Visiting Lisbon, Portugal

We visited Lisbon, Portugal for a week in late February 2012 and enjoyed it very much. We rented an apartment and explored the city on our own. As usual, I started by buying a copy of Lisbon travel guide to figure out the layout of the city and then searched for apartments on VRBO.com near Rossio, which is one of the main areas of the city.

We found an apartment called Casa Travessa that was located a short walk up the hill near Rossio, the busy central plaza. The apartment served as a very convenient base from which to explore the great city of Lisbon. When we arrived on Saturday, we were greeted by Maria, a friend of the owners, Jordan and Deb Kleber, who happened to be away in Italy that week. Maria gave us the key and  took us on a very helpful tour of the neighborhood --  how to get down to Rossio, the restaurant street, metro station, Rossio train station, and tram stops, etc. We found a welcome basket with bread, cheese, fruits, and vinho verde (green wine) to get us started. We shopped in Pingo Doce for milk, bread etc for breakfast and light meals and the apartment served as a great base for our daily excursions. Jordan and Deb had also sent us helpful information about the neighborhood and restaurants.

Before I forget, here’s some helpful advice -- get a €5 "7 Colinas" card from the Casa da Sorte store on Rossio that's good for 24 hours of unlimited tram and metro rides (and refill it every morning, the first time, you’ll pay €0.50 extra for the card itself). If possible, go to Belém and museums on Sunday when it's free. If you plan to go to Sintra, check the days when the Pena Palace and National Palace are open.

We did all the usual sightseeing in Lisbon  -- on Sunday morning, after buying the “7 Colinas” card, we took Tram 15E to Belém to see the Belém tower, National Coach Museum, San Jeronimo monastery), had lunch at Os Jeronimos restaurant and coffee plus the famous Pasteis de Belém (called Pasteis de Nata elsewhere), and then took the metro to see the Gulbenkian musueum in the afternoon. We rode the famous Tram 28E many times from Martim Moniz park nearby all the way through Alfama and Bairro Alto. We got off the Tram 28E to see Castelo San Jorge (the castle), Miradoro St Luzia, and Sé cathedral. We also took the Elevador Gloria funicular up to Chiado, to see the city from up there and also taste port wine at Solar do Vinho do Porto.  One day we took metro to the Oriente station and visited Parque das Naciones. We spent nearly each afternoon walking the plaza in Rossio, then down Rua Augusta pedestrian street to Praca Comercio and back. We had coffee and Pasteis de Nata each afternoon. We liked the area around Rossio a lot.

We took a day trip to Sintra by train from the Rossio train station and another half-day trip by train to Cascais (from the Cais do Sodré station) to enjoy the beach. In Sintra we saw the Pena palace and walked around the city. We also had a good lunch at the GSpot Gastronomia restaurant near Sintra train station.

There are lots of good restaurants in Lisbon. We ate meals at the Bom Jardim (slowly roasted chicken with piri piri sauce) and Cafe Tighelina nearby, and took the ferry across Rio Tejo to Cacilhas for a seafood lunch at Farol restaurant (shrimp in garlic sauce, Bacalhau à Farol platter -- bacalhau is salted cod, very popular in Portugal). We also ate at a small restaurant near the Castle called Claras em Castelo that was quite good.

NBTMV - Ideas for new year’s resolution 2012

Happy new year. I bought a Sony Alpha NEX-3 camera with an external stereo microphone and I’m recording this first video of 2012 using that camera. I hope this video sounds better than my old videos recorded without an external microphone.

It’s early enough in the new year that there’s still time for you to make some new year’s resolutions and follow through on them. Here are  three ideas for new year’s resolutions, for each of which I have videos and other information in my blog.

The first idea has to do with managing your body weight. What with all the food and celebrations during the holidays leading up to the new year, your weight and fitness must be at the top of your mind. I had taken some steps in 2003 to lose over 30 lbs by thinking of my body as a system with food and exercise as input and the weight as the output. I got good results by simultaneously changing my diet (less carbohydrate, more veggies) and increasing the level of exercise. I have more information about this in a previous video.

The second idea for new year’s resolution would be to learn a new language. With all the Spanish-speaking population here in the United States, learning to speak Spanish is an ideal choice. I took the plunge over two years ago and used a 3-step approach to start speaking Spanish -- (1) Listen and Repeat, (2) Listen and Understand, and (3) Start Speaking. You can learn more about my method from some earlier videos.  

And last, but not the least, if you are empty-nesters like us and you're considering picking up traveling abroad, then I have a number of videos where I talk about strategies for starting your world travels. I think you’ll find it worthwhile to consider starting your travels with some guided tours, followed by exploring cities on your own, and finally renting apartments in a city and doing everything on your own.

Those are some of the ideas for new year’s resolutions. I hope you pick one or more of these, consult my videos, and follow through on your new year’s resolutions. Good luck!

