September 4 —
Well, I am back home – the trip is over! I can’t believe it! I want to go back. 🙂
So, there’s nothing much left to say except that I will be updating the links below to reflect what I actually did in each city. Berlin is finished, and I’ll do the others ASAP.
It was such a great time!!!
August 27 —
Bonjour! Je suis en Paris maintenant!
Obviously I have fallen quite behind with my updates, but there just isn’t time to be spending online! I have added a little about about my stay in the Cologne area, and will try to add more soon.
Other than getting a little lost in Berlin (I accidentally left the sheet of paper that had the address of the hostel in Duisburg), everything has been going perfectly. The weather is great, Berlin was great, Vienna was gorgeous, and Paris is magical. I am leaving for London in the morning – hard to believe it’s at that stage already!!
August 17 —
Hello from Amsterdam!
I am just wrapping up my stay here, which has gone by very quickly! I really enjoyed it. To read more about what I did here, click on Amsterdam in the itinerary below.
Of course, my life would not be complete without a little travel mishap. I was able to get on the second flight out of Toronto Wednesday night, which was good, except that my bag (which, as you may recall, was the *only* bag I had with me) didn’t make it on the flight. I didn’t get it until just this afternoon. So that was pretty inconvenient, and very worrisome, wondering if it was going to show up at all, but now that it’s here, I’m ready to get on with enjoying the rest of this trip!
August 13 —
Alright, just one last little update before I go!!
I think I am completely ready now. I’m even packed, because I wanted to make sure everything would fit in my backpack. It does, but it’s a pretty tight squeeze. I will not have room to add very much more! I also went for a “test walk” around the neighbourhood yesterday with the backpack on. I walked for about 45 minutes, and it was okay, so I think I’ll be fine.
My next update will be from Amsterdam!!
August 8 —
I’m starting to panic now, that even though I’ve felt prepared for the last month or so, there’s something vitally important that I’ve forgotten to do. But I can’t think of anything, so hopefully it’s just my overactive imagination!
I got my Austrian money, and a few British pounds to tide me over until I get to a bank machine in London. 🙂 I also booked tickets online for Madame Tussaud’s in London, so we won’t have to wait in line when we go there.
I also bought my film (I settled for only 24 rolls), and a Canadian flag to sew on my backpack – the last thing I want is to be mistaken for an American! 😉
I hope that’s it – anybody know what I could be missing??!
August 1 —
Wow – it’s hard to believe I just wrote August there – that sure seemed a long way away when I started this in March!
Anyway, I now have my plane ticket to London worked out (nothing like leaving the most important thing till last, eh? :-). I’m flying standby, which is a little worrying, but as long as the flight I want doesn’t get booked up, everything will be fine. I don’t really care about the flight back! 🙂
Thanks to Roger, I now know where my hostel in Vienna is. 🙂 So I think I’m pretty clear on how to get to all of them, and where they’re all located in relation to the places I want to go.
I went to Shoppers on the weekend and stocked up on all the essentials I need to take with me – sunglasses, suntan lotion, shampoo, makeup, etc. I also found a pretty good deal on film at Walmart, but I’m going to try Costco first and then make a decision!
July 24 —
I spent a great deal of the weekend finishing my notes for each city and making sure my budget makes sense. 🙂 There’s really not a whole lot left for me to do – I need to go buy my film, and a good lock to use for locking my stuff up. And triple-checking my packing list, of course! But other than that, I’ve really just got to wait now!!
For something to do, I went looking for information on Eltz Castle in Germany that I’m planning on visiting, and came across some pictures – I hadn’t seen what it looked like before. Doesn’t this look amazing??
July 20 —
My wallet is full of francs and marks today. 🙂 I got all the marks I’ve budgeted for and about half the francs – next payday I’ll get my schillings and a few pounds, and the rest I’ll have to take out of ABMs while I’m there.
While making notes on the Paris stop, I realized I didn’t have a clue how to get to the hostel there. 🙂 So I went to the website looking for directions, and found out it’s almost directly across the street from Sacre-Coeur! How cool is that?? You can see the location on this map:
Now the only one that I don’t have a really clear conception of location is the one in Vienna, so I guess I better figure that one out too!
July 16 —
I GOT MY TAX RETURN!!! Oh, happy day! 🙂 I was really beginning to think it wasn’t going to show up before I left, and then my budget would have been in serious trouble. But all is well now!
And since I have money to burn, I booked my Eurostar ticket for the trip from Paris to London.
I have also started working on “the list”, what I need to bring. I always overpack, so I’m trying very hard to avoid that this time around!
