Reviews of My Trips

While planning my upcoming trip to Egypt I started thinking about my former trips and decide to do a short review of some of them. So I am going to start with the destination of one of my all time favorite places...England.


I have traveled to England 6 times and every time is amazing and great. England is one of my favorite destinations. The people are very friendly, speak English (sort of) and its very easy to get around London and the rest of Great Britain. I usually travel at the end at the end of May which is the end of the shoulder season so prices are still reasonable and the weather is fairly good.

There are 2 major airports in London, Gatwick and Heathrow. Heathrow is the best one. On this trip I was traveling with my mom and 7 year old son. Upon arriving at London Heathrow we caught the Britrail, which you can catch right in the airport. We took the Train to Paddington Station. We walked straight out of the train station, across the street, up one block to Westbourne Terrace and there was our guest house we were staying at. It was the perfect location. The quiet streets in this area were lined with small guest houses. It had a very homey feeling. There was a subway station at the train station, which was very really great. There was also several places to eat nearby as well as several small shops and one of my favorite places to shop Mark & Spencer’s. A great department store with good prices. This was the perfect location.

One of the first places we visited was the Cabinet War Rooms. They are located on King Charles St. The Cabinet War Rooms are a series of rooms in which Winston Churchill and his military cabinet ran the war during World War II. It is not well advertised on the street so you kind of need to know where you are going. It was much more extensive then I thought it would be. I thought it would be a couple of rooms but there were several rooms. It was like an underground city. People spent several months down there at a time. The most interesting room was the control room with all the phones, desks and papers. You get to see the actual items rather then replicas. It was very interesting. Even my son enjoyed it. He is a bit of a history buff.

We took a river boat up the Thames River from London to Greenwich which is at longitude 0. Here you can stand on both the western and eastern hemisphere at the same time. It’s pretty cool. The Greenwich Royal Observatory is there as well as a museum. it’s a very nice area. We took the train back to London which was just a short ride.

I had purchased a 7 Day Britrail Flexi pass which allowed us to travel on the Britrail any 7 days within a one month period. With the pass we were able to get on and off the train as much as we wanted as well. We ended up traveling up one side of Britain and down the other. Some of the highlights included a visit to Leeds Castle in Maidstone. You can only take vehicles so close to the Castle and then you have to walk the rest of the way or catch a shuttle. it’s a little bit of a walk but very pretty. At one point we had to pass through a gated area that contained peacocks. One of the male peacocks took a shine to me and followed be around showing off his feathers. Several other tourist asked me to stand there so they could take pictures of the peacocks. The castle itself was well worth the walk.

We spent the night in York, which is about half way to between London and Edinburgh, Scotland. It is a really cute Viking city. Its like going back in time. We walked the ancient city wall, took a city tour and found out why the grass was so green just outside the city gate. That’s where they buried the people who died from the plague. We spent the night at a very nice Bed & Breakfast. Next headed to Edinburgh, which is a great city. The first thing we did was take a city tour, which was filled with some really great history. We walked the Royal Mile which starts at Edinburgh castle and ends at Holyrood Palace with lots of shops and fun places to look at along the way. At the city clock tower, located on the Mile, was our meeting point for our catacombs tour, which was very cool. Later that day we jumped back on the train and headed to Linlithgow, Scotland, home to some of my ancestors for an overnight stay. During the early evening we paid a visit to Linlithgow Castle. The following day we stopped by the Lilliput Lane factory for a tour and then on to Carlisle, England for an overnight stay and finally back to London. What a great trip that was. On our last day in London we took a short train ride to the city if Bath which is a great little city. After the city tour we paid a visit to the Roman Baths which is very impressive. The main bath is still intact and filled with water. There is a restaurant where you can taste water from the natural spring that feeds the baths.

There is so much to see and do in Great Britain, I don’t think I will ever get tired of going there.

Safety when traveling Internationally

Here are a few tips to staying safe while travel.

Know Before You Go: Make sure you know what local customs are. What is considered offensive and what is customary. For example, when doing research on my upcoming trip to Egypt I found that it is offensive to the locals for women and men to wear shorts in public. You should know whether you will be expected to tip. You also will want to know about local scams, like when I went to Rome. I was told by someone who had already been there that the guys dressed in really cool Roman costumes standing in front of the Colosseum, waving people over to take pictures with them will ask for a large amount of money after the picture is taken and they will follow you harassing you if you don't pay enough. Travel message boards are a great place to get tips.

Know the Risks: Check with the State Department to see if there are any advisories or warnings for the area you will be going into. Pay attention to the warnings. Register your travel plans so in the event of an emergency they will know how to find you. Take the State Departments over sea's Citizens Service number with you (found on website) so you can contact them during a crises.

Keep In Touch: Bring a prepaid, international calling card with you. Make sure it will work in the country you will be going to. Not all card work in every country. Take the local card contact numbers with you.

Buy Travel Insurance: You can buy travel policies online. If you will be traveling with a tour group or on a cruise, you can purchase a policy from them, however you do not have to, you can purchase insurance through an outside company. The policy will actually be a fair amount cheaper if you do. Make sure you know what your policy covers and doesn't cover. Insurance doesn't just give you a refund if you have to cancel your trip but also for delays, lost luggage and other trip interruptions and inconveniences.

