Hey, can anyone who's been on this tour answer a couple of questions for me?

1. What is the accommodation like?
2. Which stopovers give you a good opportunity to do your laundry?

That should be all for now! Cheers

Hi,

I just got back today. (suffering from withdrawal now, but that's another story... the trip's great!)

Basically, from what I remember, there are laundry facilities in the campsite at Antibes (the French Riveria stop) & Rome. You spend 2 nights in each camp, so there's time for washing stuff. The Rome campsite also has a lady who'll do your laundry for you; apparently she charges by weight & is quite reliable as long as you don't give her delicate stuff. (Or so I was told... I didn't use the service myself.)

As for accommodation, you usually share a room/cabin with 1-3 other people of the same gender if you're single. For couples, the TM will try to give each couple a room to themselves, or share with another couple.

A good number of the campsites have toilets located away from cabins/bedrooms, which did mean shivering all the way to the toilet at 3 in the morning for me in mid Apr, but if you are doing the tour in Jul, that should be fine.

Oh, & it's hostel/hotel from Munich onwards, so you won't need your sleeping bag after Italy.

oh wow!!! thanks for the reply

Are you going to write a travelogue? No-one's done one for the highlights tour...

Was the tour good? What were the optional extras like? I'm planning to do them all, but were any not worth doing? Oh, what sort of things would you recommend seeing/ doing (that aren't included in the tour or as optional extras) that would require a prepurchased pass? I've heard that you should pre-purchase passes for the heinekin and anne frank museum...

WOuld be great to hear back from you!!

Hey! Are you traveling on the Euro Highlights from June2---22nd?? I am and I am sooo excited! E-mail me if you are : LMichelleF17@comcast.net or reply on here.....

Hey Nah, i'm on the july 18-31..if you put a message in the meeting people section, you might meet others on your tour

Hi Alex,

I'm not planning to write a travelogue any time soon. The trip was my break from reality, & now that I'm back, counting down to exam finals has begun. >_< But I'll see what I can do here:

The tour is great, but bear in mind that it is fast-paced. In cities like Paris & Rome, you get a full day to explore for yourself (which may not be sufficient for all the things you want to see, so prioritize!); in others like Nice & Venice, you only get a few hours. I'm not the drinking sort, so I was able to get sufficient sleep on most nights... to some though, every morning feels like Monday morning & every night Saturday night. ^_~

France:
Paris is definitely going to take more than one day to explore. Personally, I didn't venture very far from the central area, & mostly walked around. The optional dinner is quite nice, but one should really go for the atmosphere + opportunity to get to know others on your tour. The cabaret show that follows is a must-do, I think; expensive, but well worth the experience.

Beaujolais:
The drive from Paris to Beaujolais took up the better part of Day 3, so if your last night in Paris wasn't spent in bed, that'll be a good time to catch up. The accommodation for the night is a rather charming chateau, with an underground bar & an infamously nutty contiki rep. =P There's a swimming pool there, & by the time July rolls around, it should be open.

Avignon:
Spent an hour or two at Avignon along the way to French Riveria for lunch. Your TM would probably tell you the history part of it & how it once housed popes. Take a picture of the bridge.

French Riveria (Antibes):
Rather relaxing time there - supposedly compensation for Italy, which will zoom past you within 4 days. The visit to the perfumery wasn't particularly interesting for me - I guess I'm not that kind of girl. The couch drives through Nice along the way to the perfumery on the morning of Day 5, so if you aren't interested either, try to get dropped off in Nice. We got about 4 hours there after the perfumery, which is cool if all you want to do is relax on the beach, but kinda tight if you want to take the train to nearby Cannes or Monaco on your own.

Monaco:
Spent about 1 hour there, took a few pictures. You won't have time to visit any of the sights except in passing. Monte Carlo is an opportunity for dressing up - pretend you're rich & make yourself poorer at the same time. =P

Pisa:
Stopped there for about 1 hour plus en route to Florence. There isn't a great deal to do there, unless you want to join the queue for the leaning tower. That can take quite long, as they apparently limit the number of people atop the tower at any one time.

Florence:
Beautiful place. Got there in the evening & went immediately to the site for the optional souvenir photo. That one's worth doing because chances are, you'll love your tourmates by this time. (If not, use it for dart practice.) The optional dinner isn't too bad, & afterwards everyone went on to a nearby pub. The next morning is spent in Florence as well, this time actually giving you time to visit places. Queuing up to see the original David by Michaelangelo may take a while (read: too long); I made do with a replica statue outside.

