Michael's Weblog

Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall: Europe Travel

What time of year is the best for a trip to Europe? That's a question many people have. They see the low costs of traveling in the Winter time, but weather is certainly a question mark. Spring and Fall seem to be good times, lower prices than summer and better weather than winter. Summertime gives you the best chances for good weather and assurance that most if not all the sites will be open, but it also costs the most and crowds can be a problem.

So, is there no answer to the question? I would say it depends on what you want from a european vacation. In addition, it depends greatly on your budget. I have travelled throughout Europe in all seaons. I have even been to Ireland, Scotland and the Scandinavian countries in Winter. I have been on the Riveria in the summer. Paris in the fall; Berlin in the summer and London in the spring. I have pleasant and unpleasant experiences during all of them.

My goal here is not to answer the question, but to give you reason why to go and not to go to specific locations during specific seasons.

Spring: Spring is a great time to travel to Europe. People are relatively friendly in the big cities. They haven't yet been worn out by the summer crowds. Many of the sites that are closed during the off-season are beginning to open their doors. The weather in the Mediterranean areas is good (while still not hot). Sun is coming out more and more often in the northern countries. I like to go to the big cities during spring. Every time I travel to Europe these days, you can find me less and less in those big cities. I enjoy Europe for its culture and tradition. The big cities are becoming more and more Americanized and I prefer to go to the smaller cities to avoid this trend. However, if I am going to the big cities, spring is the only time of year to go.

Summer: The weather throughout Europe is best during the Summer months. It can still be rainy and cool in Ireland, Scotland and such other northern countries. It can be too hot and muggy in the southern countries, yet, overall, if warm-hot weather is needed for you to enjoy yourself, you need to travel to Europe in the summer. Personally, I try to stay out of the touristy areas during the summer. You can see more, experience more and live more in the small out of the way villages and towns. Keeping away from Burger Kind and McDonald's is almost impossible these days, but it is these small cities that give you the best chance at it.

Fall: Fall is good for concentrating on those countries that are not inundated with tourists during the summer months. It's also a decent time to visit the bigger cities (if you don't mind many of the tourist sites closed). One thing surprising is that Thanksgiving Weekend is a huge shopping day throughout Europe even though it's not a holiday anywhere there (especially in England where Harrod's is always a madhouse the day after thanksgiving). The weather in northern Europe can be cool, but still fairly mild. It also rains more.

Winter: If you're looking for deals, Winter is your season. Almost every year, there are fantastic deals to some European destination. I went to Ireland once for $400 including almost everything (car, hotel, airfare from LAX!, full breakfasts and discounts at sites). The northern climes are cold and rainy. The southern countries are not much better. Being outside for long stretches of times isn't usually comfortable anywhere in Europe (unless of course you like to ski). However, if you're a museum and theatre fan, Europe can be great during the Winter. Shows can be found for cheaper. Museum are far less crowded. It's a great time to spend really getting to know Le Louvre and Le Musee D'Orsay. Some of my favorite times in Europe are during the Winter.

I will talk more about Europe and the seasons in future blogs.

Thanks for reading.

Online sites advantages/disadvantages

When I first started traveling on my own nearly 20 years ago, there were only two real options for booking travel: book it yourself by calling hotels, car rentals agencies and airlines or have a travel agent do it. Back then travel agents had a bad rap in that many considered them a luxury that only those with extra money used. In truth, a good travel agent could find deals and packages that saved money at any level. Mind you not all travel agents are good ones, nor even are most of them. Yet, once you found a good agent that knew your tastes and comfort levels in both physical and monetary matters, they could be a time and money saver for you.

I worked for a travel agency for over six years. I saw the good agents and the bad agents and all those in between. We tried our best to keep the good ones and allow the bad ones to learn how to improve or send them on their way. As always, it wasn't easy finding good employees, but we had a few. I left that agency before the real internet boom. I got them online and started to achieve success in getting business through the site. However, it wasn't until about a year or two later that online travel sales really took off. This caused two problems with a good agency. First, people, more than ever, thought they could do a better job of finding deals than a travel agency and thus could save money looking on their own. Second, the travel related businesses started to drop commissions on bookings. They started by reducing the amounts and now some offer no commission. They thought selling on the internet directly to the customer was cheaper and easier than paying an agency. So, agencies had to start charging fees that so many thought all had been charging all along.

So, for those that do still see benefit in both time and money savings in using a travel agency often find that they really only save time. Sure, the good agencies can still do the work for you and, in the end, you might find yourself getting deals you would never have found before. Thus, saving both time and money. Yet, if you are the diligent type and put some work into it, you can find those same deals. It becomes an issue of how much is your time worth.

So, you might ask. What am I saying here? Don't use travel agents unless you're lazy or don't have the time to spend looking? Not exactly. I still think travel agencies provide benefits that can save people both time and money. With the proliferation of travel sites comes the increase in scams and those just plain bad at what they do. It's difficult to know whether a site is legitimate or not. Going to a travel agency having them book the deal may cost some small amount extra, but if the deal is that good, a small amount may be worth it for the peace of mind. Also, a good travel agency can be a help in solving problems with a travel related business if things do go wrong even with legitimate businesses (as does happen from time to time).

I can't say I always go with a travel agency. I do my share of searching the internet for deals. I also book some of my travel online. Yet, I often find myself going into a travel agency with a trip planned for them to book. It is a rare case that they actually find a better deal for me, but it does happen. I usually pay them something extra to book it, even though I've done much of the work. But staying in touch with a regular agent who knows me and my travel likes and dislikes has more than once saved me the problems of finding out a trip did not go as well as I had planned. Now, a travel agency does not guarantee that the trip will go well, but one that knows you can help improve your chances.

