Trip Report, Budapest, Regensburg, Como, Nice, Provence, Dijon, Reims/Epernay, Sep-Oct 25 - Part 1

Part 2
Drove with other couples (two cars, six people since a big van was stupid expensive and really hard to park in France) to Arles, dropped folks at the boat and dropped cars, and walked back to the wharf area.

Avalon river boat cruise (advertised as a wine cruise) was OK - this is a relative term compared with Viking. Most of the crew was Romanian - and hotel manager was Romanian. They were too “quippy”, service was not nearly as good as on the Viking boat - one of the other couples actually complained and left dinner one night. Food not nearly as good. Not as clean. Hotel/food/bar crew just not well managed - and, they may not have had the density of service team to passengers as on the Viking boat. Probably our last Avalon cruise. The tours were pretty good, though with several winery visits that were well done. Wine expert did a nice job. Entertainment one evening was really good with local Spanish flamenco group.

Disembarked the boat in Chalon-sur-Saône. Was trying to find a private tour for the six of us from there to Dijon (about 45 minutes north) with stops at a couple of wineries, but found some pricing that was pretty astounding - like $9000 for two stops, lunch and the van. So, instead walked to train station and trained to Dijon - arrived, walked to BB, dropped bags in time on big market day to hit the Halles de Dijon (https://whereisthemarket.com/market/dijon-market-hall-france/) - lots of fun with great lunch outside the market at one of the MANY great little restaurants. We usually pick up bread, cheese, meats, wine, etc at the markets and have snack dinners with this group. One of the couples departed the next morning. We stayed an extra day with the remaining couple and had wonderful evening fun at their apartment (the largest of ours) with remnants of our wines, meats, pâtés, cheeses, specialty liquors left from the various locations that could not make it back home.

We walked next morning to train station (seems odd not to call it "la gare"!), headed to Reims via Strasbourg to get to the TGV. Quick trip to Champagne-Ardennes TGV where our incredible manager for the great apartment picked us up - unasked - refused money! That night walked Reims (big town). Toured two champagne houses next day - lots of fun, but way too much marketing for what is simply sparking wine (opinion). Second full day did day trip to Epernay, touring the enormous and incredible architecture cathedral in Reims (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims_Cathedral) on the walk to la gare in Reims, walked the champagne blvd in Epernay, but skipped the highly marketed champagne houses. Instead had stupendous lunch in small cafe with champagne.

The same incredible host insisted on taking us back to the Champagne-Ardennes TGV gare the next day, 35 minutes to CDG in Paris, quick walk inside Terminal 2 to the CDGVAL tram which dropped us at the stop to walk three minutes to the Marriott Resident Inn. Left next morning for home.

Part 3
Lessons Learned
1 Trains are great! Understanding the process is a bit daunting initially, but online access allows a lot of “what if” opportunity for best routing. Between countries is sometimes obscure due to different companies and countries - example: Regensburg to Como appeared to be very expensive, but an online source said to buy two separate tickets - one from Regensburg to Chiasso (Deutsche Bahn), and another from Chiasson to Como (Trenitalia). While a short train strike ruined this flow, the cost was less than 1/2 vs a complete single ticket. Investigate and play with the options! There are sometimes “specials” that are absurdly inexpensive. (Ex: Italy two years ago from Monopoly to Rome was €40 for two of us in 1st). I usually reserve from the national line in the host country - this gets potentially confusing as one can reserve from SBB or DB in most cases - DB seemed to have a more transparent website. Load all the apps! 1st class usually only differed in number of seats across - 1+2 in 1st, with 2+2 in 2nd. We tried to reserve in 1st on the 1 side with seats across a table. Electrical outlets always worked, and on some routes there was wifi in 1st. Some trains did not have 1st, but 2nd class was always fine when we took it. No issues ever with thieves onboard. About 25% of the trips we didn’t even have tickets checked. I tried printed QRs, app QRs, and Apple phone QRs … all worked fine.

2 Renting cars is easy. While Europcar was more difficult to deal with than Budget (our usual), it was fine - more stringent on check out times, and many return locations are not open during lunch hours. Check the car over carefully - take photos/videos of every side, front, back, roof, hood, wheel, etc … leave nothing to chance. Ex: our traveling buddy rented his from Europcar and it was a nice Dacia. When he dropped it in Arles, they found the thin antenna missing from on top of the pod on the roof … $400 (he is still fighting it, “who checks the roof on a rental car?". We used our Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card imbedded collision/damage insurance vs buying with Europcar - Chase provided us with a letter which wasn’t necessary, but was there JIC. All rental cars in EU supposedly have built in liability insurance, so your choice as to whether to add more. Check your car’s basic fluids - ours had an oil light illuminate on day two - it was 1.5 liters low on oil - and it only holds 4 liters! Oh yeah, I got an International Drivers Permit (IDP) from AAA (the ONLY way - silly and near criminal since all they do it look at your drivers license), but it was not requested by Europcar - a true anachronism that AAA should disengage from - although it is not clear what business AAA is actually in.

