First trip to Europe

[revyd]

Thanks herrbert. That's a great site.

[Eagle]

revyd,

If your budget will allow, taking a BattleBus tour would absolutely be the best choice. Keep in mind these are full day tours (about 9-hours), and lunch is not provided. However, they do make a stop for lunch at a pre-arranged Café, and it's easy to purchase a sandwich and drink for only a few Euros.

The problem with getting to the D-Day sites on your own is that while you can stand on Juno Beach, it's difficult to know exactly what you're seeing, where the landing craft actually came ashore or any of the details of the battle. Getting to the main Cemetery at Beny sur Mer is also a problem as it's not served by any public transit AFAIK.

You could have a look at www.junobeach.org/Centre/english/visitor_info/getting.html for another option. You could also have a look at www.overlordtour.com/index.htm but unfortunately they've structured their Canadian tours as "special" and they're really expensive. There's also www.ddaybattletours.com/elldi.php but again very expensive for just a few people.

The BEST OPTION and the one I would still recommend (depending on your budget) is the BattleBus Tours. I can't recall if I mentioned this, but if you DO decide to take a BattleBus tour, pre-booking is HIGHLY advisable as they book-up very quickly. Another good reason for contacting them as soon as possible, is that the Canadian tour isn't as popular as the more highly publicized American tours, and they would need probably need to confirm sufficient numbers before arranging that particular tour.

One final option would be to have a look at the other Guides providing tours in the area. These are listed on the Battlebus website at www.battlebus.fr/Other_Guides.html.

Some of the material covered in the Canadian Juno tour is a bit "difficult", especially the details of the battles that Canadian troops had against the 12th S/S Panzer Divison HitlerJugend and Gen. Kurt Meyer. The Canadian Juno tour visits the Abbaye d'Ardenne, an experience which was profoundly moving!

Here's a view of the memorial in the Garden....



Good luck with your decision!

[revyd]

Eagle,
Thanks again for all the information and links.

[meliah]

I am planning a trip through europe with my closest friend & I want to start saving up now so how much should i save up & how much of that should I dedicate to travel costs if i'm planning on Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Italy, & Austria?

[madamtrashheap]

meliah, it might be a better idea to start your own thread rather than continue in this one. That way, answers can be specifically to your trip and not overlap with revyd's trip planning.

[donrobert]

you need to drop milan and you will save more and you can stretch your budget for the whole month... milan is a luxury...

[revyd]

Mar 10, 2010 5:48:49 GMT -5 donrobert said:

you need to drop milan and you will save more and you can stretch your budget for the whole month... milan is a luxury...

Milan is the only city on the trip that we are planning a visit to see friends. So even though it may be more expensive, it has benefits.