NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Feb 21, 2019 19:24:13 GMT -5
Over the years we've found wifi in various countries in Europe by popping into small cafes, buying a coffee and asking for the wifi info. Some places posted the info but I'd say the majority didn't yet all of them seemed to have it. I don't know who your carrier is or what the SIM card runs but as I mentioned previously AT&T has a plan you can turn on before traveling that charges like $10 a day. That $10 allowed me to use maps on my phone, to call hosts we were meeting for some stays and to call back home while there were no additional fees. That activation fee abroad was the fee to use my phone normally while halfway around the world. That said we were on a cruise for a good chunk of our trip and I didn't use the plan those days while I realize $10 can add up if you use it every day for a 2+ week trip. Oh forgot to add to my weird I don't drink coffee or tea. Add to no carbonation and I don't have many options to buy a drink for free wifi! See and that is why I need to come along: I will protect you from having to eat chocolate by eating it all by myself. And we can go into coffee shops for free wifi for you and coffee for me. I'll be indispensable
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Feb 22, 2019 0:47:13 GMT -5
You can take the train from the Champ du Mar (?) to Versailles, and walk from the train station to the palace. We followed the process Rick Steves describes in his tour guide. Versailles is one of the places where a guided tour is worth the cost. Is the question mark for the the spelling or the meaning? Champ de Mars means Field of Mars, or Martian Field. Spelling. It’s the park next to the Eiffel Tower.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 2, 2019 12:02:03 GMT -5
Ugggh. After talking to people I had kind of settled on a tour of Italy that would hit 3 cities (all Rome & Venice tours also go to Florence) and then do Paris pretty much on my own. Do a city tour and then rely on myself, my friend that lives here, of course debthaven, and you guys. But then the days that easily skirt my Broadway plays are booked!!! For April or May I would have to move my show to Sunday to get 2 weeks in Europe and then either fly back Saturday or Sunday. Yikes!!! I suppose if I fly in a day or two early for more Rome, leaving on the Saturday would still get me 2 weeks over there. There is a tour that leaves on June 22 that's the same price and avoids all my shows. But I don't know how much plane flights and then the separate stay in Paris will be by then. There's another tour company I had some interest in - Trafalgar - but their tours were more money (granted 2 or 3 more nights too) and hit the same cities (though one had an optional day trip down to Pompeii). Their single supplement was also a lot more. And I did like the Idea that the tour above (www.contiki.com/espresso) is by a company that only does 18-35 year olds. So I'd be on the older end, but I wouldn't have to worry about being the only one anywhere close to my age. Wonder how much money it would cost me to go on June 22 vs April 6 or May 4. The lady I talked with at AAA isn't back in the office until Tues apparently.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 2, 2019 23:54:14 GMT -5
Has anyone used Costco Travel or Gate 1?? In looking more Contiki's hotels are away from city center (the Venice one isn't even in Venice!!!) and the Traflagar ones are in city center for the price of $2k more but some reviews said that they changed the hotels and they weren't so much in city center.
Costco & Gate 1 have just Rome & Venice options - but it's mostly just hotel & train. Planning to call Costco tomorrow and see if someone on the phone has better options because it's kind of hard to navigate online, but both have hotels near city center. It's 2-2.5k that includes airport transfers, hotels for 4 nights in each city, and the train between the two.
Sighhhhh...
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Mar 3, 2019 2:02:30 GMT -5
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simser
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Post by simser on Mar 3, 2019 9:39:18 GMT -5
Contiki has a reputation of being a partying tour. I usually use intrepid or look at gadventures. To be perfectly honest, I just book my own hotels/airbnbs, take the train or something between places and go. Most cities in Europe have free walking tours to orient yourself and it comes out so much cheaper. If you want, PM me and tell me your budget and where you want to go and i can do a rough mock up of how Id do it. I'm in travel limbo right now so I could use a project
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imanangel
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Post by imanangel on Mar 3, 2019 9:50:32 GMT -5
Hmm...looks like the April flights are a fair bit cheaper. But if I did that there's no cruise option, and I don't think I could do 3 full weeks at $200/hotel and $100/food. So it would be April and 2 weeks. So like 4 days each of Rome, Venice, and Paris. Personally, I would stay 3/4 nights in the Almafi Coast over Rome. But then again, I am NOT a fan of Rome at all. As you all know, I LOVE ITALY, except for Rome. My Italian friends always say "Roma è molto bella, senza i romani" My favorite areas of Italy are Cinque Terra and the Almafi Coast. Florence will be nice in April, it won't be crowded yet. But, I do know that those places aren't major hubs like Venice and Rome.
