maolor.blogspot.com: Aug 20, 2013

*WARNING: Very long blog BUT lots of pictures!!! AND tips when traveling abroad! From London to Paris to Milan to Venice to Florence to Rome! Part one is just London and Paris.*

This was by far the highlight of 2012! My girlfriends and I have been talking about taking a trip to Europe for almost a year but it wasn't until January of 2012 that we ACTUALLY decided to start planning. Okay, I lied. We really didn't start planning it until (I kid you not) two months before our flight was scheduled to leave. Now, if you’re going to go to Europe, two months isn't bad timing but if you’re planning to travel through Europe, you might want to start at least in January for a trip in May.

None of us have ever been to Europe so we were planning everything through www.bookit.com, reading their reviews, looking at their maps and train stations, and crossing our fingers for the best hotel in a non-scary town. Bookit was similar to Priceline except they had more hotels, brothels, etc. and you weren't tied to a deal if you decided to bid, whereas on Priceline you were.

So…. because we were traveling to sooo many cities and only on a two and a half week time frame, my OCD kicked in and I had to “excel” spreadsheet the heck out of our trip.

See…. I wasn't kidding.

Even after all this planning, the train stations were still something to get used to. And tip #1: If you’re going to be traveling from city to city like Milan to Venice, etc. It’s cheaper to buy the train tickets the day of because we bought our ticket in advanced in the states for Florence to Rome for about $40 USD, when it could have only cost us $9 USD if we waited and bought it when we were in Florence. UNLESS it’s from London to Paris then you should buy advance.

Back to my Europe trip. We started in London only because we knew it was the most expensive city and wanted to get that out of the way just in case we were too “poor” for London at the end of our trip. Ha ha. You have no idea how glad we planned it this way.

London!

Our hotel was FAR!!! - Britannia Inn in Ilford, London. I am not kidding. Our hotel was 30 minutes via train outside of central London! London’s map was confusing and we thought the hotel was “maybe” fifteen minutes from central London. Boy, were we wrong! The room was SMALL (picture below). I felt like i was in a room in the attic. Positive: Breakfast was good and freshly made. :)
Considering how often we traveled into central London, we could have just used that extra money to get a place there. Fail! Which brings me to... tip #2: Arrive at the airport to check in AT LEAST 1.5 hours early, make that 2 hours just to be safe. The back story to that is… a friend who’s always late missed check in by (I swear) 15 minutes or less. Couldn't get on the flight, had to fork over almost $800 just to get on the next flight out, which wasn't until the next day. So, we had to make a trip back to the London airport the next day to get her.

I do want to say thumbs down to Delta for NOT being very customer service friendly when we realized she couldn't get on the flight. I get it, it’s her fault but Delta lady did not have to be rude! I've been in customer service for 15+ years and I KNOW that is not how you talk to customers. So… note to Delta: That mean lady behind the counter needs some training on customer service. OK. Thanks!

- Picture time! – I had so many pictures but I’m only going to post some. LOL!

Walking to our hotel.

Yes! Somehow FOUR girls fit into this tiny little "hotel." I kid you not, it was the size of a bedroom!

Met up with a good friend in London who showed us around Central London. Yay!

Decided to explore London and go out for the night life (this is why we were dressed up).

The next day... we took the train and headed to see the Stone Hedges. One of the great wonders of the world. :)

The cute little town where we had to wait for the bus to the Stone Hedges.

It's not Photoshopped. LOL! This was as close as they would let anyone.

And if you can't tell... London was COLD! We were NOT prepared for that. None of us brought jackets, which I'm sure everyone thought we were crazy. Ha ha!

Then we headed back to central London.

To attend a orchestra show. So lovely!

Paris!

Love our hotel (except for the fact that the elevator was broken and we were on the 3^rd floor)! - Hotel Home Moderne. The location was great, just a few blocks from where we can catch the train and in a nice area surrounded by shops. The receptionist was nice and friendly. Clean place, spacious, and decent size beds.
Of course the minute we get there we wanted to eat BUT low and behold… EVERY restaurant was closed! Apparently, we got to Paris right when it was their lunch break; therefore the majority of the restaurants weren't going to re-open until 6pm!!! So… we drank wine and ate cheese (the only shop open by us). LOL!
We rested the first night but the next day ….

Norte Dame
Shopping all over Paris
The bridge of lockets
Louvre Museum
Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton Museum (Sorry, they wouldn't let us take pictures!)
The Arc de Triomphe
Eiffel Tower

Yes! We did all of that in ONE day! Man… we were exhausted by the end of the day.
Tip #3: Gratuity is already included in the price of the meal, therefore unless the service is EXCEPTIONAL you do not need to tip. AND make sure you question any strange tax on your receipts because not only were we TOLD we had to tip but supposedly we got charged for wine tax, food tax, and service tax! WTF! Better yet, just don't eat in really touristy places because they aren't very nice and try to rip you off!
Now… pictures of our eventful day.

Inside Notre Dame.

Notre Dame!

Feeding the birds outside of Notre Dame. Super fun!

We were walking around and randomly stumbled upon this place. Beautiful walkway to the front entrance.

Shopping in Paris time!

Yes, it really does exist. The bridge of lover's lockets!

Walking through the courtyard to the Louvre.

My panoramic shot of the outside of the Louvre.

It was the longest walk to the Arc de Triomphe!

Then another LONG walk back to the Eiffel Tower.

The second day was raining an ugly so we didn't get to go to the artist square like we wanted to but we did check out one of the biggest shopping center I've ever seen. Inside was GORGEOUS! And we met up with a friend in Paris who had an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower. We were there so late, we were thinking about taking a cab until we realized she only lived right around the block from our hotel. LOL!