Rome:
Horrendous traffic is a part of life as one drives into Rome, so deal. The evening is spent wandering about the city with your tour & TM (who can't legally be a tour guide in Italy, but ours tried anyway ^_^). I didn't get to see the Colosseum that night, which was rather a pity, since I heard the nighttime look can be quite different. The next day (Day 8) is spent entirely in Rome as well, but if you're dying to visit the Vatican, you should:
a) get up as early as you can & tiptoe your way out of the campsite to beat the queue. (the doors open at 10, but you'd want to be there at 8 if not earlier...)
b) resign yourself to joining a 2km queue & spending a few hours in line.
I also visited the church that housed the bones of 4000 odd Capuccian monks in its crypt, called Santa Maria something or other, & which isn't mentioned very often. Well worth visiting if your taste runs to the morbid. Remember it's closed from 12 to 3 in the afternoon though... I found that out for myself, because I walked in at the stroke of 12 & they marched me right out again. =(

Venice:
Reached there around late afternoon. Left after dark. Beautiful place... hellish to navigate though. Just accept the fact that you'll get lost & take it from there. =P The gondola ride doesn't exactly exceed anyone's expectations, but it's the kind of thing you should do at least once, just because it's a gondola ride in Venice.

Austria [In Transition]:
Stopped amidst lovely scenery for a while to visit the Swarovski Crystal World. Not everyone's impressed by shiny sparkly stuff, though. If it's not your thing, stay outside, get your camera out, & start snapping.

Munich:
My tour didn't spend that much time in Munich. It was late afternoon by the time we got there, & we had 1-2 hours to wander around getting drunk before the beerhall dinner optional. That one was very enjoyable, possibly because most people were slightly tipsy by then, & feeling very matey. I remember doing the chicken dance with a bunch of others, while the local musicians provided the tune. ^__^
[The next morning's supposed to be spent in Munich as well, I think, but that was a Sunday for us & nothing's open. Our TM took us to Dachau instead.]

St Goar:
Quite a leisurely time. I didn't do the wine tasting optional, so I don't know how that one went. The bar there sells tiny bottles of Kleiner Feigling, though. It's this sweet peachy liquor, & there's a Contiki tradition for tour groups to down as many as possible while they're there. Can't remember the record number now, but I'd say the chance of an European Highlights tour besting the current record is pretty slim. After all, we didn't spend all that much time there.

Edam:
Village en route to Amsterdam. The land is flat & great for cycling. I got badly scratched on my elbow, but that's what usually happens when one tries to take one's camera from the backpack & start taking photos while controlling the bike with one hand. (& let's not go into the fact that I haven't ridden a bike since I was 12...)

Amsterdam:
Reached there in the late afternoon. Ventured into the Red Lights district after dinner. There's an extra optional there, not mentioned in the brochures. Nighttime in Amsterdam is great for doing stuff that one doesn't write about, & if that doesn't tickle your fancy, the tv in your room has free porn.
I visited the Anne Frank House next morning. There was a queue there, but nothing too bad. The only museum I visited was the Sex Museum. I don't think I've seen it mentioned in a lot of places, but it's quite interesting, full of photos, pictures, figurines, and everyday trifles that contain hidden naughty pictures. I thoroughly enjoyed it. (It's along Damrak, quite near the couch drop off point. You'll probably walk past it on your way into the red lights district.)
As for the optionals here, no one on my tour tried the canal bike. There are faster ways to get around. I can't say much about the evening canal cruise & subsequent dinner, because no one was paying attention - we were all busy snapping & posing for photos with one another. After all, it was our last evening together.


And lastly, as a parting note:
"If you visit one of the women, we would like to remind you, they are not always women."
--taken word for word from the 'Police and Safety - Prostitution' section of the visitors' guide I grabbed from the hotel reception at Amsterdam.

quote:

Originally posted by zlin:
Amsterdam:
... There's an extra optional there, not mentioned in the brochures.

hey - I'm going on the highlights tour in May/June - cant wait! Thanks for posting this.

Were there places to charge an iPOD/ digital camera?

Any other advice? must see's, etc?

Thanks so much for all the info!! Very helpful Can't wait til i get on tour

WOW!!!! That info was quite helpful. its always good to know somewhat what to expect and I think that message covered it all.....Thanx for your input............ Were gonna have a blast Alex with everyone else who joins us on the tour....... email you soon