Chapter 4   What’s On Your List?

Chapter 4 What’s On Your List?

Chapter 4    What’s On Your List

In Chapter 3 we talked about Making a List, or Lists…and this chapter will cover what you may want to include on that “list”….for the items on this list can “make or break” your travels. In addition to the “list”….there are some basics to include in your carry on, and I got the following from a travel blogger, Jamie.

When you think of the best parts travel, immersing yourself in new cultures and eating authentic food probably sound more appealing than flying to your destination. But, when you have the right things with you, your flight can be the ideal time to relax and dream of all the discovery to come! To make your time in the sky even more enjoyable, we reached out to Go Ahead staff to hear which products they always pack in their carry-on bags. Here are ten of their favorites to have with you the next time you take to the skies.

One thing is for sure: Digging for your passport and other travel documents isn’t nearly as fun as digging into culture. That’s why having a functional travel wallet on hand is a must—and why we love the colorful selection made by Zoppen. With well-organized pockets for your boarding pass, money, cell phone, and more, you’re guaranteed to have everything you need at the ready. Plus, the wallet’s RFID-blocking material prevents anyone from electronically nabbing ID info and credit card numbers, so you can stroll through busy terminals at ease (and in style!).

2

Water bottle
If you’ve ever arrived at an airport’s security line just in time to remember you’ll need to toss the full water bottle in your bag, this tip’s for you. Next time you pack up your carry-on essentials, bring along an empty water bottle. You can fill it once you’re through security instead of paying high airport prices for a bottle while waiting to board your flight. Then, you’ll be able to refill it during your adventure (as long as it’s safe to drink tap water at your destination). We love the Hydro Flask bottles, which are insulated to keep cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot, making it easier to stay hydrated while quenching your thirst for adventure.

3

A good read
Far-off places spring to life from the pages of a good book, and bringing a travel-centric tale along during your flight is sure to get you dreaming of all the adventure to come. The Go Ahead team is full of top travel book recommendations, but one of our staff favorites is The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner. In it, Weiner says there’s a link between inspiring destinations and overall happiness… and we can’t argue with that!

4

Noise-canceling headphones
If you’d rather catch up on a good flick while coasting through the sky, noise-canceling headphones are the way to go. While quite reprieves may be hard to come by on busy flights, these headphones help keep any outside noise (think: crying babies) at bay while you tune into your movie or music. Want an option that won’t break the bank? Check out Sony’s over-the-ear headphones, which are comfortable enough for long trips and fold up when you’re ready to pack them away.

Portable charger
Enjoy passing the time on flights by watching movies on your tablet? A portable charger is the thing to bring. One of our top picks is the Jackery Bolt, a small-but-reliable external battery charger with built-in cords. It can provide a medium-sized smartphone with up to two full charges and give tablets and other electronics with USB ports more life. Simply plug the charger in overnight to give it some juice before you take off, and all you’ll need to think about is filling up your wine glass on tour instead of running out of battery in the air.

6

Toiletry bag
Like a good travel wallet, a roomy toiletry bag is a must for wrangling all of your in-flight essentials, and one of our favorites is the Herschel Supply Co. Chapter Travel Kit. The good-looking material is sturdy, the interior is roomy, and you can simply pop your plastic gallon baggie full of 3-oz liquids inside. That way, you won’t need to go rooting around in the bottom of your tote for lotion when your parched hands need some love mid-flight.

7

Antibacterial wipes
While meeting new people is one of the best parts of travel, picking up any germs (or sharing your own) undoubtedly dampen the adventure. That’s why using antibacterial wipes is always a good idea, and Purell’s travel packs are a good go-to. You can clean your hands, tray tables, and armrests in flight for a germ-free journey, and then tuck the package in a convenient place—the wipes aren’t considered a liquid so you don’t need to worry about keeping them in your gallon baggie.

