So. My husband and I are going to Europe in June for a friend's wedding and we've decided to stretch our far-too-few pennies to make a trip out of it. He's never been and I haven't been in fourteen years. Needless to say, we are both really excited, will be traveling on a serious budget, and yet want to get the best of each city for the time that we are there.
I've decided after looking at Europe by Eurail 2011 and Rick Steve's: Europe Through The Back Door (heyyy!!!) that our itinerary will be Rome, Florence, Geneva, Paris, London, wedding (also in England). This is an ambitious plan, but after planning out each stop and travel time I've decided it's entirely doable. And unless we were going to spend all two weeks in one city, we might as well zoom a bit and see as much as we can.
Now we are pricing airline tickets and have found a decent round-trip price from JFK-LHR (London) and then would catch a quick flight to Roma from there. It is about the same price as flying to Rome with a stop and home from London with a stop as well. I hate stops. I'd rather do a separate flight altogether. Sadly, we don't have enough cash to buy them right now so we are frantically scraping together what we can and watching the prices.
I have bought us several things that I consider travel-necessities. I know that we will a) be backpacking (and by this I mean, carrying our luggage when we can't roll them); b) staying in pensions as much as possible to avoid hefty hotel prices; c) packing as light as possible and washing clothes as we go to save on packing space; d) be fairly active each day.
This means we need:
a laundry cord on which to hang our washed clothing;
Woolite packets with which to wash said clothing;
very comfortable walking shoes - 2 pair in case we get blisters from 1 pair;
1 pair dressier shoes for nice evenings out;
very thick, breathable socks;
mix 'n match clothes are easy, somewhat cool (stylewise), and versatile;
eye masks for sleeping in bright spaces (hate);
blankets for travel on planes and trains;
pillows for travel on planes and trains (I'm all about comfort);
books for each destination with tips and reliable, current information;
money belts for secure transport and keeping of passports, cash etc.;
a camera;
a scrapbook and glue stick to scrapbook as we go (I'm such a craft dork!);
hats;
rain parkas.
See? Not so bad for a 2 1/2 week trip. The trick is not packing my entire wardrobe. I'm definitely the kind of person who likes to PACK. What if I need this? Ooohhh, this is so cute! It will be a struggle to stay practical and utilitarian with a few accessories to spruce it up. And one nice outfit for romantic dinners.
I am a PLAN-NER. Love to plan. It gives me a chance to milk the experience in advance and have the illusion of control.
So far, things are shaping up just fine. I'll relax a bit when we get our book on Italy, find a pension we can reserve a few nights at, and get our plane tix. Keep on movin!
