Category Archives: road trip

Top Tips for Road Trips

When I was planning for my European road trip, I thought I’d check Google for top tips to see what handy advice the internet would give me, so I was massively disappointed when the top results were massively wishy-washy, so much so that I can’t even remember half of these ‘great’ tips. So having done it all for myself, today I’m sharing some advice that could help you, whether you’re travelling alone or with company.

1. Spring for public car parks

In some places, public car parks can be stupidly expensive, but depending on whereabouts you are, and if like I did you’re leaving valuables in your car while you’re off exploring, its definitely worth paying a little extra for the protection of a ‘proper’ car park, rather than a dodgy little side street.

2. Split your money up

Its a good idea to have your cash in a few different places; you never know if you might lose your bag, or worse.. I had the majority of my money in cash for my trip, and while I did also have a credit card, I didn’t like to use it! I actually kept my money split in pockets in my notebook, to keep my tight budget, and only put what was needed into my purse for each day. I also kept a separate little coin purse in my car to pay for parking and any tolls along the way.

3. Pack food and drink, and take advantage of ‘free’ meals

No road trip is complete without snacks, but if you’ve got some long drives ahead, its handy to keep a little more than the usual amount, especially to save the cost of pricey service station food! If you’re staying somewhere that offers included meals, like breakfast, be sure to take full advantage and load up!

4. Know and set petrol limits

If you don’t know already, find out how far your car goes on a tank of petrol. Ignore the supposed miles per gallon, because so many variables can affect that, go out and do a proper test. For example, I found out that one bar on my fuel gauge would last me around 50 miles, or an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how I was driving. Once you know that, set yourself a limit on when to refill. After one worrying night drive where I was running seriously low with no petrol stations nearby, I always filled up when I dropped to 1/4 of a tank to be safe!

5. Prepare for tolls, or plan around them

There are more toll stations than you might think out there, and they all add up! I was lucky enough that my road atlas had toll roads marked, and my satnav also knew where they were, so I could choose a route without them, but be warned, avoiding toll roads can make your journey a lot longer!

6. Get breakdown cover

Its pretty self-explanatory; you don’t want to be caught out at any time, let alone in a foreign place where you don’t speak the language. Lots of companies offer cover to suit the duration of your trip.

7. Know your own limits

Personally, I found driving long distances a lot easier than I thought I would, especially given a lack of experience, but I still had my limits. Try and avoid the mentality of ‘I’m sure I can drive through the night’ or ‘once I’m behind the wheel I’ll wake up a bit’, because the fact is you’re only human, and there’s nothing wrong with needing a break.

8. Embrace the unknown

Turning down a wrong street will not mean you’re going to disappear off the face of the earth. Getting lost is all part of the adventure, just stay calm, get your bearings, and have fun!

9. Know your speeds

Wherever you are, make sure you know the speed limits, and be wary of any speed cameras that might be hidden. Also double check whether limits are in mph or km/h, and be straight on the conversions!

10. Fully prep your car

Get it serviced, pack spare oil, bulbs, a petrol can etc, and be sure to check if there are any legal requirements where you’re going. For example, for most of Western Europe you have to be carrying a safety triangle, breathalysers, a high vis jacket, and headlamp deflectors for relevant cars. It also helps to have a torch, blanket and first aid kit!

I hope these few nuggets of wisdom can help a few of you have an equally amazing road trip as the one I had, and if you haven’t read all about my trip, check it out here!

xo

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Booking Sites and Me

You’ve all seen the adverts; the web is now saturated with sites offering you the best of the best deals when booking hotels, from fancy to bargain basement!

When I started planning my Europe trip, one in particular stood out for me, and that was Booking.com. The ad shows people becoming more and more awesome having booked their hotels through the site. Booking.com? Booking.YEAh! Well I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

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Because my trip was going to be super flexible, I started by only booking my first night in France. I entered where I was going, and let the site take me from there; it ranked the search options by popularity, made suggestions on nearby places that might be cheaper, and had detailed information on each hotel from parking to check out times. I was genuinely amazed with how easy it was, and best for me was that I was getting great prices. There are daily deals, no booking fees, and with most places, you don’t pay a penny until you check in! Cancellation fees vary, but its normally free to cancel your reservation, so long as you do it in a timely manner.

I booked the majority of my hotels through Booking.com, but because its such a popular site, some places book up really quick, and where I was booking mainly last minute, in one or two places there was nowhere in my price range, so I had to look elsewhere.

Booking.com made my travels really straight-foward, and the app was just as easy as doing it online!

When I did have to look elsewhere, I turned to hotelscombined.co.uk. This site compares all the travel comparison sites, including Booking.com, Trivago, Lastminute.com etc, as well as hotel groups like Best Western and Marriott. Once you put in your travel details, it not only brings up all the available hotels, but also all the prices from all the sites, highlighting the best deal. Once you’ve chosen the deal, it directs you to the site offering the deal, and you book through them. In a few cases, it told me Booking.com had the best deals, so I went back to them.

One thing I will say about Hotels Combined is that sometimes it took me to foreign booking sites, which were obviously in a different language, and I didn’t feel comfortable booking through them, so at times I decided to pay a little extra to book through a more familiar site.

So that’s how I booked all my hotels on my trip, and I must have done something right, because I didn’t pay more than €60 to stay anywhere! Sure, I did stay in some cheapy little places, but some places were really great value for money, and honestly, if there was a bed and a hot shower, I was pretty content!

