EntriesVenice Travel Pictures
Venice is an incredibly beautiful city, it doesn’t take very long to get lost or to walk through the entire city. The best way to get around is via Vaporetto, basically the public transportation system of Venice. People hop onto one of the water buses and get off where they need to. The Vaporetto’s cover the main island (Venice) as well as the outer islands in the area.
We arrived in Venice early afternoon and took the time to wander around. On our first full day we took the Vaporetto across the island to San Marco. Here’s the view:
Here I am sitting on one of the many bridges that dot the city.
From San Marco, this is the famous Bascili. There are a ton of pigeons and people love to feed them and have them crawl over their body. Not my cup of tea.
If you looked at my panorama photos, you will have noticed a bunch taken of Venice. Those were all taken from the bell tower and here’s a view of the piazza from the top.
Back on the vaporetto, we kept passing by this museum with a skull made of our different pieces of metal, a photo just had to be taken.
The Grand Canal during sunset is truly a beautiful sight, here are a few pictures during dusk.
This picture was taken on the way back from Lido, one of the islands near Venice. Many of the workers in Venice don’t actually stay on Venice because it is too expensive, instead many of them live on the islands like Lido.
We spend one day on Murano and Burano, two other islands near Venice. Murano is famous for their glass work and Burano is famous for their colorful houses and lace factories. There are very few lace factories around these days.
No trip to Venice is complete without a Gondola ride so we took one. It cost 60Eur for 30 minutes but our Gondola guy also sang and give us a history lesson of the area while he rowed us around.
Tags: Burano, Europe, graduation trip, Lido, Murano, photos, San Marco, Venice
Europe Trip Planning – Bookings
We have finally started making some purchases for our trip to Europe. With the planned itinerary more or less finalized, it’s time to get our flights and finding places to stay. We will depart Toronto on May 7th and arrive in London, UK on May 8th at 6:25 AM. Flight AC856 uses a Boeing 777-300ER and I can’t remember which rows we are in. The 50’s come to mind. It’s a window seat.
For our return, we will depart from Paris on June 10th at 11:40 AM and will be back in Toronto by 14:05, assuming no delays of any sort. I know we’re in the upper half of the plane siting in aisle seats because all the windows were taken. Flight AC881 uses an Airbus A330-300 (333).
The multi-city flight was just under $1400 for two tickets.
The only other booking we have done is put a down payment for 6 nights inside a Paris apartment. The apartment is in the 15th district of Paris which is relatively close to the Eiffel Tower an Arc but I believe pretty far from the major window shopping areas. The down payment was 60 Eur and the total bill for 6 nights is 300 Eur with an optional 25 Eur cleaning fee should we want to take it. Here are some pictures of the apartment, I have no idea if it is actually pinkish in color, but I’m guess in it is. For the price we paid, it’s hard to beat. It comes with a cooking area, private bath, washing machine and a sofa bed that converts to a double.
By the end of this week, we’ll probably have a few more bookings done or at least attempted a few more on Priceline or Hotwire.
Tags: 777, A330, Air Canada, apartment, Europe, Flight AC856, Flight AC881, Paris
. 14 Apr 08 | Travel | Comment (1)
Europe Trip Planning – What to Pack & Other Great Tips
Leo, from Zenhabits, is planning a trip to Thailand and asked his readers what they think is key to simple packing. I’ve included below a modified list of the responses posted the other day. I’ve included and excluded some tips that I think will be helpful to my Europe planning. They may be handy for you too. Ping back any comments you have!
What to Pack
Many of the tips were about packing: how to pack light and what items are essential or useful. What follows are some of the best, but be aware that there may be contradictory tips — choose the ones that will work best for you.
- Pack as light as possible. Ask the simple question: “Do I want it or do I need it and if I need it am I will to cart it around?” There is little you really need when you travel.
- Travel with a light backpack. If you are moving between places, backpacks leave your hands free to hold their hands.
- Pack just a few clothes with only a couple complimentary, solid colors — no patterns. Black is a good idea if you need to be able to dress up and be casual.
- If you can, pack only what you can carry on to the flight and don’t check anything in. This will let you enjoy your holiday more.
- Put everything you want to bring in a pile and slowly strip away things that aren’t necessary.
- Leave the laptop behind, as well as blackberry and any other tech gadget. This is a tough one for me! I’m still deciding whether or not I want to bring my 12″ laptop for constant connectivity. With power cable and protective sleeve, it’ll add 10lbs to my bag.
- Bring along a small, foldable umbrella to protect against the UV rays of sunlight and possible rain.
