Nothing New

Nothing new with the Europe trip, oh......Shasta is going to see a West End Show, Wicked. Other than that, no much to say, just tying up the final loose ends. Shasta leaves next weekend, its really getting close now!!



Here is a pic from my fishing trip over the Easter Holiday!

Shasta's New Laptop

Today we added another computer to our home, a Toshiba laptop. That totals 4 if you include my work laptop, which I am using now while sitting on my couch watching the Rockets vs. Celtics game. Needless to say, we both now each have 2 at our disposal at anytime, and have officially gained the title of Computer Nerds.

So here is a quick run down. Shasta decided she needed a computer while in London. Now we plan to video chat rather than call long distance over the 2 weeks we are apart. She also wanted to be able to email everyone and of course to keep up to date on all the Celebrity Gossip.

I have to say that will be using it too, mainly to download the hundreds of pictures I plan on taking with my BIG camera. That brings up the fact we also bought a new point and shoot camera with image stabilization, a Canon 870is. We thought it would be great for pictures taken of the European countryside on our train journeys.

Gotta get back to the game.

The Extras

Another task to mark off of our to do list. More research let us to realize that due to the length of our trip, there were a few things we need to bring that are a little out of the ordinary. First off, because we are going to be gone for so long, we won't have the room to pack clothes for every day. That means washing clothes in our rooms, which will be new to both of us. This brings up the need for travel washing detergent, a sink stopper and a clothes line, none of which we had, but do now. Other strange items on the list include, eating utensils for picnics in the park, power converters for Shasta's CHI and battery chargers, quick dry travel towels in case we get caught in the rain, as well as rain coats. Stuff sacks for dirty clothes, insect repellent which we hope we never have to use, various single does OTC medications just to ensure no hassles with lose pills, and hidden security pouches for passports and other travel documents and money.


All of the above have to fit in each of out new back packs. We both bought Osprey Packs, Shasta with the Porter 46, and me with Waypoint 80. We decided to use back packs, being we will be transferring trains and having to go up/down stairs to the different platforms and also rolled suitcase don't work well on cobbles stone streets. To give you an idea of what stuff we are bringing other than clothes, check out the picture below.

Planes, Trains and Hotels

Booked my flight (thank goodness for Continental One Pass Miles) so it was free, less all the fees. Shasta's flight was included in her scholarship award package, as well as, a two bedroom apartment for 15 nights in London's South Kensington Neighborhood. We will definitely be taking advantage of this in London.
We also received our EuRail Passes. We will be traveling from place to place by rail, and first class mind you. We also have an overnight journey, which we reserved a 2 person sleeper compartment, should be interesting.
On a side note, our neighbors, Brian and Kacye will be in London while Shasta is there. They plan to stay at her apartment for a few days, which will be great to break up Shasta's expected loneliness.

Below is our itinerary:
3 days in London, England
4 days in Paris, France
3 days in Lucerne, Switzerland
3 days in Munich, Germany
2 days in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
1 days in Brussels, Belgium

Europe for Dummies

We were on the fence on whether or not to use a MotorCoach Tour such as Globus, or take on the vacation on our own.

I think we purchased every travel book we could possible need to make this decision, but after much careful consideration and hours and hours on various Internet sites doing research, we decided we are going to be going it alone. Here is reference material we are working with:

For all the other travelers wondering what sites we used as reference, here are a few:

Trip Advisor

Fodor

Bootsnall

Hotels.com

Viator

Rail Europe

Rick Steve's Europe through the Backdoor

The Travel Channel's: Samantha Brown's Passport to Europe

2008 Europe Vacation

Well, it took very little thought for Shasta and I to decide that we needed to take advantage of her being in London. I will be meeting Shasta in London at the end of her training and we will then take a a simply splendid tour of Western Europe over the next 16 days.

Shasta's Scholarship

As most of you already know, Shasta participated in a National Marine Insurance Scholarship Contest and in August 2007 she received the official letter stating her paper was chosen and she had been awarded the Harold Jackson Scholarship (more info). As the recipient of the scholarship, Shasta will be traveling to London to train for two weeks at Lloyd's of London as well as various other Marine Insurance Markets.