Others Ideas and Plans to Encourge You to Travel!

Others are sharing their ideas, and sometimes I help with research or planning. Sometimes they just tell me their story. So, here are some "Others" good ideas!

While some of these ideas are for more than one person, or a family, this same idea would work just as well for a solo traveler!

London, Languedoc-Roussillon, Paris

Idea One or One Idea

This summer, my sister and her family will be traveling to England and France. They are going in late June, so in high season. Rentals and air fare are at their peak.

The first big savings for them was to fly into London, saving $300 per person. They will use up some of that getting to Paris via the Chunnel.

Tip: Look at other major cities around your main destination, and see if you can save by flying there and taking the train. It's an idea and an adventure!

They will then spend a week in a house in the Gard region of Languedoc-Roussillon. The same house we all stayed at in 2005, just a different group of people are going this trip.

Followed by a week at an apartment in Paris.

They did not make it out to Brittany to see the Tour de France! Our stepdad was not feeling well.

Tip: If you need a doctor, many guide books will help you with phone numbers. Doctors will make house calls. My sister went to the Pharmacy (green cross) and they called a doctor and helped make an appointment.

They had looked to stay near the Foret de Paimpont, or Foret de Broceliande which has long been associated with the legends of King Arthur. The family is reading the legends of King Arthur in preparation for their trip.

They had hoped to stay at a hotel in Pontivy on the route of the Tour.

Finally, they will head back to London and spend a little over a day in the city.

After reviewing several transportation options from Brittany, my sister and I discussed a fairly definite solution.

I researched:

- Taking a ferry from St Malo to Portsmouth - about 9 hours and then the additional trip into London.

- Flying from Dinard to Stansted and then taking the train from Stansted to London. Approximately 4 - 5 hours total. And potentially the least expensive.

- The most flexible and simplest option is taking the train from Rennes to Paris and the train from Paris to London. Making for 2 round trip packages, saving money. Time is about 5 hours on the train. A metro ride is added in Paris, but familiarity is a plus, round trips are a financial plus, so this is probably the best option of the three. A EuroRail pass may also now be possible because of 6 train trips in a 2 week period. Also for groups, there can be an additional group discount.

Once in London, I've suggested taking a boat on the Thames, that you can get on and off, and see the sights. You can see Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, St Paul's, Big Ben, the Eye, and many other sites. A great way to see London when you don't have a lot of time to spend.

Paris and Normandy

Second Idea

This fall, two couples I toured in Italy with will spend several weeks in September in Paris.

They are renting an apartment near Musee D'Orsay.

They will also spend at least one night out in Normandy visiting the WW II sights and a day or so out in the Champagne region.

I highly recommended The Memorial in Caen. Although a tearful visit, I was really glad I went and saw this museum to war and peace. I spent 3 hours here.

(There is a great wine festival in Montmarte either the first or second weekend of October if you would happen to be in Paris then. The wines from all over France are available for tasting for a small fee.)

Michigan's Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is located in Michigan along the shore of Lake Superior. The park itself is huge and stretches between the cities of Munising and Grand Marais. It took us 2.5 days to explore it, and there are many unvisited sites and trails left behind.

If you are a professional photographer, you will discover lots of breath-taking places. One way to see them is to walk the trails and to visit the overlooks. Another way is to take a boat cruise leaving from Munising and to see Pictured Rocks from a different prospective.

The sights I would recommend are Log Slide Overlook (you will get a nice look of Au Sable Light Station here), Miners Castle Overlook, and Hurricane River. The campgrounds I would recommend are Twelvemile Beach (you can park your car right by the tent, nice beach nearby) and Chapel (although you will have to hike a couple-three miles, the place is wild and beautiful).

Pictured Rocks	Pictured Rocks from the Lakeshore

If you are up to the 10-mile walk, I would highly recommend the trail around Chapel basin. Ask for the detailed map of this trail at one of the Visitor Information Centers. This trail covers Chapel Falls, beautiful Chapel Rock, a lot of amazing cliffs along the lake shore, Mosquito River, and Mosquito Falls.

There is no admission fee to this park except for the campgrounds. Make your first stop at one of the Visitor Centers. Staff is very friendly and helpful.

A Friend Travels to Germany, Austria, and Hungary

We had a great trip with many adventures through Germany, Austria and Hungary.

Europe has changed a lot since living there in the 70's. McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, and Subway are everywhere we went, right down to the smaller towns. That was disappointing to me as there was a rare sighting of McDonalds in the 70's. The autobahn had not changed with the "no speed limit" policy in Germany.

Darmstadt was our first night after an arrival into Frankfurt at 0500 on the 18th. After a nap we headed out to go to Oberflockenbach, which was a small village that I lived in while stationed in Heidelberg. We found it easily. We found the house and the landlords still lived there. We had a great visit, and she gave us 2 bottles of wine to enjoy during our trip.

Our time in Bavaria was priceless. The flat we rented in Garmisch was ideal. The mountains were absolutely gorgeous.

The boat trip down the Danube was breathtaking at times. The Wachau Valley in Austria is wine country and it was so beautiful. We visited Melk, Austria and their 900 year old monastery in which the Monks started a brewery in the year 1050. We actually brought a 6-pack of their beer home with us and it made it through the trip!

Found a beer in Germany, the "dunkel" which is a dark beer. The wines were good, many of the German white wines were excellent, and we had a few Austrian reds which tasted mighty fine.

Budapest was an interesting city. Very hot while we were there and it was rare for a building or mode of transportation to have air conditioning. Our flat there was in an interesting part of town, a bit scary at first but the actual flat was charming. We learned the public transportation system fairly well while we were there.

Mary-thank you for the website for the renting of apartments, it truly was an adventure at times living on the economy and doing our shopping in the community markets. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to travel in Europe.

We learned to not go through Chicago customs if at all possible. It took us close to 2 hours last night, so we were happy we had a 5 hour layover. We were also delighted to have Lufthanza settle their strike as it made it easier to get home.

It is great to be home!