8

Hand cream
An airplane cabin’s dry, recycled air can do a number to your skin, so it’s key to have a good moisturizing cream on hand (get it?). We love L’Occitane en Provence’s creams, which hydrate without feeling greasy—and call to mind bright fragrances in the South of France. If you’re hoping to sleep as you coast through the sky, opt for the lavender scent for an extra splash of relaxation.

9

Lip balm
A refreshing wake-up may be just what you need after snoozing mid-flight, and a minty lip balm should do the trick. One of our favorites is Smith’s Rosebud Perfume Co. Minted Rose Lip Balm. It hydrates while providing an invigorating kick and a light tint, all in a compact, pretty tin.

For the trip itself, let’s start with the obvious…your camera or camera phone, and the charger. Your IPad, if you use it for photos, and its charger. If you use your IPad for Kindle, then be sure you have the books you want to read downloaded while you have an internet service available. Sun glasses are always needed, and you might think about a case to keep them from breaking.  If you like to take notes of things you see, or memorable things that happen on the trip, take along a writing tablet or note pad, and a couple of pens that work. Maybe for you it is your daily Diary. Binoculars always come in handy, but get a good one. REI is where I got mine…very pleased and only $100. A small umbrella is always good to take, for even though you may be in an area where it is not suppose to rain, be prepared in case weather turns bad. Just keep it small. Sunscreen may be needed, so stick in a tube, but it has to be the right size. For the flight, air sickness or Jet Lag pills may work, and the same for sea sickness. Slippers for the long flights are often well used, as well as a neck brace and eye covers and ear plugs. Always good if you plan on sleeping on the flight. And, if you take medications, be sure you have them with you on the flight, not in your checked luggage.

We covered the correct clothes, coats, and hats previously….but also think about personal security. If you have a fanny pack or a pouch, be sure it is RFID, which protects valuables for potential theft of private information. If you carry a purse, be sure it is RFID and has a way to strap it to your body. Men’s wallets should be kept in the front pocket of pants, not in the back pocket. If you use a back pack, they are great but can be accessed from the back, and you might want to look at one that you can carry in front of you, as well as on your back. If you are in a big crowded area, keep the pack in front of you with your arms around it. Speaking of personal security.…let’s think about the credit card and cash that you carry. First, be sure and notify your credit card company that you will be traveling outside the US, and they will probably ask what countries, and the dates, so have this handy. And, be sure and mention that you may be using both a credit and debit card. Regarding US dollars, in cash, for the most part will not be accepted in stores. Use a credit or debit card. However, dollars can be used for hotel tips, etc. but again, not widely accepted. Local cash, which you can get at ATM’s, which are very accessible, is the way to go. I do not recommend keeping much cash on you (maybe $100 converted to local currency) as you can use your debit card for almost all purchases. This process is much more common outside the US than in the US. We will talk  more about getting local currency once you arrive at the in-country airport.

Now that you have done your pre trip planning, your pre-trip packing, and have your list of items to take, you are ready to depart and head to the airport. Chapter 5 will deal with “The Airport”….from getting there to taking off….stay tuned.

We found all of this on the internet….then went to our agent!

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Viking Cruises….Ocean and River

Effective January 1st…I am the Redding agent for Viking Cruises, and am very pleased with this opportunity. We just completed our 3rd Viking Cruise…and I am now “a believer” in Viking. They are great. No wonder they are consistently rated #1 among the Cruise lines.

Viking Cruises, both in their Ocean and River Cruises, offers cruises where you truly explore your destination-through its food, culture, countryside, and customs. You learn about the lands through which you travel via informative talks that bring history to life through cultural adventures, in-depth pre-trip materials, and on-demand programing-all designed to help you experience the most from your travels.

So, just send me an e-mail at    ron@ronlargenttravel.com   and I will get you brochures, information, details on the Cruises, both Ocean and River…and we will go from there. Viking is a winner.

Budapest and on to Viking River Cruise

We had decided early on to do some “catch up” on our last day so started off by going to the old Train Station that Audy had remembered. Still there and still old…but a new section built on as well as a huge underground West End Mall…that runs back under the entire busy traffic corner. Then went across the street to the Libri Department store…found a good cap for me and some clothes for Audy…great prices.