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Gardening Grandma
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Post by Gardening Grandma on Mar 3, 2019 11:05:20 GMT -5
Hmm...looks like the April flights are a fair bit cheaper. But if I did that there's no cruise option, and I don't think I could do 3 full weeks at $200/hotel and $100/food. So it would be April and 2 weeks. So like 4 days each of Rome, Venice, and Paris. Personally, I would stay 3/4 nights in the Almafi Coast over Rome. But then again, I am NOT a fan of Rome at all. As you all know, I LOVE ITALY, except for Rome. My Italian friends always say "Roma è molto bella, senza i romani" My favorite areas of Italy are Cinque Terra and the Almafi Coast. Florence will be nice in April, it won't be crowded yet. But, I do know that those places aren't major hubs like Venice and Rome. Same here. We spent a week in Sorrento using it as a base. Easy to get to Pompeii, Capri, the Amalfi coast.... Loved Sorrento. The Fauna bar on the main square was our headquarters for wifi and people watching....
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 3, 2019 12:02:03 GMT -5
Hmm...looks like the April flights are a fair bit cheaper. But if I did that there's no cruise option, and I don't think I could do 3 full weeks at $200/hotel and $100/food. So it would be April and 2 weeks. So like 4 days each of Rome, Venice, and Paris. Personally, I would stay 3/4 nights in the Almafi Coast over Rome. But then again, I am NOT a fan of Rome at all. As you all know, I LOVE ITALY, except for Rome. My Italian friends always say "Roma è molto bella, senza i romani" My favorite areas of Italy are Cinque Terra and the Almafi Coast. Florence will be nice in April, it won't be crowded yet. But, I do know that those places aren't major hubs like Venice and Rome. I definitely want to go to the non-tourist places - I just don't really have time to research where I want to go! I hate the way my work does vacation. I figured big cities would be easier to make work - but apparently not so much.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 3, 2019 12:58:07 GMT -5
Has anyone used Costco Travel or Gate 1?? In looking more Contiki's hotels are away from city center (the Venice one isn't even in Venice!!!) and the Traflagar ones are in city center for the price of $2k more but some reviews said that they changed the hotels and they weren't so much in city center. Costco & Gate 1 have just Rome & Venice options - but it's mostly just hotel & train. Planning to call Costco tomorrow and see if someone on the phone has better options because it's kind of hard to navigate online, but both have hotels near city center. It's 2-2.5k that includes airport transfers, hotels for 4 nights in each city, and the train between the two. Sighhhhh... I can say nothing about their European travel, but I used them last year for our trip to Mexico. I was quite happy about the price price and service I received. Whenever I plan a beach vacation, I price out the individual costs and the combined cost of the package. For what we paid for our upgraded suite, first class flights out of Seattle and transport between airport and resort, I could have only paid for the lowest priced room. We also got a few perks for booking through Costco, a lobster dinner and 2 free massages. I think you get a 3% rebate on travel if you put it on a Costco card, so that added to the end of year rebate. From talking to them, it sounds like they vet their choices well. The resort I was looking at disappeared from their listing, so I called to look for an alternative. The travel agent there helped me with which places were best for someone who is mobility limited, so I was halfway through her list when my first choice popped back up.....at a lower price. The contract had apparently been renegotiated. I am considering them for a cruise next. They don’t service Viking, but other smaller boats which I’d like to try.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 3, 2019 13:02:48 GMT -5
Has anyone used Costco Travel or Gate 1?? In looking more Contiki's hotels are away from city center (the Venice one isn't even in Venice!!!) and the Traflagar ones are in city center for the price of $2k more but some reviews said that they changed the hotels and they weren't so much in city center. Costco & Gate 1 have just Rome & Venice options - but it's mostly just hotel & train. Planning to call Costco tomorrow and see if someone on the phone has better options because it's kind of hard to navigate online, but both have hotels near city center. It's 2-2.5k that includes airport transfers, hotels for 4 nights in each city, and the train between the two. Sighhhhh... I can say nothing about their European travel, but I used them last year for our trip to Mexico. I was quite happy about the price price and service I received. Whenever I plan a beach vacation, I price out the individual costs and the combined cost of the package. For what we paid for our upgraded suite, first class flights out of Seattle and transport between airport and resort, I could have only paid for the lowest priced room. We also got a few perks for booking through Costco, a lobster dinner and 2 free massages. I think you get a 3% rebate on travel if you put it on a Costco card, so that added to the end of year