Europe Trip
 

Scott and I have been planning a trip to Europe for ages. We planned to go in September 2011, or somewhere around there. We decided on the tour we want to go on, plus extra time by ourselves, and we wanted to book the trip within the next couple of weeks. I overheard a coworker yesterday telling another coworker that he and his wife are also going to Europe next September. I have just taken one week of vacation this year, and have banked a lot of extra weeks in overtime. I asked today, almost a year ahead of time, for that time off. They said no :( It's really not fair if they're also giving my coworker that time off (we don't work in the same area so we can both have time off at the same time). Or maybe he hasn't asked yet.

I'm just feeling a little heartbroken. They said if I want to go, to go before June because we are apparently getting some work in June that will last the rest of the year. But I'd have enough savings by September to go, not June. And I don't want to go in the peak of tourist season. I thought September would be perfect because it would still be warm!

Sorry I just needed to rant a little bit. I know my work has the ability to tell me when I can and can't go on holidays but I just thought they'd give me this one since I hardly take time off and I work my butt off for them. I just feel down about it.

Cheer up, it could be worse! In Europe, Early May is also a good time to go, Warming up, less kids, less tourists. Italy is great in May, and Oct. What part of Europe are you interested in? Exploring on your own, or with a group? Boat, train, bus package?

I agree, that sucks. They denied it a YEAR in advance?

You could always get sick that week, and then they'd have to deal with it with no notice. :eek:;)

We are thinking of a Contiki bus tour for the first 18 days (London, Amsterdam, Lucerne, Innsbruck, Venice, Rome, Florence, French Riviera, Paris). It's a whirlwind and a lot of places to see, but we thought going on a tour might be nicer than trying to navigate alone. We also thought it would be nice to be with a group and make friends around the world. On the other hand, we've also heard Contiki is very party-party-party and that's just not us. I want to go to Europe to immerse in the cultures and see the sights! But there might be other like-minded people on the tour as well.

When that tour ends, we'd like to do 10 days in Scotland and Ireland. My ancestors on one side are from Scotland, and I know the exact little town they came from and would love to check that out. Scott lived and worked in Ireland (Londonderry) for a summer and wants to go back, and I'd also love to see Dublin!

We've been crunching numbers and might be able to go early if we take some funds out of our "wedding savings" (Isn't that sad for a couple that isn't even engaged? Lol!). We'll just need to make sure my parents aren't taking their own holidays so they can take Layla in for a month, and hopefully Scott can get time off earlier at his job! It worked out so nicely for September. Oh well!

Haha I'd have to be sick for a month! I think that might require a doctor's note lol

Your itinerary sounds close to the one we took! London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Germany, Lucerne, Innsbruck, Venice, Rome, Tuscany, Nice & Paris! When I started researching, we knew we wanted to go April, May, September or October. It would be before heavy tourist season and less expensive!
It sucks that you can't get the time you were planning for and I can certainly understand needing to save what you need!
I'm not that familiar with the company you are looking at, but I have heard it's a party company and younger ages. We took Globus. Have you looked at them or Cosmos or Trafalgar?
We loved our tour group, we had so much fun with them. We didn't want to worry about navigating around by ourselves the first time either and I'm so glad we took the tour!
If I had more time, we would have extended and visited Ireland & Scotland too, that's in the future!
I'm sure you will get it worked out!

We have used this outdit, and I can't say enough good things. Tours, small ship cruises, river cruises and family travel adventures at Tauck.com

We looked at Cosmos and Trafalgar. We're looking at Globus right now. It's still more expensive than Contiki, but maybe you get what you pay for... What types of people were on the tour with you? Was it an older group, or families, or were there younger people too?

Those look like great tours, I would love the one with a private dinner in the Tower of London! But they are quite a bit over our budget :( Maybe someday!

I think we have changed our minds again. Scott got his time off from work anytime he wants so we will probably go in May or June, and since last night we've been looking at a lot more tour options. I took another look at Cosmos and I think I found the right one for us... I really wished the other tours included Berlin, and then I found this one that does! Berlin, Venice, Rome, and the French Riviera are high on my list of places to see :) And it's longer and cheaper than the Contiki one we had looked into. Cosmos - Affordable Escorted Tours & Vacations I also like that it has a list of hotels we'd stay at, and we looked them all up and they had pretty good reviews on TripAdvisor :) A few of the Contiki forums made it seem like you never know where you'll stay with them... since the crowds can be so rowdy, quite a few hotels have banned them.

I've also been checking out some websites for hostels and bed and breakfasts in the UK so we can hopefully save some money there. Scott wants to stay in hostels to meet other travellers and I want to stay in little family bed and breakfasts to meet locals!

Tauck was our first choice, they are first rate, but they were out of our budget!
I would probably use either Insight vacations or Globus who we used this time again!

I would have to say that most of the people were older on our tour. The youngest was 29 and I was 2nd youngest and I'm in my early 40s, but most were 50-60s, but we went in October. I'm sure there are more kids in the summertime. I do think in general an older crowd takes tours, unless you do go with a more party type company.
When we arrived in London, the transfer to our hotel, also was taking a couple who were on a Cosmos tour to their hotel. (Cosmos is owned by the same as Globus.) What I noticed was the hotel was further out and not as convenient to things and from what they were describing, the tour did not include a lot of stuff in the price, a lot of things were optional.
Since this was our first trip to Europe, we knew we wanted to see everything, so we wanted things included and having central hotels was very important to us!