3 Learn some of the language - it isn’t hard and it shows you care! I know it hurts the ears of the native speakers, but they know you are trying and appreciate it. Always hello, good day, please etc - especially in France!

4 Avoid tourist locations - yeah, I know you need to got to Rome, Paris, London, Berlin, etc once - and they are wonderful - but, the little towns are incredible! Everyone, BTW, was really nice, kind and helpful - we had zero negative personal interactions.

5 Like some, we look for ways to optimize our bucks - Chase Sapphire Reserve has a pretty slick reselling system for flights. But, you need to look at it every day to see if you notice patterns of which flights they have been allocated by the airlines. Our flights were on points - and, with some standing with United, we were able to get seats in economy plus online. Check who the carrier is - for instance, Lufthansa could be the carrier for a United flight - and, I know it sounds odd, but Lufthansa ain’t what it used to be.

Part 4
6 Pack light - transitioned to the smaller Euro roll ons three years ago (low end TravelPro MaxLite 5)- waaaay easier to get onto trains, to carry, to roll over cobblestones, etc. Just carry fewer items and wash clothes when you need to do so. We find the compression cubes (TRIPPED brand) to be outstanding - both for space efficiency and organization - multiple trips and not even a rip or thread coming loose). We both also carry a backpack - requirements were that it must actually hold quite a bit (45 L - a bit large, but can be strapped and crushed enough to fit under an airline seat), have multiple compartments, not fall over when placed on the ground, have a strap on the back to fix over the roller handle - ours also had a hidden compartment in the back, glasses holder areas, water bottle side areas, and inside connection for a spare battery with cable fit to an outside connector - less than $30 - these have been on three extended vacations with no apparent damage. Split meds between roller and backpack JIC. We also carry a small, very lightweight (tiny when crushed) backpack for day trips - water, jackets, shirts, etc).

7 Booking.com vs direct. Almost all hotels, and a lot of B&Bs, small apartments, etc have their own websites - and you can usually get a better price going direct. Booking.com fees are beginning to anger owners and managers, so we could be on the cusp of some changes. I usually scan with booking.com, then look more broadly for better deals.

8 ATM fees - almost everything is via credit card/phone app, but there are some exceptions, so ATMs are necessary - we usually carried around €400. Check online to see which ATMs are reputable wherever you are - major banks are usually best. Fidelity’s debit card worked well and Fidelity reimburses any fees. Always let your debit card company establish the exchange rates - do not use the exchange rate the ATM shows you locally.

Part 5 (last)
9 Places to go back to: Vienna (busy, but so full of history, museums, art, music), Wachau Valley, Regensburg, lots of smaller towns in France and Germany and Austria.

10 Telephone - we had Verizon and they charged an $10 per day for use out of the US. Switched to T-Mobile which works without any additional purchase plan. It also offer 5GB of high speed data in most European countries. They also have add on plans for $50 for 30 days. I did not sign up for the add on this time - as it turned out I could not tell the difference once I ran out (my wife’s phone didn’t). So, maybe not getting the high speed to start with T-Mobile, then adding if you must while on the trip. If an issue with use of data via cell, simply turn the cell off - use only when in a location with wifi - a lot of folks do this.

11 Travel Insurance - not the same as medical insurance. We had a sufficient amount of this by purchasing tickets through Chase Travel with Chase Sapphire Reserve card.

12 Medical Insurance - after much discussion and research, purchased an annual plan from GeoBlue - cheap and sufficient. No, it will not medieval you from Vienna to your home hospital, but no one would do that in Europe, anyway. It will get you to closest reputable hospital - obviously depends on what is wrong.

13 Electrical stuff - be careful with anything with resistance heat when using a direct plug changer - this type simply routes the local power - it does not convert it to 110V. We use a “block” with three different alternative plug types and 3 USB A and 3 USB C outputs.

Thanks so much for the detailed report! We were in some of the same areas in April & May, and loved the small towns in Provence. Question -- what is the brand/style of the backpacks you selected? Sure sounds like something I could use!

Hi, these were cheap, but tough ... 35L maybe even 40L of this brand would be good if had same stuff, but we tried 10 different ones ... liked these best of those. I could not spend $200 for a backpack 😇

https://www.amazon.com/Backpack-Waterproof-Business-Backpacks-Charging/dp/B07YFV1ZSJ?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1

Thank you for sharing your trip report, George! It sounds like you had a nice variety of places to enjoy in multiple countries. I do like the smaller, less touristy cities, also.

I got an International Drivers Permit (IDP) from AAA (the ONLY way - silly and near criminal since all they do it look at your drivers license), but it was not requested by Europcar - a true anachronism that AAA should disengage from - although it is not clear what business AAA is actually in.

So is AAA now setting policy in European countries that technically require it? Like Austria and Italy?

I am so happy you enjoyed.