heySkippy

I've got a bad case of the pre-vacation anxiety. We fly in 6 weeks and all the important reservations are made and tickets are bought, so my mind is wandering into territories like "what have I forgotten?" I know there are people here who enjoy critiquing and offering advice, so...

It goes like this. We fly to London where we will be picked up by friends who will take us to Portsmouth. We will spend 2 nights with them getting acclimated.

Then we take a train to Paris. I haven't made any reservations for this, yet, but it looks like I can so I probably will do so within the next week or two. We have an apartment rented in Paris and will be there 5 nights. We have no agenda for this time, just wander and soak up the atmosphere.

At the end of the Paris stay we will rent a car and drive towards Ehrwald, Austria. We'll have the car for the next 17 days. We will have 1 night on the road, probably around Stuttgart. I haven't made any reservation for this night, and am inclined to wait and find someplace as we're traveling. We get to Ehrwald, where we have an apartment rented, the next day and will be there for 4 nights. I want to take my wife to a couple castles, and we will be there for the summer solstice when they have the bonfires on the mountains. Maybe some age-appropriate hiking while we're here, and of course a lift up the Zuggspitze. Nothing else planned.

After Ehrwald, we drive to Florence. We have an apartment rented in Florence and will be there 4 nights. No agenda here. Much like Paris, we want to wander and soak it in. Both our place in Paris and Florence have balconies so we're looking forward to a bottle wine and etc.

After Florence, we drive towards Cap d'Agde, France. We have 1 night on the road, probably stopping around Sanremo, Italy before driving on to Cap d'Agde the next day. We stay here the longest, but we are beach people so there will be lots of that. Also might make a day trip to Spain and visit the hometown Dali museum. We have a beach condo rented in Cap d'Agde and will be there 7 nights.

After the beach, we drive to Montepellier, turn the car in, and fly to London. We already have our flight reservations for this. We have an apartment in London and will be there 3 nights. No agenda for London, see Paris and Florence.

At that point, it's vacation over. Get on a plane and fly home.

So anyway, in addition to buying our air tickets for the flight over plus the flight from Montpellier and securing 5 vacation rentals, I have secured an International Driving Permit, replaced all our credit cards with chipped versions, verified that a couple cards don't have transfer fees and verified that at least one of those cards will provide rental car insurance. We've also let our card and personal banks know we'll be traveling.

I haven't reserved the car, yet. Because I'm returning the car to the same country, the one way fee isn't too bad. I've read 'stuff' on the internet about European car renting, and think I'm prepared. Any opinions about Sixt?

As I mentioned earlier, I haven't reserved our rail transportation to Paris. Any opinions about how we should make that segment?

For communications, I'm going to add a month-worth of international to our AT&T iPhones. Unlimited texting and $1/minute for voice when you really want that. I've also got a cellular capable iPad and will buy a local SIM for it so I can a GPS for driving parts of the trip. I know WiFi is widely available, so we'll both make sure we have (and know how to use) Skype and the like.

I've got spreadsheets with all the info about all our reservations and figure I'll probably print a copy before we go. Should I get photocopies of our passports also? On paper or as images on our phones or both?

Finally, because I'm really serious about this vacation which, for want of a better description is probably a "once in a lifetime" thing, I've been taking French lessons since January and am confident that I can converse with waiters and shopkeepers and the like.

So, what have I forgotten? Give me something to do for the next 6 weeks!

DebitNM

Have you made sure that there is parking near each apartment?

Have you looked to buy tickets for any of your must sees along the way? Many thing may be long sold out. Have you checked what days your must do's are open/closed?

Yes, make a photocopy of your passport, printed.

Even though your are retuning the car in same country, make sure there is no problem going across borders, maybe no issue.

I applaud your taking French lessons but the truth is, most shop keepers will speak to you in English as soon as you start talking French. Same for waiters.