Do you have any favourite booking sites?

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Friday Favourite Five – My Europe Highlights

Aaannd I’m back to regular scheduling!

I would say you’ve heard the end of my European adventures, but I’m afraid that’s just not true because I’ve got a few more related posts up my sleeve, and as its Friday.. Wanna hear my favourite moments of my trip? (I am, of course, leaving Disneyland Paris out of this)

1. Mont St Michel

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This was always going to be a big part of my trip; its no secret how much I love Tangled, and being on the real site that inspired the most beautiful fairytale kingdom was really magical for me.

2. Neuschwanstein Castle

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Another from the bucket list, I truly fell in love with this castle, and seeing it in all its beauty truly made a difficult day a lot easier. I’d love to go back and see the inside!

3. Geneva

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I really wasn’t expecting to be blown away by a city rather than a landmark on this trip, but I had an amazing day in Geneva, and while I don’t think my heart could cope with driving the city again, I’d 100% return for a city break.

4. Chateau de Chillon

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This beauty was another place that I was looking forward to on this trip, but as well as living up to expectations, I was really impressed with it as a tourist destination; the access and information provided made it well worth the trip.

5. Amicitia

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I know it seems silly to choose a hotel as a highlight, but staying on a real canal boat in Amsterdam was great. I loved curling up in the cosy common area, and despite the small cabin, it was a real experience!

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Lottie Does Europe: There and Back Again

Well good readers, thus ends my grand adventure in the great wide somewhere. This post is coming to you from somewhere along the journey home; my dad came out to meet me in Amsterdam this morning, so he’s the one driving at the moment!

As the title might suggest, I’m really feeling a whole lot like Bilbo Baggins right now. I’ve been on a truly life changing adventure, there was even a dragon at one point, but I’m also really looking forward to coming home, and a bit of normality.

If you’d told the person I was a year ago that I’d make this trip, I probably would have laughed in your face. An adventure, sure, but two weeks completely by myself? Yeah right. I was the person that wouldn’t sit in a cafe or restaurant by myself, let alone go on a road trip through several different countries!

As for today, after Dad met me in the city we drove to a small town called Delft to have a little look around and grabbed some lunch before heading to the ferry. We were basically the last ones to get onto the ferry due to running a little late, but it meant no waiting around so that was a bonus really. The ferry journey was long, but it had an onboard cinema, so we went to watch Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and also The Martian, which took us pretty much up til we docked in Harwich, and now it’s just a case of back to Bournemouth!

No pictures today as its a late one and I’m using my phone data to post this, but normality resumes tomorrow, after I’ve had a bit of a lie in!
Really glad to be home 🙂

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Lottie Does Europe: Canal Boats and Adventures

And I’m in Amsterdam!

After what I can only really describe as an ‘interesting’ night, I was all too happy to leave my hotel in Brussels nice and early to get on the road, and got into Amsterdam at around 11am. I’d done some research, and found a cheap 24hr stay underground car park that was fairly central to everything, as well as near my hotel, so headed there to leave my car and do the day on foot.

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First on the agenda was NEMO, the science centre. I’ve done my fair share of museums this trip, but I’ve been dying to find a science museum, I am my mother’s daughter after all! It was literally 2 minutes walk from the car park, and in that two minutes I also spotted my hotel, so I was really onto a winner. I would seem, however, that most of the schools and families in the area had had the same idea for their day, and the place was packed with noisy kids running around, but it was fab nonetheless. With 4 floors, I spent a good few hours walking around, trying the various experiments and activities; there was something for everyone from tots to teens to adults.

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Following that, I walked along the canal and stopped off for some lunch in a Starbucks (which isn’t a place I usually frequent, but it was cold and I needed a hot chocolate and a toastie) and stayed there a little while watching the boats in the canal. There seemed to be a few ‘hop on, hop off’ style canal boats going round, so I decided to go in search of one of these tours, heading for the main ferry terminal as my first stop. This, however, came to no avail, so I continued along the main stretch of water, towards the central bus and train station. Still no luck, so I kept walking.

Eventually, I realised I had been wandering the city for a few hours, seeing plenty of its beauty, but no closer to finding any of these tours. It was getting darker, there were ominous drops falling from the sky, and I wasn’t 100% sure where I was in relation to my hotel, so I decided it was probably time to start finding my way back. I went back to the car to get my things, and made my way back to the docks.

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Yes, the docks, because you see my hotel for the night is, in fact, a canal boat: AmicitiA. I have a little cabin on the lower deck, with bunk beds and a tiny porthole window, and the upper deck is a cosy common area, which I currently have to myself, watching the boats go by outside in the rain. I’m loving it, its going to be the perfect way to end my trip!

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Lottie Does Europe: Waffles and Chocolate

Well that title can only mean one place, right? Yep, I’m in Belgium!

Wasn’t part of the original plan, but made more sense than doing an extra day in Germany so here I am! Well, it took me the best part of 5 1/2 hours to get here, if not longer; for the first time this trip I actually took a little break while driving, mainly cos I needed the toilet and I needed petrol, but I stopped for a cheeky snack as well before getting back on the road.

