Things that went well
- Visitor Oyster cards
These worked really well. I was able to buy these ahead of time online and had them on hand when we arrived in London. It was just one less thing to do in the crowd and push of the underground entrances. London has such an extensive transit network, having ready access to it is a great time saver and stress reducer when visiting this great city.
- Tolltickets.com
Once again, I obtained toll tags through Tolltickets.com ahead of time. For this trip, that meant a Liber-t tag for France, a VIA-T tag for Spain and a ViaVerde tag for Portugal. I had those in hand once I picked up the car and it was a great time saver to be able to zip through the automated toll lanes in those countries. Especially through France! - Renault Eurodrive
We use a short-term lease through Renault Eurodrive again this trip,,, picking up in Lisbon and dropping off in London. We leased a Renault Kangoo which held us and our luggage well -- not as comfortably as it did five years ago... but the kids are bigger now. It worked and we'd probably do it again. There are bigger vehicles... BUT, the Kangoo dimensions (4.68m long x 2.13m wide x 1.8m high) are about the max that fit the commonly accepted "car" definition in parking garages and on the ferry (especially the height!!!). This is not an inconsequential consideration when driving around Europe.
- Keepgo
I used a mifi I got through Keepgo.com. It worked well and I was able to share it with the rest of the group. I still had data roaming on the phone as an option, but for day to day stuff and map directions (especially walking around in cities) it was handy to have data access. Using prepaid, international data this way seemed like a no brainer. An alternative would have been to get an international or local SIM for the phone... but that would me being on a different number which isn't such a great option (see below).
- Having a phone number where you are reachable
There are lots of strategies for handling mobile calling while traveling. Some advocate getting a local SIM and replacing the one in your own unlocked phone. I've avoided doing that because that changes the phone number of your phone. Instead, I've opted for an international plan for calling and texting and using a mifi for data.
Being reachable was a good thing this trip. Heading out of Bath, I got a call from Irish Ferries. They cancelled a week's worth of crossings in the ship we'd booked for our Holyhead to Dublin crossing. I was able to rebook from a highway rest area. If I'd been unreachable, I probably would have just shown up, found the trip I'd planned canceled and been left scrambling. - English Heritage and Historic Royal Palaces
We bought memberships for English Heritage and Historic Royal Palaces because members get in free or reduced rates at many of the places we visited. Just be sure to do it early enough to get your cards mailed to you.
- Parking reservation in advance
When I could, I reserved and bought parking in advance if we staying somewhere that didn't include it. It was helpful to have an exact destination when arriving in a city and having the parking prepaid removed one more hassle. I used these services - Ferries - Club/cabin/upgrades
Upgrades to club class on the ferries includes snacks and beverages and a comfortable place to sit. (Think premium lounge in an airport.) Plus priority loading and unloading. It's a pretty good deal. On the Caen-Portsmouth crossing (4-hours), I booked a 4-berth cabin. On that crossing all five of us caught a little snooze in our space with its own bathroom.
On the Holyhead-Dublin crossing and the Larne-Cairnryan crossing, which were both only two hours, we opt'd for club class. - Attraction tickets in advance
Buying attraction tickets in advance is not only smart and often cheaper, it might be the difference between seeing what you came to see and being shut out. It often lets you skip the line altogether. Definitely check (chances are if you want to go there, enough other people do as well...). Every place we went this route accepted the tickets shown on a smartphone screen. Here's a parital list of the places for which were able to get tickets in advance - Royal Palace of Madrid
- La Sagrada Familia
- Casa Batlló
- Park Güell
- Abbey at Mont Saint Michel
- Stonehenge
- Roman Baths in Bath
- Guinness Storehouse in Dublin
- Dublin Castle
- Mull and Iona
- Edinburgh Castle
- Scottish Parliament
- London Zoo
- Tower Bridge
- Churchill War Rooms
- Santo Antonio Festival in Lisbon
If you're ever planning to visit Lisbon and you can bend the arc of your trip to be there on June 13th during the Festival of Santo Antonio, do it! It's a city-wide party and it's a blast. Just don't plan on sleeping that night if you're anywhere need the festivities... but then if you've just arrived and you're jet-lagged, you'll be up anyway. That's a win-win! - Air vent magnetic phone holder
I've got a magnetic phone mount in my car and I found these air vent ones that worked in the cars we used. They're small, simple to use and worked like a charm. They also double as a stand that works for viewing videos resting your phone on the seatback tray on an airplane.
