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My husband and I are leaving on our honeymoon in a little over a month (I am counting days!!!).
We are going to Paris and London.
I wanted to reach out to the seasoned travelers who are out there and see if we are missing any of the things that are obvious when you have done a lot of traveling. I am not a novice traveler, but definitely not a road warrior either...
We have the following:
1. Tickets and hotel booked
2. Transportation to the hotel from the airport (our hotel offers it for €30 for both from CDG to our hotel in the Opera District which is cheaper than anything but the Metro, which we do not want to deal with after an international flight)
3. €200 in cash for each of us...we intend to use the CC we have that has no foreign transaction fees so we are not planning to use a lot of cash)
4. Passports, obviously
5. Luggage that will meet the height and weight requirements for the airline
6. Planning to pack a mix of summer and fall clothes as the weather could be warm or cool
7. Plug adapters. All of the electronics we are bringing are dual with the exception of my cell phone charger, which I plan to charge off the laptop.
8. A rough itinerary...a lot of open days but a list of the things we "must" see...
I have actually already gotten the unlock code from the company I use so I will be able to put in a SIM card when we get to France.
I have people in my life who are not able to figure out time zones and I am not interested in the cost of having to deal with them calling me on my US number while in Europe, so I am going with a European phone number, which should rule out the issue....
Let your Credit & ATM card (banks) know your are going overseas. When they start to see out of patten tranaction there fruad logic kicks in.
Scan copies of your passports, E-Tickets and Email them you your Web Email account, in case your lose then some how.
Thanks. Talked to my bank today about that and have scanned copies as well as my parents have copies of all of our documents, so if there is some sort of emergency, they already have them as well.
But thanks. EVen the posts of things I have already done make me feel better as I know I have done something else important!
You do not mention how long. As a rule, most people who have not travel allot (and others also) take much much too much stuff with them. You should be choosing your outfits for each day you are there, some days wearing same clothes in different combinations. But do not just throw things in your suitcase because it is nice and you MAY want to wear it. If you are there over a week, you may want to plan that you will have everything washed, so that now you have fresh clothing. As a rule, I never check any baggage, so I only take carry-on. It took my wife years of traveling to get to that point. But I am assuming since you are a new traveler, no way you will be able to do that.
Also, you should be able to convert currency in you head to a rough amount, not exactly, but instantly. Too often travelers are taken by vendors because they have no idea of the value of the currency and cannot tell in foreign currency if that amount just paid is the equivalent of $50 or $150.
Do not leave anything in your hotel room of value--assume it will be robbed ---and it may be.
I always leave the radio or TV set on low when leaving the room so that if someone listens from the hall, they (may) think someone is in the room.
Take medication and other essential in your carry-on, not checked. I have had experiences more than once where the checked luggage had things stolen from it, or it was lost for 2 days, etc.
Do not take a "His" suitcase and a "Her" suitcase. We learned the hard way to put some of each of our clothes in one suitcase and some of each of our clothes in the other suitcase. (Hubby had to walk around London in the same clothes for three days until Delta finally found his luggage -- that's when we learned this lesson.)
My SO and I take one suitcase. We share it. I have learned I only need two pairs of shoes for a week, a pair of jeans, shorts, a few tops, a skirt, and a jacket.
After all, if I take too much stuff from home, then what excuse do I have to buy a new outfit?
When we went to South America, I cut my hair very short for the trip. It was great. I suggest anyone going on extended travel simplify their beauty routine.
> 5. Luggage that will meet the height and weight requirements for the airline
Don't take TOO much stuff. You don't need to fill a mega-suitcase. Take a day and a night's worth of essentials in a carryon.
> 8. A rough itinerary...a lot of open days but a list of the things we "must" see...
Don't try to do too much, relax and have a great time. Expect everything to take longer than you expect.
We are going to bring a lot of the essentials in a carry on. We are going to be there for 17 days and other than things like underwear, we are only packing enough for about half the time and either planning to wash some things or re-wear.
And by rough itinerary, I mean we know we want to see the Louvre and Versailles, for example, but have no set day, etc we are going to go where we feel like in the AM, aside for a couple of days with things booked, such as the train trip to Marseilles...
But thanks!
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