Web Resources

Printable Version of Full Newsletter.

Page 1 | 2 | 3

Guten tag from Germany! This week we travel by train along the Mosel River to Frankfurt, to stay at a newly remodeled airport hotel that's so conveniently located, not only to catch an early flight but to go downtown as well. From there, we board a Turkish Airlines 737-800 plane to Istanbul to get ready for a week long Aegean Cruise on Seabourn's newest ship, The Odyssey. How exciting is that?

MEDIA ALERT
Before we get started, I want to share with you some of our recent press. First of all, this month I was quoted in Association News Magazine (a popular trade publication). Secondly, my first column for LAX Magazine was featured (page 20); it's a review of Air New Zealand's service to the Cook Islands. In addition, I was Steve Perillo's (from Perillo Tours) first guest on his new weekly webcast, which was taped in New York City. What's funny is that I thought it was a radio interview since it was recorded at WABC studios and I showed up all ragged (as you will see on the video). While on the subject of radio, one of the most popular interviews I've done was an hour-long interview with Rick Steves that aired nationwide on NPR and can be found on Odeo.com. Hope you learn some tricks and please keep me in mind as a source for any of your travel stories.

LUXEMBOURG
If you're following me on Twitter or Facebook, then you knew I just spent a month in Europe, traveling around seven different countries, enjoying amazing hospitality and weather. In the interest of getting my Seabourn Odyssey review out as soon as possible (since the ship is brand new and everyone wants to get the inside scoop), I'm going to fast-forward through a few of the destinations. However, I promise to come back and write in full detail about my stays in France, Luxembourg and England in due time. Therefore, we begin at the Luxembourg train station as I board a train to Frankfurt.



GETTING TO ISTANBUL
I signed up to do a weeklong cruise, departing from Istanbul. Like a good traveler, I planned on arriving into the port city two days earlier so that a) there was no chance of me missing the cruise and b) I could enjoy one of the world's most fascinating cities. Luxembourg is centrally located and I could have flown out of a number of major airports including: AMS (Amsterdam), BRU (Brussels), (CGN) Cologne or (CDG) Paris. But I was looking for the one with the cheapest nonstop flight. The most convenient would have been from Paris, since there's a high-speed train (TGV) connecting the two cities in just two hours. But flying out of there was twice the price of the other options. After pricing out all my options using the search engines on our AirlineNumbers.com and JohnnyJet.com websites, I found the cheapest fare to be out of Frankfurt (FRA) on Turkish Airlines for $220.

TRAIN TO FRANKFURT
Getting to Frankfurt from Luxembourg is pretty easy since trains leave every couple of hours and they are not expensive at all. My one-way ticket cost just 29 euros ($41). I sat in economy but the seats were way better than any domestic first class airline seat. The dated car was impeccably clean with plenty of legroom and it was quiet. FYI: A couple of seats in the middle section had access to power outlets on the wall so if you plan on charging batteries, find out which seats have them. Helpful websites for train travel in Europe are Seat61.com and RailEurope.com.

DEAL ALERT: Check out these special deals from Rail Europe.

LUXEMBOURG TO FRANKFURT
My train left Luxembourg three minutes late (that's unusual) at 10:27am. We made six stops on the two-hour ride to Koblenz, which is where I needed to get off and make a transfer. It took longer than I thought it would to get to the German border as we crossed it at 10:58am. You would never know unless you were staring out the window, looking for the flags on various houses and buildings to change colors. Actually, there wasn't a lot of patriotism in either country but I spotted Luxembourg's border gatehouse that was used before the European Union was created.

TIP: I don't know about you but train travel just makes me sleepy so I set my cell phone alarm just to make sure I wouldn't miss the stop in Koblenz for my connection.

AMAZING SCENERY
But the scenery was so amazing there was no chance I was going to fall asleep. Oh my God – almost the whole ride was along the Mosel River and there was just one amazing castle after another. Seriously, the vistas were so spectacular that I was sweating from turning my head and snapping pictures so much. In fact, the Germans all around me were getting annoyed since they were tying to sleep and they just kept hearing the shutter on my camera go "click, click, click." And "bang, bang, bang" as the rocking motion kept knocking my lens against the window. At one point, I had to force myself to just not look out the window because I was taking so many pictures and sitting backwards was making me a bit queasy. Next time, I will be in one of the many barges or river cruises I passed so I'll be going 4mph instead of 120mph. BTW: The best-looking place that I could tell was Cochem, Germany. It looked like a fairytale, as did most of the other little villages along the Mosel with their castles, vineyards and campgrounds.

TRAIN AMENITIES
All the trains have food and bathrooms. They also have luggage racks. You will notice that pretty much all the Europeans on board travel with very little luggage while the Americans seem to bring multiple suitcases the size of dressers. The larger pieces go on the luggage racks in the front and rear of each car; just keep an eye on them. The smaller carry-ons can be placed right above your seat on the overhead rack. Always have your ticket handy because the conductor came around a couple of times to check tickets.

KOBLENZ
We arrived a minute or two late into Koblenz and I had to hustle with the other passengers to make the tight connection; it was just a 12-minute layover. Because I was in a hurry, I didn't bother looking or waiting for an elevator so I just lugged my oversized bag down a flight of stairs and then up an escalator to get to the other track. From the platform and train, Koblenz just looked like a big industrial city. Since I didn't have time to grab a sandwich from one of the station concession stands, I plopped a euro coin in the trackside vending machine and bought some local chocolate. Yum!

KOBLENZ TO FRANKFURT
The train departed Koblenz right on time at 12:48pm. This ride was just an hour and 20 minutes and we made only one stop. Just like the previous leg, the views were just as amazing, if not more so. At 1:12pm, we made a turn and I saw four castles in one view. I just kept shaking my head thinking, "Are you for real, Germany?" I had no idea it was this outrageously beautiful. At one point I felt like I had died and gone to heaven when a speedboat cruised by, filled with topless women. Oh my. I just waved like I was Forrest Gump. But a minute later, a Goth, Marilyn Manson-looking German groupie girl walked by with her pale white skin, black lipstick and a fish hook sticking out of her mouth. That brought me back down to earth when I smelled her stinky body odor.

FYI: Train announcements were made in both German and a heavy, thick English accent. Note to self: I passed a really nice looking NH Hotel in Bingen, Germany. Make sure to put that one on your list.

1 | Click to continue | 3





Copyright 2009 JohnnyJet, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.