2.5 weeks and counting!

In less than three weeks I will be boarding my plane and commencing the long journey to Europe on Saturday 25th of May 2013. Words can't even express how excited I am about this trip, not only am I looking forward to the break but this trip is something I have dreamed about since I was a kid and has been many months in the making so to think I will finally be over there in three weeks is mind-blowing!

I thought I would document as much as I can along the way, I'm not much of a writer but will do my very best so you can all come along for the ride with me and if anyone is or wants to plan a trip of their own I will post all the information I used along the way. Now if you don't know me or don't know me very well when it comes to travel I am a complete over organizer (if only I could implement this defect into my every day life), I always have it in the back of my mind that I may never return so I need to make the most of my time there and have no regrets when I return home. I know that this kind of travel that includes itineraries and pre bookings is not everyone's cup of tea but when your in my position of overseas holidays being far and in-between and being a mum the next holiday probably won't be until Jackson is a bit older and can appreciate and remember it and of course will be child friendly. This holiday however is my last hoora in a way, free from mummy duties and an opportunity to live out a dream and I was so lucky enough to have my best friend jenni-rose with me by my side experiencing this trip of a lifetime.

I'm sorry these blogs may be a bit long, I tend to ramble a lot, surprise surprise but will try and be as concise as possible lol, we will see how that goes lol.

Okay, here is a brief overview of what is planned and what I have already pre booked, I will try and include prices where I can for anyone who is interested in the logistics of everything. We are staying in hotels the whole time a d I have tried to prebook and pay for as many things as I can to save time and money while we are over there, I didn't want the hassle of not getting the days we want or wasting time in ticketing lines.

Flying from cairns to Sydney on Saturday and staying the night in Sydney with my sister and then fly to bangkok the next morning. I then have a 6 hour lay over there and then off to london arriving at 6:30am London time on monday the 27th may. My flights are a combination of Qantas airlines and british airlines and the times are pretty shit but I got the flight cheap. It cost me $1700 for cairns to London and then Rome to cairns so I thought that was pretty good. I booked through a travel agent through flight centre but I had previously did the research and found the flight and they beat the price, so I suggest anyone who is planning a flight to do the same. 

Day one - London - Westminster abbey, buckingham palace, london eye
Day two - London - British museum, British library, mudame tussaud's, Oxford street shopping
Day three - London - tower of London, ST Pauls cathedral, afternoon tea at the athenaeum hotel (booked) and then rock of ages at the Garrick theatre (booked).
Day four- London -  cabinet of war rooms, national history museum, eurostar train to Paris (booked)
Day five - Paris - river seine cruise, eiffle tower, Rodin museum, eiffle tower booking at the restaurant (booked).
Day six - Paris -  museum, luxenburg gardens, pantheon, moulin rouge (booking)
Day seven - Paris - notre dam tower, saint chapelle, musse d'orsay
Day eight - Paris - day trip to Versailles then overnight train to Berlin (booked)
Day nine - Berlin - Berlin walking tour, free arvo
Day ten - Berlin - day trip to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Day eleven -Berlin - Berlin wall, memorial to the murdered Jews, Berliner dome
Day twelve. - Berlin - museum then train to Prague (booked)
Day thirteen - Prague - old town square, Jewish quarter, Charles bridge
Day fourteen - Prague - Prague castle, lesser town, flight to Rome (booked)
Day fifteen - Rome - pantheon, Trevi fountain, tour of colosseum (booked)
Day sixteen - Rome- Spanish steps, Vatican city ( tour booked)
Day seventeen - Rome- day trip to Venice
Day eighteen  - Rome -  ST peters basilica - fly home. 

We will get the travel card for travel while in London and the Paris museum card so we can skip the lines there. 

In terms of cash I am taking over the MasterCard cash passport for euros and pounds through the post office, taking over cash for crowns as we won't be there that long and won't need much and have a credit card for backup.

So that's it, everything is booked and ready to go, have a few things to get packing wise but other than that it's now just counting down the days! 

WOOHOO!!!