Some Great London Sites Not to be Missed

1. Buckingham Palace

2. Tower Bridge

3. Big Ben

4. Westminster Abbey

For more information about any of these attractions visit London's Tourist website here.

Tower of London

This was my favorite attraction in London and I would highly recommend it to everyone visiting. 

Jewel House: This holds the famous Crown Jewels.  They are such an amazing site to see. It includes crowns, swords, and jewelry from ancient times worn by famous kings. It also includes the largest cut diamond in the world,  the Great Star of Africa or the Cullinan I diamond.

This is one of the guards guarding the entrance to the Jewel House.

Yeoman Warder tour: A Yeoman Warder, also known as a beefeater, is a guard who is responsible for looking after the crown jewels and looking after prisoners at the tower.  Nowadays, they give tours around the complex of the Tower of London.  These tours are included in your admission ticket and leave approximately every 5-10 minutes from the entrance. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and also very funny and entertaining.

Exhibitions: In different tours of the complex they have various exhibitions which are also included in your admission ticket.  One exhibit entitled ‘Fit for a king’, showcases hundreds of years of different royal armor. Some exhibits might require an extra fee.

Admission prices:  They have a student discount with valid ID for about 14.50 Euros.  A regular adult ticket will cost about 20 Euros. I visited in the off season in January so the price may vary with the time of year.

TIP: Allow a lot of time. There are a lot of things to do on the grounds including the jewel house, tour, and museum so definitely plan on spending most of the day here.  We visited about three hours before it closed and I wish we could have stayed longer. 

For more information you can visit their website here.

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

Notre Dame is Roman Catholic Church.  They first started construction around 1163 and finished around 1345.  It has gone through several periods of renovations as well.  Notre Dame is most famous for its amazing French Gothic architecture.  The church is directly located besides the Seine, a 482 mile long river.  The cathedral is open every day from 8am to 6:45. ( til 7:15 on Saturdays and Sundays)  It is completely free of charge and open to the public. Attending a church service is also free of charge and open to anyone interested.  My friends and I attended one.  Although the service is in French, It was a great experience.  The 11:30am service on Sundays has selected readings and excerpts in English. They also offer walking tours and audio guides some at a minimal cost.  It is truly an astonishing site to see and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Paris. For more information about mass times and tours click here

The London Eye

The London Eye is a massive Ferris wheel located on the Thames River in the heart of London. It is a huge tourist attraction and the largest Ferris wheel in all of Europe!  On a clear day, at the top one can experience a breath taking view of the entire city. A regular priced adult ticket will cost about 19 Euros.

FACTS ABOUT LONDON EYE:

-3.5 million people come to experience the London Eye each year.

-30 minute total time on ride

-32 high-tech capsules, approximately 28 guests per capsule

-135 meters high making it amongst the top five tallest structures in London

TIPS:

Check the hours of operation:

If you travel to London during the wintertime, like I did, make sure you check when the London Eye is open! We unfortunately did not, so we did not get a chance to experience it. The London Eye is usually closed for a couple weeks in January for routine annual maintenance.  This past year, 2012, it was closed from January 7^th to January 21^st.  

Book online:

If you book your ticket online, you receive a 10% discount on all tickets.  They also have different prices for senior citizens, children, and a special for a family of four. In addition, you can book different packages which can include a glass of champagne or the perk of priority boarding.

For hours of operation and more information click HERE. 

 

The Louvre, Paris France

The Louvre Museum is a world famous museum containing one of the most popular pieces of art, The Mona Lisa. The Louvre was once a royal palace dating back to the 16th century. The present day Louvre complex is composed of several different government buildings as well as the museum. It consists of stunning architecture with several open courtyards.  I would definitely recommend visiting this attraction while in Paris.


My One and Only Tip: 
Check the Hours of Operation!- When I traveled to France, my friends and I didn't have any specific plans and just figured the museum would be open pretty much every weekday.  WRONG!


The Louvre Museum is open everyday except TUESDAYS from 9am - 6pm. It is also closed on January 1st, May 1st, and December 25th.


Sadly, we did not get to go into the museum(since it was a Tuesday) but still got the opportunity to walk around the beautiful grounds of the complex.


For lots more information regarding tours visit the Louvre's website.

Transportation

This post is going to be short and sweet relating to all your transportation questions. Traveling to any location in Europe from America is generally more expensive than traveling domestically. Although it’s not always possible, traveling during the off season is a great way to save some money.  We traveled during the winter which was cheaper however, much colder.  Overnight flights are great because you really do not waste any time traveling.  They usually leave around 8 or 9pm and when you wake up you are at your destination!

Here are some popular (and often really cheap) airlines that fly locally between various European countries. Although these are usually smaller planes there is just as much security so still arrive early to the airport. Most U.S. based airlines allow one carry on bag per customer as well as one ‘personal’ item.  This can be a purse or a briefcase.  However, these smaller airlines only allow one carry on bag. Nothing else.  For girls this means do not over pack because you will have to cram your purse into your bag to go through security.

Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com/en

easyJet  http://www.easyjet.com/EN

Public Local Transportation

Something Europe does great is public transportation.  In every city we visited there were always buses which ran throughout the cities.  In London and France there was an underground transportation system which makes traveling extremely easy. (And in my opinion much easier to navigate than the NYC subway system.) These form of transportation are relatively cheap around 2Euros one way and I highly suggest taking advantage of them.

