Just back from Europe - a few thoughts.
 

I have no idea where to start on this but I'll try to keep my observations short, sweet and bullet-pointed so anyone can refer to them and I'll be happy to expand.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL - EU-BOUND

- Logan Airport has gotten better, it's all the way up to "bad". The security lines are a joke, the procedures are all theater and it still looks like a mob scene at Terminal E - EVEN ON A SATURDAY NIGHT!!! I can't imagine what this place must be like on a weekday or especially a Friday. This is why I travel out of Manchester NH if AT ALL possible.

- Changing planes in Shannon isn't fun when your body thinks it's 1AM. Especially when your next plane has no jetway and you're walking across the tarmac to lug your bags up the stairs to the plane.

- Irish airport personell are friendly, helpful and professional. Those of us who were going to London (the rest of the flight was headed to Dublin) had a guide take us to where we needed to be (it was a rather involved path - bit of a long walk) and Customs there was a pleasant experience.

- ATMs in airports without transactions fees??? Why can't WE have that? :)


INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL - Inter-EU

- When they say to get to St. Pancras Internation in London (where the Eurostar leaves for Paris) 30 minutes before your train, THEY MEAN IT. It may take a half hour for you to walk the platform after you clear customs (they pre-clear you) if you're at the coach #16 (like us), you have a LONG walk.

- The Eurostar is a FANTASTIC train. MUCH more comfortable seat with a kind-of wraparound headrest that made it SO much easier to relax. You could, if you wanted, sleep MUCH better on this train. The airlines could take a HUGE lesson from these seats.

- People with EU Passports pretty much get waved through everything once they're in the EU. Lots of lines say EU Nationals to the left (almost no lines) everyone else to the right (lines). Still, had some pretty easy experiences in London and Paris.


INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL - US-BOUND

- Security when you get to the airport. Security checks when checking luggage. Security when going to the terminal. Security AT the terminal. Then it's pre-clearance (if you're in Dublin) for the US. Very involved. But we figured it would be worth it. Would like to see a more consolidated approach so we wouldn't be stopped SO many times. ..and the rude Customs official in Boston still grates on me (had a simple question which he refused to address and just said 'This is Immigration' no matter what I said to him).

- No other country in the free world is as arrogant as us now that the Iron Curtain is gone. Fingerprint and retina scanning, advance information requirements... No other country acts like this towards tourists. We wonder why tourism is down here? Treating tourists like criminals is not a great advertisement for one's country.

U.K. (London)

- The London Underground, known as the Tube, is incredible. Get yourself an Oyster card before you go. The advantages are numerous. At most, transportation in the London area will cost you 10 pounds a day, and that's only if you travel on the Tube before 9:30AM. I had a 40-pound card (approx $60 US) and after 5 days still had over 14 pounds left on it. Trains, even late at night, were coming every 3 minutes or so. Every station had a sign saying how long to the next train and where it was going. US subway systems could learn a LOT from these guys.

- The Eye is a fantastic ride, well worth it. We did it just after sunset and seeing London light up was an amazing sight.

- The Romans may have invented Pomp and Ceremony, but the Brits have refined it to a science.

- Avoid the London Bridge Experience and London Tombs (dual 'attraction'). Definitely not worth it. Was included in our London Pass (we highly recommend the pass) and we were near so figured 'what the heck'. Ugh. Glas we didn't pay 23 GBP each for it.

- I hear more English in New York City (admittedly with foreign accents) that I heard in London. You think WE have a problem with foreigners? We're pikers compared to London (and our hosts at the B&B had quite the set of opinions on that subject - you'd swear they were leaning towards being Tea Partiers!) :)

France (Paris)

- The only people who lived up (somewhat) to their snooty reputation were French waiters. The maitre-d's were uniformly friendly and helpful, but once seated, well... Let's just say the waiters were "competent" and nothing to write home about.

- French beauracracy.. Long line at the train station to buy tickets to the airport. One person manning the booth with 3 closed windows (though she was quite friendly and helpful). Nowhere was there any sign of anyone being called in to handle the line quicker. HOWEVER - every bathroom in the entire city was manned by a person sitting out front with some kind of log book and filling in a crossword puzzle or playing sudoku. Could some of them be trained to SELL TICKETS? PEOPLE HAVE TRAINS AND PLANES TO CATCH!!!