- Most toiletries can be found easily in your destination country if you want to spend the money.
- If it’s something you think you can buy there more cheaply than at home then don’t bring it.
- Get a tote or use bags that fold up into a small package to slip into your backpack. You can use this to collect your souvenirs. Alternatively, mail your purchases home as you go. This reduces what you must carry around with you, and what you have to list for customs.
- Bring old clothes and undergarments and dispose of them each day leaving more room for mementos to bring home if you choose. It also cuts down on items that need frequent washing while away.
- Don’t travel with anything in your pockets except your passport and wallet. Make sure your pockets are deep so these items don’t accidentally fall out. Make sure your wallet is in your front jeans pocket. Sitting on your wallet for long periods of time will put your back out of alignment and wallets in the back are much easier to pick-pocket.
- Photocopies of sections of guidebooks so at the end of a leg of trip the copy goes in the trash. This is a brilliant idea and one I didn’t even think of.
- Take a photocopy of all your credit cards, passport and any other valuable document you have. Write down the emergency phone number for each credit card beside its photocopy. Leave this with a neighbour or family member along with your itinerary. Should you have your wallet and bags stolen and be only allowed to make one phone call, call this contact person who would be able to cancel your credit cards etc. for you. Alternatively, instead of photocopying your important documents consider scanning them and e-mailing them to yourself. That way you can always access these documents. Another reader suggested that you should encrypt documents if you email them to yourself.
- Pack only high-tech fabrics, the kind that dries quickly so that you can do a wash in the sink. You can get away with 2 pairs of socks for a 2 week trip by rinsing out the dirty pair at night. High tech fabric means it’s dry by the next morning. Cotton will stay soggy for days.
- Tilley makes underwear you can wash in the evening, and it will be dry by morning. You only need two pair, or even one if you are sure of finding somewhere to wash it! You can also buy similar items from Mountain Equipment Co-op.
- Tip for quick drying: roll a towel over wet fabric, and squeeze tightly.
- Bring a small amount of foreign currency to cover incidental expenses upon arrival, then change the rest in your destination country, as exchange rates are usually more favorable. Exchange at major banks like American Express to get the best conversion rate.
On Planning and Doing
Aside from what to pack, there were some great tips submitted about what to do when you get to your destination (along with some tips en route to the destination):
- Don’t overplan your trip. Keep your travel itinerary fluid, so that you can soak up the atmosphere in each place. Leave room for the serendipitous and when plans don’t work out, treat it as an opportunity!
- Arrive earlier than you think is necessary — for domestic travel, try to arrive at least 2 hours before flight time; on international, make it three. This reduces the stress of waiting in a long security line as the time of your departure inches ever closer, and those desperate rushes to your boarding area. Besides, a relaxing drink at one of the restaurants is a lovely way to start a vacation!
- Make time for naps. You will be tired after a day of walking and touring.
- Smile a lot and talk to the locals.
- Eat, eat, eat and savour the flavors.
- Don’t get caught up with sights. Plan some must-dos and leave the rest to chance.
- Wander around at night and stay open to the crazier elements of the culture.
- Get lots of massages.
- Prepare for security check in: Wear slip-on shoes; don’t wear a belt with metal; put the jacket or sweater in your carry-on before you get to security; have your electronics on the top of your carry-on along with the plastic zip-lock bag with your liquids so you don’t have to search through your bag to find them.
- Split your cash and financial assets up. Credit card in one pocket. Some cash in another. Some in a hidden backpack pocket. Some in your shoe(s). Some in a money belt. Go to the bathroom and enter a stall before taking out cash from any of these places.
- Don’t bring all your cash/credit cards etc. on you when you go out. Leave some in a safe at the hotel, and leave the extra credit cards back home.
- Keep a card on you featuring your embassy’s #, some local friends’ numbers.
- Get up early. In hot climates, this will help you avoid the heat of the day; in any climate, it will help you avoid the crowds and get more out of your day at a more leisurely pace. Equally, do the things you really want to do first, as often plans go awry as the day goes on.
- You shouldn’t try and see everything in a given place. In fact, you’ll probably have a better time if you focus on meeting great people (instead of going to great places): visits to great places will naturally following if you meet the right people during your travels.
- Try to stay away from big tourist spots (unless there’s something you REALLY want to see). Meeting locals, doing the things they do, and eating the things they eat always makes for a better stay. If you have any friends there, ask if you can stay with them for a short while; that would give you a true local experience.
Most importantly, have fun!
