Hey again,

I would have a few free days when the tour ends before I meet my friend in Finland, so maybe I will head to Munich with you guys Alex, Chantal, and Scott. I went to Munich on my first Contiki, but it's a really nice city and we didn't spend too much time there. Contiki took us to a beer hall but not the Hofbrauhaus, so I'd like to check it out. I had actually never heard of the Neuschwanstein castle before, but I looked it up and it sounds interesting so I'd like to go there too.

Does anyone know if the people on the Berlin to Budapest and Berlin, Prague & Vienna etc. tours will be travelling along with us? I noticed that all these tours start on the same date.

Cheers,
Robbie

Hey Robbie - Yea, it would be nice if all four of us go to Munich together!

To answer your question, the tours that you mentioned will probably not travel with us, since they use and depart from a different hotel in Berlin and follow a slightly different schedule then the Eastern Road. (They spend one more or one less night in certain cities)

Almost a month left to go!

Cheers

Hey Alex,

Right on. Thanks for that info. Did Contiki send you the list of hotels where our tour will be staying yet?

Robbie

P.S. You're from Ottawa right? Are you a Sens fan? Sorry about the game on Tuesday. But let's hope for a Montreal-Ottawa series in the playoffs. It should be a good one.

I was planning of beeing in munich on the 22nd at nite
I was planning to leave for the castle as soon as I got in berlin after the tour and take an overnight train...we would get at the castle on the 22 and we could leave around supper time to go in munich to have a few beer at night and visit munich the 23rd...then I would take the train on the 23 at night and get in interlaken
at midnite!!!
I know it's tight but i'm trying to put as much as i can....but i'm flexible...
let me know what u guys think!!!!

Hey everyone - The countdown and excitement begins... we've got one more month left to go!

Robbie - No worries... I haven't got the tour vouchers just yet, but I'm expecting them this week as I was told it'd be about a month before I would get them - I will definitely let you know when I do. The hotels look pretty good, especially the one in Vienna... it's in the shape of a pyramid!

And yep, I'm from Ottawa, and also a Sens fan! (I'd be in big danger if I wasn't since Ottawa's quite crazy about them lol) Yea, the playoffs should be interesting, I'm especially curious to know the outcome of the upcoming game between Ottawa and Pittsburgh... But for some reason the vibe isn't as good as last year's!


Chantal - I'm also planning on being at the castle on the 22nd, I'd be arriving just before noon from Munich as part of a bus tour to the castle. We can definitely meet up there and I'll be taking the train back to Munich from Fussen at about 7pm (arrives Munich at 9pm on a direct Deutsche Bahn train) so it'll give me about 7 full hours to tour the castle grounds and whatnot. Let me know!

Cheers & see you all soon,

Alex

Hey,

I just officially booked the tour! I'm really excited for this trip and looking forward to meeting you all.

Alex, yeah, I checked out some of the hotels on the Contikipedia and they look good. As for the Sens, I guess they've had some bad luck in the second half of the season, with a few key injuries. But good luck against Pittsburgh... If Ottawa beats Pittsburgh, and we beat Boston (which we will!) then Ottawa will play Montreal in the second round.

Chantal and Alex, I think it would be nice if we can all meet at the castle on the 22nd. I'm thinking that flying from Warsaw to Munich might be the best way to go. Alex, which airline are you flying to Munich? Please let me know and I'll look into it.

Cheers,
Robbie

yia taking a flight from warsaw to munich would be great....let me know too...i'll do the same...so we would stay at a hostel on the 21st in munich....i got one book for the 22nd but not the 21....anyways let me know for the flight...

alex i will take the same train too...i have book at the Euro Youth Hostel Munich for that night....

robbie would we leave right after the tour or stay a little in warsaw that day let me know

so excited to have some buddies for after the tours....

any of you have facebook...if so chtal7@hotmail.com is my address

alex with which bus tour are u going to the castle????

hey guys,

i want to see munich and the castle as well. chantal and i were talkin about taking a train from berlin to munich, but a flight from warsaw to munich might be better. let me know what you guys are planning on doing!

(its kind of annoying to check this forum. if we start an email chain it might be easier to coordinate... my address is scott.sosin@gmail.com)

adios!

scott

Hey everyone! Seems like everyone has a lot of awesome stuff planned after the trip! I am going to Brussels for two days after the trip and then im going on the Scandinavia Tour.

