Planning via mobile
A few days back I tweeted about how much I was enjoying the Lonely Planet feature on my phone, but it’s seriously so amazing I just have to go into more detail. I even went to the effort to find an app to take screenshots.
I hadn’t really used the GPS much on this phone, because the zoom was faulty and would wildly zoom in and out on your location without any user input. But I’ve now had the issue fixed, and I’ve started having a play. The super planner in me has had far too much fun with this. This is the first screen when you push the Maps button.
The “Weather” and “Events” functions are also fantastic, but they are not the jewel that Lonely Planet is. When you start it up, it recognises where you are and displays this screen
I feel like I know enough about Melbourne at the moment, so I searched for one of the cities I am visiting for some ideas.
If you scroll down from the city guide summary screen, it gives you a list of options to click on
All of these are handy categories, but I am most interested in things to see while I am there.
Considering I’m not in Paris at the moment, I’m not sure how it is calculating that I am 51m away from Pont Neuf, but I can verify that the distances it tells me for Melbourne sights are correct. This will be quite handy if I find myself bored in Paris (or any other city) and want something to see nearby!
I am also not sure quite how many sights are loaded into this thing, the most pages I have managed to make it through is six before I got bored, but I had only made it to about 3km away from my “location” so there must be hundreds of them.
If you select one, it brings up this page with more information, the closest public transport stop, and icons to call, email or visit the website of the attraction. If any of this information is unavailable, the button is greyed out.
If you select the final icon, it displays a little LP logo of the attraction on the map.
And if you select the icon, it gives you a list of options. At the moment I am a big fan of ‘Save Place’ but I get the feeling ‘Walk to’ will come in very, very handy when I’m on the other side of the world.
So now I’m not worried about not having somewhere to eat, or missing any major attractions, or not having a roof over my head anywhere in my travels because of this handly wee thing. I’ve already set up an ‘Accommodation’ folder in my Saved Places, I have every single hostel, hotel and camping ground saved on my map so I can find them easily. But best of all, all of these functions are totally free!
The Hunt for the Perfect Bag
I usually don’t go anywhere for more than a week so when I travel I generally I take enough outfits for the period I am away. This means I don’t have to do any washing until I get home. My trip to Europe is a little different from any trip I have taken before because I am off for 36 days. Because I’m moving around so much I want to travel light which means don’t take as many clothes and wash them more often.
I have been putting a lot of thought into the best luggage solution for me. Currently I own two wheely suitcases, a small carry-on size one that I normally use, and a giant one that I got to move 20kg of my life from New Zealand to Australia. Wheels are perfect when moving from airport to car to house. Not so much when there is much walking to be done, and they’re also not brilliant on anything other than the smoothest road surfaces. Cobbled streets? Forget about it.
This leaves me with one option: buy new luggage. This leaves me with two options: buy a backpack, or buy a holdall.
I pretty much vetoed a backpack straight away. I don’t want to be a backpacker. They always look so uncomfortable. Everyone I know who has done it has been away longer than a month, so even though it’s probably the most convenient way of carting my stuff around, I said no. Plus, those things are expensive!
So this left me with a holdall. Now I really do have to travel light because too heavy and I won’t be able to carry it. I finished work early today and set out on a luggage hunt. This is the one I decided on. Nothing says ‘buy me’ more than a 50% off Christmas sale. It holds 60L which is plenty, and it folds into a little storage bag. Of course the first thing I did when I got home was pull it out to play with it, so now I’ll probably never actually be able to get it back in. Red is also a colour that I’ll spot on a luggage carousel in amongst everyone else’s black luggage.
Because one can’t just buy one thing in a sale, I also got a sleeping bag liner because I’m staying in one camping ground, some cheap hotels and a couple of hostels and their sheets can be nasty. My final purchase for the day was a padlock. I have plenty of travel padlocks but they are all ones that use keys and over the years all the keys have been lost. Combination lock? Problem solved.
Since my last post I’ve also purchased my ticket to Monza. Look out for me at the first chicane!
It’s all go
Things have been coming along nicely in the ‘planning my 2010 trip to Europe’ stakes.
Today I paid for my flights, so my itinerary is now confirmed. Now that I know my exact dates, I have the fun job of trying to fit all the places I want to go to in between the races…
Thing I don’t like: first flight leaves Melbourne at midnight. What a crazy time to fly.
Thing I do like: I get to go Singapore – London on an A380! Big plane!