Rent an apartment when vacationing in a city

After you have gone on one or two guided tours, explored some cities on your own, you may want to consider renting an apartment and use that as your home base. VRBO or vacation rental by owners is a good place to find a rental apartment for your vacation. We typically found this to be a great option for visiting cities, especially in Europe. We have rented from VRBO in Budapest, Barcelona, Madrid, and Rome, and all have turned out well.


An apartment is better than a hotel room because you typically get a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom - - there is more space than a hotel room and you can have your breakfast in the comfort of the apartment. It’s cheaper too, especially if you are traveling with family.


You can browse the VRBO website for apartments in the city you plan to visit. Look for ones in the area where you want to stay and pick one with a number of good reviews. You have to spend some time selecting the apartment and then you can typically reserve it by paying an advance through Paypal and pay the rest in cash when you arrive. Often owners will send you tips on exploring the city and also arrange for airport pickup.


Apart from the rental apartment, you’ll need to arrange your own airfare and plan an itinerary for what you plan to do during your vacation. You’ll find it helpful to have a guidebook with good maps of the city.


If the sights you want to visit require entrance tickets, you should try to buy the tickets online and save the hassle of standing in line.


You may also want to make reservations at restaurants you plan to visit. Just remember that everything is in your hands and you do what you want to do at your own pace. So you do need to spend some time planning, but typically we have found this to be the best way to explore a city on our own, at our own pace.


In future videos, I’ll give more details for some of the cities, such as Budapest, Barcelona, Madrid, and Rome, that we have already visited.


Until then, I hope you are already planning your upcoming trip :-)

Here's some more information to help you...

An alternative to VRBO is: HomeAway Vacation Rentals, (I think HomeAway, in fact, owns VRBO, but they seem to display different selections, so it's worth checking in both sites - note to myself: we have to do this in the future). And here are two more sites you can check: Vacation-Apartments.com and Flipkey.


Please see my previous blog post on exploring a city on your own (after booking air and hotel from a tour company). There I provide links to guidebooks for many different cities, including Budapest, Barcelona, Madrid, and Rome.


If want to graduate from being a renter to owning a vacation property that you can rent out (no, we don't own any such property, but thought you may be curious :-) then check out the following books:




Tags: travel, world+travel, Budapest, Barcelona, Rome, Madrid, Paris, 

NBTMV - Book air and hotel, then explore city on your own

After you have taken one or two escorted tours and feel comfortable traveling around, you can start booking just the air and hotel from a travel company and explore the city on your own. In this video, I give you some pointers on doing this yourself.


This approach is usually good for a major city. You’d book the air and hotel from one of the same travel companies that you used for guided tours. Some offer choice of hotels at different locations for different prices, so you’d have to read up a bit and try to pick a hotel at a convenient location or just go with the lowest cost one. After you book, remember to get the visa, if you need one.


You’ll be exploring the city on your own, so you also must take care of the transfers between the airport and the hotel. You should search and see if there is a train, metro, or bus available for the trip from airport to the hotel and take it, if it’s available.


To plan for sightseeing on your own, you should get a guidebook for the city and study it a bit before you depart. If you are unsure about what to see, a good option is to take a half- or full-day city tour and get an overview of the major attractions.


Mastering the local public transportation options is also helpful. We usually take metro or tram as much as possible.


You should develop a rough itinerary as well. I typically divide the day into two halves and just allocate activities to each half-day, along with times for lunch and dinner. Remember not to cram in too much in a day. If possible buy tickets online (before departing on the trip) for any museums or other sights that require tickets. That way, you can avoid any long lines for the tickets and save some time.

We also consult Tripadvisor to find some restaurants that we may like to try. After returning from the trip, you may want to post your own reviews, as we have done in our own reviews on Tripadvisor for any hotels and restaurants we try out.

That’s about it. With a little bit of peparation, you should have a great time exploring the city of your choice on your own.

Here's some more information to help you...

You can use this approach to visit many prominent cities around the world. Here are some candidates: London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Barcelona, Madrid, Budapest, Istanbul, Prague, Lisbon, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and many more. Browse the Independent Vacations in Gate1Travel for more ideas. Another option is to pick a city and then look for Flight+Hotel packages on travel websites such as Expedia and Travelocity.

