There’s an App for that – Travel Countdown

Random sunrise Gold Coast Airport 2016

The European adventure planning still keeps on giving plenty of gifts and learning experiences as I go along with sorting out my travel plans. These travel plans are down to the part of planning where you purchase tickets for transportation. I am using public transport throughout my journey through Germany and England. I am tweaking some of my trip to see what happens.

I plan early with the theory that I can be provided with cheaper tickets to the locations I am visiting. So far I have found this to be true. I compared the ticket prices between Copenhagen and Stockholm, that recently came online. The beginning of June the first class tickets are around $50 Australian Dollars with the second class being cheaper. Fast forward or rewind to two days from now and they were around $180 AUD or more. I never did check the second class tickets closer to the time, but I would assume they were expensive too. I did the same with the tickets from Hamburg to Copenhagen, but I never checked the price closer to the date.

I know my entire itinerary as I have it printed off and in paper form within a folder with an email address that I have my entire itinerary located within a folder corresponding to that particular period of travel as a backup. I was caught out twice with not having the correct information. Once was several nights away last trip in the UK as I was staying with a friend. I never printed the booking or recorded the date. The email had been sent to my regular email and the person back home in Australia had retrieved all emails onto the physical computer. So, I had ‘lost’ my booking as it was physically on my computer back home in Australia. Apparently, I had made a mistake with the date anyway, which I had wanted to find out. Mobile internet wasn’t really a thing around 9 years ago. Another was actually in Huntly, New Zealand where I had made a booking, but printed the reply off. Turned out it was a reply, but the person doing the booking did not actually make one. Luckily it worked in my favour and I ended up in a 7 bed room.

I did sign up for an app with the German railway line known as the DB Navigator app. The interesting thing is the online ticket is mostly English telling you where you are sitting and the carriage with seat number. I booked a seat for the 5 hour journey between Frankfurt and Berlin. The trip to Copenhagen from Hamburg had a mandatory reservation. I think that is for the ferry. The App seems easier to understand than the paper print off, I made. The self-check in part is also interesting and I have no idea how useful this actually is and where I would have to check in if there are no gates. Something to find when I am over there. I have to remember that Europe does things differently from Australia. I might need to observe the trains to understand what happens.

There will be other things that I might experience along the way including some keys that are accessed through an app. That will be something to see and find out how it works. I have no idea who or what places are the ones that require the keys though. Hopefully I get a physical key or card and something like my phone doesn’t ‘wipe’ the data and the door opener. Had that happen at one place constantly. As long as I have access to food on the trains then I will be happy and have no problems. There could be an app for that as well. The travel passes seem to have gone the same way like the Berlin Pass and the other ones too. We shall see what happens at the time. Shall be fun and the time is getting closer and closer.

Ever closer to the epic European Adventure 2019

Not taking my trusty bike

There is around three months to go before my trip away and my last travel blog I wrote was back in August. Obviously by now I am a bit more organised with my trip away. During this period, I have finished my bachelor’s degree in Historical Inquiry and Practice. Also, I have graduated with a trip to Armidale to collect my degree. I could have blogged the trip away, but it wasn’t really that huge of a trip. The degree explains why I am planning my trip around some historic locations with a history flavour.

Guide books

During this period, I have changed the travel arrangements even though I am still heading to the same locations. Logistics seems to be a huge part of organising my trip away. I had to go back and review what I could physically accomplish. One part of my journey in the UK, I had thought going from Portsmouth to Brighton and finish in Canterbury by train would be fun. The journey became very expensive. Looking at the UK Rail journey website it gave me a calculation of around £40 or $72 Australian dollars. Deciding I should review the large expense, I managed to find rail and coach to Canterbury via London to be around £12 or $21 Australian dollars. A huge difference in prices. Although you cannot book UK rail journeys until you are 12 weeks away, I had no problem booking a coach journey.

More travel guides and reality checks

The fun part of looking into the logistics has been the ability to book my German railway tickets around December. Don’t know what First Class would be like on the journey from Frankfurt to Berlin would be, but I aim to find out and the ticket emailed to me was in German. In the last week I was able to book my tickets online to Amiens in France, but they will be mailing my tickets out to me for free. The rest of the railway tickets I have to wait for the next few weeks before I can start making my reservations. There are some travel blogs I have used to give me an understanding of some of the railway stations and even some travel in Europe.

I have been listing what I am wanting to see while at every location, I am visiting. This means including long lists under the destination. I now have a 9 or so page master list that I will print off before I leave. It doesn’t mean I will see everything, but there are some sights I do want to see like one UNESCO listed cemetery in Stockholm, grave of Jules Vern in Amiens, Tyne Cot Cemetery in Ypres. There will be some locations that I will include onto my Youtube channel too as there is always plenty to see. I have to remember to pace myself and there are some guide books that I have found I would over extend myself if I even try doing what I want in one whole day. I have wanted to do the Waterloo battle site and the Herge museum (Tintin) on the same day, but realise I might actually be asking too much when the train journey between the two locations is around an hour. There is the Smurfs museum in Brussels and the Captain Cook museum in Whitby. I am doing some family tree research while I am floating through the UK, right after Brexit so hopefully there is no huge teething problems when I am visiting.

There have been potential problems that I would not say that are extreme in any way. Problems that could cause some delays. I accidentally found I had booked my stay in Copenhagen during a five-day music festival called Distortion in May. I had wondered why accommodation in Copenhagen was being booked out and then you have the travel articles calling Copenhagen the travel destination of 2019. The house, dance and Techno music isn’t the type of music I usually listen to, I have bought a ticket to this event as I will have night entertainment. My accommodation is next to the railway station too, so should be interesting. I am staying in the red-light district in Frankfurt, but its not a real problem at all. I think it would be entertaining especially after getting off a long flight. I have been checking websites for updated entry times to sites like Dover Castle. Around December the website said it would be closed the day I wanted to visit and when I checked back a week ago, I found that it would be open on the day I wanted to visit. Last time I was in the UK the castle was closed during the week in winter. I do have to remember other countries are not like Australia where many tourist destinations close in the chilly months.

