Just locked this one up, and heading out solo as well. I'm from Alberta Canada, where are all of you from? This is gonna be the longest 7 week wait in the history of the freaking universe....I'm so stoked.
My girlfriend and I are from Chicago. My girlfriend is an English teacher and I'm finishing up my degree in accounting this year. She's 22 and I'm 23. How old are you guys? It's good to have one more person on the forum.
I think her school year ends on June 2nd and I'm finishing school in May. We are really looking forward to this trip as a great end to this school year. We are arriving in London on the morning of June 8th. Have either of you been on Contiki trips before?
I'm so glad to get to know you guys a bit before we all leave-kinda nervous about traveling alone. I will be leaving the US on the 7th and arrive early on the 8th in London. I have never been on a Contiki tour, but my little sister did the Vista Tour when she graduated college with her boyfriend. They STILL talk about how much fun they had! Their tour was exactly like ours, but going the opposite way of visiting countries + 5 extra days.
Actually now that I think about it I guess I fly out of Calgary on the 7th and get into London on the 8th like you guys. Are you guys sticking around after the tour is over? I'm still debating about it, but think I might hang around London for a couple of days.
It's my first Contiki as well, actually my fist time overseas now that you mention it. I'm in the same boat Anndrea, little bit nervous about going alone but so excited. I'm sure we'll all have the time of our lives.
Are you guys taking the underground or hotel shuttle to the hotel from Heathrow? I know 3 people who have taken similar trips with Contiki and they highly recommend taking the shuttle, but I'm just not too sure myself.
I think we are planning on heading home immediately after our trip ends.
I am not sure about whether we are taking the shuttle or underground. My girlfriend and I went to Europe on a high school senior trip 5 years ago and visited London for 4 days. Taking the tube in London is pretty simple. The directions are easy to follow and it's quite easy to get around. I'll have to look into it more.
I added two links to travelogs I found. They are both for our exact trip and are really detailed. I spent hours reading them instead of studying. Check them out if you are interested in a really good description of our trip.
Hi 'Flare'-I got through page 1 on the travelog1. I'll have to weed through those later on tonight. It does look good-Thanks! I have no idea what I'm going to do about the underground/shuttle. I think I get into London @ 10am. I didn't even think about that. I was hoping my itinerary would clear up some questions. As far as after-I am going to stay in Paris one extra day at the same hotel we end at. What are you guys doing for phones? I know my sis didn't have one and it cost her big bucks to call me. Later Boys!
I was going to ask around about phone service. I have T-mobile and was hoping to get some sort of pre-paid 1 month plan or something. I really have no idea if that is feasible yet. I'm not even sure of coverage in those areas. I'll let you know what I find out. Also, my name is Steve and my girlfriend's name is Kate!
Hey guys, I'm gonna go with my unlocked iphone, so I'll just pick up a prepaid sim card in London and I should be set. I know they have T-mobile out there, and a friend of mine said to just pick up a T-mobile sim (I guess txt's are cheap with them), load it up with minutes (you can only top it up in London) and I should be good all over Europe. If you don't have an unlocked phone, and run your North American phone that's when you'll obviously run into the big roaming charges. So if you plan on using your phone a lot, I'd either pick up a prepaid phone with sim card in London (I'm told they're cheap, but who knows???), or pick up a prepaid sim card for your unlocked phone.
I booked the hotel shuttle today, I was debating but my travel agent sold me when she made the point that the trip time is about the same(45 mins), but I will get to see a lot more of London if I take the shuttle. The shuttle is $38 (vs. the $10 for the underground), so it's a bit more but I figured I might as well see as much of London as possible. I get in at 10:30am so if any of you decide to take the shuttle let me know, we might as well meet up and take it together.
Oh I'm Jeff by the way...as I'm sure you've all figured out already.
