I went to an Insight presentation on Tuesday night in at Warrnambool where they presented next year’s tours. I’ve done a tour with them through Spain and last year from Prague to Warsaw via Vienna, Budapest and Krakow, and they were absolutely top notch.
The guy I always travel with has got a full year travel-wise next year, so it had to be something reasonably late in the year. He’s got his daughter’s wedding in Thailand in April, then an old crony invited him on a boat trip along the Canal du Midi in June, and since Essendon will surely be playing Melbourne in the grand final next year, we’ve settled on a 14-day tour of Southern Italy and Sicily starting Oct 5 or Oct 12.
Probably then head to Switzerland for a bit of rail travel for a week or so. Wouldn’t mind dropping into the Cinque Terre for a few days on the way, but the tour finishes in Sicily. Wouldn’t have minded training it from Rome up to Cinque Terre, but it might be awkward. One or t’other, I suppose.
Is anyone from, or has anyone been to, Port Douglas/Palm Cove in late December? The girlfriend and I are thinking of doing NYE in either of those places but we’ve heard conflicting views about the weather in December/January.
My mate did a tour a few months back, and wants to go again. Was thinking of landing in say Zurich, doing the train trip around Switzerland, then heading by train from Geneva to Cinque Terre, then onto Rome for the 14-day tour starting 12/10 next year.
Oh damn, I missed it.
If you are organising the travel yourself, weigh up getting a Swiss travel pass. It doesn’t always work out cheaper for everyone but after doing the calculations we saved approx $320 each over the 8 days of the pass. Some scenic rail journeys are covered by the pass
I will have to check it out.
I just download the SBB app and plot the journey and routes and use a travel website like Expedia to read reviews and then book hotels directly. Switzerland would be the easiest place on Earth to travel around by train, their network is second to none
Will be in Osaka at the start of next month - how would you rate Universal Studios for a 5 year-old (bearing in mind that we’ll also be going to Disneyland in Tokyo the preceding week)?
My kids are 8&10, and they loved it, without taking advantage of the rides for younger kids (snoopy land) or the extreme rides.
It probably wouldn’t be too bad, but as a parent I’d be getting bored, or want to split up so the adults could ride some things.
Getting there early is an absolute must, purchase tickets online and scan at the gate. (This would also be true for Disney, which we might go to before we leave)
We are probably going to do the aquarium tomorrow, which might be better suited to families.
Thanks for this info, but damn! We can deal with the heat, but the rain could put a dampener on our time. Does it rain during the day or usually afternoon/early evening? Or not so predictable?
Summer is the wet/cyclone season so it rains regularly. Usually its heavier at night but get plenty during the day too. Plenty of sunny days too; I guess you just gotta check the forecast and hope for the best.
The temp is usaully low to mid 30s which isnt too bad, but the humidity is brutal. That’s what we mean by ‘hot’.
Took my boy there when he was 5 & the following year when he was 6. He loved the joint - both times (especially the Harry Potter World).
Word of warning, though. There are gazillions of Chinese tourists there & the waiting times for attractions can be horrific. 2-3 hours in some cases. Best bet is to buy one of the fast pass options (in advance), so that you don’t have to waste time standing around all day. Kinda like a priority access pass.
Cheers JR & THT! All things being equal we’ll get to Osaka US on either a Friday or Monday - will that reduce the crowd much (if at all)?
The other thing we’re considering is Legoland in Nagoya - worth a trip?
None of these places (Disney, US, Legoland) are my bag at all - I’ll likely be bored silly since I’m just not a “rides kinda person” - it’ll be purely for the benefit of our 5 year-old.