Trip to Europe & UK

 Was planning on this trip for a long long time.. Finally was able to do it in Oct 2018!

One of the speciality of the trip was that we had traveling members from 4 years to 70 years!!

Lot of challenges from even before start of the trip. Getting multiple visas (UK & Schengen). I got the UK visa on my own though had trouble with adding family members for the same slot in UK visa vfs website. Schengen requires planning the whole itinerary, internal stay & travel booking, insurance, etc. Even missing the middle name can create a problem!

I had checked many of my friends about each of the countries / cities and the travel options. The main attraction was Swiss. Rest all was specific to what we wanted to see. The European cities – Paris, Rome & London have their own charm. Unlike Australia, Europe is full of history and backed by excellent museums. We didn’t go to any Zoo in Europe though. Australian forest and wildlife is completely different from Asia & Europe which makes it very interesting. Also Australians are known for outdoors/adventure and Nelson bay near Sydney gave us some insight into the same.

The dynamism & energy of people in Melbourne may be compared to people in Amsterdam. Though both these cities have good public transport, people choose cycles (Amsterdam) & skateboards (Melbourne) which is pretty cool!!

Paris:

Nice buidings, nice people, great public transport - metros!! We had difficulty opening the metro door as the knob has to be turned or button pressed!

Some of the trains are pretty old and you would be happy to know that Bengaluru has better metro coaches!

We did Notre dame cathedral followed by Ice cream at Amorino. Then we went to the top of the great Eiffel tower! Amazing view of Paris..

Following day, went to Disneyland taking the metro! The ride was nice and reached disneyland in just 40 mins! Disneyland is outskirts of Paris it was interesting to watch the outskirts of Paris sitting in the train..
Some of the rides in Disneyland were down and so there was lot of rush for the other rides. The star wars ride was amazing. My dad & mom who came along had a terrific 2 mins on that ride!! The illumination in the evening closing time was amazing.

Had dinner at Gandhiji restaurant (serves non-veg & alcohol) on our way to our AirBnb home.. The owner was an interesting person and we had a good chat with him!

Next early morning we started with a tour of Sacre-coeur Basilica in Montemarte area. It was pretty close to our AirBnB house. Took a cab and reached in 10 mins. The Basilica is on top of a hill and gives a beautiful view of Paris! There was a real person dressed like a statue and was giving the tourists a nice time!

The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the center of Place Charles de Gaulle, formed by its twelve radiating avenues. The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Friday afternoon traffic: We had to catch the TGV-Lyria train to Basel from Paris. Our taxi got cancelled at the last minute and it took another 20 mins to get one more. We had traffic signals everywhere and by the time we reached the train station, we were late! Luckily we had another train leaving after 2 hours and we could get tickets for the same! Finally, we realized how easy it was to travel in the metro in Paris than traveling in a taxi!

Interlaken, Swiss:

We reached Interlaken late in the evening. We had a nice AirBnB house near the station. Beautiful view outside, we started our first day with the visit to Jungfrajoch! It was a perfect day and we had a great time travelling all the way up! We had lot of Indian travellers in Swiss. We met a lady from Chennai who was traveling with her sister and had toured all around the globe! Jungfrajoch was one of the places that wasn't yet conquered on their list!

Interlaken is a quite town and surrounded by two beautiful lakes - Thun & Brienz. It's a lot of walk and we couldn't finish the entire cave! Later we did Harder kulm which offers a beautiful view of Interlaken and surrounding areas! The cog wheel train was also a beautiful experience.

The next day we went to St. Beatus caves. This is a beautiful cave near to lake Thun!
After St. Beatus caves went to Harder Kulm! After visiting the top, we had lunch there. Here we met a lady from Karachi, Pakistan who started chatting with us.. She was very curious about us and our culture!! Very keen to know if we are vegetarians or not!!

Lucerne, Swiss:

Here we planned to do Mt. Titlis. However due to the rain, we decided to push it to the next day. So instead we did Mt. Pilatus. Scenic views of switzerland all the way till the top! Since it had snowed overnight, we enjoyed some snow at the top!

Mt. Titlis: Very beautiful like the other places.

Chapel Bridge, Lucerne

Lido, Lake shore, Lucerne

Rome:

Colosseum, Roman forum, Trevi Fountain
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican city

London:

Trafalgar square, Westminster, Buckingham palace, Big Ben, London Bridge

Wembley: Went to a relative's place for dinner. Saw the Wembley stadium from a distance!

