Deciding to do Contiki.

So in about a week and a half I’m heading off to London and Europe. I’m going to be spending 9 days in London – 4 before, and 5 after, with my Contiki European Highlights trip in between!

I was thinking about life and stuff, and realised that this is pretty much it. Being in my third year at University, with one year left, I would soon be out in the working world. I don’t want that. And so I decided at the end of last year that I really wanted to make my dream trip to Europe actually happen – one day on campus I went and got a Contiki Europe 2013-2014 Brochure. I’d heard about them before, but didn’t know too much about them and the tours they offered. I read this brochure from cover to cover many times. Then I made a list of the places that were “non-negotiable” for me to see. It was really only London, Paris and Rome that my heart was completely set on, so that didn’t make it much easier to narrow down the extensive options that are available. I knew I had just less than a month for my trip in total. I also knew that I wanted to see as much of Europe as possible as I don’t know when I will get to return. So that cancelled out the “in-depth” tours for me as these focus mainly on one country.

I needed to choose what kind of tour I wanted to do – camping, concept (mixture of hostels, hotels etc), and time out (hotels). I knew I didn’t want to do camping as I didn’t really want to set up tents and I’m not really a camping kind of person. I was torn between the concept and time-out option. And then I saw that with the Concept tours you get a chance to stay in a real Chateau in the wine region. I was sold. It was at this point that I also decided I would go alone.

So now I had decided which type of tour to do, it made my options less. I looked through a couple and decided on the European Highlights tour – a 14 day trip around Europe, visiting 8 countries (France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, Austria (in transit), Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium (in transit). I’d get to stay in a variety of accommodation (including the Chateau) and get to see many of the major sites of Europe, and visit 11 World Heritage Sites. I’ll post the detailed itinerary separately.

The tour was within my budget, ticked all my boxes and I’d have enough time to spend a couple of days in London too! Needless to say, I very quickly became obsessed. After looking at my university time table, I decided on the best date. And then Contiki told me that the date I wanted was already full. Panic. Devastation. Luckily there was a tour leaving the next day, so that worked well. Then I realised that if I took that departure date, I might not get to go into the Vatican and see the Sistine Chapel as we’d be in Rome on a Sunday. That wasn’t ideal. I booked it anyway, and kept an eye on the Contiki website departure calendar. The second that the date I wanted opened up I phoned Contiki and changed my departure date. Success! Let the 100-something day countdown begin.

Once the deposit had been paid, and my place on the tour reserved, I was the happiest person alive. And then the panic set in. Was I COMPLETELY insane?? How the heck did I think that going to Europe BY MYSELF for 3 weeks was a good idea? And then I looked at my brochure again, and began saving every picture of the EiffelTower I could get my hands on. This was real.

Over the next few weeks I booked flights, looked up everything I could about getting my visas and read every travel blog I could find. Travel blogs are incredible. The ones about Contiki made me so incredibly excited. And now, six months down the line, here I am. Almost on to the single digit countdown. About to go exchange my money. Making packing lists. Budgeting. And still reading every travel blog I can find.

It looks like my Contiki group is also incredibly awesome. So far we have 27 people (and me) signed in to the Meet-Up on the Contiki site. It will be a full tour of about 50 people. Everyone seems really excited, and those that I have spoken to so far all seem really cool. Can’t wait to meet all these new people!

Love,

The I’m-So-Glad-I-Planned-This Eager-Beaver Traveler

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Visas: Mission Accomplished!

So, in exactly one month’s time, I will be in an airplane, somewhere in the sky, on my way to London. And I can OFFICIALLY go now, because I now have both my visas! Yay! So what initially seemed to be “Mission Impossible” has now changed into “Mission Accomplished”. Not without a lot of stress and confusion on my side, I will admit.

TIP FOR ANY SOUTH AFRICAN MAKING AN APPOINTMENT FOR A SCHENGEN VISA, specifically a French one – when you make your appointment to go to Capago and submit your application, go early. Go an hour early. Because for some completely unknown and illogical reason, your appointment time does not actually seem to be significant in any way. Take my appointment for example. I had booked for 2pm so that I would have more than enough time to get there after my lectures for the day. I am always on time, and so I planned to get there by about 1:45, especially as I was unsure how the process would differ from the UK Visa application process. Ending up getting there earlier than planned, and so I had my ticket number by 1:30. According to my slip, my estimated waiting time would be 41 minutes. Okaaay. So while I’m standing in the line, I happened to catch a part of the conversation of the people behind me. Turns out his appointment was for 1:30pm – half an hour before mine was actually booked for – but because of the number system I would be helped before him. Hence the conclusion that your actual appointment time does not seem to have much significance. And even though my ticket said 41 minutes to wait, I ended up waiting close to an hour and a half before I was helped.

In extreme contrast to my experience with the UK Visa application process, I was FAR from impressed with this one. I felt that the staff were unfriendly and rude (not simply efficient). They didn’t answer any questions, or explain anything to me. Instead the lady who “helped” me, gave back half my documents with no explanation. Now as I’m getting older, growing up, whatever you want to call it, I’m starting to want to give my feedback on things. I really wanted to tell them how unimpressed I was with their services. Not the French Consulate I must add, as my visa was approved and returned in one week; but definitely with the intermediary that I am forced to use and forced to pay for their service. However, I have been unable to contact them as the enquiry number just rings, I haven’t been able to get through to the call centre for two days and am still waiting for them to reply to my message, as well as waiting for them to respond to an email from almost two weeks ago. Really not impressed.

But, enough with the whining. I AM GOING TO EUROPE.

My trip is starting to feel so real now. I’m slowly gathering all the things I’m going to need, and doing all the last admin-type things that need to be done like travel cards, copies for safe-keeping, student discount cards and actually buying the currencies I need (exchange rate please improve!) I must say, I am incredibly proud of myself. I have done almost all the planning, organising and admin myself – although thanks for the guidance and help you have definitely given Mom & Dad! 🙂 I am so excited. I just need to get through third year university exams now, and then it’s time! And because of these pesky exams I need to write (oh, and actually study for…) it suddenly feels like everything needs to be done now. Or possibly yesterday. Haha. But never fear, I’ve got this 🙂

That’s all for now – think I might actually explain my Contiki trip and holiday plans next. Maps and everything included. Let’s do this thing.

Love,

The One-Month-And-I’m-Out-Of-Here Traveler

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