Back to the hotel to pack and get ready to board the ship…and left the room about 4 PM to taxi to the boat dock about 1/4 mile away. The greeting from Viking starts at the curb when they get your luggage and take it directly to your room (we had it all labeled in advance)….and immediately felt at home and very comfortable. The folks at the front desk were perfect…check in took maybe 2 minutes.

These Viking River Cruise boats, which are also called shipped, and referred to as a ship by the staff…..are specially made long boats made in Germany…and made for this specific purpose…to transport people up and down and around the Rivers of Europe and the world. Initially designed for the European Rivers…they now are used worldwide, and have become very popular. Viking River Cruises was one of the first to do this…and they are the largest fleet now, and voted #1 by a number of Travel rating services. Clearly #1 at this stage for us.

The first night was introductory…dinner at 7, etc…an outstanding briefing on what was planned for Monday….just a great professional opening experience to start the Viking River Cruise.

Monday started with an early sit down or buffet breakfast in the restaurant, and they only have one big restaurant, but there are options for sit down or buffet, and very well laid out. At 8 we exited the ship and boarded the Mercedes Benz busses for the 4 hour Budapest Panorama Included Tour. . Very well done, and saw areas, such as the Hero’s Square, that we had not seen before…and ended up on Castle Hill at the Matthias Church. This in itself is almost worth the trip to Budapest, but the guide gave us a complete tour of the magnificent church, which sits on the top of the Buda hill overlooking Budapest and Hungary, for that matter. Photos, of which I have many, will attest to both the indoor and outside grandeur. I know this will sound like a record, but one of the most outstanding churches we have ever seen, or been in.

So, in Budapest, 2 magnificent churches, St Stephens Basilica and Matthias Church….the overwhelming Parliament Building right on the river, and the Castle Hill area and Gellert Hill overlooking the Danube River….which is the center of the entire area as it goes under the 9 massive bridges, including the historic and famous Chain Bridge.

The 4 hour bus tour ended up about 30 miles to the north, where we caught up with the Ship and re-boarded….lunch was ready…and off we went up the River…and the days activities on the Ship began. A full schedule from lectures  to a Champaign welcome party to the Captains briefing …all very well done.

Our room is more spacious than and on the Cruise Ship….and each room has a full glass window-wall to view the river and the villages and cities  that we pass. The beds are comfortable; the rooms are so quiet….the bathroom is plenty big, and the storage areas are great.

At this point, for us…this is the nicest set up we have had on the Cruises…can’t wait for the rest of today.

And, Viking Cruises will be added to my list of Cultural Events and Activities that I will be emphasizing…as this is among the very best way to fully appreciate the culture and history of Europe and the world for that matter….this will sell, as it has over the years, and I am happy to be part of “this world”.

After the trip I will start listing the upcoming Viking Cruise Ship trips, programs, tours, etc…and having been on 3 of them within the past year…can give first hand experience thoughts…so stay tune…all for now…Tuesday morning, Dec 12th……

 

Europe in the Winter…a trip dairy

We took this trip a few years ago, and will re-visit some of these sites, locations, and events this coming December. Here is the daily log:

 

We started thinking about a winter trip to Europe after we had taken a 4-week trip to China in September 2002. Coupled with this, our four children decided to do something for us to celebrate our 40th anniversary, and this started us thinking. At the same time, Audy read about the Christmas Markets in Europe, especially in Germany, and we agreed this would be something we would enjoy doing and seeing…thus the idea was born.