I think I'm good with a lot of the optionals, because some things I wouldn't mind skipping and doing some exploring on my own instead :) Scott has actually been to Europe twice before... once on a tour in high school and again working in Ireland, and he has seen a lot of the optional touristy things and doesn't care to see them again. So that works for us if he's not paying for them already. If I want to see them I can, and he can do his own thing! He's also pretty good at getting around and from what I've read, even if the hotels are out of the city center, they're still pretty close to transportation if we did want to go in and see more. And for us, the price is right. We're going to be cutting out three extra months of saving if we have to go early so we have to keep a budget :(

I certainly can understand that! Besides it's Europe, I'm sure you will have a great time!

Thanks! I know it'll be an experience! I'm just waiting to hear back from my manager on her final decision. Scott can get time off whenever, but I did tell my manager it will be harder on us financially to go early, plus Scott doesn't quite have the holiday time saved up yet. We'll see what she comes back with! If we need to go early, we'll make it happen somehow!

!) That just stinks!

2) I found that May was a great month to go to the U.K. I went with a Britrail pass, a couple of changes of clothes and a credit card, and just a tentative itinerary, and rambled all over England, Scotland, and the Isle of Man (where my dad's family hails from). There were no crowds, yet most of the tourist attractions were open, so I had the best of both worlds. It was pretty cold, especially in the north of Scotland but I bought a coat and got over it. I have to say it was the best vacation I ever took - the people were absolutely wonderful to me, especially on I.O.M. where my last name is common, and I got to see my fave, Gerry Marsden, perform on stage in York.

3) Good on you for making lemonade. I think you will have a wonderful time no matter when or how you go because you have a great attitude about it.

Well, thank you! I would love to lay on the beaches in the French Riviera and I think it will probably be warm enough for that. We decided against going in the winter which is cheaper just because we'd like to pack light, and many tourist places are closed for the winter months. I think July would be too hot for me in places like Italy! But May/June should be good weather wise, I hope.

:( Well, I emailed my manager on Monday and explained that the earliest we could go would be the end of May, meaning I'd be gone for the majority of June. If this was okay, we would need to know asap so Scott could work some overtime if he possibly can, to bank extra time to take off (he wouldn't have enough holiday time saved until September). We also want to book as soon as we can. It's now Friday and I have not gotten a reply and she has avoided me like the plague :( So it's still all up in the air :thumbdown

I just wanted to update because I'm so excited that OUR TRIP IS FINALLY BOOKED! We are having to go early, and Scott may have to take some time without pay if he can't work enough overtime beforehand, but WE ARE GOING!!!! We really loved one Cosmos tour that went to Berlin, but when we decided to book, it was not available... our travel agent called and found out that a bunch of trips had just been cancelled completely :( So we chose another... it's 19 days and it goes to Amsterdam, down through Germany and through Switzerland, then we hit Venice, Rome, and Pompeii in Italy, back up and into France through the French Riviera, a couple of nights in Paris, and back to London! We'll have about 9 days after that to tour on our own through a few places in the UK and then we'll fly home.

When we got the confirmation today I immediately went to a calendar to count the days and match the itinerary to find out I'm spending my birthday in the Neapolitan Riviera with an optional excursion to the island of Capri :D BEST BIRTHDAY EVERRRR!!!

I'm so excited for you, I'm sure you will have a great time!
Where do you go in Germany & Switzerland? You are going to quite a few of the same places we did!

Capri is gorgeous...dont forget to take a little boat into the blue grotto..it is amazing!!! Pompeii is just SO historic. When i went it was a bazillion degrees out (august) BUT I loved every minute of it!!!

Congrats on booking your trip. Take lots of pictures!!!

That's fabulous! Sounds like an incredible trip. I'm very happy you found a way to make it work.

Iam sure you will have a great time. You will need to let me know which Scottish town your family come from it may be near me!!:D

This is what the site says:

Drive through the scenic Rhineland this morning or alternatively take the optional Rhine River cruise and enjoy splendid scenery including the Lorelei rock. Next, drive into Germany’s oldest university town, Heidelberg, nicely located at the confluence of the Rivers Neckar and Rhine, for a short visit. In the afternoon, travel by way of the Autobahn into Switzerland for two overnights in Lucerne.

:D

So is there anything you did that you did or saw that you could have done without, or anything you wished you would have seen that you didn't?

Well technically it's in England now :) The last ancestors who came over came from Berwick-Upon-Tweed, which isn't so little now either!

We also plan to travel to Edinburgh for a day or two before finding our way to Ireland :)

We had been wondering if it was worth it to take the trip to Capri but it sounds like it is!! I'm so excited!

This is the only tour we found that went ot Pompeii too so that's exciting! I have friends who have gone and their pictures are just amazing! People frozen in time! I'm hoping it will be pretty warm there when we go because summer dresses are so easy to pack. Even if it's not HOT it may be still warm compared to here, where our snow might melt in April :rolleyes:

Have a great time. I hope you get up to Edinburgh :D

That sounds like a wonderful trip!:)

We will for sure :) We just found some cheap flights from London so we'll probably fly straight from there to Edinburgh and stay a few days and do some day trips from there.

We did a Rhine cruise, which was one of my favorite things. We had beautiful sunny weather & we sat on the top deck of the boat for the 2 1/2 hrs enjoying all the castles & scenery.
We didn't go to the city in Germany that you are going. We stopped in Cologne & spent the night in Karlsruhe.
We did stay one night in Lucerne. It's so pretty! I wish I had gone up Mt. Pilatus, but I let my fear of heights stop me.
Loved the gondola ride in Venice!

Is your tour the best of Europe? I was going to look at the itinerary to see what it had in common with ours.