Help please

[Tara Jane]

My bro and sis in law fly a lot and their favourite airline is Qatar.

Re flying in the morning of the cruise, that is a definite no no in my books. I need to be in the city of departure the night before so I can relax. I do the same here in aust, always go up to Sydney the night before if I can possibly do it. I can recommend a great hotel in Barcelona that has a free airport shuttle and also shuttle to the city. we just got a taxi from the place the city shuttle drops to the port. Hotel was pretty new and was something like $80 AUD for a double room. Right next to the most enormous supermarket, great for buying food when on a budget. After all you are about to board a ship with 24 hour food so a bit of supermarket food rather than big restaurant meals wouldn't hurt. Also mc donalds and other take away 2 minutes walk away.

Agree Venice is an amazing place, the gondola and vaporetta and the whole charater of the place is pretty special. Rome has to be seen but I would choose venice over rome but we aren't big city folk. Have done the London, paris rome etc as we have to see the landmarks but give me a little Austrian town and I am happy, especially Salzburg. Remember there is Disneyland in Paris if you want to treat your child.

The whole planning is so exciting but also so stressful but when it all comes together there is a great deal of satisfaction and you will have learnt so much in preparation for that next trip to Europe. I need to be planning the next trip on the plane on the way home, its the only way I can deal with the post travel blues.

Enjoy and ask away we are happy to help.

Always good to dream

Edited September 6, 2014 by Tara Jane

[silverwillow]

Tara yes please we would love the name of the hotel in Barcelona. :)

 

I am taking my daughter to Hong Kong Disney in a few weeks so not sure if we will do Disney Paris. We are thinking we may do a side trip to Brussels though. :)

 

I too suffer from the post cruise and travel blues so I can relate :p. Yes the remedy is more travel and planning.

 

I should have learnt last cruise not to fly the day of the cruise :roll eyes: we had a fight cancelled on us and thankfully we had planned to get into Sydney the night before the cruise so we didn't miss the ship. :eek: Some people never learn lol.

[Tara Jane]

Hi Willow - I had to laugh as Tarajane is my dog's name.

 

I am hoping it isn't against the rules to mention hotels here, but I do recall reading other posts of hotels so here goes --

 

Hotel Front Air Congress Aeropuerto Barcelona

 

I just checked what we paid for 2 nights it was $160.30 AUD in September 2012.

I booked through one of those hotels websites, been told we aren't allowed to mention them so perhaps have a hunt, there is a company that is running lots of ads on tv about all the different hotels.com sites on the one site, if you can understand what I am saying. It worked out well as the site I booked through give one free night after booking 10 nights with them, see I told you I am a scrooge!!! that's how I get to travel, and besides it is exciting getting a bargain!! women love to shop, I just happen to love to shop for great travel deals rather than clothes and handbags.

 

Also if you get to Brussels make sure you get to Bruges, just keep your daughter away from the shop windows as some of the chocolate shops had male parts in the window made of chocolate!

Edited September 6, 2014 by Tara Jane

[MicCanberra]

 

Also if you get to Brussels make sure you get to Bruges, just keep your daughter away from the shop windows as some of the chocolate shops had male parts in the window made of chocolate!

 

Goodness, who would have thought Belgians would do that.:rolleyes:

[Tara Jane]

I have photos to prove it!!

[Aussieflyer]

AussieFlyer what's a Blog? LOL is that something technical. :eek:

 

LOL nothing technical at all :D

A blog is a trip report during your trip - you know like "Live from…."

 

Pushka's trip report over on AFF was a blog as she posted each day or so on the trip.

Like I said - we want to hear all about it when you are there! We can travel vicariously that way.

[silverwillow]

Hi Willow - I had to laugh as Tarajane is my dog's name.

 

Willow is my dog. LOL

 

I am so with you on the shopping for travel bargains. It's like my hobby! I try to get the absolute best value deal. I won't stay in a dive at all but I will stay in a nice hotel for the price of a dive lol. I am in headspin travel shopping heaven/hell at the moment, I started googling Venice hotels. Finding Venice challenging it's totally unique and I can't get my head around the prices and value for money with regard to location. I am having so much fun. SO much to learn. Shame I have to stop and work to pay for all this fun. :p

 

Thanks for the hotel tip I will check it out. I am a member of the 'not mentioned' hotel comparison site that gives you one free night after ten LOL.

 

Male parts in Brussels. Hehe, after seeing David in Florence I'm sure my daughter won't be intimidated by chocolate phallics. If she happens to spot them we will point out the funny/silly side of them. I think she has seen the rather large ones hanging all over Bali (excuse the pun).

 

Aussieflyer I will certainly try and post photos and a review in here but as far as living up to Pushkas wonderful review well that's just setting myself up to fail. Loved it! :)

[MicCanberra]

Willow is my dog. LOL

 

I am so with you on the shopping for travel bargains. It's like my hobby! I try to get the absolute best value deal. I won't stay in a dive at all but I will stay in a nice hotel for the price of a dive lol. I am in headspin travel shopping heaven/hell at the moment, I started googling Venice hotels. Finding Venice challenging it's totally unique and I can't get my head around the prices and value for money with regard to location. I am having so much fun. SO much to learn. Shame I have to stop and work to pay for all this fun. :p

 

Thanks for the hotel tip I will check it out. I am a member of the 'not mentioned' hotel comparison site that gives you one free night after ten LOL.