rebate. From talking to them, it sounds like they vet their choices well. The resort I was looking at disappeared from their listing, so I called to look for an alternative. The travel agent there helped me with which places were best for someone who is mobility limited, so I was halfway through her list when my first choice popped back up.....at a lower price. The contract had apparently been renegotiated. I am considering them for a cruise next. They don’t service Viking, but other smaller boats which I’d like to try. I used them for cruise. I liked them and when they screwed up they fixed it and gave me a gift card for their trouble. For cruises their best deals are their costco buys or Kirkland signature cruises. Nothing can beat their free extras - my room was around 200 less than list when I booked and we got over 400 of free stuff.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 3, 2019 13:13:16 GMT -5
I can say nothing about their European travel, but I used them last year for our trip to Mexico. I was quite happy about the price price and service I received. Whenever I plan a beach vacation, I price out the individual costs and the combined cost of the package. For what we paid for our upgraded suite, first class flights out of Seattle and transport between airport and resort, I could have only paid for the lowest priced room. We also got a few perks for booking through Costco, a lobster dinner and 2 free massages. I think you get a 3% rebate on travel if you put it on a Costco card, so that added to the end of year rebate. From talking to them, it sounds like they vet their choices well. The resort I was looking at disappeared from their listing, so I called to look for an alternative. The travel agent there helped me with which places were best for someone who is mobility limited, so I was halfway through her list when my first choice popped back up.....at a lower price. The contract had apparently been renegotiated. I am considering them for a cruise next. They don’t service Viking, but other smaller boats which I’d like to try. I used them for cruise. I liked them and when they screwed up they fixed it and gave me a gift card for their trouble. For cruises their best deals are their costco buys or Kirkland signature cruises. Nothing can beat their free extras - my room was around 200 less than list when I booked and we got over 400 of free stuff. Like with resorts, I need to look to the smaller ships and those don’t seem to be on the Costco deals. There is a Regents cruise that I am considering for Asia next. It is considerably less than that on the Regents website, but the Regents site includes business class air. I have gone down so many rabbit holes in vacation planning that sometimes I just need to walk away for a few days. It does get overwhelming and you want to make good choices. I have only ever booked a tour once, for the 4 days we were in Cappadocia in Turkey. It was pricey, but our tour guide was phenomenal in teaching us the history of the area and getting us around. This would have been difficult on our own. It was a private tour, and I got his name from my Turkish friend.
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imanangel
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Post by imanangel on Mar 3, 2019 19:58:03 GMT -5
Personally, I would stay 3/4 nights in the Almafi Coast over Rome. But then again, I am NOT a fan of Rome at all. As you all know, I LOVE ITALY, except for Rome. My Italian friends always say "Roma è molto bella, senza i romani" My favorite areas of Italy are Cinque Terra and the Almafi Coast. Florence will be nice in April, it won't be crowded yet. But, I do know that those places aren't major hubs like Venice and Rome. Same here. We spent a week in Sorrento using it as a base. Easy to get to Pompeii, Capri, the Amalfi coast.... Loved Sorrento. The Fauna bar on the main square was our headquarters for wifi and people watching.... This past summer we stayed in Sorrento as well. I LOVED it.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 3, 2019 21:04:27 GMT -5
So, not that shocking, but it seems Costco tends to go with more expensive hotels. Just hotels and flights was $4k. Yikes! simser PM'd some great options, though that leaves me with finding the day tours on my own. Viator popped up as the first few options. Has anyone used them? They're associated with Trip Adviser so I think they would be good. Anyone else have other suggestions for day trips/tours? I'd likely be wanting an overview tour the first day. Tours to skip lines to the big spot. And any other cool out of the way things. I saw one tour had a night tour of Rome sites - which sounds pretty cool.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 3, 2019 21:21:25 GMT -5
For any city you go into, look for the hop on, hop off bus tours. So far, they’ve had them in all the cities I have been to. There is an audio channel that says what you are looking at. Take notes, then go back to the places that interest you. Or what you can do is get off the route and visit the attraction, and catch the bus later. We did my second suggestion in Cape Town, getting off the bus to see the wharf and Table Mountain. In Lisbon, we got off the bus at an open air market....but then hired a tuk-tuk guide to visit the areas we wanted to see. That made it easier on me.
