The Journey has been Planned
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2012
1
16
Trip End
Jun 23, 2012
Dallas, Texas
Monday, June 4, 2012
My original idea was that this trip would be a 9 day trip- 5 in London, 2 in Paris, and 2 travelling. Robyn's idea was a three week trip with stops in London, Paris, Germany, and possibly Italy. I was able to get her to reduce that to 15 days primarily because I didn't have enough vacation days available. We will spend 4 nights in London, 2 in Salzburg, 2 in Munich, 5 in Paris before heading back to London for our last night. In addition to using AA miles to pay for our flight to and from London, we are also reducing costs by using Marriott points to pay for our first 4 nights in London at the Grosvenor Marriott. It is a good thing-because Robyn's idea of roughing it is a hotel that does not have 24 hour room service-and as we have discovered nice hotel rooms in Europe are expensive. For the remainder of the trip we will be paying an average of 200 Euros per night. At least the Euro has weakened against the dollar which will help save a little more money. This hotel, by the way, was extremely nice and we highly recommend it if you can afford it. Very close to the tube station.
For the trip we have already purchased a 3-day London Pass which will allow us to avoid lines at multiple sites including The Tower of London, Windsor Castle, and multiple museums. This also comes with off-peak (after 9:30 am) tube passes. I will comment on whether this purchase was worth its value after we leave London. Robyn has also made a reservation for us to take a "Sound of Music" tour in Salzburg (sigh of helplessness). We also plan on visiting Neuschwanstein Castle when we get to Munich. This castle was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria between 1869 and 1886. He died in 1886 so he didn't get to spend a whole lot of time there. The castle is also the model for Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland, which I suspect is more information than anybody wants to know. When we get to Paris we intend on purchasing Museum Passes which are similar to the London Pass but cheaper. Again, I will comment on how well it worked after Paris. We intend on going to The Louvre, Versailles, and Pere Lachaise (I must stop by Jim Morrison's grave to take another picture for my sister). Beyond that, we will plan as we go.
In preparation for this grand journey we bought a new Panasonic camera which does take very clear pictures and video. Robyn bought extra San-disk cards to store 20,000 photos and 300 hours of video. We also bought an Acer Net book because it is small, light, and cheap and if something happens to it we don't care- it is a throwaway device. Having it will also allow me to easily upload to this blog the 20,000 photos and 300 hours of video. Finally, I bought Rosetta Stone level 1 for French and German which I have completed. I can talk in either language about our cats laying on our bed and ask "What are you doing?"--not actually sure how that will help. Since I took German in college 35 years ago it was fairly easy to grasp and re-learn. I can hold a brief conversation as long as the person I am speaking to talks to me as if I am 4. French, on the other hand, was difficult for me as my mouth kept getting in the way of the correct pronunciation. I will be able to ask directions but trying to understand the answer may reduce me to smiling and nodding. Our daughter has continually made fun of me for buying Rosetta Stone because she traveled in Austria, France, and Germany without any trouble since everyone speaks English. However, as usual she is missing the point. I believe a little communication in the native language helps break down the barriers of our various cultures. Anyway, it can't hurt, except for my pride, when I sound like an idiot stumbling through a basic French statement
The journey begins this Friday, June 8th at 7:40 pm CDT when our plane takes off from DFW. Check back-- I plan on making regular updates of our trip with my thoughts and impressions and some of the 20,000 photos that Robyn will be taking.
Here is our itenerary:
Dallas to London June 8 Depart DFW 7:40 pm
AMERICAN AIRLINES 78
Dallas/ Fort Worth (DFW)
June 8, 2012 07:40 PM
Travel Time : 9 h 5 m
Cabin Class : First
Seat : 4D , 4G
London (LHR)
June 9, 2012 10:45 AM
Hotel: Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel Park Lane London, W1K 7TN United Kingdom
Phone: 44-20-74996363
London to Salzburg Depart June 13
British Airways
Depart Gatwick 10:25 flight BA2652 Arrive Salzburg 1:15
Hotel:
Hotel Best Western Hotel Elephant
Sigmund Haffner Gasse 4 Salzburg, 5020 Austria +43662843397
Salzburg to Munich
Depart June 15 by train From: Salzburg HBF
Departs: Jun 15, 2012 - 10:09AM Train #79020
To: Muenchen HBF
Arrives: Jun 15, 2012 - 12:17PM
Class of Service: Economy
Hotel: Eden Hotel Wolff Arnulfstrasse 4 80335 Munich
Tel: 49-89-551150
Munich to Paris
Your flight : Munich - Paris Sunday, June 17, 2012 AF1723 - Voyageur
12:55 PM
Munich, Franz J Strauss (MUC), GERMANY - Terminal 1
Arrive 2:35 PM
Paris, Charles de Gaulle (CDG), FRANCE
Operated by : Air France Aircraft : Airbus A320
Duration : 01h40, non-stop Allowance : 1 baggage
(note: we booked a round-trip ticket and simply did not do the return trip. It was significantly cheaper than booking a one-way ticket!)
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Hotel: Duquesne Eiffel
23, avenue Duquesne 75007 Paris Telephone: 33 (0) 1 44 42 09 09
Paris to London
train: depart June 22, 9:13 am arr 10:36 am London
Paris-London Trip $220 Eurostar
From: Paris Nord Departs: Jun 22, 2012 - 9:13AM
To: London St-Pancras Arrives: Jun 22, 2012 - 10:36AM
Economy coach# 017 seat# 078 coach# 017 seat# 077
Hotel: The Rubens at the Palace +44 (0)20 7834 6600.
39 Buckingham Palace Road SW1W OPS
London to Dallas
AMERICAN AIRLINES 79
London (LHR)
June 23, 2012 03:15 PM
Travel Time : 10 h 5 m
Cabin Class : First
Seat : 2D , 2G
Dallas/ Fort Worth (DFW)
June 23, 2012 07:20 PM
Travel Insurance Plan #T925C
Submit claim to TripMate, 9225 Ward Parkway suite 200, Kansas City, MIssouri 64114
1-888-411-5378 or travelsafe.com
