This is a shot I took whilst in Venice in 2013, it's also one of many things that inspired me to book a trip back there. Venice was everything I imagined it to be and so much more, it exceeded all of my expectations.
Tips, tricks and helpful clicks for your trip to Europe
As mentioned, I researched the crap out of Europe. And another hot tip about myself is that I start things and never finish them. I’m that kind of person. Right now, including this one, I have 3 blogs about my traveling. THREE! And they all have different information on them. If they weren't all helping contribute to this one, I’d be ashamed. Who are we kidding, I’m still ashamed! But thankfully, on one of them I created a page with all of the links that helped me greatly with preparing for Europe:
If it weren't for all of the travelogues that I read, I don’t think I would have been as excited. I also wouldn’t have been as prepared, and I honestly think I was more than prepared. So delve into the below links, and I hope you have as much fun scrolling through them as well as my own travelogue you’ll get to experience.
Helpful websites:
http://www.contiki.com/community/discussions - whether you’re going on a Contiki or not, their forums are a God send.
http://www.woolworthsglobalroaming.com.au/ - although this was the global sim card I used whilst I was away, I learnt that I don’t actually need a sim card. Most places have free wifi and there are apps like Viber that use the Internet to make phone calls. It’s a lot cheaper and extremely accessible.
http://davechallenger.com/ultimate-european.html - this blog was without a doubt the best travelogue I have ever read. Mostly because it was the tour I was doing minus the Egypt option (I was doing the Greek Islands) but Dave spent so much time and effort into giving his readers so much detail that you felt like you were there with him.
http://contiki.com/community/discussions/8411-what-do-you-wish-youd-known - I spent so long on this forum, called ‘What do you wish you’d known?’ As I am writing this, there are 826 answers and the post started in 2007. So many wonderful travelers have posted their experience along with what they wish they had taken, what they wish they didn’t take and everything in between. I printed out all of the pages and went through and highlighted all of the things i wanted to keep in mind. Is that pedantic? It is, isn’t it?
2015 European Contiki Group (Unofficial) - when I was preparing for Europe, there was a 2013 group where people would ask questions and everyone grouped together to help each other out where ever possible. I was also able to sell a couple of travel things I no longer felt was necessary to bring. I couldn’t link the Facebook group as it is a closed group, you have to join and have someone accept you before you can access it. But search the name and it will pop up in your results.
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