Planning a European vacation and looking for some general tips on how to maximize your time and make sure everything goes smoothly? Then you have come to the right place! My husband and I recently tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox went on a whirlwind trip to Rome, Paris, and London and were able to see everything we wanted to and more in just 8 days (which included all of our travel time). Obviously, we all have different visions when it comes to the "ideal European vacation", but if efficiency + fun is part of your equation, then be sure to check out these 10 tips to see everything you want on your European vacation in only 8 days.
It is natural to want to find the most inexpensive hotel when you are travelling. After all, how much time are you really going to be spending in the hotel room? However, cheaper hotels are not always in the most ideal locations. You have to look at the cost in terms of convenience and time savings. tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox If it is going to take you 30 minutes to get from your hotel into the city and vice versa, there is a real cost associated with that (in terms of both your time and the travel fare).
When in Rome, my husband and I stayed at a hotel that was so close to everything tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox that we were able to walk to every single attraction. tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox So while we paid more for the hotel, we didn't have to pay for any additional transportation and we were able to hit all the attractions in less time than if we had stayed somewhere farther away. The phrase "time is money" is no joke!
When you are dealing with a limited amount of time, it is important tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox to get as much out of each minute as possible. Before you start your day, discuss with your travel companions what attractions you want to hit and what your plan of attack will be. The more popular an attraction is, the more likely you will want to hit that one first.
Around 10am or so, lines start to get long, but usually before 9am they are manageable. Once you've made it to your first destination, you will want to make sure the order of your subsequent destinations tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox make sense. Basically, there should be a logical pattern to your movement.
When we were in Paris, we decided to start at the attraction that was furthest away from our hotel and then work our way back to the hotel, being sure to hit every attraction in the order of the path we'd charted for ourselves. The last thing anyone tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox wants to do is retrace their steps, so chart out your path ahead of time and have a map on hand!
Certain places, like Paris and London, have great public transportation systems and the fares are quite reasonable. As long as you are being smart about it (not travelling at weird hours and paying attention to your belongings) you should be just fine. Cabs can get expensive so being comfortable using public transportation is a major plus for your pocket book. Plus, if you plan to follow tip#1 then your public transportation route should never have to be overly complicated!
A lot of places have all in one museum passes where you can pay for one pass and have access tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox to 10+ museums and various attractions (depending on the city). My husband and I found this extremely helpful both time and money-wise when we were in Paris and London.
Make sure that picking up your museum pass is top priority on your first day's action plan and get there early to pick it up. Having the pass definitely increases your efficiency because you don't need to buy tickets at every single attraction and sometimes there is even a faster line for pass holders.
However, it is very important to check what is covered in the museum pass and decide whether or not it is worth it for you. While we did purchase the pass in Paris and London, we decided not to make the purchase in Rome based on the attractions we wanted to see.
Life is short and there are so many places to see! It is best to leave your trip with no regrets because tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox you never know if you will be back. So, if you are on the fence about going to a particular attraction, just do it .
There is oftentimes a negative connotation with the word "tourist." Some people think it is uncool to do "touristy" things and would rather experience a place like someone living there would. While I understand this point of view, the reality is you are a tourist and you are never too cool for touristy things. In fact, I've found the touristy things are always my favorite part of a trip. Seeing the Eiffel Tower- totally touristy and totally awesome!
When my husband and I were in Paris we met up with his cousin who lives there. I had a hankering tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox for a chocolate croissant and you could tell that his cousin thought that was just a tad too touristy. So, the next day, before we met up with the cousin, my husband and I went to a café and got a chocolate croissant and I'm so glad we did. Best pastry I ever put in my mouth! Whatever you do, don't be afraid to embrace being a tourist.
A lot of museums and other tourist tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox attractions tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox have found a great way to make money beyond just ticket sales; they suck you into buying the audio tour. For those of you who don't know, audio tours are pre-recorded descriptions of the sites within an attraction that you can pay money to listen to. In some places, the audio tour is completely worth it. For instance, tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox I really enjoyed the audio tour in Rome at the Colosseum.
In other places, however, the audio tour can go so in-depth you feel like it is going to take you over five hours to get through it and you know you are never going to remember what it is telling you. My advice is to avoid getting them in churches or art museums, tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox unless of course you really want to know every detail about every sculpture and painting, tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox and you think that you will retain all of that information. Keep in mind that in the art museums there is going to be a description next to each work of art that you can read if you are interested.
When in doubt, just purchase one audio tour and share it with those in your group. Yes, there was a time when my husband and I were walking around with one head phone each of our ears, but it saved us a few euros which was good since we only ended up listening to half of the recording anyway.
Also, if you think you might listen to some audio tours be sure to have your own headphones on you. There were a lot of audio tours that people put up to their ear like a phone but there was a jack for headphones if you brought your own (definitely tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox felt a little more sanitary using my own headphones!)
tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox Before going to Paris, I spent some time looking at the Eiffel Tower web site to try and figure out the logistics for getting up to the top. According to the site, a couple of the Eiffel tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox Tower elevators were broken and we were to expect extreme delays. When I looked specifically at buying tickets tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox to get to the top, the earliest date it showed available was a month after we planned to be in Paris. I was frustrated, but because I had procrastinated I figured it served me right. When we got to the Eiffel Tower, I told my husband we should take the stairs to the second floor (I read that it was a lot faster), but there was no chance of us getting to the top.
When we got to the front of the line to buy our tickets (the Eiffel Tower is actually not included on the Paris Museum Pass) my husband tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox asked if we could get to the top, which I was annoyed about at the time since I had already told him "no", but sure enough the ticket attendant told us we could do it! If I had just assumed we couldn't do it, we would have completely tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox missed out on one of the best experiences. Don't be afraid to speak up and ask questions tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox even if you think you know the answer! (It is also worth noting that while taking the stairs to the second floor was extremely tiring, it was a huge time saver!)
Really, 5 euros for water at a restaurant? I wish I was joking, tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox but I'm not! We want what we can't have and when I was in Europe (particularly Rome and Paris) I wanted water, all the time. Save yourself the thirst and monetary pain I went through and buy bottled water for 1 euro from a street vendor or convenience store, tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox and refill it at your hotel each morning. Or better yet, pack a Nalgene or other reusable water bottle such as a foldable water bottle .
Most people know that it is a good idea to get the currency you need in advance. It is almost always tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox a better deal to go through your bank ahead of time to avoid additional transaction fees that they hit you with when you are actually in the country you need the currency for. However, what you might not realize is that your credit card's foreign transaction fees might actually be cheaper tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox than converting to the currencyl. Run the numbers and give your credit card company tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox a call! We found that most places in Rome, Paris and London took Visa, MasterCard, or American Express but you will definitely need the currency on hand if you plan to go to little shops or flea type markets.
Kati Martinez is a freelance writer living in Scottsdale, AZ with a background in journalism, marketing and office management. She writes so others can learn from her fantastic mistakes and discoveries. In her free time, she can be found running, volunteering or planning her next big adventure. You can connect with Kati on LinkedIn .
Kati Martinez is a freelance writer living in Scottsdale, AZ with a background in journalism, marketing and office management. She writes so others can learn from her fantastic mistakes and discoveries. In her free time, she can be found running, volunteering or planning tiger woods pga tour cheats xbox her next big adventure. You can connect with Kati on LinkedIn .
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