Back from vacation

I am so glad I decided to continue with the trip to Europe after Bill passed. It was a wonderful, if extremely exhausting trip. Charlie and Maria were wonderful travelling companions, giving me both space and support.

Globus had an option to match up singles to avoid the single supplement. The insurance covered the price so I never considered it. And now I am sure I would never take any tour up on it. Imagine two women trying to share a bathroom and get out by 7:00am. It would be hard enough with a close friend or relative, but a stranger? No thanks. I’d rather not go if I have no one to go with and can’t afford the supplement. I met several other singles on the trip. The only ones sharing a room were sisters or close friends. Everyone, singles and couples alike, was pleasant to be with. And everyone was on time!

The flights going took 25 hours from liftoff of the first leg. We got to the hotel Saturday afternoon. But I had been up for over 30 hours by then. We had Saturday evening and Sunday in Budapest and then had to have our bags out in the hall by 7:00am on Monday. And it went on like that for the entire trip. We got to see a lot – four countries, but very little time in each.

It was not physically easy handling everything by myself. The bus tour limited the luggage to one normal suitcase and one small hand piece. No 22” carry-on. So I brought a 30” suitcase and a canvas bag plus a backpack for emergency items. I had no wheels to help me carry my carry-on through the plane changes. The plane change at Heathrow included a bus, a train, an elevator, an escalator and half a mile of walking. But going was the easy transfer. Coming home was a nightmare. The security lines were unclear so you could easily think you were on a short line and have 20 people in front of you. The travelers seemed to be unprepared. One had a large bottle that had to be confiscated while we waited as she argued. Another had three bags of small bottles. They stopped her and made her consolidate while we waited. Then, virtually every one in front of me set off the security alarm as they went through the machine. Instead of taking the person aside and having another agent check them out, we waited as the agent patted them down and ran the hand wand over the body. I had a two-hour layover but they were already loading my flight when I got there. That’s without stopping for a drink or a bathroom, or anything else. It just took two hours.

Bill used to handle the currency. And the tipping. I had no difficulty being prepared: had passport and tickets ready when needed; had the name of the hotel in hand; packed in time. I read the travel booklet, and took Charlie’s advice, and got some currency for each country we would be visiting. And I was prepared with a credit card that did not charge for conversions and a debit card for using an ATM. But Bill is the one who would know how much we needed. And the tipping? Are tips for the hotel staff included? The recommended tips for the guides were in the book, but it was new to me.

The luggage was handled by the tour group to and from the bus and hotel room throughout. But even once in the room, there wasn’t enough time to unpack and lifting the 30”, 45 lb. bag was too difficult. So I pushed it over and left it on the floor and got down on my hands and knees to find what I needed. Packing everything up in the morning was a bit easier than when I traveled with Bill in that I didn’t have to wait for him to finish in the bathroom before packing the toiletries.

I felt Bill’s absence very strongly when I saw a couple walking ahead of me holding hands. We had done that a lot when we traveled.

I chose to go on every excursion offered. I would not do that again. When Bill and I traveled, he would research the stops and figure out what he wanted to see. He would show me the guide books and ask me to pick what I wanted. If, between us, we chose more than we could handle, we agreed on the ones to eliminate. I had often felt we were missing something doing it that way. One time we got to a site as it was closing because we were not aware of the hours it was open. Well, now I know. Although we did not get stuck being brought to a souvenir shop for an hour as has happened on other trips, some of the excursions were definitely designed for tourists. That’s not what I was looking for. And too many churches. I’ve traveled enough to have seen churches over most of the world.

I really missed Bill’s research and enthusiasm for the things he wanted to see. One thing I did get to do, that we might have missed, was stand in the square in Austria where Hitler gave his speech. It gave me chills.

The guides, both the tour guide and the local guides were wonderful. They were knowledgeable and adaptable to changes.

Those sites that we did get to see brought history to life. I was not a good history student (Bill was), but seeing edifices as the guide explained the history of the area made me wish I could have done that before I took the courses in school. Of course the other side of that is I was too young to have appreciated it when I was studying it in school. Hearing the stories of how an area was run over time by Romans, Turks, Prussians, Russians, Germans and Austrians, and family monarchies made me acutely aware of how often Nationalism and Religion lead to war.

Traveling alone could be a problem. One woman fell and hurt herself badly enough that she and her husband had to curtail the trip. I am not sure how I could have handled that if I were by myself. One of the obstacles, quite literally, is the bathtubs. In all the hotels, we had a shower/bathtub combination. But it was a very high tub that we had to get into. And worse, get out of after showering when the tub was slippery.

At one of the stops, when the guide called to say we would be there shortly, the hotel said they could not accept us. The guide was able to make new arrangements. It once happened to me before. If you are not on a tour and this happens, I imagine it could be a huge problem.

We passed through a street market on our last day and I stopped and purchased an inexpensive little wheeled bag. Since I would no longer be on the bus, and the plane would allow it, that was probably the smartest thing I did. It was a huge help running through Heathrow.

I arrived home on Sunday night and it took until Thursday to be able to sleep through the night because of the time change.

To sum it up – I had a wonderful trip but would probably not do it this way again.

The good:

• They handle the luggage. I have been places where there was no elevator. I could not have brought the luggage up myself if that happened.
• You have local guides lined up. If you have to find one yourself it is more hit or miss with the quality and wastes valuable time finding one.
• Breakfast was included. We didn’t have to search for a place and again, waste time dealing with it.
• You get to see a lot.
• The transportation is easy. You get dropped off and picked up at the hotels and sites.
• Help in navigating your way (where to change money, restaurants, whether it is safe to drink the water, where to buy things).

The bad:

• Limits on how much time you can spend where you want to spend it.
• Having to get out of the hotel at a specific (early) time regardless of how tired you are.
• Stops that you are not interested in.
• Tourist traps (one of the included meals was terrible)
• In short: Too little time to see the things I really wanted to see and too much time in places I wasn’t interested in.

My next planned exciting trip is next summer – to the Galapagos with a girlfriend. I’ll let you know how that turns out.