I don’t know how people plan their travel, is it random pick? , suggestions or just exploration. My way is mixture of all, some logic, some suggestion and then what i feel like :).
I was going to visit London for a business trip and when it comes to Europe i don’t miss out on opportunities. I planned a vacation after my business trip and now it was time to decide which country to explore.
I knew one thing for sure that i will be taking Eurostar from London to reach the other side of Europe rather than flying:). I love travelling Europe by train and had not travelled by Eurostar, so was going to evaluate it this time. Now this reduced my options to western Europe as going to far away places would means too much train travel. I had been to France and Netherlands earlier, so it was time to explore something else may be Belgium ….Germany…Switzerland?? And i started my search and started reading and jumped on to forums. Switzerland was going beyond budget just too expensive for 1.5 week trip and as i read more, the word Rhine Valley kept on coming again and again. And more discussions on forums and flight connections for return flight shaped up a trip to Rhine Valley travelling from Dusseldorf to Cologne and then to Frankfurt. I don’t have a reason for leaving Belgium out, just Germany appealed more but people have highlighted that Brussels is a beautiful city, so i have added to my list.
As trip was spanning across almost 11 days, now i had to decide how many days to spend where. Frankfurt was going to get least days as its a big city but Dusseldorf/Cologne are always at loggerheads and people are completely divided over it. But then my vote went for Cologne as its more laid back and not a business hub.
As destinations got finalised, i started understanding city transportation, food options, general culture. German transport system is quite complex as its divided regions wise and each regions has different price levels. And you buy tickets according to price levels 🙁 . Almost seemed like Rocket science if i compare if London transportation. Then i read Germans mostly eat beef/pork and Vegan options will be tough to explore !! I also read about language barrier as Germans don’t use English much 🙁 . people also mentioned that i might face racism !! This was a scary part.
Having read all the above things, i started wondering if i was choosing right place to go…..but in the end it turned out to be one of my best trips!! Wait for my next post to find out how 🙂 …. Germany is great place to go, with great people, without any Vegan food problem and almost all people know English!! There is no racism, it just that you find few bad eggs everywhere.
Will be back soon 😉