[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by aargee

@Chethan - Hats off to you; you know what was that for? To have taken your family abroad & to show them what the world is outside that you've experienced. I've been struggling to do this & I don't think I would be able to do that in this lifetime too!!! As a matter of appreciation, the least I could do on this thread is voting *****; hope it makes you

See, what I told is right on the planning front. Looking at your meticulous planning, I'd this doubt that you were planning this for a long time now & you proved me right.

Many Thanks RG!!

Europe is a bit tricky. Some destinations have cheaper air fair - like Paris, Frankfurt, London - Since they fall enroute to US (More Traffic). But, I felt that Austria is one of the cheaper place to stay. We can definitely keep expenses in check, with proper planning. Keep trying!!


@MX6 : Thanks for the information on spiders. You are right about the travel too!

[hemanthisgreat]

Excellent travelogue. Glued to this thread. ***** from my side.

This travelogue will definitely come in handy when I plan for a Europe trip.

When I plan and go to Europe, I will only stay in youth hostels.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

5* from me also.

I am little selfish about this travelogue.
Please please provide as much info and tips about stays and cost.

[TSEA]

Very informative travelogue. Hats off to you for planning everything and not relying on Package Tours. Waiting for more

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by hemanthisgreat

Excellent travelogue. Glued to this thread. ***** from my side.
This travelogue will definitely come in handy when I plan for a Europe trip.

When I plan and go to Europe, I will only stay in youth hostels.

Thanks a lot! YMCA 's are also good. But you need to book it in advance.

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

5* from me also.

I am little selfish about this travelogue.
Please please provide as much info and tips about stays and cost.

Thanks a lot!
I will give you full details. If you need any thing specific - please ask!

Originally Posted by TSEA

Very informative travelogue. Hats off to you for planning everything and not relying on Package Tours. Waiting for more

Thanks a lot!!

Now - More pics!

[ExtremeTorque]

Chetan, this is excellent! Especially for your kid she is starting off early and exploring the world. And keep the snaps coming. 5* from me too!

[StarVegabond]

Hi Chetan

i think, you have taken your daughter at the right age on this Europe trip

your planning seems to be ful of wonders. appears to be a dream holiday

5 stars from me too..

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by ExtremeTorque

Chetan, this is excellent! Especially for your kid she is starting off early and exploring the world. And keep the snaps coming. 5* from me too!

Thanks!
You are right. I envy her!

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Hi Chetan

i think, you have taken your daughter at the right age on this Europe trip

your planning seems to be ful of wonders. appears to be a dream holiday

5 stars from me too..

Thanks a lot!

In terms of the length of the holiday and the fun we had - It was a dream come true!!

[arindamray]

it will be good to have caption for the photos. some of the places are known from my visit to Paris. but i am sure i have missed quite a few as it was a week-end trip. and also if something came up in last 10 years (I guess the spider is one), as my visit was back in 99.

[Indian Ranger]

Excellent travelogue Chetan. Fantastic planning there. Thank you for sharing this with us as you are showing us the new way of foreign travel which is so much custimised to the needs. I have subscribed to this thread and 5 * rating my side too.

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by arindamray

it will be good to have caption for the photos. some of the places are known from my visit to Paris. but i am sure i have missed quite a few as it was a week-end trip. and also if something came up in last 10 years (I guess the spider is one), as my visit was back in 99.

Yes. I agree with you. A bit lazzzy!

Pics are mainly from:

Science museum
Louvre museum
Disney world
Jardin des Tuileries
Luxembourg
Grande Pyramide
Versailles Palace
Eiffel Tower
Notre Dame


Thanks a lot! - Indian Ranger

[niranjanrvce]

Brilliant thread Chetan. Can't agree more with everything you have penned down so far! I did a 4 month backpacking trip through europe last year and my strategy was very similar to yours - 3 month eurail global pass and youth hostels. Cost me about 2 lakhs (single person).

Originally Posted by Chethan B G

Communicating is always a problem. As always, we find somebody who will be friendly and co-operative. When I tried to reserve my ticket to Heidelberg, I had a problem.
The lady in the counter (CDG Airport railway station) was speaking good English, but was not co-operative. She did not try for options and directly said "Not available!"
Later on in Paris East Railway station, a man who could only manage English, helped me. I got a reservation done until Mannheim, which is just 20 mins from Heidelberg. From there, we had to change train.