Slough: Slough is near Heathrow airport and its a nice place away from the city. Visited a friend. Evening we went to Windsor castle!

Edinburgh, Scotland:

Edinburgh castle, St. Giles cathedral, Scottish national gallery

Drive from Edinburgh to Inverness & back:

Pitlochry Dam, Dores beach, Loch Ness, Fort Augustus, Scotland

Snack shack, Dalwhinnie

Amsterdam, Netherlands

City tour (Hop on Hop off)
Westerpark - serene garden with a pool of water where ducks & other birds having some fun in the water!
Cycling on the cycle paths of Amsterdam with my kid at the baby seat was fun!!
Early dinner at Saravana Bhavan - Delicious South-Indian meal in Europe!
On the way back to our hotel, we lost our way and by chance reached the popular "I amsterdam sign" near Rijksmuseum!!

Trip to Southern Australia

 Visited Australia – Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania (Hobart, Launceston) between mid-oct to nov 1st week of 2017. The weather was perfect though some of the places were still bit cold near Melbourne & Tasmania. It was a great experience as we had our friends to help us with the stay & travel. We covered a lot of places by road (Great ocean drive, Tasmania, Nelson bay). Rented Kia Carnival car  as we had kids (Hertz, Budget, Enterprise). Need duck feather jackets with hood to stand the cold in speed boat/cruise, 12 apostles, Mt. Wellington, etc. Use sun-screen during afternoons and in the beach.

Sydney

Sydney has local train connectivity to their airport. Very convenient! You need to buy Opal card to travel in the local train & light-rail. Sydney is the largest city in Australia. I thought Sydney was slightly warmer & weather wise better than Melbourne & Tassie (slightly colder).

Sydney local places to visit:

Sydney harbour bridge & opera house view from park at McMahons Point (evening/night picnic)
Opera house & Royal botanical gardens
Torango zoo (half day)
Sealife Sydney Aquarium
Paddy’s market – It’s a Chinese market to buy souvenir, gifts like magnets, mugs, etc.

Day outing near Sydney around Royal national park:

Royal National Park (Picnic – Lunch)
Wattamolla Beach, Royal National Park
Helensburgh
Sri Venkateswara Temple, Helensburgh NSW

Day trip to Jenolan caves & Blue mountains:

Jenolan caves is huge & amazing. Try to reach as early as possible so you can complete at least 2 guided tours. Exploring the caves on your own is not allowed. Guided tours are available.
Check the timings here so you can plan accordingly. If you reach by 10:30 you could do at least 2 tours.
http://www.jenolancaves.org.au/the-caves/cave-tour-timetable/regular-tour-timetable/
http://www.jenolancaves.org.au/the-caves/buy-tickets/ (You get discount if you buy 2 tours online)

Day trip to Anna bay & Nelson bay:

1. Quad Bike  (if you are young & adventurous)
2. Oakfield Ranch Camel Rides (Anna Bay)
3. Sand boarding (Anna bay)
4. Fingal spit (Nelson bay)
5. Mount Tomaree (Nelson bay)

Canberra (Day trip from Sydney)

Most of the places closes by 4 or 5 pm. So try to start early & sequence the trip so you don’t go randomly from one end to another end
First visit Mount anslie lookout or Telstra tower (To get a view from top)
Then War memorial
Then Parliament
Then Royal Australian Mint museum or Canberra Glassworks or both if you have time

Melbourne:

Melbourne has 2 main airports (Avalon & Tullamarine).
We used Bus (skybus) from Avalon airport to Southern cross (city center).
Melbourne has trams unlike Sydney (new light rail is being developed).
Need to buy Mykie cards for metro train & trams in Melbourne.

Philip Island:

Philip Island – Zoo & Penguin tour. Penguin’s return to the beach around 7 PM. However buy the tickets early or online as sometimes they run out of tickets. The Zoo is interesting with some open space with few Kangaroos, Emu, Wallabies, Koala. You can feed the animals with some food the zoo care-takers provide!

You can find chocolate factory on your way to Philip Island as well as Great ocean drive. The one on Great ocean drive is much bigger & better.