Traffic getting into Brussels was also a nightmare. Not only were these roads possibly the trickiest to navigate yet, they were rammed, and it took at least half an hour just to get into the city centre, so by the time I had found a place to park, which was getting close to 3pm, I was pretty stressed out, and there was only one thing that was gonna fix that: WAFFLES.

I had spotted what looked like a shopping area on my way to the carpark, so I headed in that direction, and bingo! A square full of little cafes serving hot waffles and ice-cream, but one particular place called to me as the mother of them all.. Haagen Dazs, offering a Belgian Waffle Dream – and it was just that!

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Waffle devoured, and I was ready to explore. The shop was on the corner of a huge arcade of luxury shops of all kinds; probably the only place in the world you’ll find a Chanel next to a chocolate shop. And the chocolate shops were everywhere, and pastry shops and all sorts of wonderful Belgian sweet treats, and I was in my element. I followed the path of these incredible smelling shops with their gorgeous window displays, watching the chefs prepare the products behind the counters, and snapping away as I went.

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 My exploring also lead me to an enormous square, with the most incredible and intricately decorated buildings all around, all shining with golden embellishment. I gathered from other tourists that one was the old town hall, and a few others were museums, while the rest just housed shops and restaurants. I was happy to just continue walking around the streets though, and that I did.

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I wandered and wandered until my little heart was content, and by that time I was basically a walking icicle. Yep, its still cold where I am! Given that I was loosing the feeling in my hands, I figured it was time to head inside for the night, and knowing that finding my hotel would probably be just as tricky as getting into the city, I retreated to the warmth of my car, and after a slight mission finding the place, I’m now back to regular body temperature in my hotel room!

Tomorrow is my last full day of the trip, crazy right?!

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Lottie Does Europe: A Hanover Stop-over

The hotel I stayed at last night had the comfiest bedding. Like, I almost didn’t want to leave kind of comfy. Just wow.

But I did, and you know how I’ve said the last few days about it getting colder? Well this morning when I eventually left the cosy bed to leave Frankfurt, it was a chilly 3°C out. My drive to Hanover was, yet again, delayed somewhat by more motorway roadworks, and by the time I’d arrived, it had warmed up to a practically tropical 6°C; hello big coat!

I arrived at about 1pm, and with a growling stomach, so I was delighted to see a shining beacon of hope; a guarantee of good, reasonably priced food and one of my favourite places ever.. IKEA. I mean, it would be rude not to, right? Well I thought so, so lunch and a quick browse was on the cards.

Unfortunately, due to awful wi-fi at my last hotel, I hadn’t had a chance to look up anything to do with the rest of my day, so it was down to my trusty sat-nav to find me something. ‘Find Point of Interest’, ‘Near You’, ‘Tourist Attraction’, and hope for the best.. And it came up trumps: another zoo! I love zoos, so this being the second this trip really wasn’t a problem for me, plus it was only 15 minutes away from where I was, so hello zoo trip #2!

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This zoo was a little smaller, but more efficient; it probably had more animals than Mulhouse, but not as spread out, and the map came with a marked route to take so you didn’t miss anything out. It was a really well themed zoo too: each area was set up to look like the country of origin – Africa, Australia, India etc. This pretty much took up the rest of my afternoon, chilling with the animals. And chilling is the most appropriate word there, it was so cold that I’m afraid my hands were so busy trying to warm up in my pockets that there really weren’t a lot of photos today!

It’s so crazy to think that I’ve only got two full days left before I head home..

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Lottie Does Europe: A Lazy Sunday in Frankfurt

Lazy day, every holiday should have one, right? And although I don’t get the luxury due to my job, I’ve heard Sundays make great lazy days, so that’s what I decided for my day.

For a change, the hotel I was staying at included breakfast, so after a brief lie in, I headed down and loaded up on the continental breakfast buffet, before heading back to my room for a quick lounge, and to pack up and move on.

From Stuttgart, I drove to Frankfut, which took a little longer than expected due to pretty much every motorway on my journey having maintenance done, but that was fine; today was not about rushing.

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I arrived in Frankfurt just after midday. For the first time this trip I was in a big city, with skyscrapers and office blocks towering above me, but I was overwhelmed with the calm and emptiness. The roads weren’t filled with cars, the pavements weren’t crammed with pedestrians, it would seem everyone had the same lazy Sunday idea as me. I found a place to park, and wandered through the quiet streets til I found the museum of natural history, which I was planning to visit. It was a short walk, and the sun was shining, but it was definitely considerably colder than its been anywhere else this trip.

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After a few hours at the museum, which was primarily in German with only a few English translations, and mainly composed of taxidermy and large skeleton and fossil displays, I headed back to my car, and as I did I decided to stop off at a large botanical garden, with huge greenhouses and masses of park space to meander through. I spent another good few hours here, walking the park and the greenhouses, admiring the beautiful and bizarre plant life. I also stopped for a hotdog at one of the food kiosks – a frankfurter in Frankfurt, had to be done! – before continuing with my lazy stroll.

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It was an afternoon of peace and quiet, and German sunshine, and it hit the spot.

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Lottie Does Europe: Bavarian Castles

So this morning I watched the sunrise as I crossed the border into Germany at about 8am; it was beautiful and poetic with the morning mist rolling down the hills and over the little towns.

But the skies soon became pure cloud as I drove deeper, and to me this only meant that I was getting closer to my destination; the sole reason my trip brought me to Germany..