All the Hidden Charges

Airfares these days can be deceiving. You search for a fare, you find one and are happy at the good price you found but... then when you go to checkout your great price sky rockets!

Some sites, in order to seem like they have great price fail to tell you up front about all the extra fee's. Sometimes these fee's can be several hundred dollars. You also have to be aware of any luggage fee's.

But the fee's don't stop there. Some airlines have an a la carte type service. Fee's are often charged for checked luggage, food, water, a pillow, blanket, and on board movies. To counter act some of these fee's some airlines will offer a small discount or on board voucher if you agree to forgo earning any airmiles.

Some airlines are charging an extra fee for booking with an airline agent rather then online while at least one European airline charges customers just to talk to them on the phone. Where will these fee's end. I soon expect the airlines to charge for using the restroom.

All these add on fee's make it more difficult to research airfares. Besides comparing the price of the ticket itself you have to campare extra ticket fee's and taxes plus on board fee's and luggage fee's. So some extra work is now needed in order to find the best price.

Got My Travel Visa

I got my Egyptian travel visa. Surprisingly, it consisted of an ink stamp and looks like 2 postage stamps in our passport books.

I have been doing extensive research on Egypt, reading lots of reviews and looking at people's vacation pictures. A few of the things I have learned from those who have already been there is that you shouldn't drink the water including ice cubes, bottled water only. Fruits and vegetables are not washed so do not eat any salads or fruit unless you peel it. Stick with cooked foods.

Several people suggested I take Antinal with me which is a anti-bacterial medication in the case of food poisoning or bacterial illness. I will take Antinal along with my usual Imodium which I always take and because of all the dust I will also take plenty of Asthma medication for my son and allergy pills.

My son and I have been doing a lot of studying on Egyptian history so we know the history behind what we are seeing.

As it turns, we will have quite a long layover in Madrid, Spain. We will have stops in New York and Madrid. Our layover in New York is about 3 hours which is not bad but in Madrid we have about 7 hours. The good news is that Ilberia Airlines has a lounge at the Madrid airport that we will be able to use. It has TV's, couches, beds, showers, food, drinks and newspapers. So we will at least have a comfortable place to hangout.

I was hoping for the long layover in London. You can easily catch a train right from the airport into the city and knowing the city I would feel comfortable running around it for a few hours. But no such luck. I will do some more research into whats close by the Madrid airport to see if there is something we can do nearby.

We are very excited about this trip and can't wait to go!

Oceania 2-for-1 plus Free Air

In honor of Oceania's 5th anniversary, the cruiseline is offering 2-for-1 pricing plus free airfare.

Sample of fares:

7/23/09 12 Nights Athens to Istanbul $2499

10/12/09 10 Nights Barcelona to Athens $1799

Check out the rest of their anniersary fares at:

http://www.onlinevacationcenter.com/landing/cceletter_011309.cfm?header_show=off

My Trip is Booked!

I finally got my vacation booked, though I made some major changes to it. We will not be going to Kenya after all. I called the state department to check on any travel warnings and sadly there are serious warnings for Americans traveling to Kenya. There have been credible threats against Americans and 2 people were recently kidnapped. As badly as I wanted to go, its not worth risking my life or my son's life.

Se we will be visiting just Egypt. We will be leaving May 1 and return on May 11. We will be traveling with a tour group. I am not comfortable traveling alone. In Egypt, it is frowned upon for a women to travel alone. Its different when you are with a group. Its recommended for single women to wear wedding bands. The local men have more respect for married women.

From California, my son ad I will be flying to Cairo with stops in New York and Madrid, Spain. Its going to be a long flight. But the two stops will help break it up. Our tour includes a 4 night Nile river cruise. We will be seeing the Great pyramids in Giza, the step pyramid, which is the oldest pyramid in the world, several temples and we get to tour the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

I sent off for our travel visa's today. We could get our visa's at the airport in Cairo but that leaves a window for unexpected problems to come up. So we are getting ours here in the states so everything will go smoothly.

It should be great fun.

My New Adventure

In October 2008, my mom passed away from complications of Alzheimer's. She loved to travel and was my travel partner for a long time. She was with me when I made my first international trip which was to England. And to this day London is one of my favorite places to visit.

Even inher advance stages of her illness, she always remembered her travels and talked about the next trip she was going to take. Before she had gotten too sick she had put away a little money and she told me she wanted me to use it for an amazing trip. Its not a lot of money but I am really good at stretching a dollar. That talent I got from my mom.

So after much thought I decided to take a trip to a place I have wanted to see since I was a little girl, AFRCIA!!

I will be traveling with my 12 year old son. I found two tours that include both Africa and Egypt, which Egypt is my son's dream destination. I found two tour companies I like that have really good prices. I definitely want an escorted tour. I am still looking into some other tour companies and waiting quotes, but unless they can beat the two I have already found I will be going with one of these two.

With the number of people traveling dropping airlines and tour companies are offering some really great deals. Africa is not really in a budget travelers range but these days, it's amazing what you can get. A year ago airfare alone to Africa was about $5000 for economy but today you can get tickets for $1600.

Check back soon to see which tour company I decide on and follow our planning and preparation for our dream vacation.