Great Ocean drive:

Best part around Melbourne was Great ocean drive (the beautiful beaches) & 12 apostles and also the Koala reserve. You should do Great ocean drive with 2 days and halting probably in Lorne. Lorne had a beautiful beach & lookout. Need to do enough planning if you want to explore around Lorne. We did a one day tour. We had a slow start due to the rain during the first half.

1. Bells beach
2. Anglesea
3. Golf club to view kangaroos
4. Teddy’s lookout
5. Kennett river Koala across the road & rain forest
6. Twelve Apostles – Awesome

Local Melbourne city tour:

Visit NGV (Art gallery)
Melbourne Eureka tower skydeck is also good to get a view of Melbourne.
Bus tour of Melbourne (not so worth it, but if you don’t have time):
St. Kilda, Brighton beach, Royal Park
Tour of Albert park which is converted to F1 track for the race every year.
Melbourne cricket stadium tour (for cricket lovers).
Walk around to find amazing Graffiti art around the city.
Gopal’s Vegetarian Restaurant, Swanston street.
Also try one of the dessert/ice cream shops in Melbourne. They have some cool flavours.

Tasmania

Most of the places closes by 4 or 5 pm. Especially shops & small eat-outs. Tasmania is a beautiful & less explored of the places. Very scenic & quiet place to relax & enjoy! Hobart & Launceston have their own charm! Very small but beautiful cities. Hobart has the beach while Launceston has Cataract Gorge!

Hobart:

Salamanca market is only open on Saturday from 8am until 3pm. We missed it.
Checkout Sandy Bay, Battery point
Mt. Wellington – don’t miss this. Pretty cold up there. Don’t forget your jackets!
Tasmanian Museum & Art gallery.

Tasman Island cruise & Port Arthur:

Did the Tasman Island cruise whose office is just before Port Arthur Visitor center.
It is a three hour wilderness cruise along the spectacular coastline between Eaglehawk Neck and Port Arthur in southern Tasmania. It has the highest vertical sea cliffs in the Southern Hemisphere at Cape Pillar. You can see the waterfalls, rock formations, archways and deep-sea caves. Also, you can see seals. If you are lucky you can see whales. You can save time by joining the their bus which takes to the actual starting point of cruise near Eaglehawk Neck. You need to call them & confirm if you want to do so.
Port Arthur visitor center – buy the evening ticket (Post 4 or 5pm) which is discounted. It is a historical site & has some few hundred year old prisons and buildings.

We traveled from Hobart to Launceston while stopping over for the night at Scamander/St. Helens area.

Freycinet National Park: This requires 2 days if you have time and traveling in leisure. This is a awesome drive that takes you through more beaches/bays on the eastern coast of Tasmania. Wineglass bay requires a hike & has a nice view. White stretches of sand include the Friendly Beaches. Honeymoon and Sleepy bays form secluded coves. Views from Cape Tourville Lighthouse stretch over the Tasman Sea.

Checkout Pyengana diary for brunch while driving from St. Helen’s to Launceston. Has some nice cheese, milk-shake, ice-cream & diary items you may wanna try!

Launceston:

Reached in the evening as we got delayed in payagna diary farm which is on a turn and no data & also unnecessary detour to northern city
Cataract gorge – half day
James bough tour (2 hours)
queen victoria museum – outdoor echo & radio waves, etc was good

Drive to Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park – involves a long walk around the lake. Has changing geography across the lake.

Driving in Australia for Indian tourists:

Need original license (with info in English) if from India. The traffic rules are the same & are strictly followed. The traffic fines are expensive but with enough preparation & precaution it should be fine.
Carry international forex card for better forex rates.
Good to drive if you have a co-driver especially if it is your first driving experience outside India. You will need a GPS device, especially in Great ocean drive, Nelson Bay & Tasmania as you won’t have mobile network available in some of the remote places. Also GPS device can help you with the speed limits applicable for the roads.
Practice lane driving, following speed limits, reading sign boards.
Pay special attention to crossing path of tram in Melbourne & light train in Sydney.
No U-turns on solid lines. No stopping on roads which doesn’t have parking zone.
Park on the left in the same direction as traffic movement in residential areas and keep enough space around turnings.
Don’t panic if you make a mistake, just halt at the nearest parking spot or on the extreme left side of the road if & only if there is space & if required.
While taking a rented car, check for indicators, windows, wipers, cruise controls if old car. Always insist for a new car.  Check for dents & scratches if it is a old car.