Hot Tips for Travel Overseas

I want to share with you a couple of hot tips and just some things that made our life a little easier while we were on our vacation in London and Loire Valley.  

1.  Buy your foreign currency from the bank.  You need about a 3 day notice, but our currency was delivered to the bank the next day.  You want to exchange at your bank because they don't charge you a fee which can be a percentage of the money you are exchanging and they give you the lowest rate.

2.  Buy as many things as you can here before you leave in US Dollars.  This also saves you a lot of money in exchange fees and fluctuating values.  I buy a lot of day trips, theater tickets, rail tickets, metro tickets, Disneyland Paris tickets etc. here before I leave.  Saves me at least 30%.  Sometimes the price is the same in US Dollars as in Euros and that saves you even more.  I buy from Things To Do in expedia and from the attraction's website depending on the offers.  

3. Use your credit card benefits to your advantage.  The American Express Platinum offers no exchange rate fee on purchases overseas.  This saves you 3% immediately.  This card allows use of Airport VIP lounges, best exchange rate, upgrades at hotels including things like free wifi, room upgrade etc.  Also, this card gives you insurance on a rental car, FREE, when used to rent the car.  The insurance can be almost as much as the rental itself if purchased separately.  This card came in handy with our rental car this trip.  While turning onto a narrow street in France, there was a car in the middle of a very small lane and we had to quickly move to the side of the street thus scrapping the rim of the mercedes we rented.  Since we paid with the American Express, they covered our bill of 850 Euros we were charged by the rental company.  Whew!

Band-Aid blister packs - Heel and Toe

4.  I don't care how comfortable your shoes are, if you wear them for hours and hours walking all over the place, they are going to rub your skin and might give you a blister.  I carried these blister bandaids  in my purse and when I started to get a blister on my toe and one on my heel, I just applied the bandaid and I never felt them again.  They stick really well and provide a lot of cushion which is better than just a good old bandaid.  

Garmin

5.  Driving through the highways and backroads of France would have been a nightmare without the Garmin.  It got us out of the confusing big highways of Paris and navigated us through the tiny back roads and highways in the countryside.  The roads are not marked very well in the country and can be confusing.  We were never lost with the Garmin.  We downloaded a map of Europe before we left and what a lifesaver.  To find where you want to go, you can input and address or just the name of the place, restaurant or airport where you are going.  Worked like a charm. 

6.  Carry Change when driving in Europe.  There are a ton of toll roads so make sure you have cash on hand to pay the tolls.  It costs us 19 Euros to drive the A10 when driving from Paris to the Loire Valley and when we went to Mont. St.-Michel.

7.  Have a plan but be flexible with your schedule.  Because I buy somethings here, we have to set dates to do certain things i.e. Matilda on Monday night, but leave some days open for fun things that come up or just to rest and explore nearby.  

8.  Keep a snack in your purse and carry a water bottle.  When you are out walking all around visiting different sights, sometimes its hard to find a place to eat.  If you have a small snack, it will tide you over until you are free for dinner. 

I'm sure there are many more that I haven't thought of, but these are the ones that have served me well.