This was a post-cruise trip in May of 2015.  The 14-day trans-Atlantic cruise on Celebrity Silhouette began in Ft. Lauderdale and had 8 straight sea days before reaching Lisbon.  Subsequent ports were Le Havre and Zeebrugge, ending in Amsterdam.

We had booked our rooms in February and March. The total housing cost for the two of us was about $500, and the rental car, gas, and trains came under $400 for the two of us.

Day 1: After exiting the cruise terminal in Amsterdam, we turned right and walked 10-15 minutes to Central Station and caught the train to Rotterdam (37-59 minutes depending on the train, Euro 16.10pp, no reservation needed.). We caught a city tram outside the station in Rotterdam and reached our Airbnb studio($92/night) in 10 minutes. We spent the day exploring the city on foot and by tram.

Day 2: Train to Cologne. 3 hours & around Euro 18pp(reserved on the German railway site). Cab 10 minutes to our two- bedroom condo(Euro 99) found on Tripadvisor.com. My brother had arrived there before us. Walked around.

Day 3: Picked up the rental car from Sixt office near the Cathedral. Euro 220 for one week, including the fee for returning the car in Berlin. We reserved a small car, but they gave us a BMW because that’s all they had left.

Day 4: Drove 2.5 hours south to Heidelberg, explored the city, then drove on for another 4 hours to reach Epalinges, Switzerland, outside of Lausanne. Our 2-bedroom Airbnb house was $90/night with onsite parking.

day 5: Drove 45 minutes SW to CERN, west of Geneva. We reserved a free guided tour online  2 weeks in advance – ” to discover the mysteries of the Universe and the work of the world’s biggest physics laboratory.” Parking is available onsite.

Drove to Geneva for lunch and walked around. Drove around Lake Geneva(Lac Leman) stopping in Yvoire and several different cute French villages.

Day 6: Explored the city of Lausanne, had lunch & drove 2 hours NW to a mountain hamlet of Eggiwil where our Airbnb 2 bedroom farmhouse($80/night) was waiting for us.

Day 7: Drove 45 minutes down the hill to visit Bern. Parked the car in the train station garage & walked around.

Bay 8: Drove 75 minutes NE to Lucern, parked the car in a garage, and walked around.

After lunch, we drove 45 minutes NE to Zurich, parked in a garage near the main train station, and walked around.

Drove 50 minutes SE to Netstal, a tiny town where our Airbnb 2-bedroom suite($135) in an artistic house was located.

Day 8: Drove 45 minutes NE to Liechtenstein, took some pictures & had lunch. Drove 2.5 hours NE to Munich. We were supposed to spend the night here, but the Airbnb arrangement did not work out. Thus, we drove on to Bad Abbach, 70 minutes NE.  The Airbnb 2-room suite within a very nice house was $96/night, and the hosts prepared a dinner for a nominal fee.

Day 9: Drove 20 minutes NE to Regensburg, parked the car in a city lot. Walked around and had the famous sausage at the 500-year-old sausage kitchen by the river. Drove back to Bad Abbach & explored the old town area. Had a dip in a hot springs pool.

Day 10: Drove 5 hours NE to reach Berlin. Stayed with friends.

Day 11: Flew out to Oslo.

 

 

 

This trip was in June, 2017, following a 12 night Royal Caribbean northern European cruise on the Vision of the Seas.  It was a round trip cruise out of Amsterdam with stops in several Scandinavian countries, Tallin, Estonia and St. Petersburg, Russia.

Flights to/from Russia were, in general, pricier than standard European flights. Other than that, meals and lodging were pretty reasonable. We could have a nice meal with a pint of beer for under $10pp.

Day 1: Flew to Moscow on Belavia Air via Minsk($155pp). The total flight time, two flights, with a plane change in Belarus, was about 4 hours.  Moscow has 4 airports serving the city and we ended up at ZIA, the newest airport which nobody knew anything about. There was a shuttle bus to the nearest metro station which brought us to the city center. Our Airbnb studio apartment($65/night) was a ten-minute walk from the Kremlin.

Day 2: Walked around the city exploring Red Square and the incredible Moscow subway system.

Day 3:More walking around the city and exploring some museums.

Day 4: Visited Kolomenskoe by public transportation before flying out to Irkutsk on Ural Air(6 hours, $225pp). There’s a 5 hour time difference between Moskow and Irkutsk.  It certainly is a big country.  We stayed with friends in Irkutsk.

Day 5: Walked around Irkutsk

Day 6: Visited the golden trout farm on the Angara River.

Day 7: Did the 10-hour Circum-Baikal Railway. Tickets are gobbled up by travel agencies, and anybody who wants to do this has to buy a package from an agency for about $125pp. We were confused at the train station in Irkutsk as the times shown on the clock and the departure board were nowhere near the correct time.  It finally dawned on us that all the times were Moscow time.  All trains in Russia run on Moscow time.

When we finally left the train, we hopped on the free ferry to Listvyanka & returned to Irkutsk by bus.

Day 8: Tunkinky National Park & Zemchug hot springs. Drove 4 hours in a private car & toured the park. Stayed at a hotel near the hot springs($35/night).

Day 9: Drove back to Irkutsk.

Day 10: Flew back to L.A. on S7 Airlines. (3.5 hours to Seoul(ICN) Airport, then transferred to Korean Air for the second leg. Making the reservation with S7, we paid $520pp, but the ICN-LAX flight sold by Korean Air alone was priced at $600 at the time. Somehow buying from a cheaper airline brought the price down quite a bit.

 

 

 

This was a post-cruise trip in May 2016.  The cruise was a 15 day transatlantic on Royal Carribbean from Ft. Lauderdale to Civitaveccia (Rome) with stops in the Canary Islands and Alicante, Spain.   We rented a 5-seat manual car from the Budget Rental Car office in Civitavecchia. One week’s rental was $225, including a  drop-off charge for returning the car to the Rome Airport(FCO) from Rentalcars.com.

The total housing cost for the two of us was about $300(sharing 2 or 3 bedrooms with 3 other friends.) Rental car + gas + trains = $300. It is hard to eat badly in Italy. We spent about 15-25 Euros per meal per person. Lots of cheap & great wine.

Day 1: After renting the car we picked up two friends in Rome.  We then drove to Anzio where we had lunch & toured the city   We then picked up a third friend at the Rome airport and drove 4 hours north to Farnocchia, a mountain hamlet up the hill from Pietrasanta. Our Airbnb 2-bedroom house($125/night) had a parking lot.

Day 2: Cinque Terre. Drove 40 min. north to La Spezia to get on the train, but we could not find parking. Drove on to Monterosso & parked the car. Got on the Cinque Terre train(10 Euro for hop-on /off all day) and explored the five towns.

Day 3: Drove 1 hour to Portovenere, south of Cinque Terre area and explored that town.

Day 4: Drove 1.5 hours SE to Volterra & explored the city. Drove on for another 2 hours SE to Piazze. Our 3-bedroom Airbnb house($75/night) was right in downtown. Well, it is a small town. Easy parking.

Day 5: Tuscany Towns. Montalcino, Montepulciano, Pienze.

Day 6: Drove around Umbria. Visited Perugia, Todi & Orvieto.

Day 7: Drove SW for 2 hours to the Tarot Garden, a sculpture garden based on the esoteric tarot created by the French artist Niki de Saint Phalle.  Spent the night in Ostia, a town just south of FCO Airport. Walked around the old town area.

Day 8: Flew out to London on Iberia Air($52pp).