Preparing for the Trip
This is the first major trip I took on my own. I have planned the trip since new year. Shopped around for the best price and the best one I found is at TravelCUTS. I paid around ~$1600Cdn for this package:
Return airfare from Vancouver to Paris, with stop over at London both ways
Four day Britrail flexipass
Three day France rail flexipass
Three day London visitor pass
Two day Paris Visite pass
I don't think this is the most economical way to travel Europe. But on a limited time, budget is less of a concern to me. If you have more time, then a bus pass is a better alternative. Not only it's cheaper, but allows u over night trip, which means u can sleep on bus and wake up at your destination the next morning ready to go. So you save on hotel too. Of course this is not for people who have trouble sleeping on bus, like me.
Rail system in Britain and France is convenient and comfortable. Especially the TGV, wonderful piece of machine. Smooth, fast and very cheap. Why can't every country use TGV??
I did most of my research on the web. Trying to figure out where you want to go on a tight schedule is a tough business. This is my plan at first:
England: London, Bath, Cambridge, York
Scotland: Edinburgh, Inverness, Isle of Skye, Glasgow
France: Paris, Tours, Lyon, Dijon
Where I actually went:
England: London, Bath, York
Scotland: Edinburgh, Inverness, Isle of Skye
France: Paris, Blois, Dijon, Beaune
Not much difference, but I cut out a bit of travel time. A travel guide, like Lonely Planet, can give you very good description of local attractions and travel time to major cities so you can rough out your daily or weekly travel plans before you leave. Lonely Planet is particularly good because it also has brief history of a country, its cultural and social structure, and detailed local information. Serves as a good story book while waiting for connecting transportations^^.
What you bring is very important. The stuff you take depends on where you are going. More heavy cloth for cold/wet climate, and light cloth for hot climate. Since you can't put too much in a backpack, you must take what's essential. A general rule when packing is to first get all the stuff you want to take with you, then take out half of it. A list of what I packed/wore:
2 T-shirts
1 long sleeve
1 sweater
6 pair of undies and socks
2 jeans
1 shorts, as pajama
alarm clock
Swiss knife
sleeping bag
a pair of sandal, for shower and sunny days
personal hygiene items
a rain coat
some band-aid
locks for locking the zippers on your bags
camera, notebook, pens, passport, travel guide, tones of films, and plane tickets
A good walking shoe!!
I find sleeping bag pretty useless coz i stayed at hostels and most hostels now provide clean linen and sheets. So you can leave out sleeping bag if you want. These stuffs, when packed, weights about 12kg. That's a lot of stress on your feet if you plan to walk a lot with your backpack on. So you definitely need a good walking/hiking shoes/boots. Train stations have locker service, and most hostels and hotels let you leave your pack for the day you checkout and pickup later in the afternoon. Traveling in Europe is easy and convenient because you are never too far from civilization, so you can always get supplies. Pack extra-light if you plan to pick up clothes&etc on your way.
Spend a little time planning and preparing, save you a lot of troubles.
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