Euro Travel & More

Traditional, yet modern.. and in every way.. kid friendly.  More than 300 yrs of history.. i had the pleasure of staying in this hotel.. for a few days.  The rooms were spacious and lovely with modern amenities.. and complimentary breakfast serving from 6.30am.  With only 65 rooms available.. at any one time.. i strongly suggest that you make your reservations really early.  Opened all year round.. room rates are between Euro 61 – 122.  Romantik Hotel Stern is considered one of the historic hotels in Switzerland.

One can’t go to Sweden without going to the Northern light tour… it wouldn’t be right.. in fact.. our trip wouldn’t be complete without seeing the Northern lights. It is during the winter.. that we can see these spectacular lights .. at nite. A trip is about 3 – 4 hrs long.. and we went by snowmobile.. although one can go with dog sled too. .and that would be really fun. Visiting the Abisko Sky Station is a must.

Many people choose to go by the EuroStar when they are traveling from London to Paris .. which takes only 2hrs and at the most 3.  But when you are young.. and with a group of university friends.. you tend to do things.. a wee bit differently.  We wanted to rough it out.. and to stop wherever we want. and whenever.  Little did we know that the heavy traffic in the tunnel caused by a truck accident would delay us so badly.  And looking at the accident area, I hope the truck driver had a truck accident lawyer because it involved many cars.  Almost reminded me of how Princess Diana would have been in that freak accident that caused her death.   So for everyone’s info, driving is fun.. but make sure.. you have loads of time.

When i was in Italy, I had the pleasure of touring some of the best Winery and Vineyards and of course i was in awe.. and came back with alot of information and I now enjoy wine alot better than any other liquor.  I also looked into joining the wine of the month clubs , so that I can get to taste wine from premium vineyards in the hope to be a little more knowledgeable the next time I tour Tuscany again.

Boat taxi is what Vaporetto is all about and it seems like a really wise idea to travel with this boat taxis .. because you rarely have to wait for more than a few minutes before another comes along. But you need to make sure that you are in the right line though. Buying a day ticket .. is the smart way to go .. else it can get pretty expensive .. if you are doing alot of sightseeing and shopping. Popular places like the Grand Canal can cost you yup to €5,00 .. .now that’s about 15 bucks Canadian..!

Remember you have to buy your tickets in advance.. because they don’t sell them on the boat itself. We had fun..!

Traveling with your boss definitely has its perks.  One of the thing I learned after working for my Spanish boss is that everytime he travels, he makes sure that his travel insurance is in order.  He always say.. you never know what is going to happen when you are in a foreign land.  Of course, he is into term life insurance and others as well.  But my perks.. ?? i get travel insurance too.

Traveling with kids is definitely different.. when you are traveling with your co-workers on business and thank God for disposable diapers else .. it would be really terrible to go on a vacation with a toddler .. who still needs her diapers. But of course there are more things to look out for .. when traveling with kids.. and one of the things to remember is .. to make sure.. they are occupied alot.  Making sure that the hotel that you are staying in is children friendly is very important too.  In Europe..  i find that the bed and breakfast places are alot more friendly with kids.

The Tower Bridge is not the London Bridge but it is often mistaken for it .. the actual London Bridge is just up the stream… not too far away from the Tower Bridge. It is over River Thames and a combination of a bascule and suspension bridge. It looks alot prettier at nite.. i assure you. The name derived from being close to the Tower of London .. and it is now an iconic symbol in London. This bridge is owned and maintained by City Bridge Trust, a charitable trust.

Built in the 1870s .. the Tower bridge connects Borough to the heart of the City’s Financial district. This bridge is currently one of the busiet .. that abot 40,000 people crosses it everyday. The bridge will be getting a 4million pounds facelift .. for the next 4 yrs. This summer .. if you are in london.. just be sure to expect work to be done on the bridge.. and road closures will be inevitable..at some point of time. It is hope that the completed work will last for the next 25yrs.

The Tower Bridge at nite, it was truly a fabulous sight.

As a tourist in any country.. no one brings you to the drug rehab nor do they want to tell you that their country has a drug problem.  Traveling Europe certainly opened my eyes to many things.. and you can see alot of young people using what we call social drugs.  To me .. drugs is drugs.. and there is no such thing as being polite about it.  To be honest.. i don’t know if Europe or the States has it worst.. with their drug problems… but when it comes to Singapore.. don’t you bring in any.. because it is a death sentence if you do.

Traveling Europe and to different part of the world is really an eye opener for me.  There are too many things to learn, to see and to try.  For business travel, we always get to visit the client’s office and factories.. and seeing them use the latest technology.. that we don’t even have then.. is really amazing.  Simple KVM switch were already so popular in our client’s office .. but we had no use for it.. since we are such a small office.  But still it was good to learn something new everyday.