My wife and I are from Medowie near Newcastle in New South Wales Australia and have just booked our first time overseas trip and decided to go with insight, and need some advice.Should we pay and get the extras as I thought most was included and is it worth the extra ? I notice they expect tips on the tour what is the reccomended $$. Are we allowed to have 1 large suitcase, 1 cabin bag and a small baclpack each ? We also need to make our way from London after the tour to Holland would it be better to fly, Rail, or Ferry. Any suggestion would be great on what or what not to do, re travel, luggage, clothing etc, as this is our first overseas holiday.

Hi Richard and welcome to the Bulletin Board.

quote:

Should we pay and get the extras as I thought most was included and is it worth the extra? I notice they expect tips on the tour what is the reccomended $$. Are we allowed to have 1 large suitcase, 1 cabin bag and a small baclpack each?

I would suggest you start by reading the section: "Travel Tips" on the Insight website. This covers "Trip Terminology" which will greatly assist you in deciphering the itinerary. It also discusses the whole issue of gratuities and many other tour-related issues.

A detailed list with pricing of typical "Optionals" for your tour is shown on the Insight website here. When you read the itinerary, you can easily predict that you will be offered an optional dinner on any evening when there is no included meal. With a careful reading of the itinerary, you can usually predict when there will be other optional "visits". Optionals are not cheap but are often really worth doing and frequently provide instant access to sites, rather than joining long queues. You should note the advice on the Insight website:

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This list is for guidance only. The final list of optional excursions to be offered during your tour will be given to you by your Tour Director. To allow you to participate in a selection of these additional evenings and special interest sightseeing excursions, please budget for an approximate cost of US$40-50 per person per day.

The Insight travel conditions have a luggage allowance as follows:

quote:

Baggage Allowance & Porterage: Porterage for one suitcase on tour is included and at arrival or departure from each tour hotel. Due to limited coach capacity this single bag should have a weight not exceeding 30kg (66lbs) and dimensions not exceeding 77.5cm (30.5in) x 56cm (22in) x 32cm (12.5in). Charges will be levied in the event these limits are exceeded and our promise to transport you as indicated may be invalidated.
Note: Airlines may restrict check-in baggage to 20kgs per person.

The storage space on the coach for your hand luggage comprises a small shelf above your head (just big enough for the Insight travel bag or a jacket, etc.), and the floor space and under the seat in front of you.

There are BB links to guidance on many aspects of touring (including luggage) in the BB topic: A Collection of Links to Archived BB Travel Advice, Tips & Checklists which sits permanently near the top of the Travel Advice forum.

There are links to three detailed tour journals relevant to your tour in the BB topic: Where Are All the Tales? which sits permanently near the top of the Tour Tales forum.

phil

This message has been edited. Last edited by: phil,

Hi Richard
I have posted a "Tour Tale" for this tour which we did in June his year. It should help you with what to expect day by day. I would recommend that you do most of the optional extras if you can as they add so much to your trip and it is great to socialize with the group. They do add quite a lot to the tour cost so it is good to be pre-warned and you are able to budget for them. Some of the people on our tour hadn't expected the cost to be as high as it was. From memory I think it was an extra $NZ3600.00 for the two of us for the optionals. That included Moulin Rouge but we chose not to go to Versailles as we preferred to spend the final day just wandering around Paris. We left the tour in Paris and flew to Dublin as I don;t think you would miss a lot on the last travel day. You may find it would be worth your while looking at a train from Paris to Holland instead of going back to England and having to cross the channel again. Will be happy to answer any other questions for you. Watch your luggage size and keep the weight down. We tavelled for 7 weeks with just a medium size case each and we used the Insight bags as hand luggage. You could use a small back-pack instead as it would fit at your feet on the coach. Happy planning
Gaeley

I signed up for every optional offerred, even those that didn't sound that interesting to me and was SO glad I did. We had budgeted for them all when we booked, so were prepared.

The tour director picks a range of options that rounds your experience out.
If we had a big day in the city, he would select a quieter countryside nor river trip at night etc.
I particularly enjoyed seeing the sights at day as well as night time. It gave a different perspective.
The company on these trips was the biggest drawcard.

It also took all the thinking and hassle out of it all. We would just go to the lobby or bus at the given time and be taken off on our adventure.
The optional dinners were great in places like Paris. Took all the stress out of doing it yourself. (And we did after our trip. I missed my tour director when we were on our own.

We managed easily for a 27 day trip using only a medium bag and the Insight bag for breakables.
I had a small across the shoulder bag for my water and camera etc. That was all I needed. I was always worried about weight and came back with only 17 kilos in my bag. *sob* I could have bought more in Tuscany.
Enjoy!

I take 1 large suitcase and I take my handbag and my Insight bag, they can go under the seat in front or up top. As for tips I ignore whats written in the itinerary, you give them what you want to give them, there are 38 other people on the tour and each gives a tip as a single or as a couple. The local guides it's up to you if you tip them or not, about 1 dollar is alright.
Clothing, layer. I always take abit of both summer & winter or in between like 3/4 length, a warm coat, and something good for evening.
If there are any optionals you would like to do , do them because when will you be back there again.

Thanks for all your input it is nice to hear from people that have been on these tours. We are joining the European explorer departing 6th May 2008. What about Laundry. Do you get motels that have self use laundry facilities, or how did you cope, Thanks Richard

On our tours, Richard, we have never seen a laudromat. You will be staying in 5 star hotels, mostly downtown or at a scenic place. We take drip dry shirts, socks, and undies and do laundry in the sinks on our 2 night stays. I take pants I can sponge if necessary.

Richard - the only chance we had to use a laundromat was in Nice, half way through the tour. It turned into quite a social occasion. Just take things that are easy to rinse out in your room as the two night stops give them time to dry. Don't take heavy socks and shirts and my husband would recommend that a visit to Kathmandu Store, or similar, during one of their sales is a must for some great travel shirts.
Gaeley

I would get a pegless clothes line, best thing I ever brought. You can get them at RACV, travel agents, handbag shops somtimes jewelers.

Laundry was one of my biggest worries and it turned out to be little trouble at all.
I bought fairly lightweight items. No heavy tshirts.
Then again... even our jeans dried within two nights. I hate wringing clothes out and didn't even do that properly and they still dried. The hotel rooms are quite warm. Some even had towel warming racks. I had a travel iron (the BEST thing I took)and used that to dry off anything that wasn't quite dry. I looked into using the hotel laudry services before I went, but I didn't need it, or really have the time for it.

The blow up clothes hangers were fantastic for helping clothes dry quickly. I found I never really used my travel clothes line. I used my hangers and either hung clothes straight over the shower rail or in the wardrobe with a towel under them if they had finished dripping
I was surprised how quickly my husbands polo shirts dried.

I took a cake of Sard Wondersoap and used that the whole trip, throwing it out at the end.