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Europe Trip Planning – Where We’re Staying in Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy is the second stop of our Europe trip. We’ll fly to the Treciso airport just outside of Venice via Ryanair and we’ll hopefully get into the city by about 4PM local time. That actually doesn’t give us too much time in the city as we’ll be taking the train out at noon the following Friday (May 16th). While in Venice, we’ll be sleeping at Hotel Adua, a place we found on Priceline for $112/night.

hotel adjus

The hotel has family operated with a total of 13 rooms. We’ll be in a double room with a shared washroom/shower. Online it states the double rooms have a bathroom, so we’ll see what happens when we arrive. If we’re lucky, maybe the room we get has a water view instead of a city. There are not many amenities included which is fine given the number of things we want to cover in the city. There is no internet but it says on request we can use the reception computer.

hoteladua1

The general consensus about the place on Venere.com, HostelWorld.com and TripAdvisor.com has been fairly good. No major security or cleanliness issues. One of the biggest pluses about this place is that it is located a short walk from the train station. It’s not directly beside it so we won’t hear the late trains rolling in but it’s not miles away where we would need to get up early to catch our train.

hoteladua3 hoteladua2

All images courtesy of Veniceby.Com

Tags: Europe 2008, Hotel Adua, Italy, Priceline, Venice

. 25 Apr 08 | Travel | Comments (0)

Europe Trip Planning – Where We’re Staying in London, UK

The booksing for London are nearly done, of the four nights we’ll be in the city we have 3 taken care of. We’ll check-in to the Hilton London Islington Hotel on May 8th and check-out on May 11th. We made the booking through Priceline for 83USD/night + tax. A great deal considering the Hilton averages $304.09 per night for a double room and the total we’re paying including tax is $305.31! The hotel is located near the city’s financial district, not too far from the major attractions and very close to the Tube. Click here for a google map.

Here is a picture of what there rooms might look like:

hilton

The hotel offers a terrace with a great city view. We’ll definitely be grabbing a drink there one night! The dress code is smart casual, which won’t be a problem.

For the final night in London, we’re hoping to find a cheap place closer to Stanstead, Essex. We’re catching a Ryanair flight out of the city to Venice. Departure time is 11:25AM and that means we’ll need to be at the airport by 9AM or so. The Hilton and Holiday Inn by Stanstead can be had for about 110-140 but we’re obviously looking for to do better.

Tags: Europe 2008, Grad, London, Priceline, Ryanair

. 19 Apr 08 | Travel | Comment (1)

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!