July 11 —
Almost a month since my last update – I know you’re all dying to know what’s going on. 😉
I’ve just had an extremely busy week and a half, playing tour guide to my mother. I told her it was a practice run for the Europe trip, which will be much more busy!! 🙂
I bought my plane ticket for London to Amsterdam. The only bad thing is that it’s an absolute final sale, so if for any reason I miss the trip, I can’t get a refund or exchange. So I’ll just have to make sure to not be late!
Jörn has apparently been making plans for my stay with him, but he won’t tell me what they are! He has said that he’ll take me to the cathedral in Köln, so that will save me a bit of time on the Burg Eltz day, which is a good thing!
I bought some good sturdy walking shoes the other day! I’ll have to start taking some practice walks to break them in.
I got a bit of a scare the other day when $79 showed up in my bank account – I was worried that was the rest of my tax return! But it was actually just my GST cheque, so I’m still waiting on the return. It better be more than $79 though! 🙂
Karen and Gill promised to let me know if they came across any cool things to do in London, so I’m waiting to hear all about their recent trip.
I leave 5 weeks from today!
June 14 —
As per my last entry, I have decided to fly to Amsterdam from London rather than taking the train. I have also decided against taking the side trip to Haarlem that I was thinking about, unless I find a few spare hours that I’m not anticipating having. 🙂 However, the Burg Eltz trip looks do-able, though that day is going to be *extremely* rushed. Especially considering we’ll be in Dinslaken until late the night before. But I’m sure I can do it. 🙂
I’ve also made a few little changes to my Vienna plans – thanks for the tips, Roger! I’ll say it again – if anybody knows any cool things that I should be seeing that I don’t have included in my lists, please let me know!!
June 5 —
Looks like there might be another slight change of plans on the travel front! Karen and Gill’s mom was telling me about this discount airline that flies from London to Amsterdam for about half the cost of taking the Eurostar to Brussels – and in less than half the time too! (Not to mention the train from Brussels to Amsterdam!) This is a good thing for my budget, and it would give me more time in Amsterdam too. The only down side is that I won’t get to stop in Brussels, but my only real reason for wanting to do so was to have waffles, and I guess I can miss that if I absolutely have to. 🙂
I also got two more guide books this weekend – I think that ought to be enough. 🙂 I’ve managed to locate my hostels in London, Berlin, Amsterdam and Vienna on the maps in the books, so that’s good! I don’t know where the one in Paris is – must be on a really small street. They weren’t kidding when they said the one in London is directly across from the British Museum!!
Speaking of London, I finally added my itinerary and stuff below!
May 29 —
I realize it’s been quite a while since I’ve written anything in here. Truth is, not much is happening at the moment. Not that I’m any less excited, just that I’m at that stage where almost everything that can be planned beforehand is planned, and I just have to WAIT.
Alison’s mom gave me a couple of guide books from when their family went to Europe, so I’ve been doing some more reading. How I wish I had more time!!
I’m also really buckling down with my German lessons. I’m determined to have at least one complete conversation in the language during my week in Germany and Austria.
Oh, and I *am* going to add London below soon! 🙂
May 14 —
I had quite a bit of spare time at work last week, so I read through the guide book on Europe cover to cover, and I found more places I want to go. 🙂 Of course I can’t any more major destinations, but I am going to try to squeeze two more things in – a couple of hours in Haarlem while I’m in Amsterdam, and a trip to see Burg Eltz in Germany between going to Köln and Berlin. I still have to confirm train times, so we’ll see if it works, but I really hope so! While I’ll be seeing several palaces in the major cities, I don’t have any castles planned, so Burg Eltz would be a nice change of pace!
I was hoping to use this past weekend in New York as a test of my travelling abilities, and I have to admit I didn’t impress myself. 🙂 I will have to be better prepared before I leave for Europe!
May 3 —
I have spent the last couple of nights poring over my guide books, and I’ve finally come up with tentative itineraries for each stop! I’ve added them to each page below, if you’re curious, of if you have any suggestions of places I should go that I haven’t included. 🙂 I’m really excited about everything!!
I’ve also started getting some money changed. I figure if I change a little bit every time I get payed, it’ll make it easier in the long run. It will also prevent me from spending the money in the meantime! 🙂 So I got my Dutch gilders this week. My budget is actually pretty reasonable everywhere except for London – of course, the exchange rate there doesn’t help either!!
