The final bell has rung and the silence in the corridors is deafening. The desks have all been stacked atop one another and the chairs are leaning in precarious towers at the corners of the classrooms.
That's right, everyone. The summer holidays are here! I have said my goodbyes, cleared out my desk, and shared out all my thank you chocolates. On Saturday I will be flying to Copenhagen to start my Contiki tour of Scandinavia, putting the seal on my departure from TGS by departing the country altogether for a while. I considered writing about how strange it feels to be leaving the school that has been such a big part of my life in London, and typing some more eloquent thanks and farewells than I could express today aloud, but I then thought everyone had probably had enough of goodbye speeches for one day. Instead I decided I'd post a little something about what I carry with me when I travel - mostly because I feel self-indulgent enough to think someone might be interested but also because it might help me organise my thoughts enough to make a start on actually packing for Saturday. I like to travel as light as I possibly can because I love the ease and freedom of only having a lightweight backpack to worry about on the plane or train. I used to try and be really fashionable even when I travelled, but while flats may look good, my feet and hips would be in agony by the end of long a day of sight-seeing and it's just not pretty hiking up a hill or climbing a steep spiral staircase in a dress. I would be ruthless in my choices and only pack a few shirts and my underwear, forgoing a second pair of shoes or trousers, the lack of both of which I've had cause to regret on more than one occasion - most notably in Ireland where the jeans and boots I was wearing got soaked on day one and then never properly dried out. I also used to check the weather and then only pack according to that - a light jacket if it was meant to be warm, for example. My frigid 48 hours in York taught me the error of my ways in that regard and now I always take an oversized scarf, at least. Not having enough clothes has definitely caused the most regret when I've gone away somewhere packed really lightly, but having almost no beauty products with me has had a negative effect on my confidence which is just as important as my physical comfort. The only toiletries I would take were a bar of soap, toothpaste, deodorant and whatever travel tubes of shampoo and conditioner I could find. The consequent limp, frizzy hair and dull, itchy skin would drive me absolutely insane, making me self-conscious and reluctant to take selfies or be in photos with other, better-looking travelling companions (yes, I am incredibly vain in that sense). This trip will be different. For starters, I will primarily be on a coach so I can throw my bag in the bus and forget about it until we get to the hostel. Meaning I will happily take a bigger suitcase because I won't have it on me all day. Between that and my history of regret when it comes to packing too lightly, I have decided to rethink things somewhat and pack a bit more like a woman with access to a few luxuries and a little less like a zombie apocalypse survivor. Even so, I still don't see the need to carry around unnecessary stuff, so here are my top tips for trimming down your packing a little:
And that's all I have for you! Six verbose tips that hopefully might help you trim down your own packing lists. So yeah, a little different from my usual blog posts, but I hope someone finds it useful. Keep an eye on my Instagram (landlopingcanuck) if you want regular updates while I'm in Scandinavia! Tags
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I've learned quite a bit about planning a trip since our first vacation in Paris, and thought I would share some of the key things I've picked up.
Let me start with how I like to travel. I like itineraries. And I like things booked well in advance. I like everything organised and efficient. I should work for a tour company in the planning department. But this will surprise none of you who know me, so I'll move on to my advice for an organised, efficient, and AWESOME trip: 1. Book what you can in advance
Because our intention was not to stay in Verona we didn't bother with finding out where all the sights we wanted to see were, or with figuring out how close they were to the train station. We didn't think about where we could leave our luggage, or anything like that. But our flight was actually early, leaving us with nearly three hours in Verona when we arrived at the train station. Had we looked into what we wanted to see in Verona before landing, we could have used those three hours to do some sightseeing in the city, and given ourselves more time in Florence at the end of the trip.
It seems a bit like over planning, but have an idea of anything you might like to do or see in any city you happen to be stopping over in (and know how long it'll take to reach them from the train station!) just in case you find yourself with an extra hour or three to kill. It saves you from feeling as though you've wasted an opportunity later. Or, in our case, missing one altogether. In terms of the main cities you want to visit, having an itinerary helps you plan your transport to and from the city, and also helps you find a hostel near everything you want to see. And you can plan a route that means you shouldn't have to walk more than 10 minutes from one attraction to the next. We did this in Florence, and it saved so much time! This meant we got to do a lot more. Unlike in Paris, where a lot of our time was spent doubling back between sights, or trying to find where exactly something was. Sometimes you stumble upon interesting things that way, that you wouldn't otherwise have seen. Which is incredible, and makes for great memories. But just as often it leaves you footsore, irritable, and generally unimpressed with your experience. Which is why I have decided I like itineraries and maps. 2. Have a map and itinerary for every city
Whether it's your flight, your accommodation, your train tickets, city passes, or a day tour/excursion, book it in advance if you can. There are a couple of really practical reasons for this. First, things are usually a little bit cheaper if you book them in advance. And when you're travelling on a budget, booking in advance becomes the easiest way to save a bundle. Read my post on finding cheap flights for some more budget-saving advice. The second practical reason is that you don't have to worry about trying to do it in a country where you don't speak the language. This is particularly important if you're planning to travel outside of the main cities and tourist hubs. Even in the main cities, it's just generally less stressful to have these things ready to go when you get there.
