Itinerary Draft

During the term break, my sister and I worked on our itinerary. We began with our arrival in the UK and wrote a ‘brief’ so that we could co-ordinate every booking that needed to be made.

Budget offered the best deal for a car, so that was our first step. The only difficulty I had was deciding from which terminal we would collect the car when we arrived. The Budget site was not helpful in this regard. I guess that it would be too much to ask that the airline or the airport would have this information so far ahead. I checked online for a map of Heathrow and decided that it wouldn’t matter too much, that they are all fairly close together, so I just chose one (eliminating Terminal 4, which is further away) and nominated a time that should allow us to get through customs and to the pick-up point in plenty of time without rushing.

We could have chosen to pay later, but it was more economical to pay in advance. There was a slight extra charge for the privilege of returning the car to a different airport (Gatwick) but worth it. There will be extras to pay for when we get there – such as a GPS, WiFi, fuel in advance for return of the car, etc – but the basic charge is done and dusted. I also went online to check the price of fuel in the UK so I could factor this into our budget.

The next step was booking a hotel for our first night’s stay. We arrived at Heathrow mid-afternoon, and although I have never experienced jet lag (I can sleep anywhere, anytime), my sister might be another story. We chose Oxford because it’s on our way west, and it’s not too far away from the airport. I tried a few different sites but found that booking.com was the best for the short stays we plan for places in the UK. Signing up at booking.com gave us access to special deals and so we planned where we would travel to each day and booked a hotel in those vicinities. Most of them gave us the option to pay now, or later. We chose to pay some now, and some later (with a guaranteed rate in British Pounds), to spread the risk of the Australian Dollar falling or rising against the British Pound. Some include breakfast, others do not but they do offer it on the day, so I built this into our budget too.

For our last few nights bar one in the UK, we wanted to be close enough to London to take a train there to see the sights. Before booking that hotel, I checked the maps of trains the cost of train tickets and the timetable to London, and factored that into our budget as well.

Our last night in the UK needed to be close to Gatwick and booking.com listed a hotel that is connected to the terminal we need by a covered walkway. Perfect.

A detailed Itinerary was my last step for the UK section of our trip. This lists each step of our stay there, from times, distances to travel, and places paid in advance, and those that will need to be paid for when we arrive. At the same time, I added details to our budget.

Next step, Italy.

More of our To Do List

Today, I organised our 'to do' list. I cannot work efficiently without lists to keep me on track so I have lists of what needs to be done, with deadlines for each. I also have lists of what to take, what to pack, what to carry and so on. This all might seem a bit over the top, but it's the way I work best. It's 4 months until we leave but I know how quickly time passes and how anxious I would be if I left all these things until the last moment. Besides, a lot of the fun of travel is in the planning.

I've begun an accommodation 'wish list' on www.airbnb.com.au that my sister can add to and I will monitor that site for a few weeks before we make our reservations. This is where my carefully plotted itinerary will be needed because I've planned where we will be on which days so we don't have to worry about a bed on any of the nights we will be in the UK. Italy is a little easier, because we will be staying for the bulk of our time in Florence.

While I continue to look at accommodation, my sister is undertaking some research for our power needs. I generally don't travel with any applicances that need power, but we will both be taking our iPads, which need charging every day, and she has a digital camera, so we need power plugs that will accomodate USB charging in both countries, as well as a plug for her camera.

Do we need a phone while we are away? It would be a good idea to have one, for emergencies, but for contact with family while we are away, face-time and email should suffice. Using a phone out of Australia can incur high costs. I remember my first trip to Paris, back in the 90s when mobile phones were new. Someone called me from Australia and we had a lovely long chat. It wasn't until I returned home that I discovered that even though they had called me, I paid for the cost of the call from Australia to France! Later, for my long stays in the UK and Italy I purchased a cheap mobile phone in the UK, sent my UK mobile phone number to my family and friends, and used that phone while I was away. I ditched the phone when I returned home.

That was some years ago and things may have changed, so my sister is going to research this as well, along with the best way to use our iPads. We will need to be able to access the internet from wherever we are and while I will only book accommodation in places that have wireless internet available, there will be times when we are out and about that we will want or need access.

Accessing funds is another area that needs some research. I used a mix of options for my last time away, and I'd like to know if that is still the best way to go. Will it be more economical to use ATMs to withdraw from savings, or would debit or credit cards be better. Each option has some charges and I want to be clear about what these are, and how much extra we can expect to pay. We will also need to decide how much cash we want to take with us.