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Joyce's Dream Vacation in Europe
Europe tour, an eternal fascination for me, made me dream of flying over the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, viewing the snow-capped
Alps in Switzerland, sampling the fragrances of French perfumes, listening to the resonating opera, getting enchanted by resplendent Rome,
and visiting the world famous museums adorned with priceless art works of Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci.
Traveling alone in a foreign country is not easy, especially if you are skeptical about wading through a maze of unknown streets or meandering
through unfamiliar subways, where either the spoken language or the accent is different and your budget is tight.
Yet, it was my dream to see the change of guards at Buckingham Palace, the wax museum of Madam Tussauds and St. Paul's Cathedral
in London, the Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum in Paris, St. Peter's Basilica and Sistine Chapel in Rome, the Swiss Alps in Switzerland, and devour
the scenic beauty of European country side.....
It was an over-ambitious travel idea for me. How would I afford such an expensive trip and go by myself, I pondered.
A plan came to my mind and I started saving American Airlines frequent flyer Advantage miles by using their AAdvantage Master Card to buy all my
necessities, even groceries. Over a period of three years I had accumulated enough miles to fly over to London from Chicago and so I redeemed my
banked miles to buy one round trip American Airlines ticket to London. Other airlines you can use are Emirates, British Airways, Al Italia, Delta, KLM,
Air France, Austrian Airlines, Swiss Air, Lufthansa etc. for flying to Europe. Participating in Starwood Preferred Guest program was another strategy I used
to accumulate points for hotel stays (anywhere in the world) by using my American Express card to purchase my clothes, household appliances etc. For
the rest of my Europe tour plan I had to look for the best deal in conducted tour prices, driven by an indomitable desire.
I started browsing the Internet and searched for a reasonably priced conducted tour. Voila, I found a budget European tour named Cosmos Tour that
was running a seasonal promotion at that time. They were offering considerable discounts for guided tours starting at the end of October and ending
in November. Since I did not mind traveling in the beginning of winter, I availed myself of that opportunity. They had different kinds of packages
to choose from. I selected the 14 day luxury coach tour called 'St. Paul's to St. Peter's with English speaking guide.
The route was from London to Paris (crossing over the English Channel by a ship),
Paris to Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, from there to
Innsbruck in Austria, then head on south to Venice in Italy, from Venice to Florence and Pisa, from Florence to
Rome.
The tour ended in Rome. The longest duration I had to sit in the bus was from 4 to 5 hours from one city to another, with breaks in between.
Cosmos Tour provided extremely nice hotel accommodations all throughout with free breakfast every day.
They served full dinner on some days and on others I had to buy my own. I bought a separate British Airways ticket to fly back to London,
but, you can choose other tours that will bring you back to London via France or Spain.
The tour was awesome. You have to see the sights to believe it. The pictures I have attached in this site do not do justice to the real
grandeur of natural beauty, neither do they capture the magnificence of architectural masterpieces and captivating marvels of
sculptures and paintings.
COSMOS Tours can be found within the GLOBUS Tour website which offers varieties of discounted conducted tours. COSMOS looks after the safety and comfort of tourists and is budget friendly.
There are also other attractive deals available from Orbitz.com, OneTravel.com, and Hotwire etc. Please check them out.
The trip was so splendidly inspiring, that I went back to Europe again after a few years to rejuvenate myself.
Then I visited Tokyo, Bangkok, Hong Kong on my own...... I hope my story serves as travel inspiration for lonely women.
In this webpage you will find all necessary widgets for planning your vacation, starting from passport, visa, airline, hotel and luggage.
Please click on the link for 'Joyce's Amazonian Software and Bookstore' to find anything that you might like to take along.
Tips for Europe travel:
- A Voltage converter is absolutely required
- Street maps and sub-way maps of cities to visit
- Familiarity with different currencies (coins and bills)
- A cell phone or phone card that can be used globally will certainly come in handy
- If you rent a car in London, be sure to learn their traffic rules as they drive on left side of the road
- A good umbrella or a raincoat is also needed for Europe tour, apart from seasonal clothing and walking shoes
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