biotrav Victoria does not even have a snow plow. They have been getting more snow in the last few years than Vancouver. U Vic though has a beautiful campus.

Biotrav - Enjoyed every minute. Don't apologize for talking about toilets. I think "foreign" toilets and also tub/shower designs a fascinating topic and i suspect we are not the only ones.

Biotrav, I have really appreciated you posting this tale, very enjoyable.
The first tour I took was 3 years ago, and it was a pity my husband didn't join me and my son on this tour. (He was home smoothing our 2 high school daughters, plus he doesn't like travelling). The plumbing and figuring out how to work it in Scandinavia was fascinating, my husband is a Chemical Engineer and apparently they become experts on plumbing with their education. I found the plumbing in France and Spain and Portugal was less fascinating, easier to use, etc.

Hi dimpz,magjack,woodcock,viking,suegreg,mid life traveller,luvtotravel,marie56

Wow
Thanks everyone. I don't know if I can answer all the replies but a great big thank you to everyone!!!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: biotrav,

quote:

Originally posted by BrendaC:

quote:

Originally posted by Tulips:
Oh dear Brenda, it sounds like you may need a vacation. Are you still planning to go to Greece?

Tulips, you don't want to know about my present life, but we are planning to go to Italy for two weeks on our own in Nov. I week in Florence, 1 week in Rome, just to muck around and do things on our own time.

Hi Brenda
Sorry to interrupt. We would gladly go back to Forence and Rome. Hope you have a big suitcase.
You will have to tell us how it goes even though it isn't on tour.

quote:

Originally posted by biotrav:

quote:

Originally posted by BrendaC:

quote:

Originally posted by Tulips:
Oh dear Brenda, it sounds like you may need a vacation. Are you still planning to go to Greece?

Tulips, you don't want to know about my present life, but we are planning to go to Italy for two weeks on our own in Nov. I week in Florence, 1 week in Rome, just to muck around and do things on our own time.

Hi Brenda
Sorry to interrupt. We would gladly go back to Forence and Rome. Hope you have a big suitcase.
You will have to tell us how it goes even though it isn't on tour.

biotrav, you and mrs biotrav sound like ideal travelling companions. We'd love to take you along .

Brenda

woodcock - here is a link to a photo of the 'puffy' things Bio referred to. I have just re-read the thread from 2 years ago & it is very amusing, IMO not much laughter on the BB these days :

http://trafbb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/454104/m/43110832/p/7

quote:

Originally posted by viking:
I enjoyed you tale, it just makes us that much more excited to go one tour. Any more insight on the optionals? Was it a problem taking your camera gear and other items with you as you, was there room on the bus to store item, could you leave them on the bus and were there times you were not allowed to shoot photos? Thanks again

Hi viking
Thanks for your comments on our tour tales.
There isn't much more that I can say about the optionals that isn't already in the tour tales. There were 2 optionals that we didn't do on moral grounds.
My wife and I each carried a TT bag. I put anything, which we didn't mind losing, in my TT bag. All of our valuables were in my wife's TT bag. We both took turns carrying the bag with the strap over our head and the bag facing the front. We kept such things as cameras,small amount of money and the valuables that we bought on our tour such as Swiss watches,wallet,purses. This bag never left our sight for a minute. Yes it was inconvenient but not that bad.
We each had a digital camera which are very compact. A camera that you can use easily and quickly is the only way to go. Quite often if you aren't quick you won't get the picture. We took about 2700 pictures between us. Our system was easy. We each had our cameras out and took pictures. In a number of cases what she missed I got and vice versa. We took a package of 48 batteries as well as a few for our mp3 players. We were so busy that we used the MP3 players very little. The 48 batteries were throw aways. We also had rechargeable batteries and recharger but didn't use it. The 48 batteries were a little heavy but got lighter as we used them.
I kept my TT bag in the above compartment but my wife kept hers by her feet at all times. As other threads have mentioned you really should only each take your TT bag on the coach. In our opinion you really don't need more.
Just a reminder that you should never leave,on the coach,anything that you don't mind losing. Tour coaches have been broken into before. Fortunately that never happened to us. Even if you are just getting off at an autobahn stop take your valuables with you.
There were a number of times when we were not allowed to take photos. There were usually pictures that showed you couldn't use cameras. It was a little annoying in that some places asked that you don't use flashes. We of course turned off our flashes but there were many that used flashes anyway.
Hope that I have answered all of your questions. If not please just keep asking.

