Welcome aboard Dru!

Looks like we're going to have a fair sized Perth contingent...

I can't wait to go pick up my travel pack - hopefully it's ready when I go this weekend. I want to check out the rest of our hotels as well

jey everyone
40 days to gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
hooray
welcome dru to our tour, sounds like your a wild spark! go for you.
donno, we have wizard accounts, and have had for years. go with wizard if you can, we have always been happy with them.
in the begining of this topic a girl called bel made a post or two, anyone know if she is still on tour with us?
take care guys and we will talk soon
kath xo

Hi all,

Newcomer to the forums & v excited about the tour.

My name is Jono, I'm 29 and from Sydney.

Look forward to meeting you all and having a blast, although the ol' liver might struggle to keep up with you younger troops (excuses in early )

Jono.

Hey there Jono!

Haha ok you have your excuses for now but come trip time it's going to be full on!!! It's ok, we'll stop by somewhere n buy some spare livers just in cases. ;D

So anyways i'm gonna be in London as of the 11th of August...i think...(i really should find my itinerary at some point) so if anyone wants to show london what we're made of lemme know! ciao!

hi everyone
some more newies, good one! welcome newies. and i saw on the facebook page we have another married couple, hooray!

Hi all,

Just wanted to say a big thankyou to Donno and Kath for your advice re: wizard clear advantage credit card - just signed up now. What a great deal for travellers!

RE: luggage size - Contiki are really strict with the 20kg and will weigh your suitcase before hopping on the bus and ask you to remove things if overweight. Hint: Wear your heaviest clothes on the first morning (and pack your shampoo in your hand luggage) as they don't weigh your luggage again after the first morning.

Does anyone know what the weather will be in Greece/Croatia when we are there. I was in Germany/Austria in early Sept and it was freezing so bring a jumper.

Can't wait...getting so excited.

hey alison
your welcome
thanks for your hot tips about luggage, have you been with contiki on tour before? if so, can you help me with questions about hair stuff? (dryers and straighters)
i dont know for sure about weather in greece/croatia, but i assume it will be warm ish.
take care

Hey guys, getting really close now, only three and half weeks til I fly out!

I've got some friends over in Greece at the moment, and they said it is ridiculously hot (they even said hotter than Perth summer). Obviously it's about 6 weeks give or take until we are there, but I think we can expect it to still be pretty hot. I'm planning on being prepared for hot or cold... as I think we'll probably cop both.

As for the hair stuff Kath, do a search on the forum here, because I've seen a number of posts about it. I'm pretty sure Europe runs on a similar voltage (220 maybe?) to Australia, so as long as you have the adaptor you should be OK. I think it's the US that has a majorly different power setup...

Can't wait to get over there now, I've already got my suitcase out!

Hey guys

Just wondering what you guys have been told about visas for this tour?
My travel agent told me (but she didn't seem totally certain) that the ones we may need we will be able to purchase at the border - is that the same as you guys have been told?

Hi Kath,
Yeah, I did Contiki about 4 years ago. I did the concept tour through europe-21 days. Make sure you bring your own dryer/straightner as the hotels don't usually supply. Re voltage: mine worked last time with a coverter/ adaptor for Europe.
Another tip is to bring some washing powder and buy a "pegless clothesline" from where you get all other travel goods (I know strandbags have them) so you can wash your socks/jocks and hang overnight in your room. Very handy.

Also, bring berocca/vitamins as everyone gets sick on contiki.

Richelle,

Most of the countries we are visiting are covered by a treaty called the Schengen Agreement. Australian citizens can travel in these countries without a visa for 90 days. The notable exceptions for us are the UK, Switzerland, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia and Turkey (for those of us doing the cruise). I looked up all of those exceptions a while ago and we either don't need a visa or we can get one at the border.

Simon.

Thanks for that Simon! Puts my mind at ease.
Stupidly, I hadn't even thought about visas until the other day when a friend mentioned it!

I've been doing a bit of trolling through web forums looking for a decent way to access money whilst on this trip. It seems that most people agree that the Wizard Clear Advantage card mentioned by Kath and Donno is the way to go. This thread in particular contains lots of positive stories from people who have used these cards for cheap withdrawels after first putting a positive balance on the card. Some posters have had issues with the cards being locked after putting too much money on them but it seems to be more of a problem with not filling out all of the necessary paperwork.

Hey everyone.

Well i'm flying out in 2 weeks and i can hardly wait!!! I just went to my travel agent lady n picked up my docs for everything (my knees almost buckled when she whipped out the contiki docs!! It's gonna be great!) And while I was there I booked a nights' accomm at that Royal National place, the night before our tour (the 30th i think?)

Just wondering who else is staying there too? Hopefully i can catch up with you all before n maybe we can all go for dinner or a drink or something!

Counting down the days!!! (oh and thanks for the travel advice - bags, items, clothing etc. I'm clueless at this point)

hey guys
we are on the final count down, like the song, lol.
thanks for hots tips for hair issues, i am onto that
drusif, we are staying at royal national two nights before the tour starts, but, we are trying to get to the west end to see a show during those days/nights at some point.
you know about the pre tour meeting the night before the tour starts dru?
well happy travellers to be, i will chat you again soon. sweet dreams of trip
take care everyone