The New Plan

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Rather than wait until we were in Europe we decided to finalise the remainder of the trip in advance so we knew where we were exactly in terms of funds and take advantage of booking things in advance. A number of phone calls and emails and I was able to establish that changing the date and/or departure point of our return was going to incur considerable fees – money I felt could be better spent elsewhere. I also established that our accommodation in Ildir, Turkey was only accessible by car. We could get to Izmir by train but that was a 2 day trip! And from there I couldn’t see how to get the final 80 odd km to the resort – the resort is helpfully ignoring my emails requesting information. Hiring a car was an option – it is a 650km or so trip from Istanbul and theoretically it is a straightforward route, although the state of Turkish roads is not something I have any knowledge of. From what I read driving in Turkey is not too tricky, but cities (especially Istanbul and Izmir) are to be avoided. The plus with a car was that we could visit Ephesus and then drop the car at Izmir airport and carry on from there. However, in the end we opted against this – there are too many variables in play with hiring a car so I managed to change that accommodation for a week in Ankara. We can catch a train from Istanbul to Ankara and we will stay at the Akropol Termal Resort. I am anticipating Ankara being quite different to Istanbul. It certainly won’t be as tourist focused and I am sure will be more authentically Turkish. It is also firmly in Asia so I guess the name of our holiday changes!



From Ankara we fly to Athens, Greece via Istanbul for 5 nights (1 Aug 10:00 – 2:20pm, Turkish Airlines flight 2109 then 1849) This gives us time to do the main attractions and it will be great to actually visit the Acropolis and the Parthenon and we’ll certainly try to check out any sailing or other boating opportunities. $322 for a triple room in a decent hotel in town looks a good deal. I am not anticipating it being quiet however! I looked at then travelling overland to Patras and an overnight ferry to Bari, Italy then on to Florence before heading back to Germany where the Hoffmanns generously said we could stay for the 10 days leading up to going home. However, after some discussion and thought we are going to catch another flight (6 Aug 3:10pm – 4:00pm Aegean flight 878) to Budapest, Hungary. This was a city high on my list of places to visit so it is great to get the chance to do so. Like Greece, this is not an expensive place to stay and we have a serviced studio apartment for 5 nights for $374. Finding any place where we can self-cater is a bonus. An extremely historic city on the Danube, there looks to be a good variety of things to do that will keep us all happy.



From Budapest we catch a train back to Munich, Germany. This is a direct connection and I thought it would be sensible to stop here for a couple of days. We can see anything we might have missed the first time or maybe check out the surrounds. Then on 13 August we’ll catch an afternoon train back to Darmstadt arriving around 8:30pm. We stay here and hopefully wind down until it is time to head home on the 20^th. No doubt the Hoffmanns will have things they can suggest but I’ll certainly be keen to head to Worms for a day trip – maybe on the weekend if they would like to take us, otherwise we can do it by train. We thought about going back to London for a couple of days but I decided I’d rather spend an extra night in each of Athens and Budapest. So we’ll make our way to Frankfurt airport and catch Lufthansa flight 910 across to London, arriving at 4:40pm. That gives us a few hours to hang out at Heathrow before starting the LONG trek home to Aotearoa.



I’ve been doing a lot of research these last few days, making sure I have directions to all our accommodations and sussing out public transport options in places. Berlin has a good deal where you get unlimited public transport and good discounts to many attractions with a Berlin WelcomeCard. For 28.70 Euros per adult we get a 72 hour pass so I think that’s a good option. It is amazing the differences in prices for public transport. Germany, Belgium, Austria, Turkey = reasonable; Italy, Slovenia = cheap; Greece, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary = very cheap; Nederland = expensive; Denmark, Finland = very expensive; Switzerland = heart-failure material! I suspect our 4 and a half days in Switzerland is going to cost more than our combined 10 days in Greece and Hungary – and I can probably add Latvia and Estonia into that too! Oh well, that’s part of the joys of travelling I suppose. I did also have some concern that getting to our resort in the Arctic Circle was going to require a taxi from Kittila as bus services don’t appear to run in the summer. A taxi was going to be about 120 Euros ($175) each way. However, I got hold of the bus company and they said they did run a service meeting our flight if there was a need for it and it will cost us 50 Euros ($75) each way for the 3 of us. They, along with Czech Transport, the apartment manager in Berlin, the hostel in Prague, Pax Lodge, Our Chalet, and the hostel in Ljubljana have been extremely efficient and helpful in answering my questions and giving me information I couldn’t find online. The same cannot be said for De Efteling and the resort in Ildir (now cancelled anyway).



I am booking trains as they become available in order to take advantage of super saver fares. It also is worth shopping around a bit. For example, while the ferry price from Helsinki to Tallinn didn’t seem to differ on the 3 sites I looked at, the train from Innsbruck, Austria to Munich was cheaper on the Austrian train provider site than on the German – I got the exact same train 40 Euros cheaper in Austria! So a few more to go before we leave and the rest I’ll do in Europe. Less than 7 weeks to go – Crikey!

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