 

Initially we wanted to see these Christmas Markets, but in looking into them and when and where they were held, we found that for the most part they were early to mid December, which just would not fit with our schedule. Then we looked into Tours that would see these various places, and found that they were, for the most part, bus tours where you traveled to a different city each day, etc. This did not appeal to us…so we decided to “do our own trip”. Utilizing United Frequent Flyer miles and Marriott Points for the hotels….all was left with getting around in Europe and we happened on Eurail Passes….and our planning started. Our goal included seeing Berlin, where Audy and I met some 41 years ago while on an exchange type program, and which has been through a lot of change since the days when we rode our bikes under the Brandenburg Gate, including the Wall between East and West Germany. Another goal was to see Leipzig, which had been in East Germany, and which Audy saw in 1988 when she was in Germany with Curt…we wanted to see how the city had changed in the 12 years since the wall came down. Our third goal was to see Warsaw, Poland, where neither of us had been. All three goals were met, as you will see.

 

Day 1 (of 14) started on December 24th, 2002, as we left Redding on the United Express commuter to San Francisco (SFO). At SFO we boarded a United flight to London…where we changed to Lufthansa and on to Dusseldorf and then to Zurich, Switzerland, arriving at 6 PM on Christmas night. London Heathrow Airport is one of the older ones in Europe, and still serves millions annually as it has for 50 years, and it looked just as we remembered it, with tunnels and roads under buildings and very cluttered with offices and buildings almost on top of each other. On the other hand, Dusseldorf is a very, very modern airport serving the industrialized western part of Germany, and this airport is as open, bright, and light…as Heathrow is dark. An interesting contrast, but just right for our timing, for Dusseldorf Airport was very quiet on this Christmas Day so Audy had a good 1 hour nap while we waited for our flight. Arriving in Zurich, we used the shuttle to get to the Renaissance Hotel, which was about 10 minutes from the airport…and obviously it was bedtime, as we had been fling for 24 hours.

 

Day 2—Zurich, Dec 26: After a fair nights sleep (I was awake for 2 hrs. due to jet lag), we got up and took the airport shuttle to the Airport Train Station to catch the train into Zurich. They have arrangements in all of the cities where you can buy a 1 or 2 day pass that allows for unlimited riding on the public transport system. We rode the train into the main train station, which is quite large and quite buys, and after looking around for a place to eat, of which many were closed due to the day after Christmas closing, we walked out on the street to the adjacent McDonalds. Suffice it to say that traditionally we have refused to eat at McDonalds, etc…but, as we found in China, they have excellent “local foods”, as was the case with the Egg McMuffin we had. Quite good and with coffee came to about $4.00. We then walked down their Haufbonstrasse, which is the main shopping pedestrian street in Zurich. Every possible shop…many very upscale..and a beautiful area, in spite of the rain that was starting to fall. We walked about 2 hours and got up to the Lindenhof overlooking the Limmat River and the beginning of Lake Zurich…the Picture-postcard Lake that you often see when you see Zurich photos. From there we headed back to the station area, where we were going to catch the “Trolley tour” of the city, which we did. For 2 hours we got to see the big churches, including the famous one where artist Marc Chagall has the stained glass windows. Quite a beautiful city. Following the tour, we caught the train back to the hotel…a 2 hour rest…and at 5 got up to come back downtown to see “the lights”. We walked back down to the lake and then back to the station for a lasagna dinner…and back to the hotel…a good first day in Europe.

 