Robbie- where in Northern Europe are you going? Ill be in Sweden, Norway and Denmark for nearly two weeks after the tour.

-Amber

quote:

Originally posted by chtal7:
alex with which bus tour are u going to the castle????

The bus tour that I'm looking at booking is Gray Line's 'Royal Castles' tour, leaving from Munich's main rail station (Haubahnhof) at about 8:30am... It stops at the Linderhof castle and a village called Ommeramergau (spelling?) before reaching Neuschwanstein for the day. The only downfall is that the tour only spends 4 hours at the castle, and since I've read a lot of reviews saying that the tour is pretty fast paced, I will most likely catch a train back to Munich at 7pm so I can visit the town of Fussen too and the lakes. It's either the bus tour or simply taking a round trip train to the castle... Don't know what to decide on atm!

quote:

Originally posted by Robbie:
Hey,

I just officially booked the tour! I'm really excited for this trip and looking forward to meeting you all.

Alex, yeah, I checked out some of the hotels on the Contikipedia and they look good. As for the Sens, I guess they've had some bad luck in the second half of the season, with a few key injuries. But good luck against Pittsburgh... If Ottawa beats Pittsburgh, and we beat Boston (which we will!) then Ottawa will play Montreal in the second round.

Chantal and Alex, I think it would be nice if we can all meet at the castle on the 22nd. I'm thinking that flying from Warsaw to Munich might be the best way to go. Alex, which airline are you flying to Munich? Please let me know and I'll look into it.

Cheers,
Robbie

I have a weird feeling about tomorrow night's game between the Sens and the Pens (well, in the other words, I think they're gonna lose hehe) since we don't have either Alfredsson nor Fisher and they're basically the driving force of the Sens... And from what I heard Crosby is gonna be up and running...

Yea, it'd be great if we could all visit the castle together! Robbie, are you keen on taking the bus tour? At first I chose the bus tour as a way of meeting people because I was travelling solo, but now that I have you guys to go with I may just book a round trip train...

Here are my flight details for Warsaw to Munich on the 21st, just after the tour ends...

LOT POLISH AIRLINES - LO 5355
WED 21MAY
WARSAW PL -- MUNICH DE
1255-1435
NON STOP
F.CHOPIN
FRANZ J STRAUSS
EQUIPMENT: AVRO RJ85 AVROLINER

FLIGHT OPERATED BY LH LUFTHANSA

RESERVATION CONFIRMED - T ECONOMY


I checked the fares and availablity for this specific flight, and the prices have skyrocketed! The good thing is that there are other flight options, leaving a bit earlier or a bit later. I will keep an eye on the fares and will let you know a.s.a.p if the flight I'm taking is open.

I'll go and find different airlines right now and will list whatever I can find!

Cheers,
Alex

Alex, the bus tour sounds interesting, but if we're going to visit the castle as a group, I would also be fine with just taking a train and exploring the castle and the area on our own. It's up to you really... Either way is fine with me.

Thanks for your flight info. I looked up your flight to Munich and you're right, it is quite expensive now. But I found another flight on LOT that leaves at 3:50 pm on the 21st which is pretty reasonable, so I might go with that one.

Amber, your Scandinavia tour sounds great. I am meeting a friend in Helsinki on May 24th. We are planning to tour Helsinki and Tallinn for 2 days, then take a ferry to Stockholm. We'll spend 2 days in Stockholm, then take a flight to Amsterdam and spend 4 days there. That's all the time my friend has before he goes on a leadership mission, so I'll most likely be flying back to Canada on June 1st. Where and when exactly does your tour start? It would be cool if we're in Sweden at the same time.

To anyone who wants to e-mail me or chat on MSN, my address is zalky82@hotmail.com. You can also add me on facebook.

Cheers,
Robbie

do you guys have a rail pass....cause i was trying to find a train from munich to fussen and there was no place on the train if i had a rail pass....but places with no rail passes....so i was looking at the tour bus and i would be cheaper to get there....plus no line to wait....i don't know let me know....

for after the tour i will take the bus back to berlin and then take the train down to munich since i have already a train pass

Too bad I have to come back to work after the tour. I would have loved to do something else afterwards...! Next year, I planned of doing to Russian tour if I like all of the Contiki concept.
1 month! Today! It's passing by so fast!
melodie_bouchard@hotmail.com