A trip to Europe had been in the cards for years together for us. We kept thinking about it, looking it up and mulling it over, questions zooming in our heads - Should we plan it ourselves or safely go with a tour operator? Is our kid old enough for us to do such a big trip? What about food? Which all countries should we visit? How many days would we need? Will we face language problems? Is it safe? .... I could list 10 more but this clarifies our train of thoughts.
Finally, sometime in June 2019, we decided to take the plunge! The first choice to make was between the tour operator and self planning. While my husband was more for going with the former, I was adamant that I did not want to tick to a schedule drawn up by someone else - stay here, assemble here at so and so time, get into the charter bus, get down here now and you have half an hour to look around. Aaaaargh!
What if I wanted to just aimlessly walk by the Seine river in Paris and take in the sight of the imposing historic buildings, artists doing amazing water colour paintings amidst a display of their work and all the flower embedded french windows, instead of marching to the Eiffel tower and take must have photos? What if I was not interested in standing in a killer line just to see a small frame of Mona Lisa but rather walk around the Louvre pyramid and marvel at the structures around it?
What if I wanted to just aimlessly walk by the Seine river in Paris and take in the sight of the imposing historic buildings, artists doing amazing water colour paintings amidst a display of their work and all the flower embedded french windows, instead of marching to the Eiffel tower and take must have photos? What if I was not interested in standing in a killer line just to see a small frame of Mona Lisa but rather walk around the Louvre pyramid and marvel at the structures around it?
More than all that, what if I wanted a break NOW and not see anything? What If my kid could do with a nap NOW?
On the downside, we were going to have to do a crazy amount of research to decide on which all countries to visit, read a million reviews for places to stay, figure out commute between countries and within cities. Not to mention the paper work for Visas and reservations. It is indeed a Himalayan task and the husband was worried precisely about this.
The tour operator, on the other hand had some advantages too - Negligible amount of paper work,a set of ready made itineraries to choose from, all bookings taken care of, Indian food provided.
After a lot of thinking and debates, we settled for doing it all by ourselves! Husband came around with some trepidation and thus started our two months of research - talking to friends who have done it before, scouring forums and travelogues in the internet, maps for best routes, Air BNB, Booking.com, a gazillion reviews. Whew!! Considering that this was all for a holiday, it was ironically super stressful!
Initially, when the trip was still a month away, we were enjoying the research. It was intriguing to read about each country and a treat to the eyes to see the lovely pictures of places we could go to. Finally, having chosen the list of countries, as we neared our Visa appointment date (the data and forms that husband put together for this had already left him pretty cranky :)), we ran a race to route out the trip and have all our bookings in place (by the end of which I became cranky too !)
That done, Visas arrived after sometime and stage 1 was all done! With about two weeks to go for D day, I spent a very enjoyable weekend shopping for the trip with my sister :) Post that, lists were drawn up and clothes packed including a lot of cold weather gear. We had booked apartment style accommodation with kitchenette in all the places we were to go to. So along came a suitcase of provisions - Rice Cooker, Sambar and rasam powder, Bru Instant coffee, tea bags, Paruppu Podi, Puliogare mix, Pickles :) You see, Europe is no food haven for vegetarians and in our defense, what if we hated the trip just because we had to eat bread and pizzas all through?!
Departure day arrived and after playing tetris with two huge suitcases, two duffel bags and a back pack until 9 PM, we hurriedly bundled ourselves into a cab only to be welcomed into the roads with a downpour and the traffic snarl that accompanies it. With pranayama and namasmarana keeping us sane as we snailed through, we reached a nail biting finish after a special traffic jam just outside the airport (during which I told the husband with a halo around my head - 'Even if we do miss the flight, its only some money we lose, don't worry'. And received a gigantic scowl from him in return :))
Post the bang on time check in, as we waited for boarding the flight to Paris, coffee in hand at 1 AM, we both nervously smiled at each other for what lay ahead. It was a mixed feeling of thrill for an impending adventure, expectations for all the lovely places we were going to see and experience and a good deal of concern as we watched our excited 5 year old hopping around. We ought to come back in one piece and bring him back safely too, without any illness bouts and ensure he does not get travel fatigued at any point of time.
Boarding was called over the PA and with fingers crossed, back pack and stroller hurled across shoulder, kid in tow we boarded the Air France Flight, warrior style!
Spoiler Alert : We had a wonderful three week trip which will remain to be one of our best memories ever :)
Initially, when the trip was still a month away, we were enjoying the research. It was intriguing to read about each country and a treat to the eyes to see the lovely pictures of places we could go to. Finally, having chosen the list of countries, as we neared our Visa appointment date (the data and forms that husband put together for this had already left him pretty cranky :)), we ran a race to route out the trip and have all our bookings in place (by the end of which I became cranky too !)
That done, Visas arrived after sometime and stage 1 was all done! With about two weeks to go for D day, I spent a very enjoyable weekend shopping for the trip with my sister :) Post that, lists were drawn up and clothes packed including a lot of cold weather gear. We had booked apartment style accommodation with kitchenette in all the places we were to go to. So along came a suitcase of provisions - Rice Cooker, Sambar and rasam powder, Bru Instant coffee, tea bags, Paruppu Podi, Puliogare mix, Pickles :) You see, Europe is no food haven for vegetarians and in our defense, what if we hated the trip just because we had to eat bread and pizzas all through?!
Departure day arrived and after playing tetris with two huge suitcases, two duffel bags and a back pack until 9 PM, we hurriedly bundled ourselves into a cab only to be welcomed into the roads with a downpour and the traffic snarl that accompanies it. With pranayama and namasmarana keeping us sane as we snailed through, we reached a nail biting finish after a special traffic jam just outside the airport (during which I told the husband with a halo around my head - 'Even if we do miss the flight, its only some money we lose, don't worry'. And received a gigantic scowl from him in return :))
Post the bang on time check in, as we waited for boarding the flight to Paris, coffee in hand at 1 AM, we both nervously smiled at each other for what lay ahead. It was a mixed feeling of thrill for an impending adventure, expectations for all the lovely places we were going to see and experience and a good deal of concern as we watched our excited 5 year old hopping around. We ought to come back in one piece and bring him back safely too, without any illness bouts and ensure he does not get travel fatigued at any point of time.
Boarding was called over the PA and with fingers crossed, back pack and stroller hurled across shoulder, kid in tow we boarded the Air France Flight, warrior style!
Spoiler Alert : We had a wonderful three week trip which will remain to be one of our best memories ever :)
Lovely! Looks like all the stress was worth it :) Look forward to reading the European chronicles.
ReplyDeleteThat yes! The stress paid off handsomely :)
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