Tags: doing, Europe, packing, planning, Travel, zenhabits
Europe Trip Planning – The Schedule & Budget v1
I promised to deliver and update on the schedule and budget planning of my 2008 Europe trip for 2. With the long weekend approaching, I decided to take the entire night off and work on this instead. Whether or not this is a good idea has yet to be determined. There’s still a fair bit of work to do for school but this is far more enjoyable and relaxing!
The planned departure date is 8:35PM from Toronto on May 7, 2008. We’ll take an evening flight that will allow us to sleep through most of it. The estimated arrival time in London is 8:35 AM, giving us a whole day to recuperate, relax and enjoy the city. From London, the plan is to travel to Rome by plane and then visit Venice, Milan, Florence and Pisa by train. From Pisa, we’ll return to Rome and fly out to Paris the next day. We’ll stay in Paris for 10 days and then return back to Toronto on the June 10, 2008.
The budget is still 9K for planning + 1K for any unforeseeable costs. I’ve guessed some food and living costs and I’ve more or less exhausted the budget. If I hope to find some great deals through priceline, apartment rentals or just browsing the net to save a few extra bucks.
Here’s a more detailed look at the itinerary. It’s subject to many changes. I’m still looking for suggestions as to places I must visit, so ping me back with a comment or email!
Tags: Budget, Europe, Florence, graduation trip, Italy, London, Milan, Paris, Pisa, Priceline, Rome, schedule, Venice
. 19 Mar 08 | Travel | Comments (0)
Europe Trip Planning – The Budget
I’m currently in the middle of planning a two person 5 week vacation to Europe. The places we intend to visit are: Paris, London, Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence and Pisa.
The Budget is 9K for everything with 1K as contingency for anything we can’t plan for. Items like bus fares to local attractions, taxi rides around the city etc will be lumped into this group.
I’ve put together a quick spreadsheet of some known costs. We don’t plan on staying in any 5* hotels, so the goal is to keep every night under $100CDN. The plan is to find cheap hotels/bed&breakfasts and avoid hostels. In Paris, the plan is to rent an apartment for the stay, this will keep the average nightly cost down and will allow for buying and storing local food in a fridge. I haven’t factored in any budget for food yet as I’m not sure what that will cost in Europe. If you have any experience on daily food costs in any of the areas I’m visiting, please let me know!
If you have any suggestions on how to keep the cost down, or things that we should plan and do, please leave a comment!
| Item | Local Currency | In CDN Dollars | Qty | Total | Date Looked Up |
| Flight: Toronto to Paris | 1474.8 CDN | 1478.8 | 1 | 1478.8 | 03/16/08 |
| Hotel in Paris | 100 | 1 | 100 | ||
| Breakfast/Lunch/Snack | 0 | ||||
| Dinner | 0 | ||||
| Train: Paris to London | 240 USD | 240 | 1 | 240 | 03/16/08 |
| Hotel in London | 100 | 3 | 300 | ||
| Breakfast/Lunch/Snack | 0 | ||||
| Dinner | 0 | ||||
| Flight: London to Rome | 61.64 GBP | 123.56 | 1 | 123.56 | 03/16/08 |
| Eurorail: Italy Rail Pass | 294 EUR | 452.83 | 1 | 452.83 | 03/16/08 |
| Hotel in Rome | 100 | 4 | 400 | ||
| Breakfast/Lunch/Snack | 0 | ||||
| Dinner | 0 | ||||
| Hotel in Venice | 100 | 4 | 400 | ||
| Breakfast/Lunch/Snack | 0 | ||||
| Dinner | 0 | ||||
| Hotel in Milan | 100 | 4 | 400 | ||
| Breakfast/Lunch/Snack | 0 | ||||
| Dinner | 0 | ||||
| Hotel in Florence | 100 | 5 | 500 | ||
| Breakfast/Lunch/Snack | 0 | ||||
| Dinner | 0 | ||||
| Bus: Florence to Pisa | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Flight: Rome to Paris | 159.44EUR | 245.58 | 1 | 245.58 | 03/16/08 |
| Hotel in Paris | 50 Euro | 75 | 11 | 825 | 03/16/08 |
| Grand Total | 5465.77 | ||||
| Budget | 9000 | ||||
| Remaining | 3534.23 |
The next post will hopefully include more information on costs, a schedule and things to do.
Tags: Budget, Europe, Florence, Italy, London, Milan, Paris, Pisa, Rome, Travel, Vacation, Venice
. 17 Mar 08 | Travel | Comment (1)
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