Wandering about is nice but for a first trip , I would personally want to have a bit more structure. But that's me.

heySkippy

Forgot to mention - I know I will need commercial parking in Florence that's outside the old city. Is there any reason to try and reserve something in advance or should I just take what I find when we get there?

heySkippy

Parking in Ehrwald and Cap d'Agde is no problem.

We really don't have any must-see places. We would MUCH rather sit at a café and talk to people than stand in line to see things. I envision us seeking out lesser visited museums and landmarks in Paris & Florence.

DebitNM

The only people who will talk to you at sidewalk cafes will be waiter and other tourists.

thursdaysd

You should have already bought your train tickets for London-Paris (use eurostar.com), and probably for Portsmouth-London (start on nationalrail.co.uk). They get much more expensive the closer to the date of travel.

Since you will be in Portsmouth, you might look into taking a ferry instead of the train (start here: http://ww2.directferries.co.uk).

carolyn

If you plan to take the Eurostar train to Paris, the earlier you make reservations, the cheaper the price.

texasbookworm

You have ATM access, right? You will need plenty of cash, too, and the best way to get it is with your ATM card. I always have 2 from 2 separate accounts so if there's some issue with one---also, my credit union issued one has less fees/cost than my bank issued one. Maybe this is so obvious you didn't mention it, but your credit cards are NOT going to be usable everywhere, so you need ATM card/s.

And I sorta doubt if you really have ChipandPin cards--thery are probably chip and signature. But they will be fine except perhaps in a very few automated ticket places.

And do you have all your gadgets ready and chargers and do you have the different plug adaptors you will need?

Have you thought about how to get from apartment in London to airport? Several options, all somewhat expensive unless you are going to use the Tube. We like justairports car service but it must be booked ahead of time.

bilboburgler

1) commercial parking Florence.... you just use carparks and pay for them but they have to be outside the zone. I'd google map chose the one you want that is nearest the hotel. I might even drop a note to the hotel for their recommendation, the rates are going to be pretty much the same at each one.
2) Sixt... I'd use a portal like kemwell as many of the car rental car companies are really franchises and so let the side down, while kemwell or its sister company have to provide a service (I've been impressed staying away from branded car companies, but used kemwell). Do check that you can take the car out of the country (esp Italy) (I know, but worth checking)
3) French language good, but have you learnt french manners the same time? Similar for Italy.
4) great idea to take a copy of each contract (ipad will do) sometimes supplier's contract comms. are poor, have the deal detail with you.
5) you want to be able to keep your luggage out of sight in the rental car (especially in Italy, but all over really) have you chosen a car like that and are your bags small enough? If in doubt park the car with the main rear door up against a wall.
6) Have you had a quick read of the differences in car driving laws in each country, behaviour on motorways (France slower if raining for example), round abouts etc? A quick google will find them in English for each country.

Ackislander

1. Call your bank and credit card companies a couple of days before you leave to let them know your travel dates and which countries you will be in.
2. Be aware that you will need to buy a sticker to drive in Austria, at least on superhighways.
3. I wouldn't ever leave anything at all in the car when it is parked overnight.
4. I love taking Eurostar, but I probably don't love it enough to go all the way back to London to take it if I were already in Portsmouth. Look into the ferry as Thursdaysd suggests.
5. You may not be able to drive to your apartment in Florence to unload. Ask the rental agent if it is in a ZTL.
6. Credit card or not, you may have to buy car insurance for the time you are in Italy. If the rental company insists, you do.
7. Be prepared for "siesta time" in Southern France and Italy. Many shops and restaurants close from +\- 2:00 to 4:30 and pretty much all day on Sunday. It can be hard to find something to eat or drink during these hours and impossible to buy supplies or groceries.

Have fun!

isabel

Re the ATT international plan. Be aware that unless you have data roaming turned on you can't send or receive photo texts. They "give" you a small amount of data with the plan, but it's not much, so you have to remember to keep turning data off so you don't go over the 'free' limit or it will be very expensive. For this reason I kept the data turned off so none of the photo texts worked. If you don't have the international plan incoming texts are still free and outgoing are 20 cents each. So figure if you will actually save money. I had it on my last trip in March and am not getting it for my next trip in July.

