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Published: February 11th 2013
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Early morning start!I woke up really early this morning. I had a really bad sleep and lots of nightmares :O But I was so excited to be starting our tour! Me and Christine went down early to check in and weigh our bags. For some reason I ended up weighing in at only 18 kilos! I think they rig the scales in the Contiki Basement so that you think you have more than you actually do. Sneaky! We all waited in the courtyard of the Royal National along with a second Contiki group to wait for our tour bus. We got a purple bus; my last bus was purple too. This was one of the older buses so it wasn't as fancy and comfortable as my last tour, but still not that bad. I sat near the back with Christine. I couldn't wait to get on the road! We were actually starting our tour on Friday the 13th. Hmm...
We drove for two hours from London to the coast of England. We were going to be taking a ferry from Dover over to France. We had to show our passports and clear customs before we could get on the ferry, something that
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Me in front of the White Cliffs we hadn't had to do the last time I'd been here. Guess we had got lucky that time! The ferry is a huge passenger boat, it was very similar to the ferries that I take to get off Vancouver Island. However, the waves made the boat rock like crazy, and we could barely stand. It was the most seasick I've ever felt. Nothing like the smooth ride back home! Once on the ferry we went up to the top deck to see the White Cliffs of Dover. These cliffs are composed of chalk accentuated by streaks of black flint, which gives them their unique beauty. The weather was great today, so we got some great pictures. Nothing like the last time I was here, when the skies were grey and cloudy. I tended to compare this trip to my last one a lot. Even though they were very similar, my two experiences as a whole with Contiki were very different.
Once the ferry left Dover, we went back inside to get some food and hang out until we arrived in France. We arrived in Calais two hours later. I was so excited to be back in mainland Europe! Back
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Ashlee, Verity, and I on the bus, Seb gave us a really long speech (the first of many haha). We learned about all the things we'd see on our tour, the bus rules, which optional activities were coming up, and lots more. After another two hours of driving we stopped at a service stop. There are very strict rules in Europe with regards to driving coaches. The drivers can only be on the road for a very specific number of hours before they have to stop. If they go even one minute over, we could be stuck somewhere and it would throw our whole tour off. Typically we would drive for 2 hours, stop for 45 minutes, drive for 2-4 hours, stop for 45 minutes, then drive for another 2-3 hours. Sometimes we would stop at service stops, and sometimes we would stop at a monument, or other tourist attraction. The service stops in Europe are amazing, especially Autogrill. You can get anything you want there: snacks, full meals, alcohol, fuel, souvenirs, clothing. Way better than the typical gas station in Canada :P
On Contiki you are able to participate in optional activities. These are extra things that Contiki offers at an additional
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Ferry we took from Dover to Calais cost. There were two optional activities we could choose to do in Paris: a dinner in the Montmartre district, and going to a French cabaret - Nouvelle Eve (alike to Moulin Rouge). I wasn't too interested in Nouvelle Eve, simply because I didn't care about seeing half-naked girls dancing around, and also because it was almost 100 euro (after drinks, etc). I was on a really tight budget for this tour, so I didn't want to spend money on things I was only doing because everyone else was. But it seemed like everyone I talked to was really excited for this optional. I decided to figure that one out later.
Back on the bus we had two more hours before we arrived in Paris. I was having a great time on tour already, but I still missed home and my boyfriend like crazy. Before I had left, I was regretting going through with the trip because I wasn't sure it was such a good idea leaving home and a serious relationship for a six week Contiki. But I decided to try not to dwell on home because I was in Europe, and I had spent a lot of money
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Our hotel room in Paris to do this, and I didn't want to waste my time here! The last time I'd been to Paris with Contiki we had stayed at the budget accommodation - wooden cabins on the outskirts of the city. It was probably the worst place I'd ever stayed while travelling. This time we were staying at a hotel which was actually pretty nice, although it was still located in the "ghetto" of Paris. A lot of the places we stayed at were in the "ghetto". Still better than wooden cabins though! The hotel was the Etap Hotel Paris Porte de Montmartre. Apparently there was some kind of strobe light in the showers in most rooms, but I never noticed it in ours.
I'd only been hanging around the Australians for a few days now, but I already found myself saying all those funny words they say. For the next three nights I was rooming with Jessie. On Contiki's Europe budget/concept tours, you get to choose your roommates for each hotel stay. A room sheet will be sent around on the bus and you can write your name down in whichever room you would like to be a part of. This way
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Sam, Katherine, Ainsley, me, and Alisha at our first group dinner you can room with someone new if you want, or you can stick with your own group. I tended to stay with the same three people the majority of the tour, but sometimes we got mixed up and it was fun staying with new people too.
After we settled into our room, everyone met for dinner at the restaurant next to the hotel - our first taste of Contiki food, yuck. All in all it isn't too bad, just not a very big variety. After dinner we all got on the coach to go back into the city for a "Paris Illuminations" night tour. It is such a beautiful city. We even drove through the crazy roundabout at the Arc d'Triomphe. Krzysztof manoeuvred our huge coach through it like it was the easiest thing in the world. We even did it again just for fun. We also got to witness how the French park their cars - basically they would bump their way into the spot, not caring if they hit the cars behind and in front of them. Crazy! We stopped at a small restaurant to have some champagne and try the local specialty - escargot! I had
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Paris in the evening tried this the last time I was in Paris, so this time I chose to watch everyone else struggle with it. Yummmm. Once we finally got back to the hotel, I passed out. It had been a very long day.
What did I learn today? I really like Aussie slang :P
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