Going travelling?

[Highmac]

Over the years many of us have had very useful info offered when we've been travelling, but it is scattered through many threads.
The idea of this one is to have one place to ask for, or provide, information and links about travel, holiday destinations, insights into customs - in fact anything you think might be of use. Good travel websites, bad travel sites, rip-off (sorry - "doubtful") commercial sites....  

Probably makes sense to keep detailed "holiday reports" and journals - like the excellent one Kimmer is posting at present - to an individual thread of their own. But I don't see this thread needing any hard and fast rules (Can we have a "laid back" smiley?)

A couple of official websites to start the ball rolling
http://www.visitlondon.com/
http://www.visitbritain.com/
And the area I live in.

[Gregg]

QUOTE(Highmac @ Oct 22 2008, 11:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

(Can we have a "laid back" smiley?)

[kimmer]

Here's a tip:

If you plan to ride on the Washington State Ferry system from/to Port Townsend/Keystone (Whidbey Island) (sp?), be aware that the big ferries were found to be RUSTED and have been pulled from service for the time being. That leaves only the Coast Guard operated ferry -- for which you MUST have reservations.

Of course, if you are in the Port Townsend area and have a cell phone from out of the area, you will have to find a local phone to call them, because their toll free number won't accept your call.

You might try visiting:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/

and see if you can figure it out.

Otherwise -- forgetaboutit!

[Gregg]

I can't find Sir Richard's travel tips anywhere! I've searched the archives, and my hard drive, but I've lost them...

Edit:
No, kris (below)
This was a much more extensive checklist that Dick posted quite awhile back.

[krissel]

Here are Dick's tips:

http://www.techsurvivors.net/forums/index....st&p=153822

[Mayo]

My wife and I are relatively new International Travelers and we credit Rick Steves as being the primary reason our travels have been so enjoyable and trouble-free.

While Rick has focused primarily on Europe during the past thirty years he is branching-out to other parts of the globe. His Web site and podcasts of his radio show are chock-full of good info; his podcast can be found at the iTunes Store. And the forum at his Web site is an excellent source of first-hand advice from fellow travelers.

I think that Rick's travel primer "Europe Through The Back Door" is Essential Reading when heading to Europe.  It isn't a guidebook in the usual sense: it is a "how to travel" guide that has saved us time and money.

To echo Dick's post: travel as lightly as possible. My wife and I take one carry-on bag and one daypack each. We have traveled for up to a month at a time out of our bags and we haven't missed a thing by carrying less instead of more. You would be surprised how many "essentials" we can stuff into our bags and still avoid checking luggage, dealing with multiple/large bags getting in and out of taxis/public transportation, traversing busy city streets and carrying our stuff up flights of stairs in buildings lacking a "lift." (FYI I am 54 and my wife is 61...)

After years of trial and error we settled on an earlier version of the Eagle Creek Switchback Max 22. Yes, it is pricey but we're talking top-quality here, something that is meant to take a real beating... A couple of years ago a Seattle hotel door man even commented about the quality of our bags and you can be sure that he handles a LOT of different bags in his job! Being able to choose between wheels and a very sturdy handle and hidden backpack straps is a real plus when your travels take you through crowded airport terminals and cobblestone streets.

When the daypack is detached from the main bag you meet the standard carry-on requirements.  I choose to use another daypack because I need something somewhat larger to carry my camera gear and small Baggallini Messenger Bag that I use for day-tripping. My daypack also has a first-rate suspension system for carrying heavier loads; I slip it over the bag handle and it rides on top when I am "wheeling" my carry-on bag. My wife takes along a very small fabric purse that fits inside her daypack. She also favors a couple of very stuffable shopping bags that are available on the Rick Steves Web site.

[krissel]

Thanks for the Rick Steves link.  I just ordered some DVDs as Christmas presents.

[RHPConsult]

HighMac: I'm late in finding this thread, sorry (have been traveling!)

Catching-up on previous comments . . .

Mayo: Thanks again for the advisory re: Rick Steves' sale. We received the whole package (for <50 bucks) a few weeks ago and have been thoroughly enjoying hours and hours of great memories.
Gregg: I seem to remember putting something together for some thread hereabouts, but I can find it either. So I try to construct another one of travel "tips"

I can add a few more . . . in no particular order:

• Take some self-addressed, self-stick labels both for mailing packages to your home, and a series pre-addressed for family/friends, so to dispatch easily and NEATLY picture postcards to the folks at home. Make multiple labels for those persons (say, GRANDkids) who you plan to contact more than once. When the labels are all gone, you’ve done your duty.
  
• Don’t fool w/travelers checks. Don’t buy lot of expensive foreign currency BEFORE you leave home. Get the names of the largest banks in your foreign destination(s) and check with your bankcard at home to be sure it will work in their ATMs. Cash from an ATM overseas  is the best alternative to sleeping out in the rain and going hungry. (There are usually Cash Points in the air terminal)
  
• If you’re going to be driving in some large cities during your first few days after arrival in a foreign country, be sure you leave home carrying with you some GOOD city maps (and a penlight). Trying to find your way through, e.g. Frankfurt or Munich or Heidelberg or Prague (especially Prague) or Paris or London at night, to a hotel where you have reservations, without a readable city map can be maddening (irrespective of your language facility). (Always remember the Traveler’s Maxim Nr 362: People will attempt to give you directions when you ask, whether they know how to do so, or not!).
  