For calls Skype works great. It's not just computer to computer. You can put money on your account and then you can call any phone for pennies. You (and your phone or computer) need to be in a wi-fi zone, but the person you are calling does not. You call a phone (landline or cell), not a computer. It's about 2 cents a minute. Of course you can skype computer to computer for free but sometimes the connection is not great whereas with the 'skype to phone' I've never had a problem. For real emergencies or a one or two minute quick call I still would use ATT if I needed to make the call and I wasn't in a wi-fi zone but it would be $1.50 a minute vs the $1 a minute with the plan.

Have you checked autoeurope and kemwell for the car rental. They are sister companies but three out of the last three years kemwell was cheaper. In fact one year autoeurope told me to call Kemwell. Their all inclusive (zero deductible) is usually quite affordable so I no longer depend on the charge card insurance. It's very easy to get a scrape or minor dent and even though the credit card insurance will reimburse you it's just so much easier to be able to just walk away without worrying about paper work and getting reimbursed.

annhig

Then we take a train to Paris. I haven't made any reservations for this, yet, but it looks like I can so I probably will do so within the next week or two.>>

this sprang out at me too - if you are going to use the Eurostar, get on with it asap. if you use the UK eurostar site, you can book your train from Portsmouth to London at the same time, and save money that way.

http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en

where it says "departure" put in "Portsmouth & southsea" and remember to tick the "one way" box. For Saturday 6th June [about 6 weeks away] it's showing some fares of £75 each which is pretty good but I don't imagine they will be there for long.

Blueskiestwo

You may want to consider taking out a medical travel insurance plan.

thursdaysd

And medical evacuation insurance. Make sure it includes repatriation, otherwise it will only get you to the nearest hospital and not home after stabilization. I buy mine from Seven Corners.

Good catch Ann, I should have just sent him to seat61.com

ParisAmsterdam

Get the car rental locked in as soon as you can... as mentioned use kemwel.com or their parent company at http://www.autoeurope.com They will match any lower price you might find.

AS mentioned, get your EuroStar tickets asap too. Prices only go up.

web_munch

If you are not locked-in on a car, you might check with a short-term lease from Ideamerge. We have leased from them 3 times, and they provide a wonderful experience that is better than rental if you are over 3 weeks or so. The best features are the included zero-deductible insurance, a factory-new auto of your choice, GPS included. Worth investigating.

Attnymom

You might need an International Driving Permit to drive in Austria. When we were driving throughout Europe, we got one "just in case". Never needed it, but better safe than sorry.

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-ti...r-requirements

topeater

Have you gotten euros to have on hand before arriving. I always take about $500 worth. Be sure and get smaller euros as many small places will not have change.

You might want to browse areas of interest. In Florence, the lines are typically long and there is so much history. I usually skip tours and things, but on my second trip to Florence, I arranged a couple of tours with Walks of Italy. They offer small tours (11 or less) with headphones, so you don't have to stay close to the guide in order to hear what they are saying. I found the background information made Florence come to life much more than my first trip.

Be sure and be familiar with street signs in Italy because if you enter an area of no traffic, in a few months, you could get a hefty ticket. There are numerous stories about this on Fodors.

Check out travel insurance which can help with any airline problems, illness , delays, etc. We usually book through Insure my Trip which offers numerous options. We've had to use our trip insurance a few times and it's been relatively easy, however, be sure and save all your receipts.

thursdaysd

Getting euros before you leave is expensive and unnecessary. Especially as you will start in the UK....

annhig

lol, thursdaysd.

Skippy - you will find plenty of ATMs at the airport when you land. use one to get your £s.

if you take the Eurostar to Paris, in the London departure lounge there are ATMs offering both £ and €. I seem to remember that there are similar machines at Bristol Airport too so they are probably pretty universal at airports now.

otherwise just go to the local PO when you are staying with your friends and ask to change some £s into €s; alternatively, wait til you get to Paris and do it there.