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Neuschwanstein Castle.

The Bavarian beauty that has been inspiration for so many others, and for Walt Disney classic castle designs, as well as featuring in the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang film. Sat on the hillside, it towers over the valley and lake below, way up in the clouds.

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So it was a total rookie mistake on my part to plan this trip for a Saturday; I’d arrived at the ticket centre at about 11am, by which time all tickets until after 4pm had gone, and I wasn’t going to wait 5 hours for a tour. The great thing is though, you can still see the castle from the outside free of charge, and that includes walking into the castle and seeing the courtyards – its just the rooms of the castle that are only accessible by guided tour. The walk up to the castle (although you can take a bus or carriage) was a steep winding road, lined with autumnal forest on each side, occasionally broken up by mountain streams. That in itself was beautiful, and then you reach the castle..

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I was surrounded by loud tourists with selfie sticks, but I didn’t care because this view took my breath away. I walked all around it, and further up the mountain path to look out over the whole valley, and for the first time this year it really felt like Autumn was upon us; I was in my big coat and still a little chilly, and I could see my breath. After a while of aimless walking and admiring, I headed back down the path to the village, and across to the castle on the other side. Yes, one valley, two castles.

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This was the Hohenschwangau Castle. Again, because I didn’t want to queue all day for a ticket, I just walked the outside of this pretty yellow palace, admiring the gardens and fountains. I was glad I hadn’t waited to go up to Neuschwanstein, because by the time I’d made it up the steps to Hohenschwangau, the cloud had dropped so much you could hardly see the top of the castle.

After finishing up with the castles, I headed straight to my hotel in Stuttgart for the rest of the evening.

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This morning, at around 5.30am, my family suffered a great loss as my grandad left us. Its never easy, in fact its very hard, but it wasn’t a case of loosing a battle, his mind and soul have simply been freed from the body that was holding him back, and now he can move on to greater things. I’m taking comfort in knowing that now both my grandfathers are together; both free of suffering and both at peace. I love them both very much and they will always be in my heart, but now they are with God.

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Lottie Does Europe: Chateau de Chillon

Real quick one tonight guys and gals as today has mainly be spent driving!

Another up and go kind of morning, back into Switzerland to drive to the main reason I wanted to visit Switzerland: Le Chateau de Chillon.

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Look familiar? Well that would be because its been re-created in Disney animation magic, as it was the inspiration for Prince Eric’s castle in The Little Mermaid!

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The castle itself was built on rocks just off the shore of the lake, a natural stronghold with stunning surroundings, and I spent a good few hours exploring every nook and cranny! Despite looking surprisingly small from the outside, every room/courtyard/tower is packed with history, as well as information about it. You can pay a little extra for an audioguide, but the paper guide they gave me was great; it showed routes for you to take through all the areas, as well as information corresponding with each room.

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It was truly stunning from every angle, and the perfect weather only added to the beauty!

And with that I was back on the road for the long drive to Zurich for the night! Because I’m skipping all toll roads, it was just over 5 hours, and I arrived starving hungry, so after finding my hotel, first on the agenda was finding a supermarket to buy some dinner, so I got a little wander of the city in too. Tomorrow I’ll be leaving Switzerland for Germany, and another castle! Good night!

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Lottie Does Europe: A Beautiful Day

Good evening all, have we all had a lovely day? I know I have!

It started with an early morning, following the longest, loudest night ever as I swear the hotel room next to me had transformed into a nightclub/building site, but whatever, and then a 5 hour drive out of France and into Switzerland! I was a little daunted by the length at first, but it was by far the prettiest drive of my trip so far; sweet little towns, winding mountain roads, stunning scenery, well worth it!

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And as for Geneva, what can I say.. I fell in love! I was blown away from the minute I caught a glimpse of the lake, and the city was beyond beautiful too. By the time I’d found a carpark and got my bearings a bit, it was about 1pm, so I grabbed lunch from a cafe with seating in one of the many little squares that are scattered around, and just watched the world go by for a little while after I finished eating. I knew this was going to be a place I could explore, and explore I did!

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For the first time on this trip, I was in a proper city; one I could aimlessly walk forever, and that had me set for the rest of the day, just wandering around, popping into shops, exploring side streets and meandering around the lake. Mid-afternoon I stopped for an ice-cream and a drink from another little lakeside cafe, and spent some time relaxing and writing, before continuing on my explorations, and that was basically my day – not much else to say I’m afraid! Sure, Geneva has cultural things like museums and boat trips, but I was content in my own adventure.

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As for tonight, I’m actually back in France, but only just; I’m in a cheapy little hotel that sits pretty much bang on the border – Geneva is such a beautiful city, its packed with fancy, expensive hotels that my budget can’t afford!

I can’t believe its been a week already; I feel like I’ve been out here for no time at all, and at the same time, forever! From here on out I’m basically on my way home, even though it’ll take me another week! I’m back into Switzerland tomorrow, then up through Germany, into Belgium and finishing in Amsterdam, and this time in one week I’ll be midway home on a ferry. For tonight though, I’m pretty content where I am!

xo

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Lottie Does Europe: A Zoo Day (with trains)

So this morning I actually allowed myself that lie in I mentioned yesterday, woo! Of course my body clock is fairly used to early mornings, and I think I still woke up at about 7.30, but I enjoyed mooching and laying around in bed for a good hour or so after that! This is also the first morning where I didn’t have to worry about packing up and moving on, as I’m staying in this hotel tonight aswell, so it was nice to not have to worry about clearing and packing everything back up.