April 27 —
The last hostel is booked! I made my Paris reservation yesterday (see below), and so it’s all taken care of! I’m really happy about all the places, and I think I got some good deals too. I can’t wait to see them in person!! 🙂
I also reserved my Elisabeth tickets. For some reason, they don’t do credit card orders over the phone, so I’ll have to pick them up when I go. It was an interesting phone call though, and my first chance to practice my German! Of course, I chickened out and asked to speak to someone who spoke English. 🙂 But at least I asked in German!
And finally, I got my Notice of Assessment for my tax return, and it turns out I just forgot to send one of the forms in, which is why I got so much less than I thought I would. So I’ve sent it in again, and hopefully I’ll be able to get a little more back!
April 23 —
I have a Eurail pass!!! This is very exciting. 🙂 I picked it up today. This covers all my travel within Europe except for the train rides to and from London on the Eurostar. It came with a little map and schedule, so I’ll be going over that to work out exact trains and stuff that I’d like to take – although the nice thing about travelling alone is that it won’t really matter if I miss my train, I’ll just take the next one!
Unfortunately, I got quite a bit less back from my income tax than I was expecting. 🙁 So I’ll just have to save a little more between now and August. I did go and buy two travel books this weekend, a little one on Berlin, as well as Rick Steve’s Best of Europe 2001. I’ve read the sections on Vienna and Paris and I can already tell it’s going to be a big help! And of course it’s made me even more excited about everything than I already am!!
April 16 —
Well, things have changed once again – looks like I may be visiting Paris by myself as well. But that’s okay! I’m just waiting to make sure Laurie doesn’t want to go, and then I’ll book the hostel I’ve been looking at there.
Great news on the plane front though – looks like I’m going to be able to have an Air Canada pass to cover my flight!! I will still have to pay the taxes, but that’s a LOT cheaper than paying for the whole flight! I’m so happy!! 🙂 The only drawback is that the pass is standby, so if I miss the flight to London that I was planning on taking, it will screw up my travel plans to Amsterdam on my arrival. But I’ll work out an alternate plan, and it’ll all be good. 🙂
Still waiting for my income tax return to buy my Eurail pass and Elisabeth tickets!!
April 3 —
Accomodations are almost completely taken care of!! I’ve booked the hostels in Vienna (see below) and London (which I’ll add shortly), and we’re just checking out a few more options in Paris before making a decision. I think both the ones I’ve just booked are going to be really good – I’m looking forward to seeing them in person!
Jörn bought our tickets for the Sommernacht des Musicals concert in Dinslaken on August 19. I really can’t wait! I’ve got a video of last year’s show, and it was wonderful. This year should be even better because Pia Douwes will be there too!
March 23 —
Well, things keep going along well! I’ve booked my hostel in Berlin now (see below for more on that!), and extended my stay at the one in Amsterdam to two nights, so that I’ll have the whole day to explore the city and not have to worry about catching a train or anything. I’ll be getting my ticket for Elisabeth next week – I was listening to it the other night, and getting really excited about actually seeing it on stage, with Pia Douwes and Uwe Kröger!!
I’m also mailing in my income tax forms on Monday, which is related because my return is going to pay for a fair chunk of this trip. 🙂
March 19 —
My, how things can change in a few days. 🙂 I’ve now decided I probably won’t fly into Amsterdam at all, but to London. There’s a number of reasons for this (if you’re really curious, you can email me and ask :-), but it just looks like it will be more convenient that way. So that means my itinerary has changed a bit (see below), and I’ll spend pretty much my entire first day in Europe on the train! But I’m convinced it’s for the best. 🙂
I can scratch a couple of night’s accomodation off my budget, because Jörn has very generously offered to let me stay with his family while I’m in the Duisberg area. Anything to save money is definitely a good thing! 🙂 Speaking of which, my roommate found a great backpack that I can borrow, so I won’t have to buy one of those. And we’re looking at getting a discount on airfare – hopefully that’ll pan out.
March 15 —
It’s actually started!! I’ve been approved for my vacation time for August 16 – 31. The plan for now is that I’ll leave after work on the 15th, so that I arrive in Amsterdam mid-morning/early afternoon on the 16th. I’ve also booked my hostel in Amsterdam – you can check it out under my trip details. I found a hostel in Vienna that looks wonderful, but they don’t do online bookings, so I’m going to have to phone Austria! Yikes! 🙂 And we’re looking in London and Paris too. We’re also trying to decide which shows to go see in London – I want to go to Phantom and the Beautiful Game, but Laurie is really not up for Phantom again. 🙂 So she may go see something else. We’re also just checking out clubs and stuff – so much to do!