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Copper Beech Garden Tours emphasizing design, history and horticulture
in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Holland, Italy and Europe. |
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Travel Tips |
2008 Hampton Court Flower Show and an In-depth Look at the Gardens of Gertrude Jekyll 2009 Gardens of France with The Courson Flower Show & The Chaumont Flower Show |
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The Tours: History, Horticulture & more: |
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Yellow japanned buttercups and star-disked dandelions - just as we see them lying in the grass, like sparks that have leaped from the kindling sun of summer.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., 1841-1935 |
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Passports can take up to eight weeks to receive. Keep yours up-to-date and in a safe location. Make sure the expiration date is at least 6 months beyond the end of your trip; otherwise, have it renewed. Make several copies of the page with your photo and number: leave one with a friend at home; put one in your suitcase. Keep your passport with you at all times. CHASE Bank: Order any of 75 foreign currencies delivered the next business day at http://www.currency-to-go.com. Competitive rates with no exchange fees and pay with Mastercard or Visa card. Order online or call 1-888-CHASE84, extension 2020. THOMAS COOK: http://www.us.thomascook.com allows you to order foreign currency for 98 different countries online. There is a service fee ($5 when ordering up to $500 worth or one percent for more than $500). When you order online, you'll pay an additional minimum delivery charge of $10. Purchase foreign currency BEFORE you leave the country. Do not wait until you arrive in a foreign country to try to exchange your dollars. American dollars (even in traveler checks) are not a substitute for having the appropriate foreign currency and will cost you a premium to exchange. Some airports have "Bureau de Change" kiosks. Hotels in large cities may take your dollars but will charge you a hefty premium. Hotels in villages and small towns likely won't take them at all. The best advice: come prepared. OANDA: See http://www.oanda.com for current exchange rates. OANDA's currency tables can be downloaded to a Palm organizer. Print out the current rate card ("cheat sheet") for the countries you are visiting. Bureau of Consular Affairs (www.travel.state.gov) The USA State Department's site for background information is available on 204 countries. Also infomration on passports, visas, medical information, etc. Getting e-mail while traveling Hotmail's free e-mail service allows you to get and send mail while away from your home computer. TravLang is the most comprehensive, free online service; you can hear words spoken in over 70 languages. Need help translating a site or a phrase? Try Altavista's Babelfish. Book a restaurant, hotel, theatre tickets or restaurant Book2eat.com, Pure-dining.com, epicurious.com, menus.com, where-to-eat.co.uk, toptable.co.uk Hoteldiscount.com, officiallondontheatre.co.uk, whatsonstage.com; albemarle-london.com, londontheatre.co.uk, 24hourmuseum.org.uk, Welcome-2-Europe, zagat.com http://www.accuweather.com, http://www.intellicast.com, http://www.rainorshine.com, http://www.usatoday.com, http://www.weatherplanner.com, http://www.weather.com Webflyer.com, Frequentflier.com http://www.fly.faa.govThe FAA's online Air Traffic Control System Command Center. Magellans Great catalogue of travel items including adapters for your appliances and computers. Carry a facecloth in your hand luggage in a ziplock bag. Most European hotels do not provide wash cloths and you may enjoy freshening up during the flight. Carry a small toiletry bag in your hand luggage. Toothpaste (not currently allowed), toothbrush, comb, washcloth, soap, etc. can refresh you in the middle of a long flight and hold you over if your luggage is temporarily lost. Many European hotels do not have air conditioning, and occasionally there are heatwaves. Even if they have AC, the hotel may turn it off. Pack your clothes accordingly and try to acclimate yourself by doing without AC for a period of time before you leave. "Layering" is a good idea for your clothing. Break in your shoes or hiking boots before you go. Always bring an umbrella, poncho and waterproof footwear. Useful items: 1 small pack per day of facial tissues, 1 pack of cheese crackers per day or every other day, an 8 - 12 oz. plastic bottle of water. Pack efficiently: use 35mm film cannisters for pills (they are watertight), buy small Nalgene“ plastic bottles for shampoo, pack shampoos, contact lens solutions, etc. in ziplock bags (air pressurization during flight can make bottles leak), pack your underwear in large ziplock bags and remove the air before closing. Pack one bag to be checked; on group tours, you are responsible for your carry-on bag at all times. Check with the airline company regarding the weight and size of your checked bag and your carry-on. Restrictions for carry-on luggage are very tight. Bring a medium size cloth bag to pack dirty clothes in. Bring Woolite“ or other cleaner to wash underwear along the way. Bring a small plastic bottle of spot or stain remover such as Zout“. Electricity is different throughout Europe. You may purchase adapters (which adapt the plug to the wall) and convertors (which step up/down the current) for the appliance you are using. Some appliances have built in convertors. Sets of adapters/convertors can be found at Wal-Mart or Radio Shack for less than $20. Be sure that the convertor is rated the same or more than your appliance in watts. For example, if your hair dryer is rated 1000 watts, your convertor should be rated 1000 or more watts. Appliances will burn up within seconds if they are run on the wrong voltage. 120 volts is used in the USA; Europeans use 220 volts in most places. Remember to change the voltage setting (if available) on your appliance when you pack it. Take your own preferred non-prescription drugs. Colds are common in group tours and cough medicines are hard to find. European remedies are very different from American medicines. Keep your prescription medications with you and not in your checked bag. Since 1998, in certain cities, high-powered x-ray equipment has been installed to detect explosive devices in checked luggage. For obvious reasons, you can't know which cities have this equipment. It is 100 times the strength of the units that you pass through on the concourses. Film exposed to these X-rays will be damaged. Do not pack your film in your checked bag for this reason. Keep your film in your hand luggage until you land; carry it in your hand luggage on your flight home. Un-exposed and exposed film will be damaged. Importing plants, books, goods, etc. You are no longer allowed to bring back seed or plants from overseas. To bring back ANY seed or plants, you must have a phyto-sanitary certificate and register with APHIS to obtain a permit. Go to http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/permits/plantproducts.shtml. Fill out Form PPQ 587. Additionally, the plants must not be on the USDA's prohibited list, or the plant(s) will be confiscated by US Customs upon re-entry. Books are educational material and do not count in your duty-free import total ($400 per person). Tax refunds on Value Added Tax (VAT) are available on purchases made by visitors to Britain which can save 10-20%. You must have forms completed (ask for these when you purchase items) and present them and the goods purchased at the airport on departure from the country. We have not used and, therefore, we cannot recommend the companies listed herein. Please exercise the same caution you would when dealing with any new and untried vendor. We want this list to be as useful as possible. Please let us know of other great sites or information that would be of help to travelers. Likewise, let us know when we should remove a listing. Thanks for your participation! |
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All landscape photography, illustration, design, and layout © Linda T. McHam. |
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