Question
What do you wish you'd known?
18 Jul 2007 ashleightara asked
For example,
Did you miss something in a town you wish you'd known about?
Did you pack something, and never used it?
Did you NEED something you didn't pack and had to go in search of it?
In particular, looking for different advice to what is already available on the board...share you experience so others can learn from you 'mistake'.
Thanks
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- travel advice
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20 May 2009 Alana said
Thanks everyone for all the amazing advice! What an awesome topic! I now have a great list of things to take which I would have never thought of – can’t wait for my euro experience trip Sept 12 2009, cheers
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31 May 2009 DzinerGirl said
I will probably add to this later but having just arrived home after doing a Euro Explorer with Greek Island Cruising. I wish I had known…
* to budget for using the toilet! and to always carry coins in the correct currency on me
* that there were optionals available on the cruise part of the trip so I could have budgeted for them (PM me if you want to know where to find this info)- 1 person likes this
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7 Jun 2009 Alexi85 said
hey guys just wanted to say a BIIIIIIIIG thanks to everyone for contributing to this forum…i’m doing my first contiki in july (euro vista) and i was petrified about not knowing what to bring, what to expect and or packing the wrong stuff all together!
I have now purchased my luggage (packsafe), took in all the packing tips about what to bring and what not to bring and i feel a lot more prepared to face this trip solo!
so thanks again, this forum has made a world of difference to me : )
A few questions…
1. Do i need to bring a hairdryer in the middle of summer? I have really long (down to my waist) thick hair and i normally just put it up in summer and it curls naturally but i might wanna straighten my hair one night to go out. do i really need to bring it along with me (extra weight) or can I use the ones in the hotel rooms? are they even strong enough?
2. does anyone know if we have to pre purchase tickets to the eifel tower and the louvre? or is it included with the european vista tour?
3. also, im obsessed with shoes, i have different shoes for every second outfit. im worried ill end up packing 5 diff pairs of shoes, (3 pairs of heels, thongs, sports shoes, and tennis shoes for walking) is this too much???- 0 people like this
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7 Jun 2009 EuroSteph said
I have not yet been on contiki but i have been to europe… think about it, you take 3 pairs of heels you will be ok for the trip… you take 1 pair of heels and buy more while your over there….then you get not only new shoes, but you can do the “oh these?, i bought them in …” heels have alot of empty space around them so if you can pack them efficienty and they aren’t too heavy its really up to your final weigh in to decide lol
i didn’t pre purchase tickets to effiel toren but we didnt go into the lourve because the line was so long. so might be something worth organising.
Its pot luck with hair dryers, some are crazy some are week. Find a strong travel hair dryer maybe just to be safe? they aer usually pretty compact- 0 people like this
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7 Jun 2009 Alexi85 said
hey Steph,
Thanks for the tips<!--graemlin::)--> ok so it’s recommended to buy tickets to the Louvre in advance? i might try to purchase it online. Will that allow me to skip the long queue in july??- 0 people like this
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8 Jun 2009 Explorer1123323 said
Hi Alexi
I’m doing the European Highlights departing 20 June, so excited
<!--graemlin::D-->
I was also worried about the long lines as I don’t want to spend all day waiting in a stupid line.
Unfortunetly u can’t pre book for the Eifel tower but everyone says that u should get their really early in the morning so go there first when u ar in Paris for the day.
U can purchase tickets for the Louvre online on their website:
http://www.louvre.fr
Also with Anne franks house in Amsterdam, it usually has a long queue so buy online:
http://www.annefrank.org
Hope this helps you
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8 Jun 2009 EuroSteph said
i think with the eiffel toren you should be willing to brave the line, it is SOO worth it.
i think the best thing to do would be to have a look at the websites and see if the online ticket does allow you to enter a faster Q.
Thankfuly i did all my travelling in europe in winter so i didnt really experince too many lines… or its not what i remembered the most, as the Qs are not important.
if you go to anne frank house (i have) read the book first, being in the house litterally gave me chills- 2 people like this
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8 Jun 2009 Karina said
Hay,
In regards to pre purchasing tickets. I have just come back from tour and the only place i would have pre-purchased them for was Anne Frank’s house. We waited in line about 1 hour so it wasn’t too bad, but we could have spent this time elsewhere.