In Paris, they have a city pass you can buy to bypass the lines to attractions. I’d be looking to see if these are available in Italy. I’d assume so.
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Gardening Grandma
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Post by Gardening Grandma on Mar 3, 2019 21:41:04 GMT -5
So, not that shocking, but it seems Costco tends to go with more expensive hotels. Just hotels and flights was $4k. Yikes! simser PM'd some great options, though that leaves me with finding the day tours on my own. Viator popped up as the first few options. Has anyone used them? They're associated with Trip Adviser so I think they would be good. Anyone else have other suggestions for day trips/tours? I'd likely be wanting an overview tour the first day. Tours to skip lines to the big spot. And any other cool out of the way things. I saw one tour had a night tour of Rome sites - which sounds pretty cool. I suggest picking up a Rick Steves guide. He lists hotels in various price ranges and -importantly- their locations
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 3, 2019 21:59:51 GMT -5
So, not that shocking, but it seems Costco tends to go with more expensive hotels. Just hotels and flights was $4k. Yikes! simser PM'd some great options, though that leaves me with finding the day tours on my own. Viator popped up as the first few options. Has anyone used them? They're associated with Trip Adviser so I think they would be good. Anyone else have other suggestions for day trips/tours? I'd likely be wanting an overview tour the first day. Tours to skip lines to the big spot. And any other cool out of the way things. I saw one tour had a night tour of Rome sites - which sounds pretty cool. I suggest picking up a Rick Steves guide. He lists hotels in various price ranges and -importantly- their locations My library has em all in digital!
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 3, 2019 23:04:15 GMT -5
It looks like the Costco site recommends hotels. What you might want to do is to see what prices are like for those hotels via Expedia or whatever travel site you use. The one thing you can be sure of is that the hotels are well vetted.
When I was booking our hotel in Lisbon, I had asked for the pre cruise tour on the quote, and the hotel was included on the quote. The tour was insanely expensive, for what Viking offered but it gave me 2 important pieces.....location and price. I was able to book another hotel nearby, cheaper and with better reviews. I declined the Lisbon tour and paid for 4 days for what half the 2 day tour would cost.
Another thing I’ve done is paid attention to hotels and resorts won on game shows. That’s how I found our Belize resort.
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simser
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Post by simser on Mar 4, 2019 8:56:32 GMT -5
Not surprisingly I do use viator a lot. Ive never had a bad experience with them. Heck, I even use them in my own city from time to time to learn more.
Remember Europe is one of the places that a lot of people travel to. Theres a huge tourist infrastructure that is designed to help people out. It's going to be a good first solo trip.
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Apple
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Post by Apple on Mar 4, 2019 16:58:34 GMT -5
I've used Viator twice, and both experiences went well. I have heard they can be on the expensive side, as they are kind of a middle-man and don't do the tours themselves, but I found them to be reasonable.
We did the day trip from Rome to Pompeii through them. They arranged pickup at our hotel (which was a little ways out of the city) to the tour bus, and back. That was handy since it was outside the hours of the hotel shuttle bus.
We booked Gladiator School through them as well, and just did transportation to and from on our own (it's in Rome, but was a much longer walk than we expected, so we grabbed a taxi to take us there so we wouldn't be late, then walked back to the city area when we were done).
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Apple
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Post by Apple on Mar 4, 2019 17:03:45 GMT -5
I prefer to do day tours over full tours, mostly because I like to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, rather than following someone else's itinerary.
