Lessons Learned (so far)

So we are not really seasoned travelers, but we have learned a few things. Although, we do expect changes to these lessons as we visit other places, we have a few pointers so far.

Accommodations

Sometimes you just need a cheap accommodation with a clean bed and shower for the night. This is most true when you spend almost no time at your accommodation.

Sometimes you need to splurge on an accommodation where you can have some downtime in comfort.

Allow more time for travel between accommodations then you think. You may stop unexpectedly for a sight, or you may decide on an extra half hour of sleep in the morning.

Accommodations should be in central locations for efficient time use.

Internet connections are generally very good in Europe.

Meals

Picnic meals allow the most flexibility. They are time efficient, economical, and taste great.

In Europe, if you sit down in a restaurant prepare to be there awhile

Some of the best meals values are away from the major urban centers. In France a Plat du Jour for 9-12 Euro includes bread, an entre, and desert. Made with only the freshest ingredients and nicely prepared.

Outdoor cafes sure are nice

Clothing

Clothing made of quick-drying synthetic materials is best for quick washing and comfort.

Plenty of clothes can be stuffed into a small suitcase, the big issue is shoes.

Transportation

If you travel by car or tour bus you don't really have to pack light

Cell phone service is great in Europe, even in the farthest parts of the Irish countryside.

Public transportation in Western Europe is very reliable

All guide books have hotel and restaurant suggestions. The best guide books also tell you how to get from the airport/train station to the hotel in a fair amount of detail.

Get the best map there is.

Sightseeing

A good guide book is essential for helpful tips. Such as seeing the best sights, avoiding crowds, time efficiency, reservations, and hours of operation

You do not have to spend hours in a museum. See the most famous works, browse through the rest and move on.

The best guidebooks give you an opinion on the best use of time.

Money

Europeans dislike credit card fees, especially small business owners. Cash is king.

The dollar/euro exchange rate sucks

Yes I wear a moneybelt, but so far it has not been required

Often there is a cash discount versus a credit card. The struggle is battling the daily limits for ATM withdrawals

Misc

It is true. Americans are loud and like a lot of space

My Travel Experiences

For starters, my wife and I are not a total novices when it comes to foreign travel, but clearly we are not veterans. 30 years ago at the age of 18 I went to Europe for 4 weeks as a High School graduation gift. It was one of the best times of my youth. It was on a student tour and we stopped in London, Paris, Lucerne, Venice, Rome, Florence, Dubrovnik, Athens, and cruised the Greek Islands . I remember Italy being my favorite stop, especially Rome. The trip gave me a desire for foreign travel.

However, it wasn't until almost 20 years later that I was able to travel abroad again. At one point I worked for a French startup company, they were trying to get a foothold in Silicon Valley. It gave me an opportunity to visit Paris on 2 occasions. However, these were not pleasure trips. And you wouldn't call it independent travel. I was generally helped by employees of the Paris office with hotel and transportation. I did discover two things. I could drive with the best of Parisians and jet lag hits me hard. I should note that the Marketing VP of this French company fixed his jet lag by taking sleeping pills and drinking all the alcohol that they would serve on the plane. Yes, he had no problems sleeping on the plane. But for me personally, that's a no go.

While our kids were in High School they both took French. My wife chaperoned 3 trips to France with the High School, I also went along. These trips were tours facilitated by a large tour company where the teacher would create the itinerary and the tour company would make all the arrangements. Here were our trips:

• July 2004 - London and Paris
• July 2005 - South of France including Nice, Cannes, Provence, Perpignan, Toulouse, Pyrenees, Biarritz.
• April 2006 - Normandy, Brittany, Loire Valley, Paris

These High School tours turned out to be trips with several families, not as you might imagine where there are 3 chaperons with 25-30 high School kids. So they were very much family oriented and we found them very pleasurable. Everything is organized for you, the tour guides were very good, and we covered a lot of ground. However, we did spend a fair amount of time on the tour bus, mid to lower end hotel accommodations were chosen for you, and the schedule was set to a quick pace (although this is probably best for keeping adolescents occupied).

Meals are a big deal on a tour. The first tour we took, the meals were arranged ahead of time. These turned out to be crappy affairs served banquet style. Sometimes they were served to us in a restaurant prior to the arrival of any French diners in an empty back room. We changed that on the next two trips. Instead, we picked our restaurants as a group as we went along. It turned out that when you dealt with a local owner and told him you had 15 Americans studying French to feed, he would bend over backwards. We negotiated a volume discount, ate great local cuisine from a local merchant who wanted to impress us. We were also allowed to eat right along side French patrons. When people describe the French as snooty, don't believe it. They are extremely friendly when you meet them on their own terms.

In August of 2007 we went on a family trip that we organized ourselves. The four of us took a 12 day trip to Ireland. It was a great trip, we travel well together and it was more to our liking than a tour. We were able to choose accommodations and activities ourselves. Our time belonged to us. If we wanted to picnic on the sunny cliffside overlooking the western Irish coast, well that is exactly what we did.

In the next post I will list some of the lessons we've learned so far.

Ditch the Tour Bus

I do love travel. However, if you are like me the idea of traveling to a foreign land on your own is a bit daunting. Even if you are only going to Europe, there are going to be language and cultural differences that can make travel challenging. Now it is true that English is widely spoken throughout the world and the American culture is well known throughout the world. However, I would like to visit a new land on it's own terms. Being an American that may be difficult, but maybe I can at least settle for neutral terms.

This blog is meant to primarily journal my travels. I would also like this to be a how-to guide for beginning independent travelers like myself. My wife and I have been on the guided tours and they are fine, at least for a little bit. They do have a few issues:

• You are on someone's clock and it's not yours
• You have dinner with the same 15-20 people every night.
• The itinerary shall not be broken
• The bus
• Everywhere you go, you bring a crowd.
• Interesting conversation with the locals is thwarted by the tour group's presence.

So, maybe it's time to go out on your own, without the safety of an English interpreter. Turn your travel into an exploration, with the successes and failures that come with it. Now I know that foreign travel does not intimidate a lot of folks and that's fine. But there are many of us out there who want to be well prepared to avoid getting cursed at in another language. This blog is intended to help others like me.

OK, so here we go. We are in the midst of planning our next adventure to Italy and Switzerland.