelling two people together) :D.
19. Bon voyage

Paris Switzerland Travelogue

Paris - the city of romance and love. I completely agree. The beautiful city is a must see especially for honeymooners. We had chosen a hotel in the La Defense area. The hotel etap(considering it is a budget hotel) was good although it was away from the train station. So we understood our first rule, while in Europe, choose a hotel near the metro station but then these hotels come at a cost but well, it eases your life. The train, tram
and metro network in europe is first class - completely reliable and takes you everywhere. I wonder why Indian railways dont have that competitive edge. I feel they should not be analysing only themselves but they should be looking at it as running a business and analyse their competitors as well. Why dont they try and find out, why the private volvo buses which ply in between Pune and Mumbai have so much clientele inspite of being expensive.

Anyway, coming back to Paris - A lovely city with beautiful people. Every individual is good looking - sharp features, amazing complexion and surprisingly almost all of them looked fit. I dont know how they manage to
keep themselves so slim and trim. I found Parisians very helpful. Once I got stuck inside the ticket-operated entrance door along with my luggage but a Frenchman helped my husband to find an officer who could unlock
me.

Day 1 - Our entire trip was self planned and managed. We were on our own, a perfect way to explore a place. It gives you a feel for the place. We had taken a 3 day pass for the local transport. So we took a train from CDG to
Chatelet Les Halles. Note: All train stations do not have escalators so you may have to carry your luggage while changing platforms. Be ready for it. We explored Arc De Triumph, Champs Elysees and Eiffel Tower. I just fell in love with Paris. Champs Elysees was as colourful as the autumn leaves as we walked hand in hand. Paris looked its best from the top of eiffel tower as we followed the blue light moving around the eiffel. It
was night time and the entire city was lit up.

Day 2 - The plan was to see the Louvre museum. We set out with that aim but we ended up taking a wrong turn. So instead of the louvre we came to a shopping area. The place was filled with shops selling antiques -
paintings, statuettes etc. All of this stuff was so interesting that we ended up spending a lot of time here and by the time we reached Louvre it was quite late. So we decided to skip entering the museum. There was a long queue for the ticket and we did not have time to enough to see the museum. BTW, if you are planning for Louvre (I mean the entire museum), you will need two days. So prioritise what you want to see before hand. The louvre was followed by a nice stroll by the river Seine. We took a one hour cruise on this river. Coincidently the time we chose for the tour enabled us to see the Paris riverside in daylilght as well as in night time when most of the places were lit up on our return. I suggest that you take this tour at this time. You will love it. Paris has a string of night shows like the Moulin Rouge or Lido. Do catch up one of these shows (adults please). We did so accompanied by a bottle of champagne. Sorry to disappoint my readers, I did not like the champagne and it was wasted.

Day 3 - This was our day for travel to Switzerland. On the morning we just did a small last round of Paris (the alexander bridge on the Seine and eiffel tower during day time) and did some souvenir shopping. One
point to note. As compared to the US I found Paris very expensive. A meal in McDonalds which would cost 5$, cost us around 8 euros. This is just an indicator. Secondly you do not get stuff similar to 1$ shops in Paris. The
small Eiffel towers, which we took as souvenirs, cost us around 6 euros and 8 euros. We took a flight to Zurich and a train to Luzern. In the train, I tried learning some German words from Kaustubh - my husband. Some terms like hauptbahnhoff are important for first time travellers like me. It means the main railway station
and when choosing hotels you should checking the distance to Hbf (short for haputbahnhoff). This was a saturday and saturday night in Luzern was quite lively or rather a bit scary. We saw the youth outside the station drinking and making merry but readers, this is not a cause of worry. This place is very nice and safe. We took a taxi to our hotel Drei Konige. For the taxi, it is a longer route but there are small alleys which give you a shortcut to Hbf while walking. The hotel was very nice and cozy. The building had an old world charm.