quote:

Originally posted by Dimpz:
woodcock - here is a link to a photo of the 'puffy' things Bio referred to. I have just re-read the thread from 2 years ago & it is very amusing, IMO not much laughter on the BB these days :

http://trafbb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/454104/m/43110832/p/7

Hi dimpz
Sorry to interrupt but my wife just came in and she calls them Loofahs. I don't know if this is a widely used word.
Thanks for the link. It is always nice that someone comes to the rescue or helps in some way.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: biotrav,

quote:

Originally posted by woodcock:
Biotrav

I have thoroughly enjoyed your tale. I hope to try and my tale when I get back.

By the way can you please ask Mrs Biotrav what "puffy things" are really called, so that I can put them on my list of things still to buy for my trip.

Fiona

Hi woodcock
Hope you saw dimpz's response showing the site for the poofy things.
As I mentioned to dimpz my wife calls them Loofah but I am not sure if that is a widely used word. I think the picture on the link shows it all.
I might just mention that prior to our trip I had never used one although my wife uses them all the time. Ther are 2 sizes. There are small and large. We bought the small but had to turn around and buy 2 large one.
I can personally tell you that they are great. They dry fairly quickly. What we did was ,if they weren't dry by the morning,we put them in large siplock baggies.
Take as many large and small siplock baggies as you can take. We used them for everything and I mean everything.Our flyers come in long narrow bags. We put our shoes,bath flippers in these bags thus keeping everything from getting dirty or wet.
Hope that I have answered your question.

PS Someone on another thread called them body scrubbers.

Thank you Biotrav, the generosity of fellow travellers in sharing their stories really is a great help to those who take the time to read them. Its the only way I know to prepare and I am now really looking forward to our trip even more. We are going forward armed with loads of information and tips and I am sure our trip will be wonderful too. Again thanks for sharing.

quote:

Originally posted by biotrav:

Hi dimpz
Sorry to interrupt but my wife just came in and she calls them Loofahs. I don't know if this is a widely used word.
Thanks for the link. It is always nice that someone comes to the rescue or helps in some way.

LOL Bio Mrs Bio is spot on ~ loofahs is a widely used word ~ my son uses one all the time & calls it a poofy thing so maybe it is a 'guy' description.

I buy them at the $2 shop ~ do you have them in Canada? ~ they come 3 to a bag.

quote:

Originally posted by ozichik:
Thank you Biotrav, the generosity of fellow travellers in sharing their stories really is a great help to those who take the time to read them. Its the only way I know to prepare and I am now really looking forward to our trip even more. We are going forward armed with loads of information and tips and I am sure our trip will be wonderful too. Again thanks for sharing.

Hi ozichik
Thanks. If you have any questions I will try to help. Just keep on reading.

quote:

Originally posted by Dimpz:

quote:

Originally posted by biotrav:

Hi dimpz
Sorry to interrupt but my wife just came in and she calls them Loofahs. I don't know if this is a widely used word.
Thanks for the link. It is always nice that someone comes to the rescue or helps in some way.

LOL Bio Mrs Bio is spot on ~ loofahs is a widely used word ~ my son uses one all the time & calls it a poofy thing so maybe it is a 'guy' description.

I buy them at the $2 shop ~ do you have them in Canada? ~ they come 3 to a bag.

Hi Dimpz
My wife just came into the room and I asked her to read your response. I told her that guys probably call the poofy things because it is easier to remember. She of course disagreed with me.
She did notice your "Mentally...gone" and laughed.
Yes we have dollar stores in this part of Canada. We call them Dollaramas. Everything is a dollar. Notice how sharp I am. Yes we can get loofahs in packages of three.