For the lourve our tour manager had a sneaky entrance for us to use, so it meant we didn’t have to wait in line at all and it only took us about 5 minutes to purchase our tickets. We were there on a Sunday morning so this might be have been a good day.
We went up the Tower on our first night in Paris. Our tour manager had organised a special stop for us to ensure we had enough time the next day on our free day to do everything else. From the time we stepped into line to the time we got off it was about 3.5 hours. We waited in line to go up the lifts but the rest of our group went up the stairs. They were honestly only about 10 minutes ahead of us. I’d highly recommened taking the lift to conserve energy.
Hope this helps.
Karina- 1 person likes this
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16 Jun 2009 Mwarp said
By far one of the best topics on this whole forum. So many helpful hints. Thanks for sharing everyone!
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21 Jun 2009 CRChiasson said
Things I’m glad I took:
-a Tide to go pen (so many stains, so few places to do laundry!)
-hand sanitizer
-cold & flu tablets (I didn’t need them, but tourmates did!)
-Gravol (or some other anti-nauseant)
-coins for the washrooms
-Gatorade powder (for those days when you’re a little dehydrated)
I wish I had taken an extra purse…I had my daybag and a wristlet for going out, and something in between would’ve been helpful.
I’m glad I didn’t take a towel and just bought one the day we went to the beach in Nice.
As for hairdryers…I took a travel one over, but my shoulder length baby-fine hair had no problems with the hotel ones. In the few hotels where the one in my room didn’t work…I just went to another tourmate’s.
We did the Eiffel Tower on a Friday night. The lineup for the lifts was over an hour and a half, but we waited maybe 20mins for the stairs. I really liked taking the stairs up-they have facts about the tower all the way up and you get some really neat pictures at night on your way up.
As for the Louvre, we used the underground entrance and didn’t wait at all, even getting there on a Saturday morning. Just walked right up to the automatic ticket machines and then into the museum.- 1 person likes this
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29 Jun 2009 Asian.gem said
quote:Originally posted by SaraH:
If you want to go visit the Anne Frank house, the best tip is to go early! I went there with a friend of mine, soon after it opened for the day, and it was fine. When we came back out, the queue went around the block and further!
The problem is, that it’s very small inside, even though nowadays the house next door to the actual Anne Frank house is part of the museum as well.
Does anyone know if you can pre-buy tickets for the vatican museum?
Sarah, you can pre-buy tickets online for vatican museum via http://biglietteriamusei.vatic…i/tickets/index.html- 0 people like this
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13 Jul 2009 Kat said
i am glad i read this there is just so much information about thing i hadnt thought of i’ve told all my friends to read it to and i just want to bump it to the front so meore ppl can read it and i will add to it when i return from my trip soon
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23 Jul 2009 Cassee said
Thank you so much for this thread. It was so helpful! I have a long list that I think I may have to cut down, but I got lots of ideas and tips.
If you book your tickets for certain things do you go in ahead of your group?
Europe Experience 12th sep’ 09. So Excited!- 0 people like this
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24 Jul 2009 Explorer1123323 said
Glad I did:
•Read all the forums and travelogues as they were a big help.
•Glad that I packed lots of clothes as I wore a different outfit everyday and didn’t have to wear the same clothes all the time like some people did, also I didn’t have to do any laundry.
•Glad that I bought tickets to Anne Franks house before the tour as everyone had to stand in a line for an hour while I went straight in
•Glad I bought a video camera to film all the major sights and all the funny moments, really great to watch them and show friends and family
•Glad I did ALL the optionals, they were worth it and made the tour so much better, I especially enjoyed the Cabaret show in Paris, the Tuscan Dinner in Florence, The Gondola ride in Venice and the cruise in Amsterdam, they are a must to do.
•Glad I made friends with people before the tour on facebook because I already had a bunch of friends on the first day, and they became my best friends on tour.
•Glad that I partied every night and bought alcohol at the shops as the alcohol and the sites can be very expensive
•Glad that I packed lots of summer dresses as apart from Paris everywhere was so hot and lots of the girls only had jeans
•Glad I bought heels and lots of going out clothes, trust me girls, it’s so worth it as you go out almost every night.
