Planning the big trip

Excitement and anticipation builds up through organisation of the big trip. The internet got a workout, particularly from Tony. But so did the Lonely Plant Western Europe Guide and the Sydney Morning Herald weekend Travel Section.

From the outset we appreciated that you cannot see every icon, masterpiece or landscape identified as a ‘must see’ by friends, critics and writers. We did not intend to use travel agents, or do extended group tours. We also wanted to stay in any place for a few days, and not pack up and move day after day.

This approach might horrify some, but it is us. So our organising followed a few simple rules that we made along the way.

·       Plan, but do not over plan. Leave some flexibility by not booking out every hour of each day – even before you are out of the country.

·       Book flights directly with airlines. Adverts from travel companies can be a good lead to where specials are, but all airlines it seems have online booking capacity

·       Avoid flying to London on the Flying Kangaroo, but go direct to a European port. It might cost another $200, but why spend another 10 hours in the air, and have 3 flight legs rather than 2?

·       Use an airline with a range of European destinations from their hub or home port. We used Cathay Pacific who use Hong Kong as a hub. Singapore Airlines and many others offer flights direct to many European destinations.

·       Have a guiding itinerary, but leave the decision about what it to be done each day until you are over there. Weather might be bad. You might be too tired.

·       Have your itinerary that allocates key items to each day - e.g. Louvre Day 3 - but be willing to change that. Include day trips out of town.

·       You do not have to book all accommodation before you leave. The internet makes booking accommodation easy. This approach also provides extra flexibility to change your route

·       Look to minimise the number of accommodation places and therefore transit days. Stay a minimum of 3 nights in any one place. For the 32 nights away, we stayed in 7 places only. This was the same approach we used in Japan a year ago where we stayed in 3 places over 17 days.

·       Get accommodation close to public transport or walking distance of main sites. In Paris, Ai-en-Provence, Venice, Florence, and  Rome our accommodation was very central and close to transport links.

·       When outside a main tourist place, is there enough to do without having to hire a car? This certainly was the case in the smaller places of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and Aix-en-Provence.

Remember, building in flexibility does not correspond to building in risk. In fact, a few unplanned elements enhances the travel experience.