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I also had a lie in due to the fact that today I went to Mulhouse Zoo, which didn’t open til 10 and was only a 20 minute drive from my hotel. I got to the zoo for opening, and while it was only €14.50, which I thought was a very reasonably price, I was determined to get my money’s worth out of the day. I’d packed a lunch on leftovers from yesterday’s supermarket shop, and I was reading for a day of meandering and animal watching.

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The zoo itself was much larger than I had thought, despite being fairly central in the city, and I’d only really covered a few of the different animals befor I headed over to the sealions for the morning feeding show; well, it wasn’t much of a show as it was watching the sealions being fed, but they did a few tricks and it lasted a solid 10 minutes or so. Afterwards I continued to wander the park, chatting to the various animals as I went, of course, and I’d covered about half of the enclosures by lunchtime, so I found a sweet little spot by a lake of ducks and flamingos to set up camp for lunch: cheese baguette and an apple. Being a weekday, it was really quiet, and I enjoyed the peace of sitting and watching the ducks for a good 45 minutes or so, before continuing on my way.

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After lunch it was a case of more animal spotting; the zoo had so many little twists and turns that it took me quiet some time before I’d hit everywhere; monkeys, meerkats, felines, penguins, I could go on.. I walked some of the enclosures several times because I know different animals are more/less active at different points of the day, and also to kill some time because I wanted to see the polar bears, which for some reason I couldn’t quite translate, weren’t let out until later in the afternoon.

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With that, I felt content that I had done everything to be done, having spent the best part of 5+ hours there(!!) and decided to spend the rest of my day at the Musee Electropolis: an electricity and science museum. This plan flopped when I got there only to find that, despite not being mentioned on any of the information leaflets I had collected, it was closed for refurbishment, so I thought I would check out the Cite du Train – train museum – that was just opposite. Now if I was an avid train person, I think I would have enjoyed it, but to be perfectly honest, while it seemed impressive at first, I was soon bored, and although I walked the whole museum (which was actually pretty huge), I soon gave up listening to my audioguide.

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Since getting back to my room for the night, I’ve spent my evening sorting the remaining details of my trip; I’ve now got all my accommodation booked, and I’ve actually changed my route through Germany, as well as adding in a day in Belgium before I head to Amsterdarm. Now everything’s a bit more set in stone, I’m pretty buzzed to continue on my adventure! Tomorrow I head into Switzerland, although I’ll be spending the night on the French side of the border to avoid steep hotel prices, so its back to longer drive lengths from here onwards!

For now though, French TV and bed!

xo

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Lottie Does Europe: Sweeties, Monkeys and a Castle in the Clouds

Bonjour!

This morning was another up and get going kind of day; I will let myself have a lie in at some point this holiday, but I wanted to squeeze a lot in this morning as a lot of places around here tend to open for a few hours in the morning, close for an hour or so over lunch, then re-open in the afternoon.

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I spent yesterday evening working out the order of events for the day, which started with Le Palais du Pain d’Epices – yes, a gingerbread museum! I didn’t really know what to expect, but was actually pleasantly surprised. It was only €3 for entry, and the museum itself was totally adorable; an animated gingerbread man leads a tour via screens in each of the rooms! Unfortunately he only spoke French, but all the information boards around each of the rooms had translations for both English and German. I learnt about the history of gingerbread, and it’s significance in the region, then walked through the house of the gingerbread man, snapping as many pictures of various recipes as I could, before entering their recently set up Christmas gingerbread grotto, which featured an entire wall of gingerbread bricks, made in the onsite bakery. I also got a glimpse of the production line through windows into the factory, where staff were mixing, baking and decorating gingerbread treats! Finally, it was exit via gift shop, where I was totally overwhelmed by the vast quantities and varieties of biscuits.

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Keeping on a foodie theme, next up was Les Secrets du Chocolat Musee! After paying for my ticket (I can just about do that conversation in French now), I was handed a small box of chocolates, and pointed towards the door of a theatre, so without wanting to seem like a English moron, I walked into the auditorium and took a seat, when a film started playing on the big screen; it was a guided tasting of the chocolates I’d just been given! The man spoke French, but with subtitles I could follow along easily as I ate each of the 4 chocolates, as well as seeing a little clip about the production of each one – fab! After that was over, I walked through the museum itself, which covered the history of chocolate, it’s journey to Europe and historical significance, and also a bit more of the production. Another gift shop, which smelt amazing but I resisted, ever conscious of my strict budget!

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Next on the list was Montagnes des Singes, a monkey sanctuary. I arrived just as they had closed for lunch, so sat out in the car park for a bit to chill out and munch on some of my car food. This was when the heavens opened and the rain began, but ever over-prepared, it was just coat on and brolly up, and I was back to it. I got in as soon as it re-opened, which meant it was fairly quiet. It was basically just a huge enclosure that you could walk through, with over 200 macaques running around that you could hang out with; as you enter, you’re given a handful of popcorn to feed them as you go round, and the little guys are everywhere, and so interesting to watch. There was a feeding talk shortly after I got in, which is normally in French or German only, but as there was a large group of Americans, they had agreed to do it in English which was a lucky coincidence!