Day 4 - The next morning, after a superb breakfast, we left to explore the beautiful town of lucerne. The lake was a 5 min walk from the hotel. The historic bridge on this lake is decorated with a lot of flowering plants. The lake is home to a number of swans and ducks. A large number of birds (which also swim on water) could be found. People fed bread pieces and all of them swarmed together for the feast and it was a feast for the eyes. We
were lucky to catch the glimpse of a marathon. Then we went for a boat ride on this lake
Vierwaldstratersee for 2 and 1/2 hrs. This boat ride is not just a fun ride. It is a means of transport for local people. It was a bright sunny day. The lake was surrounded by hills, green pastures dotted with small houses and barns with cattle grazing. The clear blue lake water and the surroundings were perfect for a day out. By the end of the ride, it had started getting cold and chilly.

Day 5 - We had planned an excursion to Mt. Titlis. We took a train to engelberg followed by a cable car ride to reach Mt. Titlis. The glaciers looked amazing from the gondola. Once we reached the top, we decided to take the ice flyer. I was so excited to see ice all around and to add to it, it started snowing very lightly. The air was getting chilly. Once we were on the ice flyer, the cold wind sent a chill. I was very busy shooting the ride and
the valley below when i realized that Kaustubh was very uncomfortable. I did not know he had a fear for heights. So it was the other way round. I was holding Kaustubhs hand and talking to him to lower his tension. For him it was an ordeal completed succesfully. By this time the snow fall was increasing. We also saw a small man made ice cave. Nothing much to see here except that you will get to hear national anthems of different countries including India and some messages for tourists were also written in Hindi, just shows the popularity of the destination among Indians. We also saw Amisha Patels photo in the list of celebrities who visited this place. After a lunch of Pizza and Bratwroust, we started on our way back. At mid height is a lake called Trubsee. We took a small detour and went to the lake. The walk was nice. Kaustubh was admiring some of the
flora and fauna by the lake side.

Day 6 - As per our plan, Jungfraujoch was our destination for the day. We took the Golden Pass Panorama train to interlaken. This place is really very beautiful. The lakes surrounding this place and the hilly area on
one side makes for a picturesque setting. Unfortunately, it started raining and there was a sudden drop in temperature. Due to these reasons we decided not to go ahead to Jungfraujoch. I was a bit disappointed since I
wanted to see the ice museum. I had heard a lot about it.

Day 7 - This was a day at leisure when we decided to explore more of Luzern Altstadt. We took a walk on Kapel Brucke and visited the lion monument. This was a day of Diwali padwa, a day special for husband and wife. This was my first padwa and hence will remain special to me all my life. We decided to go to a very fancy restaurant. We had a swiss lunch of veal and pork with gemusse suppe. This was followed by a snitzel at cafe bachmann conditorei. This conditorei is recommended. The pastries just melt in your mouth and its yummy. We went shopping for souvenirs and cuckoo clocks. We only ended up buying a t-shirt. Once we reached back hotel, the temperature had dropped quite a bit. It started raining but very soon the drops changed to snow. It
snowed all night. I was enjoying every bit of it. Snow is always nice when watching from a warm cosy room.

Day 8 - We headed for Zurich to day. The train ride had a different panorama. The landscape was covered with snow. All trees were snow capped. We checked into Hotel Rex. Today we took a general stroll around zurich by the lake and did window shopping. We spent the evening at the Swiss national museum. Kaustubh gifted me a Swatch, my first gift after the wedding.

Day 9 - This was the last day of my trip. Today we explored the old town. Kaustubh being a fan of classical western music so I gifted him some CD's. We had a kebab lunch. We also saw a chocolate making demo. Switzerland is a rich country with a rich heritage. The people here have a very high standard of living and
for Indians like us it is a very expensive place to be in but let me assure you that every penny is well spent and every minute is a treasure for a lifetime. Soon it was time to say good bye to europe with a promise of returning back soon.

US travelogue 3

I haven't contributed to my blog seriously for a long time now and many travelogues are pending. I have come out my hiatus and managed to write about my trip to US which happened
about a year and half back. Many things have happened and changed after that. Its amazing how time flies. So here it goes...

