What To Do, What To See???

IS there anything more exciting than getting your travel tickets?

Ok, so apart from winning the lottery, becoming a parent and your sporting team winning the championship. But other than that, what else gives you that rush you feel when you've actually got that ticket in your hot little hand (or inbox more often that not nowadays) that says you're not just planning, you're ACTUALLY GOING!!!

Ahem. Excuse me there won't you.

As you might tell, I'm a little bit excited right now. My flights across are locked in without having to use one of my lifelines; the Busabout e-ticket + itinerary smile upon me every time I have a rubbish day/night at work.

So I know when I'm over and now know roughly where I'm going. Big question now is: what do I do over there?!?

Hmmm.

A good place to start researching is everyone's old favourite, Lonely Planet. Their destination guides online have a wealth of material, not least in giving you some inspiration about what you can see/do around the place.

For a more personalised touch though, the Busabout website has some Guide's Top 10s hidden away. To get at them, Bring up the Busabout Explorer main page, look down the left-hand column below the two orange boxes to the "Where do you want to go?" box, pick out a destination, then find the little orange link that says "Click Here For Our Guide's Top Ten!". This link will take you to a Madrid Top Ten to get you started...

Google Maps is a pretty cool little tool as well. If you decide to get away from it all, typing the address in will help you know where you need to go. Believe you me, this is A Good Thing.

Finally though, be open to suggestions. When I travelled around the first time art was pretty low down on my list of things-to-do. Mind you though, the only two things I absolutely HAD to do/see were Lord's Cricket Ground and Berlin. Despite my cultural ignorance, I can definitely recommend Barcelona's Picasso Museum to everyone: and I only went because the guide told us about it.

In fact, I might even go there again. You know why?

I've got my tickets in my inbox and I'm not just planning, I'm GOING!!!

I'm On The Road Again...

YOU always remember when you start a great love affair.
Mine started in Paris in late May 2005. We were waiting on Paris' Boulevard de Rochechouart when we first exchanged glances. It was pretty much love at first sight: I, the young, slightly naive first-time European traveller; her, a 51-seater coach with "Busabout" written in bright orange down the side that we soon called "Big Blue".
Our love affair grew over the next two months as we travelled around Europe together, leaving France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Italy and Spain in our wake. When it was time to finally say goodbye back in Paris in July, I promised myself this wouldn't be the end.
As things turned out, it was only the end of the beginning. I've been lucky enough to spend the last four years working as an on-board guide with Busabout, and despite flirtations with other coaches, boats and ferries, it's always been Big Blue I've come back to.
Now though, it's time to finally say goodbye. While I'm not back as a guide, my role this year is probably the next best thing: alighting at each stop, blogging (written and video) about my experiences, and hopefully giving all you out there the motivation and/or inspiration to come on over and experience Europe for yourselves!
As such I'll be travelling all three Busabout Loops between May and July. To say I'm excited barely begins to hint at it: a chance to combine writing and travel, catching up with old friends around the continent, and showing at least one of my brothers around Berlin! In the lead-up I'll be blogging about my trip preparations before going a bit more frequently once on the road; I'll also try and take you guys a little behind the scenes and introduce some of our awesome guides and drivers, and maybe even explain just why we do certain things certain ways.
Either way it promises to be quite the adventure - hope you guys enjoy the ride!