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After finishing up with my monkey buddies, I had planned on going to the nearby eagle sanctuary, but due to the poor weather they had closed, so I went off grid a little, following road signs to a ‘nearby’ castle. It was right at the top of what seemed like a small mountain, although I couldn’t tell as everywhere around me was just cloud! It was the Chateau de haut-Koenigsbourg, a 12th century stronghold that had been destroyed and abandoned during the Thirty Years War, and restored at the beginning of the 20th century. Although it boasts spectacular views of the surrounding area, I saw nothing but cloud, which actually made it seem even more impressive and you get a real sense of how high you are. The castle itself was a mixture of its original self, the work of the restoration, and also more recent efforts to maintain it, but was impressive nonetheless.

After descending the mountain, leaving the cloud up there, I really got to appreciate some of the beautiful villages I was driving through, which was really the reason behind my wanting to visit Alsace. The combination of brightly coloured and classic half-timbered buildings, as well as windy streets and villages separated by vast fields really was something to appreciate in itself. I headed towards Colmar, which was a town I had wanted to see, but after driving around for a little while, it became clear that it wasn’t really as tourist-y as I had thought it would be, so I drove around the streets taking in some of the city sights, but didn’t stop, instead making my way straight to Mulhouse, where I’m staying for 2 nights now. A quick stop at the supermarket to pick up some food, and a hotel room picnic for dinner; I’m a happy girl!

xo

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Lottie Does Europe – An Afternoon in Alsace

Good evening from Strasbourg! (stupid internet at my hotel won’t allow any photo uploads, so check back for pics later!)

As I mentioned yesterday, I was up bright and early again this morning to finish the drive to Strasbourg, and by finish, I mean another 3+ hours of driving! I’m actually surprised with how well I’m doing with the long drives by myself; I think because driving is something that is often done alone, for me it makes to real difference that I don’t have any company – you know, besides the voices in my head!

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I got to Strasbourg just before midday, found an underground car park and began exploring on foot. I was planning on going straight to the tourist information centre to get some ideas and info on what to do with my afternoon, but after taking a wrong turn, I ended up a little lost and decided that I would just let my feet take me wherever. I followed the pretty side streets, and eventually ended up in an area I’d wanted to visit anyway: Petit France.

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Situated by the canal, the area boasts beautiful classic French houses, dating back centuries; they were just stunning! After a little more meandering, and popping into a few local shops, it dawned on me that I had no idea where I was in relation to the carpark, and no idea how to get back, but as luck would have it, I turned onto a street I remembered from driving through the city, and just followed the route I’d driven to get back. It was while I was retracing my steps that I caught a glimpse of the cathedral..

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Helpfully also named Notre Dame (as I swear all French cathedrals are), it towers over the surrounding buildings, and as I marvelled over it, I realised I was just round the corner from the carpark – great! –  and that just across the square from the cathedral was the tourist centre I had been searching for – bonus! I grabbed as many of the brochures that took my interest, including one for a little train tour of the city, which was just about to leave from across the square, so I jumped on that. It took a route around the city, and had an audio commentary that I could listen to in English on headphones. For €7, it was a really great way to see around the city, and hear a little about the history.

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After the tour, I thought I’d hit a few of the museums.. Turns out, most places in the region don’t open on Mondays! So after grabbing a late lunch, I decided to go and find my hotel, which I’d already booked, so I could look properly at some of the leaflets I’d collected and plan my next few days – I love logistical planning. One of the attractions, an aquarium, was only a 25 minute drive from my hotel, so I decided to head straight across there after checking in.

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It was fairly small, and I was basically the only person there, but the resident cat kept me company as I went round! I was actually fairly impressed with the range of creatures; I had expected just fish but there were also tortoises, snakes, and even some crocodiles, as well as raccoons and copyu running around in outdoor enclosures.

By the time I was done, I figured there wasn’t really time to do anything else, and walking around the aquarium alone had made me feel a little sorry for myself, so I headed back to the hotel to cheer myself up by finishing planning my next few days of adventure, and spending a bit of time watching cheesy French TV while I got some writing done.

Bon nuit!

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Lottie Does Europe: Another Disneyland Day!

Today has been all over the place, in most senses..

Once again we were up bright and early, this time grabbing breakfast at the hotel before making use of our early access to the Disneyland Park. I really wanted to do the carousel and explore the castle before it got really busy, so we did that and then headed over to the Studios Park in time for opening.

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As soon as we got in we went straight for the enormous queue for Crush’s Coaster, which was mainly enormous because the ride hadn’t opened yet, but it was still about an hour wait.. 100% worth it – I loved it! After that it was Tower of Terror time; I have a total love/hate relationship with this ride due to being terrified of when the first drop will happen, and after that I’m fine! We then had just about enough time to squeeze in a Studio Tram Tour before going back into the other park for our lunch reservations at Walt’s.

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Definitely a good choice! The food, yet again, was excellent, and we timed it fairly perfectly with the halloween parade starting just as we had finished, so we had a great spot. Few more rides hit, and feeling like we had done everything in the park, we hopped back over to the Studios to finish up over there, before taking a last wander through the shops in Disney Village, then back to the hotel to pick up the car.

See ya real soon Disneyland Paris!

After dropping the family at the airport, I started my journey towards Strasbourg, and currently am tucked up in a little motel just off the N4 for the night before I continue on in the morning!

