England & France: Cities of Knights & Lights (London & Paris) Meets Thread

[SingingMom]

We are going on the 6/28/13 London and Paris trip. We are now PIF and we are very excited! We are starting to think about things we will need to pack. Looking at some trip report pictures, it looks like we have to dress for dinner every night. Is that correct? How dressy do we need to plan for? TIA

We went in May last year. It was cool most days, I think we only wore shorts our day in Versailles.

We dressed for dinner in business casual. DH wore khakis and button down shirts, DD and I wore simple dresses or nice slacks. We did wear a little more fancy for our finale dinner at Laudere.

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[TexasMouseFan]

Thank you! I'm glad I asked. I don't know why it never crossed my mind...I was just focused on 'light clothes' (for packing). We will be doing a Med cruise before the ABD. I will just have to make sure our 'cruise casual' is more like business casual so I get double duty out of my packing. . DISboards rock!

 

[ucancallmetink]

For anyone considering adding on a Disneyland Resort Paris stay at the close of your trip, heads up on a great sale! The UK Expepdia site is offering 40% off DLP packages. ABD quoted me $1749 for a two night stay at Hotel New York with tickets, but I was able to book on my own today for $1035 for the same thing. The only thing is that I'll have to arrange my own transports, but that sounds pretty easy to do. The DLH was right around $1800 for two nights/two people/tickets. Just thought I'd share

 

[oLora]

We just booked the week before you AJMlovesRLM! We'll arrive 5/31 thru 6/7, but booked another night to visit DLP. We've never been to England, so we're really looking forward to the trip. This will be our second ABD, did the Viva Italia Signature last year, our best family vacation ever. We will arrive early on 5/31, so we will have a full day to explore. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I was thinking about the London eye, then a boat down the Thames to London Bridge, visit the Borough (sp?) market, etc. Maybe have lunch in a gastropub some where? For our free night, we want to catch a show. Looking forward to meeting any fellow travelers. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

We are going on this trip also! We, being three of us in our family == Lora (me), Mike (husband) and Nina (9 year old daughter). We are flying in from Louisville, KY and arrive in London around 10:30 am on 5/31. We booked one extra day at the end of the trip to enjoy Paris a little longer on our own. Getting excited and taking advice on packing lightly whilst having everything we really need!

 

[oLora]

Please post here if you would like to talk with anyone else who has signed up to travel to England & France (London/Paris) with ABD in 2012/2013.

You can also share information/ask questions about the England & France Cities of Knights & Lights ABD.

Please try and keep this thread on topic to discussion and questions about the England & France ABD. Off topic posts will be deleted or moved.

Thanks!
Sayhello

Roll Call:
May 20 - 27, 2013 - AZ Mom, DH, DS1 (20), and DS2 (18)
- hdry and DH
May 31 - Jun 7, 2013 - mouthdoc & family
Jun 7 - 14, 2013 - DW, DH (one of these is AJMlovesRLM, I assume) & DS11
- old_faithful, DH, DS(15) & DD(13)
Jun 28 - Jul 5, 2013 - TexasMouseFan & ?
Sep 20 - 27, 2013 - GSLand & DH
- WorknFires (Cheryl) & DH (both 45), Dmom & Daunt (mid to late 60's)

May 31 - June 7 -- Family of 3 -- Lora & Mike & Nina (9 years). Mike is celebrating a birthday the day we go to Windsor Castle, so hope we have a fun bunch on the trip!

 

[oLora]

The tour is outside the fence, with a headphone taped tour. It was long bus ride from Fox Hills.
No one is permitted in the inner circle unless it is the day of the Summer Solstice. DH had a terrible sinus headache that morning, so I stayed with him at Fox Hills and DD18 went along to Stonehenge with the group. She was happy to say she has been there, but wasn't a major highlight of an otherwise fantastic trip. I think she had a better time on the long bus ride, joking with the guides. ;-)
(Later that day, we went to Windsor, which was one of our favorite stops. Would have loved to have spent even more time in the castle and in the little village. So wonderful!)

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

I'm trying to figure out some extra fun for this day of the tour since it's my husband's birthday. I hope I can talk him out of the bus ride and tour of Stonehenge because it really doesn't sound that great. Sounds like the later part of the day @Windsor will be the better part of the day. Any ideas welcome!

 

[oLora]

Yes! We will be on this tour also, if you are going 5/31-6/7! We have my husband and myself and our daughter (9 years old). We are flying into London from Louisville, KY. Looks like you are coming from Ohio, so great! Who is in your group?