Trip to San Francisco

Well, we just got back from a week in San Francisco. We had good time, even though we did not have enough time for much site-seeing. The trip was part business and part pleasure. First and foremost, we went in order to attend our first Macworld Expo, which was very exciting. I have been a Mac user since 1985 and this is my first chance to attend this event. If you'd like to read more about that, you can go to my Computer category. I will have some details and impressions of the event. Suffice to say that our first three days or so we spent attending the conference. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott. It was a nice hotel, were treated very well and was relatively near the Moscone Center (where the Macworld Expo occurred).

The second night, we ate at an Indian restaurant: New Delhi. For over seven years, I worked for a family which owned an Indian restaurant in Minneapolis (The Jewel of India), so I whenever I get the chance I try to eat at good Indian restaurants (and have yet to find one that compares in quality of food). New Delhi had good food and very good service. The waiter staff were attentive, but not obnoxiously so. The food was definitely spicy (not bland as so many places in the US tend to keep the spices down). However, the quality of the meat (especially the Lamb) was not as high as I would like. It was a little tough and not as flavorful and I would have expected. Still, the surroundings were pleasant and the presentation of the food was good. Most of the restaurant was empty (we ate early) and it was a little annoying that they tried to keep all the patrons in one small area of the restaurant, so despite the fact that there were only five or six groups eating while we were there, we were all within a table or two of each other.

On Saturday afternoon, we ate at an Irish Pub near the hotel: Johnny Foley's Irish House. I had Bangers and Mash, while my wife had some appetizers. The food was very good and the wait staff took good care of us. I have had Bangers and Mash in numerous places throughout the world, this was definitely in the top tier. They claim to have the best Bloody Mary in the city. At $7.50 a glass, it should be pretty good. It is my wife's favorite drink. She enjoyed it, but said it wasn't a $7.50 Bloody Mary. It was crowded at lunch time, perhaps somewhat due to the NFL playoffs, but I would highly recommend it to anyone that likes the Irish Pub atmosphere and food.

As far as the rest of the week, we mainly ate at fastfood places.

We took a cruise on the Blue and Gold shipping fleet. The trip was interesting and well done. I enjoyed the narrative of the Golden Gate Bridge as well as Alcatraz. We took a lot of pictures. We were lucky enough to be there on a day in January when it was sunny. It rained most of the week while we were at the Expo, but remained very nice while we did our site-seeing.

We did have two problems with the public transportation while we were in San Francisco. Before I get into those, I must say the BART system was very well done. Even for a first-time user, I was easily able to make my way into the city from the airport. Easy to buy tickets, figure out where I was going and when I needed to get off. The bus system was another matter altogether. On Friday, we took a bus to a meeting I had in the northwest part of the city. We took a 30 line and it suddenly stopped in mid route and we were told that it was the end of the line, despite the fact there was still a distance to go in the route. It was not only us that were quite surprised by this, but also the others on the bus. We were told to wait for the next 30 to come along and take that. While it ended up not being a huge hassle it was quite annoying.

The real problem with the bus happened on Saturday. We took a bus to the Exploratorium (again taking a 30 and despite our worries it got us there). Then, we went in search of a 29 to take us down to Lincoln Park and the second stop of our journey that day. We walked for about a mile along it's supposed route without seeing a single bus go by us. We finally found a marked stop for the 29 and stood there to wait. A half an hour went by and a bus passed us going the opposite direction. Another half hour and another goes by. We called the muni help line and were told the buses come by every half hour. Since it had already been an hour since waiting and almost an hour and a half including the walk to get there, we were skeptical to say the least, but we decided to wait a little longer. When no bus came over the next ten minutes, we called them back. They told us a bus would be coming any minute. Another ten minutes and a third bus went by going the other way. We called and verified we were in fact in the right place and that a 29 should be coming. They checked and said a bus would be leaving a stop in ten minutes and it would get to us five minutes after that. We were out in the middle of the Presidio with a choice between walking for miles or trying to wait again, so we waited. Twenty minutes later and no bus, we called back and were told a bus just went by us. Now, I can agree to the fact I might miss seeing somethings in my surroundings, but a public bus going right by me is not one of them. While talking with various people from the complaint department, a fourth 29 came from the other direction, so we crossed quickly and got on that. We travelled on it to it starting point (only a couple blocks from where we started our walk originally). We told the driver of our problems and he confirmed buses should have been going by that stop. So, instead of getting off, we stayed on to go back the other way and see what route he took. Thirty minutes of waiting and then driving went by before the bus went right by where we had been standing for over two hours. I called the complaint department and told them of my entire experience again. They said they would make an investigation of why the drivers were not following their whole route correctly, as if this were a regular occurrence. They also said I would be getting a call to find out why happened with the investigation. So, over two hours in the San Francisco January cold waiting for a bus and I might hear back to find out why. Sounds somewhat unsatisfying.

So, there's a little on my trip to San Francisco. The City Pass was an excellent purchase, even if we didn't use it for transportation as much as I had thought we might. But we did use it to see a couple museums and the boat ride in the Bay.

Welcome to Michael Reiland's Travel Blog

Welcome to everyone who is new to this Blog (those that are new since this is the first entry as well as those who are reading this to catch up from where I began).

I have been traveling the world for over twenty years. I have been on five out of the seven continents, however, most of my travel have been to Europe. I hope to convey a variety of things through this blog. I would like to give hints and tips for those that enjoy traveling, or those who might not enjoy it but must travel because of their job. I also will talk about my own experiences as I travel the world. I look forward to hearing from anyone who might like to comment on my comments and those who have found my words helpful (or not so helpful whatever the case may be).

Thanks for joining my on this journey.