Pick up a travel guide for the city you plan to visit and study it before the trip. Check out the map to pick a good location for the hotel. Here are some possible travel guides:

Tags: travel, world+travel, Budapest, Barcelona, Rome, Madrid, Paris, London

NBTMV - Start your world travels with some guided tours

In a previous video I mentioned that you can start your world travels with some guided or escorted tours. Here I provide some pointers to doing just that, based on our experience with guided tours originating from the United States.
The nice thing about a guided tour or escorted tour is that the tour company takes care of everything -- air travel, hotels, travel between cities, transfers from airport to hotel, all the sightseeing, and even most of the meals -- plus you have at least one English-speaking guide. It’ll be in a group setting, so you’ll meet some interesting people as well.
First thing you’d want to do is browse the guided tours offered by online travel companies such as Gate1Travel, Smartours, or others such as China Focus Travel that specialize in just one destination, China. As for where to go, you may initially think of Europe or South/Central American countries as safer choices, but it makes more sense to go to a far-off destination such as China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. because those are the trips where a fully guided tour makes everything simple. Think of the weather as well when deciding when to go. For example, it can be very hot in India, Vietnam, etc during the summer. To minimize time off from work, you may also want to pick dates that span a weekend and holiday.
After looking at the itineraries and selecting one, you can book online or call a number to book. The quoted price is usually for one or two selected departure cities such as New York or San Francisco. You have to pay extra if you depart from other cities. There are also some other extra costs such as fees and taxes. You pay some deposit up front and pay the rest sometime before the trip.
If it’s a trip to countries such as China or India, you also have to pay for the visa. You can get it yourself or through the travel company.
You do typically have a half-a day or a whole day all to yourself in major cities, so you should get a guidebook for the cities and prepare to explore a bit on your own. In future videos I’ll tell you about specific escorted tours that we took.
Hope you can get started soon!

Here are some more things to help you

Browse the offerings from some online travel companies such as: Gate1Travel, Smartours, and China Focus Travel. Note that some travel companies such as China Focus Travel specialize in tours to just one counrty, in this case, China. You may also want to read reviews by previous customers.

To budget for the trip, look up the advertised amount, then add the taxes and fees, any visa fees (for countries that require visa), and additional airfare if your departure city is different from the default offered by the tour company. You should then add the cost of any meals and estimated expenses for the days that are on your own. Also, remember to include any tips for the tour guide.

Most credit cards charge a currency conversion fee, so you should take along and use a credit card such as the one from Capital One that charge no such fees. Thebest way to get foreign currency would be to wihdraw from ATMs using your debit card. Banks would be the next best place to get foreign currency. The worst place to change currency seems to be the airport and the various currency exchange places (they often display good rates, but charge huge commissions).

Here are some books that may help you plan for that one or half-a-day when you are on your own or on overcoming the inevitable jet lag:

Tags: travel, world+travel, China, India, guided+tour, escorted+tour, Guatemala, Kenya

How you can ease into world travels

You know how we all say that we’ll travel the world after we retire. Well, why wait until retirement. Once you are an empty nester, as my wife and I are, you can begin easing into your world travels. I am going to tell you how we got started and, hopefully, you can do the same. 

Since we are talking about the world travel, let’s start by looking at a world map. 

Until about 2008, we mostly traveled within United States and at most Canada, Mexico, and, perhaps cruises in the Caribbean. Since then, we have already been to a number of destinations in Asia and Europe, including China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Guatemala, Hungary, Netherlands, Spain, Italy. It's not exactly world travel, but we got started.

We were initially apprehensive about traveling to far off places, but, after much searching on the Internet, we decided to sign up for an 11-day guided tour to China from a company called chinafocustravel.com That turned out well, so we went on an 8-day India tour offered by another online travel company smartours.com and a 6-day Guatemala trip, booked with gate1travel.com. This is a good way to start getting your feet wet.


Next, we decided to take some trips where we either booked the air and hotel from the travel company or booked  air and hotel ourselves AND explored the city on our own. We went to Amsterdam, Holland and Istanbul, Turkey, this way and it was even more delightful to be able to manage our own itinerary. So this could be your next stepping stone.


Then we found vrbo.com - - through which you can rent apartments in major cities for as little as 3 days to as many more as you need. So we began to book the air, reserve the apartment from VRBO, and then tour selected cities on our own. We went to Budapest, Hungary, Barcelona and Madrid in Spain, and Rome and Florence in Italy, this way. This approach was even better, especially if you travel with more family members because an apartment is more convenient that hotel rooms. This would be our preferred method of travel to European cities.


Finally, as an example of travel to a more exotic location, we recently successfully planned and completed a family trip to Vietnam and Cambodia by working with a tour company in Vietnam to create a personalized itinerary.

So, in a nutshell, start with guided tours from well-reviewed online companies, explore some cities on your own, then use vrbo.com to find your own apartment and visit cities. Finally, consider trips to exotic locales by arranging tours with local tour companies.

In future videos, I’ll provide more details for each of these approaches.

Here are some more things to help you...

For a number of different guided tours to China, consider China Focus. They specialize in tours to China from the U.S. The offerings change and prices vary some depending on the season.

For guided tours to India, we went with Smartour's Incredible India tour, but you have similar options available from Gate1Travel as well.

And some travel guides for China and India... if you cosider one of these countries as your first guided tour destination:





A few photos to entice you :-)

Beijing - Forbidden City

Great Wall

Beijing - Temple of Heaven

Taj Mahal

Jaipur - Amber Fort - Elephant Ride

Jaipur

Tags: travel, world+travel, China, India

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