- Their pay phones don't take money.

- Their ticketing ATMs don't take Visa despite having the Visa logo. (My Visa credit and debit cards worked EVERYWHERE else in Europe with no problems)

Ireland (Dublin, Galway)

- Now I know why people fought over this place despite the weather. It's *gorgeous*.

- We have driveways in this country. In Ireland, a road that size is called a major artery.

- The GPS units that Hertz bought from Garmin show every little sheep path but don't have the Interstate-class road (called Motorways over there) from Dublin to Glaway once you're 30 miles outside the city.

- They don't believe in shoulders on the roads over there. $90 US for a tank of gas on a small car (thank God we rented one THAT small), you'd think they'd make the roads wide enough.

- I was driving with my tires on the white line in the middle (when there WAS a white line) and my wife's side of the car was getting whacked with hedge branches. I am NOT making this up.

- Ireland was in a furor over the four Irish banks getting bailed out as of last Friday. Sounded like us, but on tape-delay.

EUROPE in general:

- You can't get a tall, cold beverage in Europe unless it has alcohol in it. A Diet Coke out there is 220ml and costs anywhere from 2 Euros to 3.50. (2 pounds in the UK). Water is a fraction cheaper. Want a Guiness? They'll give you a frosty cold one, a whole pint of it. (And charge you 3 to 5 Euros for it, 1 Euro was about $1.33, 1 pound [GBP] was a little more than $1.50)

- The French love Obama. They haven't heard of the issues that have caused the decline in his popularity. When I mentioned them, they didn't think THOSE issues were important.

- They like us over there, by and large. (So long as we don't act like The Ugly American Tourist)

- Saw lots of military in France. Not so much in the UK and none in Ireland.

Thanks for the update - we're headed across the pond in January for a brass band competition on the east coast of England, trying to decide whether to just do an add-on in England or do a package that also does the chunnel to Paris.

I've checked out Travelzoo.com, some other sites and Expedia - also want to talk to a good travel agent near The Villages - any suggestions, anyone?

I was actually surprised how easy it was for me to enter England and get my baggage when I was on my way back from Poland one time. I thought their security was too lax to be honest. Completely different story going from Heathrow to the US and entering the US and retrieving baggage, very tight, many checkpoints etc etc. It is not easy but I don't mind as long as it is keeping us safe.

Ohiogirl: I recommend RailEurope.com. They're a company (in New York, I think) that can set you up with everything you need. For example, in addition to getting Eurostar tickets to Paris, I got London city passes, Oyster cards (for London's public transportation system) and guides from them. The Oyster cards, in particular, were very useful and you ordinarily have to get them in London but these people have them - my package seemed to be shipped from New York.

Pauld: The problem for me is the circus. Several lines to stop in, each one delaying us further. Can we please have ONE security line and a SECURED area after that? I really have no qualms about waiting in a 20 minute line, but why should I have to wait in a whole series of them?

Not sure what you went through but for me in Heathrow they had some security guy check my ticket and ask me some questions before I got to the check in counter with my bags. Then the guy at the counter basically asked me the same questions. I was lucky because I was traveling on the company I work for in business class and they gave me a pass to the Admiral's Club to wait in. Then, when it was time to go to the gate, they had another security guy ask you questions and go through yet another metal detector. Then, you were in the secure area and stayed there until they boarded the plane.

I flew direct to Raleigh. First stop was a long line to the customs agent. Then you had to collect your bags in the customs area and take them to another conveyor. Drop them on that conveyor and head to a different part of the airport outside of the customs area to pick them up. Took a long time but kind of made sense to me.

Coming into Heathrow from Poland, they immediately put you into a secure area until you boarded. Upon arriving in Heathrow, I just picked up my bags and baisically walked through customs. I was surprised how easy it was to enter England.

Yeah, when we got off the plane at Heathrow, having connected in Shannon, we just walked off, picked up our bags and that was that. Everything we went through in Ireland seemed to have done the trick. This was despite the Aer Lingus woman who chedked our bags in Boston, and knew we were connecting in Shannon (becuase she put the "Transfer at SNN" tags on our bags), telling us we would go through customs and immigration in London. We went through something fairly quick in Shannon and that was it.

Even with pre-clearance on the way back (from Dublin to Boston) we had to hand in a card to an immigration official in Boston.