My Most Important Tip of All:

Give yourself enough time. Security lines can be long and vary with the time of day.  Always anticipate more time than less.  It is much better to wait for a little bit then to miss your flight and have to rebook. Also, the airports/ train stations are usually very confusing especially when you do not speak the native language

Here is another website I found with lots of useful travel tips from Rick Steve’s Europe – How to fly in Europe on a Budget.  http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/flights.htm

Dublin, Ireland

Dublin was a great city and one my personal favorite places in Ireland! As it is the capital city of Ireland, there is great history to be discovered when visiting. One thing to keep in mind is that Northern Ireland is in fact owned by the United Kingdom. Therefore they use the pound sterling. The Republic of Ireland is completely separate and independent.  In the Republic of Ireland their form of currency is the Euro. I did not know that the two separate entities had different monetary methods and this would have been helpful beforehand. We were only in Dublin for one day but still managed to see a couple big sites which I would suggest visiting.

The Temple bar

Our last stop of Dublin included visiting a very well known landmark known as Temple Bar. The Irish are known for heavy drinking and that it absolutely true! Many pubs and bars open as early as 9am. Although this bar was a bit tourist it was a lot of fun! There was live traditional Irish music from an excellent band.  This bar, surrounded by adorable cobblestone, had great atmosphere and friendly people from all over.  It does get crowded so go early. More information found here!

Dublin castle

Ireland is filled with lots of castle however, this one was magnificent.  It was a huge complex consisting of a courtyard, gardens, church, and living quarters.  We took a guided tour of the castle which was definitely worth the money. The inside of the bedrooms and living rooms are ornately decorated with lavish fabrics and patterns.  It is free to tour the grounds however, to go inside some of the building there is an admission fee.  I believe it was pretty cheap for students about 7-10 Euros. Visit http://www.dublincastle.ie/ for lots of cool facts and information.

Guinness Storehouse

This place was awesome and one of the biggest attractions in Dublin.  Tickets will be about 13 Euros for an adult however, there do offer student tickets (with ID I believe) for about 10 Euros.  The unguided tour/museum consists of several floors filled with interactive exhibits and knowledge.  At the very top floor there was an observation lounge where you received you’re complementary pint of Guinness. We learned about the history and heritage of the company and also learned about the brewing process all of which was extremely interesting and new to me. For more information about the tour click here

Other famous landmarks to try and see:

Christchurh Cathedral- We actually ran into this by accident looking for Dublin castle but what an amazing church!

The Spire

The Millennium Bridge

Trinity College

The Ha’penny Bridge

Paris Hostel

Hostels have a bad (and sometimes false) reputation to be grimy and dirty.  Everyone hears horror stories of co-ed rooms containing 12 beds.  After living in tiny dorm rooms with a roommate for almost three years I figured how bad could it really be.  We stayed at the Aloha Hostel in Paris, France which was very affordable.  We found this hostel through an online search on www.hostels.com.When we booked our room our only choices were 4 beds or 6 beds.  As there were only three of us we had to choose a room with four beds and hope that our random roommate would not be some creepy 40 year old man. The hostel was small but kept rather clean.  It did have about 8 computers that had free internet access which helped us immensely and safes to lock up any valuables.  The location was great! It was about a 15 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower which made everything convenient. Overall, I would suggest this hostel to a future traveler. The official link for the hostel can be found here.

 Here, the plaid print makes the bed look covered with a comforter.  Don't let that fool you. That is just the mattress with no  sheets or anything.

 Our excitement is clearly evident when we first walked into the room and only found three beds.  No creepy roommate for us!

 The hostel had a sink in the room which was nice and made getting ready in the morning really easy.

Some Tips about Hostels:

Hostels do not provide sheets or towels.  Our beds came with a blanket, a mattress, and a pillow.  There were no pillow cases or any sheets at all. There is a communal bathroom so there are no towels, soaps, or shampoos provided. You can usually rent the linens from the hostel at a fee or feel free to bring your own. We rented them as we were traveling light.

Bring shower shoes. Like I said the showers are communal and usually one per floor. There is no magnificent tile or marble flooring but rather cement.  Jackie was the only smart one to think of this.  She had a cheap pair of flip flops that were passed around between the three of us for the couple nights we stayed there.

Pretend like your camping.  Hostels aren’t known for being luxurious.  You are not staying at the Four Seasons or even a Holiday Inn for that matter. If you go into your stay with a positive attitude that you will be ‘roughing it’ for the next couple days you won’t be disappointed and may even enjoy the coziness of it. Overall, hostels are an excellent value and an easy solution for lodging. 

The Europe Adventure Begins...

Hello All! Welcome to my travel blog. I LOVE to travel.  I enjoying seeing new sights and filling my brain with knowledge.  I love adventures and doing something new. I have been to lots of places in the United States but no trip I’ve ever taken can compare to my trip to Europe last winter. As a current college student I get about 4 weeks off from the end of December to the middle of January every year. What more of a perfect time than this to travel! 

This is the view from our airplane window as we were coming into Dublin Airport with the sun just rising. It was an 8 hour flight from Newark to Dublin. 
Tip: Bring headphones.  We watched about three movies on the way over there and would have been bored out of minds otherwise.

 There are many castles to discover in Ireland. This is Greencastle which was built around the 13th century! We couldn't go inside but exploring the grounds was fun! Click here to learn more about Greencastle.

There were lots of sheep roaming free all throughout the countryside. 

The coast of Ireland with gorgeous mountains behind us! It was very very cold in December. 
Tip: Dress really warm and don't forget your umbrella!  The average temperature in Northern Ireland in January is about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also the rainiest month out of the year.