°o°

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Lottie Does Europe: It’s My Birthday!

So if you didn’t already know from the millions of times I’ve mentioned it, today is my 21st birthday, and I am spending it in a magical place: Disneyland Paris!

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Today has been totally filled with magic, from finally getting to open the beautiful birthday present that I picked out in Tokyo back in July (a Samantha Thavasa purse), to breakfast with Mickey and all the extra magic that has happened today.

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We had reservations for breakfast at Cafe Mickey this morning, where the family surprised me with a birthday cake which was brought out by Dale and Mickey, who sang to me(!!!), before we headed into the parks for our extra magic hours. After skipping down Main Street, we hit a few of the rides that were open, although many weren’t that early on in the day. Top of my list after 10am was Indiana Jones, which was closed for refurb until today – bonus! After a few more rides we decided to head over to Walt Disney Studios Park, stopping at City Hall to make dining reservations: Bistrot Chez Remy for lunch, Blue Lagoon for dinner, and Walt’s for lunch tomorrow.

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We headed straight to lunch once we were in, and had an incredible meal in Chez Remy; I couldn’t believe how perfectly themed it was! As we were there, we decided to get in the queue for Ratatouille, as it had just reopened after some technical difficulties. There were, however, several more ‘technical difficulties’ (including a protein spill!) during our wait, but we held out and eventually after about an hour and half we were in!

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By that time, it was getting close to our dinner reservation, so we caught the last Moteurs, Camera, Action! show, before going back into the Disneyland park for Blue Lagoon dinner. For me, there is nothing better than a restaurant set within a ride! Again, we had amazing food, and thoroughly stuffed, we decided to hit the shops and Disney village, before going back to the hotel room for a little while. This decision was also made because when we had checked in the day before, the lovely CM at the front desk gave me and my sister one of their special vouchers for a free pin each, as a treat for my birthday.

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After 5 minutes peace and quiet, it was time to get back into the Disneyland Park to do a few of the more popular rides that had had longer queues earlier in the day: Phantom Manor, Star Tours etc, before scoring ourselves a perfect spot to watch Disney Dreams; all the way through this time, as yesterday our dinner booking meant we left early.

Its safe to say its been magical! Happy birthday me!

°o°

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Lottie Does Europe: I’m in Disneyland Paris!

Just a quickie for tonight boys and girls!

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Today I made the stupidly long drive from Mont St Michel to Paris, to collect my parents and sister from the airport, before heading down to this magical place!

We’re staying at Hotel New York, so after checking in we took the short stroll into the park, just in time to catch the parade, and also a few rides and an explore before Disney Dreams. I definitely think DLP has the most beautiful castle!

After Disney Dreams we grabbed dinner in the hotel (an all you can eat buffet was just what I needed!), a quick cocktail in the bar, and now off to bed because TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Goodnight!

°o°

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Lottie Does Europe – Le Mont St Michel

Bonjour tout le monde! (Translation: my french sucks, but hey!)

I am here! And by here, I mean:

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Le Mont St Michel; you can all see the appeal of it, right?

Because, yes, it is this beautiful peninsula that got Disney creatives all inspired for the design of Corona, the island kingdom from Tangled!

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So last night I caught the ferry from Portsmouth, and arrived in Le Havre at about 9am this morning and dived straight into not just the adventure of getting here, but also driving on the wrong side of the road (silly British girl I am). Now bearing in mind, before today I have never driven for more than maybe 2 hours continuously, let alone on the other side of the road, I found myself fairly comfortable with the whole situation! My new satnav, the TomTom Start 25 got me through all the tricky navigating malarky, so all I had to really do was listen, and stay relatively calm (which I did!) and about 3 hours later I caught my first peak from the motorway.

I’m not gonna lie, I welled up a little. It was that sort of gasp moment when you set eyes on the castle in the Magic Kingdom for the first time. After a series of windy little country roads I came to the official car park for MSM – peninsula and all, you can’t drive straight to it – but there are free shuttle buses, or you can pay for a rustic horse-drawn carriage-shuttle. I’ll warn you now: free shuttle sounds great, but parking was €12.50. Personally, I’d been stuck in a ferry all night and car all morning, so I chose to walk in; the information centre says its a 50 minute walk but it definitely didn’t take me that long, and I got to stop along the path and take a million pictures of this beauty!

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MSM itself was actually both bigger and smaller than I imagined it to be; stay with me here..

While when you get to it, the abbey is towering and enormous, the village at the base isn’t all the much; lots of gift shops, a few restaurants and a sprinkling of small hotels, pretty much all crammed into one main street (which I loved!) and then various pathways and passages, the majority of which lead to the abbey.

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By this point, I hadn’t really eaten at all, so I made the rooky mistake of stopping to buy food at the first place I saw; of course it was going to be overpriced. That said, a ham and cheese baguette, vanilla macaron and can of Coke for €10 isn’t too outrageous, but I found places further up the street were selling the same things for a little less.

After exploring the street(s), I ducked into a smaller church building for a quiet moment, before heading up to the abbey itself. Whether you’re walking it yourself or having a guided tour, you have to pay entrance, which was only €9 and I chose to pay extra for an audioguide, which I would definitely recommend if you’re not going on a guided tour. The buildings are stunning, but there’s no information around the rooms as you might expect, so without an audioguide I wouldn’t have really known what I was looking at!