As for "optional excursions" offered by a full tour group... I was warned on my first tour that these were extremely expensive. Also, there had to be enough people in the group who wanted to do it, or it would be cancelled. We were off-season and had a fairly small tour group. Our guide was the one who told us it would be very expensive, and he would help us figure out how to do the excursion on our own. Usually it was an afternoon excursion on a day where you would stay the night in that city and not move on until the next day, so the risk of not getting back in time to catch the coach was very minimal. That is where they get people though-- if the excursion is through the tour company, they will wait for you, or get you caught up to the coach/boat/whatever. But, if you go out on your own and are late, the coach/boat/whatever will leave without you to stay on schedule, and you have to figure out your own way to catch up.
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debthaven
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Post by debthaven on Mar 4, 2019 17:13:06 GMT -5
justme I'm not ignoring you, I just don't have much advice to give. We have always booked our trips ourselves, but there have always been several of us travelling together. I do realize that makes a big difference in price. Please do give me you dates when you know them and I will do my best, I would love to meet up.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Mar 4, 2019 21:45:34 GMT -5
I suggest picking up a Rick Steves guide. He lists hotels in various price ranges and -importantly- their locations My library has em all in digital! The Steves guides also contain line skipping tips for many major sights. Sometimes there is a cost associated with how to skip a line. But, it does maximize the return on your vacation dollars by saving you time.
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cktc
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Post by cktc on Mar 4, 2019 22:10:45 GMT -5
What area are you in? The company I work for works with travel agents all over the country. I can see if we have someone near you if would like to speak with someone in person. Shoot me a PM if you are interested.
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travelnut11
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Post by travelnut11 on Mar 18, 2019 21:04:26 GMT -5
justme How goes the trip planning?
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 20, 2019 15:11:08 GMT -5
justme How goes the trip planning? I need to kick my ass into gear and just decide!!! Sigh. If I do it myself, anyone know if there's specific sites online to buy train tickets?
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simser
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Post by simser on Mar 20, 2019 23:08:27 GMT -5
justme How goes the trip planning? I need to kick my ass into gear and just decide!!! Sigh. If I do it myself, anyone know if there's specific sites online to buy train tickets? Try seat61, i think they have a link to the right place. Otherwise Google and it will come up.
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travelnut11
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Post by travelnut11 on Mar 21, 2019 11:09:19 GMT -5
Seat61 is a good option to direct you otherwise I think it depends on the country and/or where you're going eg. within a country or between countries. You can also buy tickets once you get there though if you're traveling between countries you'll probably want to book in advance just in case. We went France to Italy and booked in advance directly on the SNCF website.
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justme
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Post by justme on Mar 25, 2019 11:22:58 GMT -5
OMG! Everytime I talk to someone they give me another idea or another something to check out. I really need to decide! Blah, I hate this.
Parents think I should do something easy now so I can actually research and plan better and go in Oct/Nov time frame. And probably cheaper now too since it's no longer last minute. But mom's suggestion of a Panama cruise is out because they're all leaving Friday and sold out.
Another option would be a transatlantic. There's one that ends in London and one in Barcelona. About $1500 for the way over and about $500 if I use the cruiseline's airfare and $400 if I do my own - but doing my own would let me have 2 days in Paris. Though
Ugh, I still don't know. I'm in like decision paralysis!!
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Mar 25, 2019 14:17:39 GMT -5
OMG! Everytime I talk to someone they give me another idea or another something to check out. I really need to decide! Blah, I hate this. Parents think I should do something easy now so I can actually research and plan better and go in Oct/Nov time frame. And probably cheaper now too since it's no longer last minute. But mom's suggestion of a Panama cruise is out because they're all leaving Friday and sold out. Another option would be a transatlantic. There's one that ends in London and one in Barcelona. About $1500 for the way over and about $500 if I use the cruiseline's airfare and $400 if I do my own - but doing my own would let me have 2 days in Paris. Though Ugh, I still don't know. I'm in like decision paralysis!! I am a huge fan of Sept/Oct travel, so that would be my choice. With my cruise travel planning, I do not go with the cruise line. The price we paid for our airfare to Bergen in Oct and out of Barcelona is about the same price as what we were offered on Viking. However, it seems to me that they become difficult when you want to go earlier or stay longer, but not take their pre/post cruise tour. I try to give us time on both end, usually 4 days as that gives us time to check out the city the way we want to. I do understand decision paralysis.
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