•Glad I kept a diary as it’s very easy to forget what you did and it’s really great to read back on you’re your fun adventures.
•Glad I put lots of sun tan lotion on when in nice as most people were so red and burnt when we went to Monaco that night.
•Glad I bought wet wipes as you get very dirty and hot while running around each city and it’s a great way to stay clean.
•Glad I bought a hair straightner so I had great hair all holiday
•Glad I bought tissues as most places give you 1 roll of toilet paper for 4 people for 2 nights.
•Glad I bought a small umbrella, it only rained once in Florence and everyone got so wet and had to pay lots of money for an umbrella.
•Really glad our walked up the Eiffel tower as the queue for the lifts was really long and I only had to wait a couple of minutes in the queue.
•Glad I spent the whole day in Rome and didn’t go back with the coach at 5, a group of us stayed and got to see everything and were back at the site at 8:45.
•Glad I bought mosquito cream as there were lots in Venice.
•Glad I packed a big scarf and leggings for the churches so that I could wear a nice summer dress and then just quickly put them on when going inside as some girls wore long pants and had a hard time in the heat
•Glad I bought a calling card from home as it was very reasonable to call home, all the people with cell phones had to pay lots.
•Glad that I researched and planned my days, I was very organized and it helped save time.
•Really glad that we had a great group of people on our tour, we were all a big family by day 2, and we all partied together and had the time of our lives.
Sorry thats it’s so long<!--graemlin::D-->- 8 people like this
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11 Aug 2009 Explorer1133598 said
Cold Medication. Bring lots and lots of cold medication, both daytime and nighttime. Everyone on our bus got sick, probably from having 48 people from different countries being in strange places and always in the same bus together. I think it was called the “Contiki Cough”.
Also, for anyone staying at the Royal National Hotel in London:
Their room-sharing system is fundamentally flawed. Whenever you check into a room and they give you your keycard, anyone else who’s already checked into that room with you gets their card reset. And, your card will in turn get reset when your next roommate checks in.
So it’s one big perpetual system of going down to the front desk and saying “Hey, my key doesn’t work anymore!”. My advice is that when you do that, go down once you’ve met all your roommates so that you can all have fresh keys.
These points may have already been thoroughly discussed, but those are my main 2 tips on a Contiki-Euro trip. Other than that, the tour was a blast!- 2 people like this
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18 Aug 2009 avz said
umm i get 2 london at 4pm.. will i make it in time to the pre meeting at 6pm at the contiki basement? goign through customs, train ect???
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18 Aug 2009 Explorer1085990 said
I wish I’d known how hot LA was going to be, even in winter.
I wish I’d taken longer trips and not worried so much about spending most of my money on extravagant digs (though at times living in the lap of luxury between tours was amazing).
I wish I had listened to my instinct and bought a new camera when my old one started playing up at the airport. I have far fewer photos then I had imagined.
However, its important to remember to live in the moment and not live your trip through your camera lens.
I am glad I knew:
Not to worry about my budget too much and bought whatever I saw that I wanted.
That everything would be great and I would make friends.- 2 people like this
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18 Aug 2009 Mel said
to be honest avz. you might be pushing it. but when i arrived in london there was a problem with the trains as someone had jumped in front of one and it took me about 4 hours to get the the hotel (after leaving the airport)
it doesnt take to long to get through customs and it takes about 45min to an hour by train to get to the hotel but if your flight is delayed or the trains are delayed or there is a long queue for customs etc id think you would be too late to make the meeting. however it isnt compulsory to attend the pre tour meeting anyways!- 0 people like this
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19 Aug 2009 avz said
thankksss mel…. hopefully evrything will go my way… would ike 2 go to the pre meeting as its my first contiki. lol dunt wanna miss anythinggg
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19 Aug 2009 Explorer1123323 said
Hey Avs
Don’t stress if you miss it, all they do is your tour manager gives a quick 5 minute speech about how much fun we will have and then you all have to line up with your passports and travel insurance, it takes like 10 minutes.
It was nice however to meet some of your tour mates but a couple people decided to spend the whole night drinking and partying and then were asleep on the bus when we left the next morning and that is when you have to be awake and listening as your tour manager gives you a 3 hour (not joking) speech about the tour.
Enjoy your trip<!--graemlin::D-->- 0 people like this
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