Some additional Europe suggestions needed

MamaBear904 · October 2012

FI and I would like to visit London and Paris for our honeymoon in May and would love any suggestions you ladies have regarding the following:

1) Apartment Rentals - what sites / agents did you use? What area did you stay and of course, did you love it?

2) Airfare - what sites did you use for finding good rates on airfare? I've already tried expedia, bing searches, and kayak.

3) Travelling within and between cities. What methods did you use to travel within and between cities? Did you just buy passes when you got there or did you buy them in advance?

Any other info would be appreciated!

monkeysip · October 2012

I have no specific Paris or London advice, but for FI's and my flight to Italy next year, we've been tracking airfare prices using Yapta. It compiles other travel sites' info and tracks it over time. (Unfortunately, our flights have jumped up a lot higher lately. I don't know if in general international airfare is increasing)

We've found it helpful, but I don't know if anyone has any more specific info for your locations.

Have fun! Sounds great!

jemali_2003 · October 2012

My husband and I went to London and Paris with my family last summer and stayed in apartments in both cities. We used Airbnb.com. They are really good and you can read reviews and e-mail the landlords. In London, we stayed near the Warren Street underground station. It was a perfect location. A 5 minute walk to the underground, grocery store, Pret de Manger sandwich shop, bus stations, and pubs on almost every corner. The area was really nice and clean. We would walk around at night and feel safe.

When we went from London to Paris, we took the train through the Chunnel. We purchased the tickets before we went, but I know you can do it there as well. The first time I went to London, about 6 years ago, I bought my train ticket at the train station, but it cost more because it was in pounds. We took the train from St. Pancras station straight into Gare de l'est in Paris.

In Paris, we stayed in the 10th district. It was about 10 minutes from both gare de l'est and gare de nord and not the best place to stay. The apartment we stayed in was really nice, but it wasn't in the best area. The streets smelled like urine and there were people sleeping on a mattress outside at the end of the block. The first time I went to Paris I stayed in the 18th district near Sacre Coeur and it also wasn't a very clean area, but it seemed safer.

I might suggest going to Paris first because Paris and London are so different. London is VERY clean, people wearing suits and formal gowns are taking the underground, while Paris is very dirty. The metro stations smell like urine, are dark and dirty, and there are gypsies that get on the trains and are bombarding you at all major tourist attractions.

As for airplane tickets. We looked at different flights through kayak, but then booked through the actual airlines.

dazyabbey · October 2012

jemali_2003 had some great advice but I will add to it.

We were on our honeymoon just 4 months ago and did a London/Paris honeymoon. We ended up booking our trip through EuropeanDestinations.com . Many of the woman on here suggest apartment rentals to cut down on costs and to save money but we didn't want to cook or clean or do anything on our trip. Plus you end up having to pay a deposit as well. It all depends on your preferences. I also put a high importance on having breakfast at the hotel in the morning. It saves me money and less hassle and you just get up, get some food and go. It made things awesome. If you are set on an apartment the Trip Advisor forum for London and Paris they are both great at giving suggestions for specific apartments and can give you a better idea of what areas and regions are best.
One of the first things that we decided when we got engaged almost two years before our wedding was our honeymoon location. I had a lot of planning and pricing out done and had months of research. I did the pricing by myself and ended up getting a better deal through that website. Overall it depends on what you want tp spend and how you want your honeymoon to turn out.
For the Eurostar the earlier you book your tickets the cheaper they will be. They usually allow tickets to be booked 120 days ahead of time although they allow US people even earlier a lot of the times. If you book any tours or anything make sure you pay for them in Pounds not in USD.

I loved going to both cities. I thought that I would love Paris a lot more then London but it was the exact opposite. Paris to me was very disappointing. I think you should still go for sure. It wasn't this awesome romantic beautiful place like they say, it was, it was dirty, dingy, gross and so incredibly crowded. We went to Versailles one day and there were so many people in there it was not even close to enjoyable. They should limit the amount of tickets sold but instead they were more interested in making money and profiting then making the experience enjoyable. It kind of put a huge damper on the entire idea of Versailles and how gorgeous and historic it was. (just my 2 cents)...

We had a great time though. One of my favorite things to do was ride the subway and figure out the lay of the land in both Paris and London. London was great though because they have this Days Out Guide that if you use the subway you can get 2 for 1 admission into a ton of different places. Linkey here! We used this on a lot of things.

Hopefully that helps a little bit. If you have any questions or anything let me know. I would love to help in any way that I can.

Lisa50 · October 2012

Have you asked your travel agent for suggestions?

freebread03 · October 2012

I use Vayama for European travel. We have also always found great guesthouses on hostelbookers.com (not just hostels here--really nice guest houses)--unfortunately I can't suggest anything that rents apartments specifically.

hz80408 · October 2012

Hi MamaBear! You were debating on Paris or Dublin with London, right?

We visited London and Paris earlier this year. For apartment rentals we used vrbo.com and homeaway.com. We had good experiences at all of the apartmetns we stayed at.

To track flights, we used yapta.com, After 5 wks over tracking and seeing the trend, one day our flights dropped by $100/each. I booked that day and the flights went up the next and continued to rise. Watch the prices like a hound! We paid $899 for direct flight to Amsterdam and out of London (so it was open-jaw/multi-city).

To travel from London to Paris; you'll want to take the chunnel. It's fast and convenient. To travel in a particular city, we used public transit or walked. In Paris we took the metro everywhere. We found it easiest to buy a 10-pack of passes at a time. Each pass is valid for a certain amount of hours so you can usually get away with only using 1 or 2 passes a day. The rapt (Paris' public transit) site has a trip planner that we found really helpful when we wanted to use the bus or to consider how long it'd take to get somewhere: http://www.ratp.fr/en/ratp/r_61595/finding-your-way-in-paris/

Here is our experience in Paris: http://shineisntalwaysshimmer.blogspot.com/search/label/Paris

For London, we stayed outside of the city and used National Rail to come into the city; which gave us unlimited tube/bus passes (you can always get an oyster card for this). We found the bus system really easy to navigate, so instead of shelling out tons of pounds to pay for a double decker bus tour; we hopped on the public double decker bus for free. Here's our London (/England) expiernce, with more to follow: http://shineisntalwaysshimmer.blogspot.com/search/label/England

MamaBear904 · October 2012

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! Yes, I was the one debating Dublin versus Paris and Paris won! Though we do plan on spending more time in London than Paris. From your suggestions, this weekend we found two amazing apartments through VRBO and plan on booking them as soon as we finalize our flights (which is sitting around $1400 each and we're hoping to see at least a little bit of a drop soon so we can book our flights).

The apartment in London comes with an Oyster pass that the owner simply asks that we replenish to its existing balance. We are definitely the type to stay away from the suuper touristy stuff and just enjoy people watching, strolling the streets and taking it all in.

Keep the suggestions coming! I love hearing about everone's experiences!

hz80408 · October 2012

YAY Mama! Sounds like you're on a roll and giong to have a great HM. I need to finish blogging about our time in England and when I do, I'll post

Some additional Europe suggestions needed

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