To make my life easier with museum entry and travel, I will get hold of the local travel passes for example the Frankfurt Pass that grants entry to museums and other tourist destinations within the city. Not every location I am visiting will have one, but I think it will make my journey through the cities interesting. I have reached out to some museums through Instagram and even Twitter to ask questions and they have answered my questions. Social media seems to be gaining a huge footprint in tourism in 2019 and could become bigger. The trip is always getting closer and they days does seem to be moving quicker. I have never been on an eight week holiday before so it should be interesting and budgeting for the entire time.

A random traveler in Auckland Airport

Sources and links

Last blog in August

https://bradthetraveller.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-ultimate-travel-plan-for-2019.html

Instagram account

https://www.instagram.com/bradbeadel/

Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzFk8_SMttIsW_m35ifLoQ

The Man in seat 61

https://www.seat61.com/index.html

The Tombstone tourists

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-24/stories-of-the-dead-given-new-life-at-robe-cemetery/8838104?fbclid=IwAR0zGhtGVI_Sx4JFF846J0L0thLbSbEBWenkls1dE4cFu2SUcRjtNASP2T8

Tyne Cot Cemetery

https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-cemeteries-and-memorials/53300/tyne-cot-cemetery

Distortion 2019

https://www.cphdistortion.dk/

National Rail UK

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

The ultimate travel plan for 2019

Does someone smell?

Next year I have made plans for an extended journey overseas as part of my holidays. I decided to use my long service leave of 8 weeks to take time off from work in 2019. This would mean that I take no time off in 2018 for my annual holiday in New Zealand as it will be an expensive trip away. My last trip to Europe was in 2011 and was basically just before winter. I left the UK a week before the snow arrived and the sun rise and sunset times were strange for someone coming from Australia

Thinking that a trip away to Europe would be something fun to do and I wrote a list of locations I would like to visit. I wanted the UK especially when I wanted to do some family tree research especially visiting the Archives in Kew and some of the museums like the Mary Rose. I wanted to look through some of Europe and thought about starting my journey in Rome and working my way through to France. I had been watching Great British Railway Journeys. Realising that I had limited time and having to sit down and rethink my plan I ended up with more ideas and a solid plan. The idea I had was to head over in summer, which considering the heatwaves that have been in the news does cause some concern and interest.

One thing I really wanted to do was visit museums and Instagram became very handy as I came across almost by accident the Maritime museum in Hamburg and the Vasa museum in Stockholm. The Vasa has similarities with the Mary Rose and that museum was being built around the ship in Portsmouth last time I was there. Another set of museums I wanted to visit were dinosaurs specifically ones that were not in Australian museums that I know of. Frankfurt was found to have a museum for that and a town in Dorset called Lyme Regis was well known. I had been there once before. I had gotten on the right bus, but it was going in the wrong direction for Dorchester. On a whim I jumped off the bus in Lyme Regis and had a wander. It would be later I would realise the fossil connection. Another area was Brussels for the Herge Museum the creator of Tintin. Not to be mistaken for Rin Tin Tin the dog who starred in movies of the same name. The dog is actually buried in Paris, not in the US.

Another part of my trip includes several battle sites especially World War One. Recently I found there is a new museum that had been built called the Sir John Monash Centre. I thought it was close to Ypres as I have a family member buried in Tyne Cot cemetery near Passchendaele. Turns out I would need to visit Amiens as well as the museum is much closer. I had looked at a battlefield tour and then thought about the price. I realised I don’t like to be rushed and the price out of my range even if it would be worth it. I found locations for the Battle of Sterling Bridge and also Waterloo. The same thoughts occurred for castles and I had Edinburgh Castle in my sights and wanted to visit Dover castle after it was closed over winter and only open on weekends. I was there at the wrong timer of year and week.

Because of my university studies, I have come across by accident some interesting places. Tolpuddle for the Tolpuddle Martyrs who were sent to Australia only to be returned, Tank museum in Dorset, burial location of the Red Baron and some more walking along the Berlin Wall with a museum visit along the way. There are a few other cemeteries I would visit that I will include to my master list about the locations I am visiting, although I will be realistic in saying I cannot do everything on my holiday.

Booking flights was a journey in itself especially when several were counting down with how many seats they had left. One booking said there was two seats left after I had gotten one booked. Another airline sends travel info and bookings via FB messenger, which is different. Once I had booked my flights, I went to check my accommodation as I was going to book them a little at a time. Turns out my first choices were all booked out within 10 months from travel time. Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London, Paris and Portsmouth I had to resort to other choices from where I was wanting to stay. Crazy busy would be a word I could use and very surprising. I made sure I had somewhere to stay and now comes the search for other things to have a look at while I am on my trip and for family tree research especially when I have street addresses on census records and other records like Marriages. The rest will be sorted towards the end of the year especially when it comes to transport as I want to get trains everywhere. I have already worked out the direction of some in the UK like from Portsmouth to Dover via Hastings. I am staying in Singapore on my way home and I think this would mean I will have a really busy trip away and getting home will actually be a holiday on its own.

I will update more between the time I go next year, but now there is a reason why my travel blog might be a little quiet for a touch longer. Don’t know if I would be doing a blog for when I visit Armidale later this year, but you never know.