Thing I love: As you can see I have also decided to stop over for four days in Singapore on my way home, as it just so happens to be the weekend of the Grand Prix there. My theory is if you’re going to two races, why not go to three? I had a fantastic time in Singapore in 2008, and watching it on TV this year just felt odd, so it will be very nice to go back.
I have emailed the place I stayed last time, Sleepy Sams, to see if they have any beds available. I am planning on avoiding hostels for this trip if I can, but because Singapore was an after thought I really hadn’t factored it into my budget so am doing it as cheap as possible. This extends to the cheapest grandstand too. I am definitely not a General Admission person. I am short, and I don’t like having to stay in one spot for 10+ hours just to get a good vantage point.
Sleepy Sams were fantastic in 2008, the main dorm rooms didn’t look ideal because they were huge, but I had a bed in a female-only dorm with 4 others. It was a separate room with a lockable door so it felt a bit more secure. I am also easily bought with food, and they gave us free breakfast in the morning. Some days I had toast, some days I had cereal, every day I had cold, cold water. Far too hot in Singapore for coffee!
After a quick shower in the morning I didn’t see much of the place because the great thing about a night race is you can stay out all day shopping or sightseeing and then go to the track in the late afternoon, meaning you really only go back to your accommodation to have another shower and sleep. I really don’t like the Singapore climate, it’s far too humid for me and it makes me feel gross, hence all the showering. If there wasn’t a race on, I’d never go there on holiday.
The other thing I have recently booked is a hotel in Milan for Thursday – Sunday of the Italian Grand Prix. The one I have chosen is Hotel del Sole because I got a fantastic deal on booking.com which saved me AU$200 total for the four nights over the standard rate. Unlike a lot of cheap, central hotels, this one actually has good reviews! It’s very simple, but once again I will be there to sleep, so it suits me fine. Plus, it’s not a hostel!
Accommodation for Spa is a little more tricky than Melbourne/Singapore/Monza because it’s not in the middle of/just out of a big city where there are plenty of hotels and the prices of the hotels that are around the area were scaring me slightly. Kathi has saved the day and has arranged a mobile home at Camping Spa d’Or. Generally I’m not a big fan of camping, but that’s because I don’t sleep on the ground. I also don’t sleep without walls and a ceiling (canvas does not count) so a mobile home with a proper bed for me is just perfect.
If Sleepy Sams come through with a bed for me that is accommodation for all three races sorted, which was my main priority. I still have ten months to sort myself places to stay in England, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain and the rest of Italy. I’m tired just thinking about it.
The last thing I have got organised is a Cash Passport. I have heard a few bad things about them, in that Travelex are hard to get assistance from if you need it, but for me the pros outweigh the slim-to-none chance of actually needing their help.
I like that it’s just an ATM card I can slip in my wallet, so I don’t have to carry huge amounts of foreign cash on me. I like that they give you two cards so if you lose one, or it gets stolen, you’ve still got access to your money, (handy hint: don’t keep them both in the same place!) I really like that now I have it, I can top it up at any time. At the moment it only has 300 Euro on it because that was the minimum opening balance, but I have ten months to load more value onto it. For the way I like to organise things, incredibly early and with a minimum fuss, it’s perfect for me.
Where I’m Going
So, where am I off to? Here, have a map because diagrams are awesome.
Although technically my journey begins in London, this map begins in Brussels. I plan to spend a couple of days in the UK before heading on the road trip to Spa. After the Grand Prix, and being left behind by the others and thus entering my ‘I am on my own and these people don’t speak English’ panic phase, I’d like to spend a day or so in Brussels before getting a night train to Berlin.
Then in order I will do Berlin – Munich – Zurich – Rome – Milan (as my base for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza) -Nice/Monaco – Barcelona – Valenica – Madrid – Paris – London.
At this stage I am looking to get a Eurail pass and do most of this by train, with night trains where possible. I like the idea of not having to sleep in one city then spend good daylight hours travelling to my next destination.
Nice and Monaco were not on my original plans but really, I can’t go all the way to Europe and not go to Monaco. It is a trip based around Formula One after all!
Of course because I am very new to this travelling thing, I am open to suggestions from anybody on ways I could tweak my plans better, recommendations on where planes would be better than trains, things that are must-do in any given city, or good places to stay.
I plan on bugging a travel agent until they are sick of the sight of me, but I am waiting for a confirmed 2010 F1 calendar before I do that, which should be out some time in October. Once the dates are locked in I want to start booking things but me being me, I’m planning now.
I can’t wait til I can write a to-do list.
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