 

Male parts in Brussels. Hehe, after seeing David in Florence I'm sure my daughter won't be intimidated by chocolate phallics. If she happens to spot them we will point out the funny/silly side of them. I think she has seen the rather large ones hanging all over Bali (excuse the pun).

 

Aussieflyer I will certainly try and post photos and a review in here but as far as living up to Pushkas wonderful review well that's just setting myself up to fail. Loved it! :)

 

I look forward to it. As AussieFlyer said, some of us need other people's trips to sustain us between our own.:D

[Blue Elephant]

If you are intending to stay in Venice for a few days, the vaporetto passes are good value for money. If you have a vaporetto pass, the location of your hotel will not be quite so critical.

 

We used our pass to jump on the vaporetto just for the heck of it most night after an early dinner. Went round the back of Venice to look at which cruise ships were docked. The main vaporetti routes along the Grand Canal run quite frequently.

[Bescotti]

I did a Med cruise last year, flying into Paris for 4 nights, then on to Venice for a few days before the cruise and flying out of Barcelona. I looked at the trains from Paris to Venice but found it was much more economical to book a cheap one way flight, including paying for extra luggage allowance. This also gave me an extra day in Venice. So, it might be worth looking at your Barcelona to London options.

 

I would also fly into Venice first, then go down to Rome. There are more daily flights from Rome to Barcelona than from Venice but I would definitely never fly in on the day of a cruise departure.

 

I also agree with the others that I can easily spend a week in Venice, and have done several times before or after cruises and enjoy just wandering around and travelling out to Burano. Although there are a lot of sites to see in Rome, apart from the Colosseum, a child might find visiting a city with canals instead of roads and cars more fun.

 

Just my two cents worth.

[The_Big_M]

Also if you get to Brussels make sure you get to Bruges, just keep your daughter away from the shop windows as some of the chocolate shops had male parts in the window made of chocolate!

 

If you're worried about that sort of thing, you'd better watch out in Italy as well.

 

A fair number of shops, especially in Rome, have pasta and aprons with extra adornments. Including one right outside the Trevi fountain. Be prepared to move along. ;-)

 

Though you have to look out for scammers in Rome as well, so it's all part of the experience... ;-)

[MicCanberra]

If you are intending to stay in Venice for a few days, the vaporetto passes are good value for money. If you have a vaporetto pass, the location of your hotel will not be quite so critical.

 

We used our pass to jump on the vaporetto just for the heck of it most night after an early dinner. Went round the back of Venice to look at which cruise ships were docked. The main vaporetti routes along the Grand Canal run quite frequently.

 

Thanks for the great tips.:D

[silverwillow]

We used our pass to jump on the vaporetto just for the heck of it most night after an early dinner. Went round the back of Venice to look at which cruise ships were docked. The main vaporetti routes along the Grand Canal run quite frequently.

 

Thanks what a great idea. I love cruise ship spotting to so I will be in heaven.

 

Is there a map of the routes and stops that the vaporetti make? I'd like to see where these are so I can pick a hotel close to one. That way we won't have to cart heavy suitcases far after a 23 hour flight with a tired nine year old in tow.

 

Thanks Bescotti yes we will fly from Rome or Venice to Barcelona. DH wants to train from Barcelona to London though as the view is supposed to be good and he wants to go on a fast train lol. I want to go through the channel tunnel so we will continue on from Paris to London by train.

 

I look forward to it. As AussieFlyer said, some of us need other people's trips to sustain us between our own.

 

Maybe I'll do a practice one with my Sapphire Princess cruise? We leave for Singapore on the 19th September. :)

[MicCanberra]

Maybe I'll do a practice one with my Sapphire Princess cruise? We leave for Singapore on the 19th September. :)

 

Please do.:D

[Aussieflyer]

 

Thanks Bescotti yes we will fly from Rome or Venice to Barcelona. DH wants to train from Barcelona to London though as the view is supposed to be good and he wants to go on a fast train lol. I want to go through the channel tunnel so we will continue on from Paris to London by train.

 

 

Maybe I'll do a practice one with my Sapphire Princess cruise? We leave for Singapore on the 19th September. :)

 

The fast trains are great. We've done the TGV and Eurostar a couple of times. Easy, relaxing and a great way to travel.

The only problem we have had was when I needed a new credit card after I had booked the Paris - Amsterdam train on line. You put your credit card in the machine in Paris and it brings up the booking and gives you your tickets. Wrong! Because the card was different it did not work so I had to go to the ticket counter, no problem except there was a very long line moving very slowly. I resorted to "Pardon, mon train part dans dix minutes", smiled wanly and elbowed my way through. I think the other people got such a shock they let me through. We did make the train with 3 minutes to spare.

 

I look forward to reading your Sapphire blog :)

[The_Big_M]

Thanks Bescotti yes we will fly from Rome or Venice to Barcelona. DH wants to train from Barcelona to London though as the view is supposed to be good and he wants to go on a fast train lol. I want to go through the channel tunnel so we will continue on from Paris to London by train.

 

I love the European trains - favourites are the German ones of course :-)

 

 

They each have quirks regarding booking though, so check out the ticket, reservation and id procedures when you get to that point.