Don't Miss the German Countryside!

I haven't been able to get on the internet until here in Prague. There's too much to write about right now so I'm just going to talk about everything leading up to Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest deserves it's own post. I'm currently doing laundry so I will be typing very quickly so don't mind the spelling mistakes, not to mention that this keyboard is in Czech. Anyway, the German countryside was absolutely beutiful; way nicer than Berlin!

We visited Nuremburg, Wurzberg, and were supposed to visit Rothenberg but we missed our stop so we stayed in Treulingen. If I was able to upload pictures here you would see just how picturesque these towns are. In Nuremburg the Old Town was good but the highlight here was the Nazi Rally Grounds. There was a very eerie atmosphere here. I stood on the podium where Hitler gave his speeches; that was very weird. The history of the Nazi party was extremely interesting and I will have to read a book about it when I get home. I recommend you do the same if you haven't already. In Nuremburg we also visited the courthouse where the Nazi leaders were tried and convicted.

From Nuremburg we travelled to Wurzberg where once again we were lucky to find a hostel. We really need to start booking hostels before arriving in the town. But that is half the experience of backpacking, right? Wurzberg looked veryt historic despite being completely demolished in less than 24 hours in WWII. We decided to rent bikes here so that we could see all the city in as little time possible. Upon arrival to the top of the largest hill overlooking the city, we realized that there was no other way to see the city.

After leaving Wurzberg we were supposed to go to Rothenburg, an old town of 12,000 people. We actually booked a hostel for this place but never ended up there. Instead we went right through the station where we were supposed to transfer, but didn't know enough German to realize this, and ended up at the end of line, which was Treulingen. Fortunately, we were able to find a hotel, which was a nice change from hostels, and talk the lady down to letting us stay for 20 Euros. We're starting to enter places where we need to negotiate a little. This was a nice relaxing town. The weird part was that these past 3 cites/towns we visited shut down at around 8pm. Everything closes.

The next stop was Munich. The train was full of people dressed up in the German outfits (I can't remember what they are called) and ready to spend a whole day at Oktoberfest. I'll leave Oktoberfest fot my next post but I will say this: I don't think I've ever had so much fun in my life until this day. I also learned a lot of German songs and sayings here, which you will learn in my next post. Anyway, I better go get my laundry. Until next time, salute!

Plugging TripAdvisor...It's That Good!

Yes! I am putting a plug on my blog for TripAdvisor.com without them knowing (I hope they don't get mad :)). The site is really that good! I first heard about this website through The Amateur Traveller Podcast, which is useful for tips and travel advice. Despite, the interviews being a little boring and awkward, they are informative.

Anyway, I was, and still am, very impressed with TripAdvisor.com. It has every attraction, a lot of hotels (and some hostels), a lot of restaurants and bars, and useful travel tips from around the world. I know what you're saying, "Well, there are many sites like that." However, this one is different. It has all the above rated and reviewed by fellow travellers, which is great for picking what to do and where to stay. In addition, there are candid pictures and videos uploaded from other users.

Other than the great community feel of the site, users can save any attraction, hotel, restaurant, or review in an organized way. I apologize for my poor description of the capabilities of the website but once you try it out, you will understand its potential. Finally, it has goLists, which are users' trips for anyone to view and possibly replicate. To be honest, I have only scratched the surface of what this site is capable of.

Before ending this post I want to fill you in on the changes to our trip. Recently we have cut out Greece, Austria, and possibly the French Riviera. We felt we were travelling to much and not giving certain cities the time they deserved. Therefore, we have given a few extra days to some of the originally planned cities. This will help keep our trip a vacation, more relaxed. I can only imagine that other travellers try to pack too much into a trip and I advise against it. Take the 'pack your suitcase and then take out half' advice and apply it to travel destinations (maybe half would be too much but you know what I mean).

This post and the last have been too much writing. Here is a brief video of a similar trip to mine.

Getting Around The UK

The Eurail pass is incredibly handy for travelling from city to city in Europe. However, the United Kingdom likes to be difficult and has presented travellers with a problem; what is the best way to get around the UK? Well, the answer didn't come easily but the three of us believe we have found the best way. Actually, the truth is that we can't take full credit; a good friend told us about the 'secret' rail line that runs in the UK. He lived in London for a year and thus, is always full of great tips.

The original thought was that we would take a train from London to Edinburgh, a train from Edinburgh to the coast, a ferry to Northern Ireland, and then a train to Dublin. In addition to the complexity of this plan, it is very expensive. A Britrail pass and ferry ride would have cost us about $350 each.

We knew there had to be a better option. Fortunately, there is one; the 'secret' rail line! The GNER (Great North Eastern Railway) offers discount trains from southern England to northern Scotland. A ticket from London to Edinburgh is going to cost us less than 20 GBP (~$40 CAD). We were ecstatic until we found out the train does not run to any cities that have ferries to Ireland.

To solve this problem we are taking a Ryanair flight from Edinburgh to Dublin. I highly recommend this to everyone. Not only would our original plan have cost us a lot more but we would have lost precious time. By taking a flight we are giving ourselves more time and money; it is an $80 CAD, one-hour flight. All I have to say now is "nice try UK, but we have cracked your travel dilemma."

