#itinerary update

[seeingscots]

Travel Update: GERMANY! (& London... & Glasgow. But mostly Germany.)

HIYA I know it's been a while, and I know I promised I'd come back to finish telling the tale of our fateful Paris trip.

Buuuuut that's not why I'm here.

I'm here to give you the deets on my GERMANY TRIP this weekend!!

It alllll starts with a Celtic Woman concert:

•Thursday Nov. 27•  11AM - depart Ft. William for Oban via bus 2:30PM (I think) - meet friends in Oban, depart for Glasgow via train ~5:30PM - arrive in Glasgow, maybe get some food? 7:30PM - CELTIC WOMAN CONCERT!!! Overnight accomodation: Euro Hostel Glasgow.  About a 15-20min walk from the concert hall.  Rik and I passed it on our first visit to Glasgow.

•Friday Nov. 28• 6:35AM - depart Glasgow for London via bus 3:30PM - arrive in London at Victoria Coach Station ~~ Sightseeing: Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Big Ben, etc. ~~ 10:30/45PM - find Germany bus near Embankment Underground station (Rik and I also found this on our last visit to London. So convenient!) 11:00PM - Bus departs for Belgium! Travel through the night via buses and ferries...

•Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 29-30• Saturday will be Brussels, Sunday will be Cologne, I believe.  We're put up in a 4-star hotel on Saturday night, which sounds lovely.  I'll have to share with people, but that's hardly different than a hostel.  Not a huge deal.  I'll keep all my stuff safe, dooon't worry.

•Sunday night, Nov. 30• I believe we travel during Sunday evening/maybe through Sunday night. I have a bus at 1AM on Monday Morning (Dec. 1), soooo I'm hoping that's okay.  It looks like it will be, because on the UK Study Tours website, they say they try to have London students home for the last tube, which runs at around 12:15AM, if I've heard correctly.

•Monday Dec. 1• 1:00AM - bus departs London Victoria Coach Station for Glasgow 5:50AM - bus transfer at Leeds Bus Station in England 11:45AM - bus arrives in Glasgow ~~ Lunch, playing with stuff in the Apple Store (((: ~~ 3:00PM - bus departs Glasgow for Fort William 6:08PM (oddly specific time) - bus arrives in Fort William.  I'll probably ask Adi or Flo to pick me up!  I'm sure my ankles will once again be in extreme pain, and I won't wanna climb that darned hill. Yep!  Those are the plans!  I've emailed UK Study Tours just to confirm an arrival time in London on Sunday night/Monday morning. If we get back too late, I'll probably just be able to move to an hour later bus.  No big deal.  I doubt too many people are traveling by bus from London to Glasgow on a Monday morning at 1-2AM.  Oh!!! I've also contacted a former Alpha Xi from Monmouth who's currently studying in London, and she might meet up with me on Friday for some of my sightseeing. Fun! :D

[seeingscots]

Itinerary Update: Paris!

We have a hostel!  It's the closest to our test center that we could find, and it wasn't too expensive!  We're in an 8-person mixed dorm, but that's okay.  We can deal with it.  We're staying at 

St Christopher's Inn Canal, 159, rue de Crimee, Paris, France

For your reference! (: We check in on Wednesday night and out on Saturday.  Rik wants to go to the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday night, and I AM ALL FOR IT.  He says I have to see it at night, and I agreeee.  And he said that if we want, we can climb to the top: it only costs €10, and I'd say that's a small price to pay for the experience and the views!!

I'm really starting to get excited about this trip!  Disneyland is COMPLETELY set, and I dreamed about it last night!  .... I just have to read 3 research papers and write a 1500 word review on them before we leave tomorrow.  No problem.  I can continue studying for the PGRE on the train.  Sounds good.

[seeingscots]

Travel Update: Paris!

After some serious stress and confusion, I have all of my transportation to Paris finalized! Schedule is below and also on the Itinerary page of my blog.

Tues Oct. 21         7:50PM Train departs Fort William for Edinburgh Wed Oct. 22          1:15AM Train departs Edinburgh for London                                ~ 9 or 10AM?? Train arrives at London Euston                                                                  .... We make our way to London Heathrow Airport....

                               4:00PM Flight departs Heathrow                                6:20PM (Local time) Flight arrives in Paris Charles de Gaulle

Thurs Oct. 23       My day in Disneyland!!!! Bus leaves Paris for parks between 8 and 9AM, depending on my pickup point, and arrives at 10AM.  Departs the parks at 8PM that evening and gets back into the city around 9PM.

Friday Oct. 24       Sightseeing day. Apparently we can get into the Louvre for free on Fridays, so that's happening! 

Sat Oct. 25            8:30AM - 11:30AM Physics GRE at Eurosites Paris La Chapelle

                               8:50PM Flight departs Paris CDG                                9:20PM (Local time) Flight arrives in Heathrow

Sun Oct. 26           12:28PM Train departs London Euston for Glasgow Queen Street                                6:20PM Train departs Glasgow for Fort William                                ~ 10:20PM Train arrives in Fort William

As you can see, the transportation from Fort William to Paris is not exactly straightforward.  I think it would be easier if we were close to Edinburgh or Glasgow, but aloha! We're not! Whatever.  We're dealing with it.  Rik and I have all the same trains, and the same departing flight.  Our return flights are about an hour apart.

We have some time in London on Wednesday, and a full night in London from Saturday to Sunday.  I voted that we just do some overnight sightseeing and then sleep in the train station.  I don't wanna pay for even one night in a hostel this late in the game - it could be expensive.

On that note, we also don't have accommodations yet in Paris.  Kicking Rik's butt into gear has been pretty challenging... he is now in contact with his summer roommate, whose grandparents live in Paris and might be willing to take us in for two of the three nights.  Maybe.  If not, we'll have to fork out the money for a hostel.  Which, again, could be expensive this late in the game.  Jeez.  Believe me, we have learned a beautiful lesson about the value of planning ahead.  Absolutely beautiful.

Now that the planning is (mostly) taken care of and paid for, though, I'm starting to look forward to the trip.  I'm excited to be back in my element somewhat in Disneyland, and I'm SO ready for some ROLLER COASTERS. AHHHH.  Can't WAIT!

[seeingscots]

Itinerary Update

My bus for Glasgow leaves this Sunday at 11AM.  It's about a 3-hour drive.  Rik doesn't leave for another hour, and his train will take an hour longer, so I'll be exploring/taking photos/finding a little cafe to sit in for a few hours.

We've booked a room with two twin beds at the Alexander Thomson Hotel - which is a 15 minute walk from my bus stop - for £53.10 total, which is about $44 per person.  Not too bad.  We're only there for the one night on Sunday. 

We take the GRE on Monday morning.  It takes 4.5ish hours, and is about a 5 minute walk from the hotel.  My bus leaves again for Fort William at 5PM on Monday.  I might ask Flo or Addy to pick me up from the bus station that night, because I know that the climb up to the house will be the last thing I wanna do.

That's it!  Trip planned!  Easy peasy!