- Multi-usb port chargers
My life seems to collect devices that need USB chargers. These 4-port chargers from Anker worked well on our trip
- Paying more to stay IN/CLOSE TO attractions
Sure you can save money by staying further away from main attractions, but I've found staying close is a good money-for-time/convenience trade-off. Being able to just walk out your door and start the day beats piling in the car or taking a cab any day. Experiencing the streets of Mont Saint Michele in the morning before the tourist buses drop off the throng, or opening your bedroom window and looking across the street at Edinburgh Castle makes the experience more intimate. Spend your time seeing what you came to see... not get to it.
- TomTom on phone
We did alot of driving. In the age of Apple Maps and Google Maps and Waze there are lots of navigation choices out there, but I use the TomTom app on my phone. It has all the maps already downloaded so it works with or without a network connection. That's pretty important. You wouldn't want a sudden loss of network to leave you blind/lost. I get traffic/route updates via the network, but that's an optimization, not a necessity. - Portable safe
I travel with my laptop. If I was always staying in a hotel, I'd use the room safe. Since we stayed in many VRBO/HomeAway/Airbnb lodgings, there weren't room safes. I brought a portable safe from Pacsafe. It wouldn't stop a determined thief with bolt cutters and tools, but it does stop an opportunist who might gain temporary access to my room from walking off with expensive electronics. Works for me.
- Vrbo/HomeAway/Airbnb/Booking.com
Just about all our lodgings we booked through VRBO/HomeAway or Airbnb or Booking.com. The selection was pretty extensive and we were able to pre-pay through the sites, so there was no need to show up with bundles of cash -- definitely an improvement from even just five years ago, the last time we did a trip like this. - Nest cameras
We set up Nest cameras in and around our house. It gave us peace of mind. Did it act as a deterrent. I don't know... but everything was as we left it when we came home and we were gone for six weeks, so that's worth something.
- Caseta switches
We installed Caseta switches for many of the lights in and around our house. That let us set up programs for lights on/off that more realistically made it look like someone was home. Again, we came home to everything we left, so I'm calling that a win.
Things that were disappointing
- Paper tickets on London underground
For the girls, both under 18, we opt'd for a 1-week travel visitor travel card since we could get it at a child fare rate. It seemed good in theory, but it only worked the first day, then we had to get an attendant to let them through each time. It was kind of a hassle. If I did it again, I'd just pony up for adult Oyster cards for the girls. The difference was that much and not worth the hassle to me. - Not enough lead time in planning
I felt like we didn't spend enough time preplanning this trip. We ended up doing just-in-time planning a day or two in advance. The effort took away from time for other things on the trip. It's not too much to say that a trip like this could eat up a whole year in the planning. If I did one again, I would spend more time pre-planning. - Trying to do too much in one day
When planning a trip like this, it's tempting to try to cram as much as you can into the days. Experience has shown us that limiting to one or two big sites per day and including a "down day" every 3-4 days is a sustainable pace. When we do that, everyone is happy. When we forget that lesson and try to do too much, the trip starts to feel like chore. Not the desired effect. - Covering too much territory
This trip covered an area roughly bounded by Lisbon, Barcelona, London, Inverness, and Limerick and all the travel within those bounds was by car (or on a ferry). That's alot of territory. In hindsight, breaking this trip into two separate trips: one that focused on Portugal, Spain and France and one that focused on England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland would have left time to add more depth and to linger a little longer. I can trace the goals and requirements that led us to the choices we made. I'd make them again, but in a perfect world, we would have covered less ground and gone deeper.
