Hello! We had a wonderful time in England and Paris. It was great!
Anyway, I have some maps for you as promised. It was handy to have
Paris Map once we got off the Eurostar--which was great! I'm also going
to send you an "extensive" map of Paris for either you or one of your clients.
T. Taylor CA may 2000
The free Paris map from Lafayattes was useful
beyond words, both for the metro and the streets. I think it is the all around
best map that we used on the whole trip. It was both small and adequately
detailed. I think it is a "must have" for people going to Paris - preferably
before arriving. It would be great if you could procure some to give to folks
here in Honolulu so they arrive in Paris with here in Honolulu so they arrive
in Paris with this map in hand. I had one from a friend and was grateful!
I should have brot you some, but I was hauling more weight, (much of it in
paper) than I wanted and unfortunately I didn't.
(Thanks for mentioning this. TERC appreciates
getting any maps --new or used to pass on to the next batch of travelers.
Some clients just brought back more Paris Lafayettes maps.)
We did not find steves' italian/french/german
phrase book to be too useful. It would probably
be much better coupled with a good dictionary (english/whatever and visa
versa).
(His indivudual phrase books
for each country DO HAVE the English to language and visa versa dictionaries
plus my favorite section --the menue decoder. Unfortuneately the "3 Languages
in one book" you mentioned, doesn't at this time--I guess that is what
keeps it slimed down. Thanks for your input--Mele.) Marlee 14
June 99
What about Maps? The map that comes with the Eurailpass
is not worth taking along. For research purposes, I had obtained several
city and regional maps from US
Tourist
Offices for the places we were planning to visit. To keep
information light, I decided to leave them home—figured I could get
more at TI's. Much to my surprise, the TI's were often closed when we
arrived and other times they had run out of maps! When we did find them,
there was a charge for the very same maps that had been sent to me free
in Hawaii. Over time these charges added up. It was quite a pain and
time lost running back to the TI when we wanted to be out exploring
Tammi Foor, Lahina Maui
Guide books—Which to Read and Which to Take?!?
Oh, what a tough subject! Working on packing light, we found that tearing
out pages of needed information in our thick Guide Books the most efficient
way to travel. Rick's Best of GASP" and "Best of Europe" were perfect in
size to carry. No need to tear out any thing. Nonetheless, I could
have kicked myself a number of times for not taking Rick's "Mona Winks."
I remember being in Florence and wishing so much for it. We had to choose
between the Uffizzi and the Accadamia Galleries. We chose the Uffizzi. Wrong
answer! The entrance line to the Uffizzi was enormous—over an hour to
enter. Inside there were more lines between the different rooms. Sections
of the gallery were closed. We didn't know what we were peeking at between
shoulders......... And we MISSED Michelangelo's "David" at the Accadamia.
(Not all was lost—I took my best picture of the entire trip from the
lanai of the Uffizzi coffee shop.) As soon as I saw Mele's postcard for 10%
off "Mona Winks", my check was in the mail! I will not make that mistake
twice! Tammi Foor, Maui
I found Rick Steves' books very helpful, especially his EUROPE THROUGH
THE BACK DOOR. His travel tips eased my transition to a new culture.
Being prepared to handle the pit toilets really eased the shock in using
it. I do disagree with him on one point. He doesn't recommend carrying
the Thomas Cook timetable. For travelers who will be vagabonding by train,
I recommend taking it. Some stations dosn't have English speaking train
information agents, or their hours may be limited and the information posted
on the schedules can be confusing, especially if you need to transfer trains.
In my case, I was going from Lake Como to Interlaken—The Eurail timetable
had me traveling in a round-about route via Zurich and Bern. An Australian,
who I met at the local hostel, whipped out his Thomas Cook and gave me
instructions for a more direct and scenic route via Lucerne.
Robert Kaneshiro of Honolulu
I would like to add my
comments!
Top of Page
|