 

[SingingMom]

I'm trying to figure out some extra fun for this day of the tour since it's my husband's birthday. I hope I can talk him out of the bus ride and tour of Stonehenge because it really doesn't sound that great. Sounds like the later part of the day @Windsor will be the better part of the day. Any ideas welcome!

Remember, this is just MY family's opinion... But as I said, DD and a number of the guests with her said it's nice to say they have seen Stonehenge, but they would never go back.
At this point in the trip, a morning to relax and enjoy the gorgeous grounds of Foxhills would be very welcome! ;-)

However, the afternoon in Windsor was one of the highlights of our trip!! Loved it!

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[oLora]

Thank you SingingMom for what you have posted...we are heading there in less than a week...EEEKKK!!!

Anybody else?

We have added on 4 nights at DLP them to Munich to spend a week with dear friends who we meet on a DCL Med cruise in 07!!!!

Yes! We are going starting 5/31 also! We are flying in from Louisville, KY, so not too far from you in Ohio. We have 3 of us -- my husband and myself and our daughter (9 years old). Who is in your group?

 

[oLora]

We just returned from this trip May 14-21, 2012, so if anyone has any specific questions, I would be happy to answer them!

Is it advisable to get some foreign currency before leaving the states?

 

[SingingMom]

Is it advisable to get some foreign currency before leaving the states?

Definitely helpful to have some. I went through AAA.

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[joeyandangiesmom]

I'm trying to figure out some extra fun for this day of the tour since it's my husband's birthday. I hope I can talk him out of the bus ride and tour of Stonehenge because it really doesn't sound that great. Sounds like the later part of the day @Windsor will be the better part of the day. Any ideas welcome!

The morning we visited Stonehenge last summer was the WORST weather we came across...golf umbrellas from Fox Hills turned inside out, etc...BUT I will tell you.....my then 15 and 12 yo COMPLETED the ENTIRE Stonehenge tour via audio! I was very proud of them! It is not as exciting as other places in Europe, but my family enjoyed learning about the area. In the afternoon we went to Windsor Palace and ahte weather, while gloomy, was not rainy and windy!

This was the ONLY bad weather day we had on our whole trip!

ENJOY! We had the BEST group...fingers crossed you do to!

 

[meajuly5]

Easy to take the train to Windsor if you want to sound the morning there v. Stonehenge

 

[oLora]

Easy to take the train to Windsor if you want to sound the morning there v. Stonehenge

So you can go to Windsor ahead of the rest of the tour? Have already decided we will do our own thing rather than goofing to Stonehenge.

 

[SingingMom]

So you can go to Windsor ahead of the rest of the tour? Have already decided we will do our own thing rather than goofing to Stonehenge.

Just remember if you go ahead to Windsor, you'd have to arrange your own transportation and I don't know how easy that is from Foxhills. It is in the country, not in London. We waited for the group (which included our daughter) to return from Stonehenge, all had lunch at Foxhills, and then we took the coach to Windsor. The ride was lovely and our local guide pointed out all the sights along way, as well as interesting facts outside the castle and grounds. You don't want to miss that f you've never been before. ;-)

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[oLora]

Just remember if you go ahead to Windsor, you'd have to arrange your own transportation and I don't know how easy that is from Foxhills. It is in the country, not in London. We waited for the group (which included our daughter) to return from Stonehenge, all had lunch at Foxhills, and then we took the coach to Windsor. The ride was lovely and our local guide pointed out all the sights along way, as well as interesting facts outside the castle and grounds. You don't want to miss that f you've never been before. ;-)

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Do we have to use the green backpacks that ABD mailed us?

 

[Bobo912]

Do we have to use the green backpacks that ABD mailed us?

No. You can use whatever you want.

 

[oLora]

Definitely helpful to have some. I went through AAA.

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

I ended up getting $$ through AAA, but then also found out that you can just use an ATM to trade out for foreign currency and not have to pay any fees. Getting everything packed now to leave tomorrow evening!

We are arriving @12:15pm in London on Delta. Anybody else on that flight?

 

[SingingMom]

I ended up getting $$ through AAA, but then also found out that you can just use an ATM to trade out for foreign currency and not have to pay any fees. Getting everything packed now to leave tomorrow evening!

We are arriving @12:15pm in London on Delta. Anybody else on that flight?

Have a safe flight and a wonderful trip!! Let us know who your guides are!

"SingingMom" ....Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[oLora]

Do we need to pack an iron or do they have these in our hotel rooms?