Day 3…Zurich to the Alps, 12/27/02: Although Zurich is impressive as a staid and wealthy old city that was not harmed by the war…what we were to encounter on this scenic day trip is almost indescribable. We caught the 9 am shuttle to the train..got on the Lucerne IR, which stands for Inter Regional, train…also known as the express trains…and headed for Lucerne, which is south of Zurich along Lake Lucerne…another picture postcard city. This was the first leg of the scenic trip up into the Alps, so we stopped at the station long enough to get a close-up look at the Lake and the new museum…and try to recall when we were there previously. It was starting to clear, so was very pretty, and in 30 minutes we were on to train #2, bound for Interlaken, which is the entry point into the Alps from this direction. It was here that we met the family from Florida that was on the 1 week ski trip…in Gstaad…and unfortunately for them and thousands of others…no snow, due to the southern Europe warm weather…(40 degrees was the high that day). At Interlaken we boarded train #3..and as we started up the weather cleared beautifully…and off we went to Zweissimen, which is the town for the start of the Golden Pass Scenic tour, and we got on train #4 for the steep climb, etc…into the middle of the Alps. This was absolutely spectacular, and the lack of snow allowed us to clearly see the Alpine villages, the beautiful mountains, and the enchanting valleys and waterways, from creeks to rivers. Nothing like it. And, the train goes where the cars can’t go, in that much of the track is literally along the side of the mountain, making for exciting views. This trip took us 2 hours as we traveled up and over and down into the french speaking part of Switzerland, and into the city of Montreux. Unbelievable beauty describes this part of the trip, as we passed by world famous resorts such as Gstaad…with many people but no snow. From Montreux we boarded train #5 for the short ride into Lausanne…then on to #6 for the return fast train to Zurich via Geneva and Bern. We were back in Zurich by 7 PM, and enjoyed our evening meal of the train…delicious soup and bread, which was about all we wanted for we had been sitting and viewing all day…and what a day it had been. Highly recommended for anyone that goes to Zurich, for this is the real Switzerland that can only be seen on this kind of a train trip. On the train ride back into Zurich, we were on the European bullet trains, and they run at speeds up to 120 mph. We had a number of these…some called IR and some called ICE (InterCityExpress)….and although the ICE is the new and famous looking bullet trains…all of them can really move. Inside the trains you do not hear much, for they are all electric and very quite, but stationary objects that are passed by the trains are blurs…and cars on the highways look as it they are creeping along, although they are probably going 60 or 70 mph. All of the trains are very clean, with very comfortable seats…and they have plenty of non-smoking areas…, which we always had. Some of the trains are double decker, but on all of the trains, the windows are big, so you can see all that you want to see with no problem whatsoever. On the return trip we went along Lake Neuchatel, another picture lake, but often fog covered due to the elevation of the lake when it is warn like it was, relatively speaking.

 

Some observations: Zurich is very expensive and not too tourist oriented. It is the money city with the famous banks and the large insurance companies. Zurich Insurance is the largest re-insurer in the world, attesting to the amount of money in Swiss banks. The area is very clean, and especially so as you travel out into the country as we did. The farms look almost unlived in…so neat and clean. As mentioned, the scenic trip was definitely a highlight.

 

Munich…..continued

We went down to the Marriott for breakfast and the placed was packed. Apparently, the hotels put together a special package for these holiday, and the place was full. We ordered from the menu…and got much more than we could eat. We walked back to the hotel…and left at 12 to catch the train to Leipzig. We were a little late in leaving, so had to rush to the station, using the U-bahn, but made it with about 5 minutes to spare. We went on to the first car that we saw was first class non-smoking, and as it turned out it was the end car with the engineer, except that the train was going in the opposite direction. This was the new ICE train, and the engineers compartment is like a cockpit, in that he sits at a console with computer screens “wrapped” around him. He is in a highback chair that is adjustable and on air, so that in the event of a bumpy ride his seat does not move. Right behind him is a glass wall, with a door, and then 6 seats, where we sat…then a wall into the next compartment. Within a few minutes we were off, headed towards Augsburg. It was at this time that the train changed directions, and the engineer came up to our car…so we in essence were in the first car…the drivers car, if you will. Pretty exciting, for again, these trains really move, and to watch the engineer control the speeds, etc…very interesting. He used both a cell phone and a console mounted phone, and was continually watching and checking the computer screens. We tried to monitor the speed, but it was hard to see through the glass, but knew we were going fast. Five hours later we arrived in Leipzig after this exciting time for both of us on the ICE. When we got off, the station at Leipzig was almost overwhelming…new, modern, and huge. The largest in Europe, with a full mall below the main station. Wow!. We walked 1 block to the Marriott, and although it was cold, we knew we were going to enjoy Leipzig. We were upgraded to the Executive Level, so had dinner right there…fried zucchini, etc…then went out for a walk in the sludge, as it had snowed and was much colder than in Munich. Back to the room and in bed by 9. A fun day on the train for a kid like me.