We just got back from an incredible 10-day trip all over Europe.  Whew!  What a trip!  We started in Amsterdam, then traveled to Arnhem, another city in Holland.  From there it was off to the Rhine Valley of Germany.  Next came a quick one-night stay in Paris, then to Brugges, Belgium, and we finished visiting my brother in London.  We've been planning this trip for quite some time, and would like to share some helpful hints for anyone else thinking about traveling to Europe.  Thanks to the Internet, we were able to SEE the places we visited before actually leaving on our trip.  I also found some good websites for anyone interested in traveling.  So read on and check it out!

After deciding where to go in Europe, we then had to get PASSPORTS!!  It's the first step of traveling to foreign countries.  No passport, no trip!  There's an online website that makes it easy to obtain a passport called The Passport People. If you're in a hurry to get your passport, this is the place for you!

Rick Steves' travel website was one of the first places we turned to for information on Europe.  His "Europe Through the Backdoor" series is also a popular book. He also has a television show on cable ( although after seeing his show, I'd prefer to READ his advice in PRINT rather than having to see him on TV! ) This website has lots of great information about inexpensive and worry-free ways to get the best from your European vacation.  Loads of links, too!

Once we got online, we then started looking into where to stay and how much it would cost.  The only problem was trying to convert foreign dollars to US dollars.  Paying 2,000 Belgian francs for a room might seem expensive at first, but it's actually less than $50!!   We used an online currency converter  from Oanda.com to give us instant conversions.  This site also has a printable currency converter that you can take with you on your trip!

We had the essentials in place,  now it was time to explore other travel websites for the best information on Europe.  We bought the book, "Let's Go Europe!" and found it extremely helpful. They also have a website called Let's Go.com . There's a forum to ask questions, as well as several other areas to explore. We saw several people with their trusty "Let's Go Europe!" book in their hands as we walked through the train stations.

Another site I've found useful is  Places to Stay.com which features listings of smaller hotels, bed & breakfasts, and often inexpensive housing for travelers.  They have housing listings of American cities as well as locations all over the world.  Just click on world map and see listings of places to stay the world over!

Now that we had the essentials in order, it was time for the fun part:  WHERE TO STAY??  In Germany, I found a great website that is mostly in English, which made it easier to read the details about each place.  The Loreleyvalley.com features places to stay in the Middle Rhine Valley, listing each town along the Rhine River.  You can even see where we stayed, the Hotel Muehlenschenke, which was absolutely amazing!  The view on their website from the patio sold us immediately!!

Belgium was another fabulous country!  You can see a great picture of Bruges on the  Belgium Travel Network.  I also used this site to find our B&B in Bruges called The Arabesque B&B.  Our host, Martine, was quite gracious and helpful. She gave us some great suggestions of what to see and do in Bruges during our stay.  We'll have some pictures of the canals and gothic architecture on The Mole Hole soon, so check it out!
 
 
 

See Photos of Our Trip	Top of Page	Home