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It really is enormous, and that’s without access to all the areas! There was another ‘historic’ tour available, which offered tours of the dungeons, prisons etc, but personally it didn’t appeal to me all that much, so after I was finished in the abbey I wondered the gardens and hidden paths, and the top of the wall that surrounds the village. When the tide is out, school groups can walk out from the beach for ages before water gets above knee level, and there were quite a few of them about today!

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So I was actually done after a few hours, and made my way back along the path to the carpark before making my way to the hotel for the night; given that I slept fairly rubbish on the ferry, I want a fairly early night tonight – its not that I’m boring! Plus, I got Cinderella on DVD for an early birthday present so I’m gonna stick that on and watch the sunset over the abbey from my hotel window – its a great view!

Good night my lovelies!

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My European Roadtrip – What I’m Packing

Guys, I LEAVE FOR EUROPE TOMORROW!!!

Yeah, I’m just a tad excited, and when I’m excited for a holiday, I start packing stupidly early. I’m not even kidding, my clothes have been packed for a week already! So today I’m going to share with you what I’ll be bringing with me – not the entire contents of my suitcase or anything, but the main bits, and my ‘car kit’ etc!

Suitcase essentials

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Obviously, my case is primarily full of clothes, and I’ve been planning my outfits for ages (cos I can’t just wing it!), as well as undies and socks and tights etc. I’m also bringing my own towel and a full washbag, because I can’t rely on half the hotels I’ll be staying at to provide some of these bits.

Disneyland Paris

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I’m so excited for my birthday weekend in DLP, and therefore necessary Mickey ears have been packed, as well as my lovely new tote bag, and I’m looking forward to revealing my beautiful birthday dress, which I’ll be wearing in the parks on Saturday!

The Tech

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I can’t go anywhere without my camera, of course, and I’ll be bringing my laptop so I can regularly back up photos, as well as blogging my adventures. Of course my phone will be coming, and I’ve got a European data sim so that I can keep connected in low wifi areas, and obviously I’ll be bringing all the relevant chargers and travel adaptors!

Car Kit

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As its a road trip, I’ve got to make sure I’m stocked up with the necessary items for driving in Europe: breathalyzers, a safety triangle, headlamp diffusers and a high-vis jacket are legal requirements in most countries. I’ve also got a full European atlas – as well as my new satnav – a blanket, first aid kit, torch, and all my necessary paperwork: European breakdown cover documents and car registration. As you can see, I’ve organised it all in this handy car-boot organiser!

Food

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I’m not going to be stuffing the car full of food, but in order to save myself a bit of money (I am on a budget after all!), I’ll be bringing a selection of breakfast options – cereals, biscuit bars etc – to save the cost of breakfast each day, or lunch if my hotel provides breakfast, as well as a few snacks and possibly a couple of ‘instant’ meal options, should the facilities be available for me to heat my own meals. I’m also bringing some bottled water for long journeys, as well as those handy little squash bottles!

So tomorrow I’ll be packing all this into my little car, and we’ll hit the road! Do you have any road trip essentials?

xoxo

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My Upcoming European Road Trip

As some of you may know, its not too long before I pack up my car and head out on an adventure in the great, wide somewhere. Well, strictly speaking its just Western Europe, but still.. Yes, I’m going on a road trip! And yes, I’m going alone, and I’m really quite excited about that.

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The premise behind planning the trip was really my 21st birthday. I’m not a huge fan of my own birthday, but being my 21st I knew I had to commemorate it somehow, and I started thinking about it shortly after my last birthday. Originally I had the wonderful idea of returning to Disney World, until it turned out to be not quite so wonderful; October is inconvenient – I’d have no one to go with. This had me totally disheartened, and I began to accept that an unforgettable birthday wouldn’t be on the cards.

Then one day I was writing my travel bucket list, and it suddenly occured to me how easy it would be to visit quite a lot of these incredible places in one go, and thus the road trip was born! I began planning and playing around with dates, as I already had two weeks booked off work, and then something else kinda amazing happened – my parents approached me with the idea of spending my birthday weekend in Disneyland Paris, and it all fell into place!

So where am I headed?

Well I’ll be hitting the road on the 30th, and catching a ferry across to France before driving down to Mont St Michel. After exploring the beautiful peninsula, I’ll be heading across to Paris to meet my parents and sister when they fly in, and we’ll be spending the weekend in Disneyland Paris!

Once they head home, I’ll be continuing across to the east of France, before spending a few days working my way down through the Alsace region, stopping at the picturesque towns of Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse. From France, I’m ducking into Switzerland for a day or two, spending time in Geneva and visiting Chateau de Chillon before making my way into Germany.

My must-see in Germany is Neuschwanstein, the castle Walt Disney based several of his iconic palaces on. After that, I’ll be driving up through Germany, stopping in Dusseldorf, and on into Amsterdam for my last few days before catching a ferry back to the UK on the 15th.

Yes, I’m a little light on the specifics, but that’s the beauty of this trip. I know where I want to go and what I want to see, but the timescale is totally flexible. I’m officially winging it!

Want to keep up with me?

Don’t worry, I’ll be posting my daily antics every evening, and no doubt blowing up my Instagram and Twitter with photos. I’m also planning to Periscope a bit on my trip, so if you scope, give me a follow!

xoxo

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