This was my third time to the US. In the past I hardly got to see US. I had gone to San Francisco once and thanks to my friend, she had taken me around to as much places in this city as possible.
This trip was also an official one. On day one, one of our US colleague took us to San Fancisco to the places I had not gone before. We were a big group this time. We went to pier 39. It is a fun place. So many things to see and do. This place is bustling with life. We saw the chopper bikes and the biker groups. They are characterised by flashy decorated bikes and they themselves have similar tatoos done all over their body. The bikes are huge or should I call them super bikes and yes they make a lot of noise. Some things which I found interesting was a cap shop. I have never seen such a huge variety of caps. If you get a chance please visit. I took a lot of pictures with some interesting caps. One shop was selling a nice variety of bath salts. That would make a good buy. After this day, it was a rigorous work schedule and once our work was done, on weekend we decided to drive around and do some sight seeing.

Saturday was spent shopping in Gilroy. This place is famous for its factory outlets and the deals are generally good. I bought myself a nice branded dress for a steal. It was raining and the best part is I saw two rainbows near each other. I thought this was a rare sight to see. See the picture to believe it.










The next day, we drove to a place called Mystery Spot. The drive to this place is very good. You will come across deer crossings and the road goes via a forest area. I did get a glimpse of deer but I would have loved to see deer cross the street in herds, the way buffaloes used to on the Ruksun street [Some memories just dont go away. You want to treasure them :)]. Mystery spot is an amazing place to visit. It is located near Santa Cruz California. If you like to watch mysteries and experience them in real life, this is the place for you. One request, pleasse do not read on this place prior to y our or else the element of fun and will vanish away. You have to experience it to believe it. The phonomena demonstrated by the tour guides (and by visitors using levels) include two people standing on opposite sides of a level surface who appear to change height as they switch positions and a ball that appears to roll up a plank. At the site, an old shed appears to have lost part of its foundation and is slanted and oddly angled. Additional claims of mystery are the growth patterns of trees and their branches within the Mystery Spot, the lack of animals such as dogs, rodents or even birds inside the compound (visitors are not allowed to bring their dogs on the tour) and the distortion of magnetically calibrated measurement devices such as compasses or even GPS devices. It is amazing to experience how u stand tilted in a house which is tilted itself and can climb steps made on the wall without needing any support because you feel anti gravity. All the explanations will be available on the net but please dont read them. Experience it and enjoy it. I give it a "Must See" tag.

Next we went to the 17 mile drive which gives a fascinating view of the Pacific ocean as we drive. I tried driving a car for the first time. Since my visits to US have been short, I never drove there before or even attempted it. I have promised myself that in my next visit I should be driving a car confidently.

In this visit to US, I had decided that I will do some sight seeing. So once I was free from my office work and it was time to go back to India, I decided to take a day off from work and visit LA. This was my first visit alone to a city in a foreign country. I had never done any flight bookings or hotel bookings on my own till then. Its not a big deal but it feels odd for the first time. I reached LA called up the hotel helpline number (there was a extension number given to which you can call from the airport). The hotel pick up van will take you to your destination. This place is tourist friendly and I was able to make reservations for the LA city tour and tour of the universal studio from my hotel itself. I stayed in Travelodge. This place is decent enough and was safe.

LA city tour included The Santa Monica beach, the hollywood sign, Garaumans Chines theatre,
Walk of fame, Kodak theatre (venue for the oscars), ride in beverly hills, rodeo drive and its shops where you can only dream of buying things, the shop in Pretty Woman where Julia Roberts is thrown out. We also went to a market place. I forget the name but it was farmers market or something similar where we saw Bruce Willis. This place is frequented by movie stars...I mean the restaurants near by. As usual I was the unlucky member of my bus tour who missed him.

Next day was a trip to Universal Studio. I will put this as a must see. I will do a special mention of the king kong. Its worth meeting him. Take the train ride which will take you around the studio. The LA trip was very nice but when you are alone you cannot share your excitement with anyone. I knew I should have someone with me with whom I can share everything and no trip should ever be alone again.