By solving the UK travel dilemma we are nearly finished planning our trip. Despite my desire to start my trip, I am saddened by the fact that the planning process is almost over. Don't get me wrong, I have been eagerly awaiting this trip for years but the planning process has been a great experience. It has presented challenges, fun, debates, and most certainly rewards, like saving over $200 in UK travel. All in all, every part of this trip has been extremely rewarding and I wish everyone could have the opportunity to experience this.

Update (22/08/07): I booked the GNER train tickets today but I had to do it over the phone because the internet booking seems to only be for UK residents. It took me awhile to figure out how to make an international call but eventually I figured it out. If you're calling from Canada the number is 011-44-#. 011 is for an international call. 44 is the UK 'area code'. Finally, # is the phone number for the business you want to call; however, if the number starts with a 0, remove the 0. I may have just made it more complicated but it's not too bad.

European Electricity

Wow! European electricity is crazy! Well not really; I just needed a powerful first line to entice you to continue reading. But don't worry, I'll keep this post short. Despite how boring this topic is, and how much time I wasted researching, it is useful information for if you are bringing any electronics to Europe.

I'll start off by briefly talking about electricity. Around the world, electricity is classified by a voltage and a frequency. For residential purposes the voltage is between 100V and 240V at 50Hz to 60Hz. North America is 120V at 60Hz and Europe is generally 220V to 240V at 50Hz. Check the following link for a listing of all countries:

Voltage, Frequency, and Socket

It may sound complicated but a lot of electronic companies make their products compatible with a range of voltages and frequencies. You will need to check the power label on your electronics and compare it to the requirements of the countries you are visiting. For example, the picture below shows that my Canon battery charger will work on 100V to 240V and 50Hz to 60Hz. If an electronic fails you will need to buy a power converter.

Note: my iPod, Canon camera, and electric shaver do not need a power converter. However, I will still need socket adapters. Refer to the top link for the list of countries and their respective sockets.

Well, that's about all you need to know about European electricity. Here is another website that I found useful:

Electricity in Europe by About.com

Update (29/07/07): I just bought my adapters and it was a lot easier than I expected. I came in with a printout of each adapter I would be needing for each country. However, it turns out that there is really only 2 types needed for European travel; 1 for the UK and 1 for the rest of Europe. So, basically I was worrying about these adapters for no reason. I bought it from The Source (used to be Radio Shacks) and it comes in a nice light and compact set with 3 adapters (the other for North America/Australia).

A Few Updates

Despite how excited I am to go to Europe, I haven't been doing much planning in the past 2 months. Actually, the truth is that Guitar Hero (a very addictive game!) was distracting me. However, I still have a few updates to talk about. First off, I have to talk about the backpack I bought last week. After much looking around, below is a picture of the backpack I chose except mine is red, which gives off a great "I am Canadian" feel!
For some reason I am super excited now that I have the backpack! A few of the most important features I was looking for in a backpack were the following: 1) a daypack for sightseeing around cities; 2) a zip cover for the straps (ideal to protect the straps while checking in your luggage at the airport and hostels); 3) between 65 and 80 liters of packing space (this was an educated guess for what I needed, check my packing list); 4) finally, I wanted a lot of pockets on the inside to organize my stuff. The pack is made by Mountain Equipment Coop, which also offers many other backpacking essentials on their website.

I was given some good tips about how to fit and pack a backpack. You want to try to pack the heaviest items in the center of the pack, with medium weight items below, and light items on top. This puts the center of gravity of the bag in the ideal position. In terms of fitting the backpack, you want the waist belt to be on the top of your hips with the shoulder straps resting lightly on your shoulders. Most of the weight should be transferred to your hips (about two thirds) with one third going to your shoulders.

Secondly, Jack, Josh, and I have bought our airline tickets and are flying on Air Transat. We are leaving on the 8th of September and returning November 19th (72 days). In addition to Air Transat being the cheapest flight out there, we were fortunate enough to get a discount through a family friend. With taxes the flight will cost us $458; regular price would have been about $490.

Finally, you can check out the updated/real route we will be taking in Europe. We also have our first and second hostels picked out. In London, we are going to stay at the Meininger City Hostel. In Edinburgh, we are staying at the Castle Rock Hostel. Well that's all I have for now. Hopefully I'll beat Guitar Hero soon, so that I can spend more time on posting.

Tips Via Facebook

During my random check ups with Facebook, I stumbled upon a few groups about backpacking around Europe. I should have thought of this earlier but better late than never. After a quick search, about a dozen discussion groups came up. I chose to join 3 of the larger groups. To this day they are still very useful in planning my trip. If you have Facebook and are interested, click on the link below to join.

• Euro Trip (Backpacking Style)
• Backpacking Europe
• Backpacking through Europe '07

Note: the latter 2 are the most useful of the 3. There are many hints and tips about transportation, accommodations, and attractions. Also, you can post any questions and they will be answered by other backpackers. I highly recommend these groups to anyone who has interest in going to Europe.