• For subsequent days, you can find the local auto club and get additional maps. It’s those first couple of days or so that will have you appreciating this suggestion. Of course, take your AAA membership card with you. You’d be surprised what it can get you in foreign auto club offices.
  
• Develop a taste for smaller, family hotels. Everything is apt to be less expensive, w/great food, helpful advice, very friendly service, etc, etc.  You can enjoy the manifold amenities of the Ritz when you get back to New York or San Francisco.
  
• Take your own washcloth. You’d be surprised what you’ll encounter under the rubric “face cloth” in at least 3 corners of the world.
  
• Take only the electric wall plug adapters required for the country you’ll be visiting. The multi-multi-unit gadgets are more weight than you may need. with the multi-adapters in so many new appliances, your will likely only need the plug itself.
  
• If you don’t plan to carry-on your principal luggage, find a discrete red reflector strip  – in an auto supply store (it will have excellent adhesive) – and attach it to the BACK of your checkable suitcase (between the wheelies). You be able to spot it on a luggage carousel in the airport from 50 yards away, from among several hundred other black bags. Why the BACK?  Onaccountabecause, when the baggage handlers toss the bags on the belt, they always do so “face-down”, so to speak, so the case won’t roll around on the belt en route to the carousel.
  
• Always carry at least two photocopies of your passport, in separate locations. The first time you have your passport stolen (once in 62 years of travel has been enough) you’ll be glad you did.
  
• Never, ever, travel with shoes w/laces, unless you’re planning on traversing jungles or scaling mountains. If you can’t find some good and comfortable walking shoes with velcro straps, well, stay home. Simplify your life.
  
• Train travel in Europe makes most US trains appear to be 3d-world in quality, timeliness, pleasure and style. Especially pleasing is the ability to take a rail pass (purchased at a discount in the US) that will allow you to get on most any train to anywhere in Europe – within the perimeter specified on the pass. Plus, for a very small fee, in advance (i.e before boarding the train) you may reserve a seat for the particular journey you intend to complete. European train stations are also a marvel compared to most if not all in the US: they usually have very good restaurants in the building; plus somet have good hotels similarly situated. The terminals are usually the centerpiece of “downtown”. Each track site has an information display showing the precise location of each car of “your” train before it arrives in front of you. It probably need not be said that many intercity trains are spectacularly speedy –150 mph+, as well as on-time.
  
• I recall checking the schedule between Frankfurt Airport (yes, there’s a train station in the airport terminal . . . as well as subway, light rail, and a complete shopping center in the “airport terminal”. The schedule displayed 30 (count ‘em – 30) trains each day between Frankfurt Flughafen and Koln (Cologne). There is a total of 1 train per day leaving San Francisco for Salt Lake/Denver/Omaha/Chicago. Nuff said.

More later, should anyone be interested.

PS: Many European airports/train stations have something else that's superb for the traveler: baggage carts that grip the "stairs" of an escalator as you push it on ahead of you, so that you can change levels with your baggage (IF you need a cart) with ease. I've never seen any such device in a US terminal. The cart stays level who you and it ascend.

I've yet to find a European, urban, multistory, parking garage that's as easy to negotiate as most in the US. Be prpared. You're on your own!

[Xairbusdriver]

Another, sometimes useful function of most train stations is their storage departments. I'm not talking about a locker, I mean human-manned departments! While flying/working, we could fly many foreign airlines for basically 10% of the normal fare (standby, of course). But a requirement for most of these travels, between the US and the first stop,  was a suit and tie for me and similar, 'proper' attire for Judy (and any dependents). As the majority have noted here, suits and especially ties(!) are not conducive to comfortable, minimum baggage travels! So, we simply changed clothes after arriving at the train station we knew we'd be using for the departure back to the States and left those uncomfortable, enforced 'flight uniforms' in the 'checked baggage' department, on hangers, even. Very convenient and useful! As Richard says, Europeans still think train travel should be civilized! Hope they never copy the way we perform such travel here!

[RHPConsult]

Been in bed (somewhat under-the-weather) for awhile and another "tip" came again to mind that you might find useful, if you're at the beginning or in the middle of your traveling-life (rather than probably nearing the end, as I fear we may be).

Make a List of Everything You Thought You'd Need on your journey, and take it with you. On your return flight home (if you are able to stay awake) check that list for accuracy/efficacy/comprehensiveness, whatever, to have a really contemporaneous critique for the next journey, however distant. Keep notes on what was necessary that you carried, what was unnecessary that you carried, what was helpful that you craftily left at home.

It will make preparations for that next journey far easier and effective.

Now for a few more tips that may or may not be still relevant to foreign travel . . .

• Look on the internet for the publishers of guides to English-speaking medical practitioners in the locales where you will be visiting. Small phamphlets used to be available, in pre-internet days. Things are undoubtedly different now.
• If you are taking some brand-new (expensive) camera or laptop, before departure go to a local US Customs office for a certificate that you are its owner and that you departed with it in your possession. When I traveled internationally on business this used to save all kinds of hassles with airport/national-border customs "officials". Perhaps it still does, though it's been awhile since I've carried a laptop, internationally. Used to be helpful at the Canadian, UK and Deutsch entry/exit points, especially.

[Highmac]

Sorry to hear you've been unwell and glad you're better now

Thanks  for all the tips

[pauline]

first and foremost check out what diseases lurk in the countries you are planning to visit. http://www.fitfortravel.scot.nhs.uk this is a good place to start. Then off to the clinic to get those vaccines. Not forgetting the mosquito repellent. A healthy traveller is a happy traveller.
Pauline