This was perhaps the one problem that we could never figure out the reason for. But the only logical reason we could think of was: some of the bigger rail stations (like Paris, Frankfurt etc) have a certain quota of seats reserved for booking from there and these seats do not show up in the itinerary if the booking is accessed from some other smaller station (say Lyon). Faced this issue quite a few times and it did not seem like the person at the counter wasn't trying enough each time although that was what we thought initially as well.
Just to give an example: if you want to go from Nice (southern France) to Amsterdam you usually take the Nice-Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam route. But at Nice, you won't get the tickets from Paris to Brussels if you don't book early (the counter lady will say 'No tickets'). But you can arrive at Paris and book to Brussels on the same day and take the train. And I am talking of the TGV here not the Eurostar.

Also, did you do the Werfen Ice caves in Austria? I ask because I lost the pics of the ice caves, along with my camera , on a ICE near Berlin and I wish I could see some snaps of that place again!

[MX6]

The french hate the English. Hence they must have thought another set of tourist from UK speaking in English when they saw you. I surprisingly had language issues, but the french went out of the way to help me. Reason? I always greeted them with things like Bon Jour Monsier or Bon Jour Mademoiselle. I'm from India and I need directions.
When I got lost searching for the hotel where we stayed (Etap hotel - now that's a great place to stay for people on a budget), A bus driver explained very animatedly in french as to how to reach our place.
I gave him the print out of our reservation with a pen and he drew a map with directions for us.
And another great surprise in store for us was the Tamil population in Gare Du Nord and vicinity. There were many Tamils there who didn't know a word of English. But since we knew Tamil, they helped us with lot's of directions too.
We got a real flavour of a real foriegn country. Netherlands was fun too. Bits and pieces of key words in local language wins a lot of hearts, especially in France where they hate the English!
My friend who settled in Bangalore very early made me realise the importance of knowing basic stuff in local language to survive.
I asked him how his Kannada skills were and he replied, "I know enough to survive in any part of Karnataka".
"Two sentences is all you need", he said, "first one is Nanige Kannada Gothilla (I don't know kannada) and the second is Oota Beku (I want food)".

And yes, another log that showed a glimpse of La Joconde. Enough written about her already

[Chethan B G]

11.04.2008: Bangalore to Paris by Air France- Departure 01:55 Hrs
Arrival at Paris CDG Airport- 08:50 Hrs
Check in at Lovely Holiday Flat

We reserved tickets, purchased groceries, had lunch and then went around for the first time in Paris! Wow - What a wonderful city!! Went around Notre Dame. Spent some time around the city and came back to the apartment.

12.04.2008: Louvre museum, Jardin des Tuileries, Arc de triomphe, Champs Elysees, Eiffel tower.
13.04.2008: Science Museum, Opera, Eiffel tower, Notre Dame
14.04.2008: Day Trip to Disney Land - Paris
15.04.2008: Luxembourg, Versailles Palace

16th morning - We left Paris started our journey towards Germany. Eurail is marvelous!!

One thing we can not forget about Paris is, a nice gesture from our apartment owner: We had been equipped with thermals, sweaters ... etc. But still, my daughter was feeling a bit uncomfortable because of the weather. Our apartment owner noticed it and immediately offered us a jacket from her daughters wardrobe! She was insisting that we keep it with us until we buy our own. Since the jacket was a size smaller for her daughter, she did not want it back.
This was one size bigger for my daughter. But, she used it until we bought one for her. And this happened only in Austria, since she did not like any thing that she saw!! Also, there was hardly any time for shopping.

P.S: I was afraid that my wife would freak out if we went out for shopping!!

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by Chethan B G

One thing we can not forget about Paris is, a nice gesture from our apartment owner: We had been equipped with thermals, sweaters ... etc. But still, my daughter was feeling a bit uncomfortable because of the weather. Our apartment owner noticed it and immediately offered us a jacket from her daughters wardrobe! She was insisting that we keep it with us until we buy our own. Since the jacket was a size smaller for her daughter, she did not want it back.
This was one size bigger for my daughter. But, she used it until we bought one for her. And this happened only in Austria, since she did not like any thing that she saw!! Also, there was hardly any time for shopping.

P.S: I was afraid that my wife would freak out if we went out for shopping!!

This proves two things

1. Mummy will remain a mummy, be it in India or Europe, She does not want the child to suffer. That is indeed a very nice gesture.

2. Husband is always worrying about his wife going for shopping. He is uncertain about the consequence.