When we travelled to Italy last week, Isabelle and I bought our initial train tickets online in advance as well. We used trenitalia for most of our train details, and saved a little on the train from Verona to Rome, and from Rome to Pisa. Just be careful when buying your tickets to you leave yourself room for delays. We were planning to go directly to Rome after landing in Verona, but when buying the train ticket we gave ourselves an extra two hours in case our flight was delayed or it took us forever to get out of the airport. Turns out we didn't need the extra time, but that does bring me to my next piece of advice. 3. Buy city passes
If you're staying in a city for two or more full days, buy a city pass. From what I can tell, most major cities in Europe offer something along these lines, and they are amazing. Our Omnia Pass for Rome was the only reason we got to see everything we wanted to.
The thing about tourist destinations? There are a lot of people trying to see the same things as you. Which generates a lot of queues. I don't know about you, but the idea of standing in a queue for (at minimum) two hours to get into St Peter's Basilica or the Colosseum does not appeal to me. I'd be more likely to say, "Nah. I've seen the outside, I'm good to go." Which is fine. But you will be missing out if you do that, as the insides of these buildings are incredible. Our Omnia Pass had skip-the-line access to all the attractions in Rome. Which meant we usually waited in line no more than 10 or 15 minutes. It also gave us free access to everything in the Vatican City, and two attractions in Rome. We got discounted access to all the other museums and attractions in Rome as well. We could also use all of the public transport in Rome - the hop-on-hop-off sightseeing buses, the city buses, trams, and trains...it was the best deal of our trip, I think. 100% worth the money we paid for it. (Oh and, by the way, because we booked in advance, we also got a 10% discount off the price.) So yeah. Buy a city pass if you're going to be there at least two full days, because it's the only way you'll be able to see absolutely everything you want to. Unless you have a time-turner, of course. 4. Use the left luggage options
Train stations in Italy all had a left luggage area. As a matter of fact, so did our hostels. Use them. Especially if you're stopping in a city for only a few hours. Isabelle and I went to Pisa after Rome for a three hours before continuing on to Florence. We only wanted to see the leaning tower, and figured a few hours would be enough. But we had all our luggage. So we paid the 4 euros and just left it at the train station.
Best. Decision. Ever. It makes such a huge difference not having to cart it around with you while you're sightseeing. And the 4 euros was for 12 hours so if you're in a city for an entire day, it's still a completely affordable option. Take advantage of it where you can! And there you have it: my main pieces of advice for planning a trip to Europe. Rome was probably my favourite part of our Italy trip. The main reason being the weather. It's hard not to enjoy incredible weather. But the second reason would be the city pass. Worth every penny. More on the specific details of the trip itself later though. Hope you find this useful. TagsSince I finally got my visa, I finally got to buy my plane ticket! International flights are expensive. In fact, national flights are expensive too. But wherever you're going travel is a pretty big expense and there's lots of conflicting advice out there about how to get good deals. The biggest piece of advice I can offer is not to buy tickets from an airline's website. You don't have to use a travel agent, though that is one route to getting a better deal. I spent about two weeks checking out various websites for buying discounted airfare and have compiled a (very) short list so that you don't have to! Here are my top two: SkyscannerOf all the websites I looked at, Skyscanner was consistently the cheapest. In fact, it was cheapest by about $200. I was originally going to buy a ticket with them on an Aer Lingus flight from Toronto to London for only $568. That includes taxes and fees. The second-cheapest option they found was with British Airways for $760. Skyscanner was really easy to use and when I signed up for email alerts they didn't bombard my inbox with a dozen emails a day. I got one every day or two, depending on price fluctuations and they never once sent me a junk email. So I was a big fan, until Isabelle sent me a link to Travelcuts. TravelcutsI don't know how I missed Travelcuts in my initial search for cheap flight websites, but somehow I did. Isabelle linked me to them the night before I bought my ticket. They were also incredibly easy to use, particularly since by this point I have the airport codes memorized for Pearson, Heathrow and Gatwick airports (YYZ, LHR, and LGW, if anyone was curious). Though they didn't have the Aer Lingus flight listed, they did have the British Airways one: $717. Not a huge difference, but a sizeable one for sure. I went with the Travelcuts price for British Airways. Admittedly Skyscanner was still cheaper in that they found the dirt cheap Aer Lingus flight while Travelcuts did not, but I had decided to go with British Airways for three reasons: first, they were quite a bit more generous with their baggage allowances than Aer Lingus. I can take 1 checked bag of 23kg and two cabin bags (a carry-on bag and a laptop bag/large handbag). The generous part is that each of my cabin bags can also weigh 23kg. I have no idea how you'd fit 23kg of stuff into a handbag, but it's nice to have the option, y'know? The second reason I chose British Airways was for a direct flight. Aer Lingus stopped in Dublin and added 3 hours. Not enough time to leave the airport, but definitely enough time to be bored to tears. The third reason was that I found out Isabelle was also on the British Airways flight, which meant having some company at the airport while waiting to board. I decided all three of those factors were worth the additional $150. Also please note that my prices are all for a one-way ticket. I plan on coming back around Christmas if I can afford the ticket, but one-way tickets were significantly cheaper than returns right now, so I opted to save a little extra. Beyond using one of these two websites, here are some more tips I've picked up - including a handy-dandy info graphic on when to buy airline tickets.
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