There were so many lessons learned on this trip... I wish we could go again and we could do it better!
Airport/Train Transfers
Juggling passports, tickets, pens, luggage, etc, etc while in line with lots of other people was a challange. In a few places, crossing the border means filling out paperwork and we never had enough pens, space, time, info and it was hectic. Make sure everyone knows to find a place out of the way on the other side and wait for everyone to get back together. I was always afraid I was gonna loose someone, but we never did. Maybe with more ahead planning, security or paperwork could be done as a group?
Water, water, water. Cold water and other beverages are sometimes hard to find, or can't be picked up as quickly as needed. There were a few occasions on travel days when we wished we had brought more with us. (except in Switzerland... there is cold glacier water available lots of places for free)
Flights
Be sure to ask for your group seats to be together. No, they don't do that automatically.
The overnight flight was a good idea in theory, but hardly any of us slept at all. By mid-afternoon the next day, many of us were doing all we could do to stay awake through dinner, then pass out and hopefully be better with the time change. Worked out ok, but navigating to the Scout Center and then checking in when you haven't slept in a day and a half was a challenge.
We scheduled our train from the airport to Kandersteg well after our flight arrival time, for fear a delay would cause us to miss our train. It was a non-stop flight and so the chances of a major delay were less and we ended up landing early and then had to wait 3 hours for our train. They would not let us change our reservations to the earlier one, even though we were there in plenty of time.
Switzerland
We did not spend enough time in Switzerland and in the planning we all thought we would be bored there, so we scheduled the least amount of time. The Kandersteg Scout Center was great (mostly boys there, fyi). Our Chalet was lovely - we arranged for our luggage to be transported up the "little" hill and it was well worth the money paid. And a guide met us at the bus stop, which was unexpected and much appreciated (i got to put away the map for a miunute).
Do a gondola ride up into the mountains and visit a glacier lake (there are many). So very very very cool. I would go back in a heartbeat.
Official languages spoken here are German, English and French so all signs are in all three.
There are no traffic lights, so cars are supposed to stop and wait for pedestrians when you want to cross the street. We didn't know that and was confused when all the cars stopped for us!
The altitude was a factor, but we did a long walk and most of us were able to keep up. Tired, yes, but able to do it. Anyone who is concerned for thier stamina should do lots of walking before the trip.
Be sure you are getting off at the appropriate bus stop for Our Chalet - there are two for Adelboden.
Kandersteg is a VERY small town, but perfectly wonderful.
There are some things that you have to pay cash for at KISC and some of us didn't have any Swiss Francs with us. Having cash in pocket should be a priority here - towns are small and ATMs harder to find.
Money
Finding an ATM at each new country was sometimes a hassle, beleive it or not. Also, not all places take credit cards as widely as here. Not having currency in pocket upon arrival was sometimes an issue.
Trying to figure out how much money you will need/want in each country, without carrying too much each day was a constant issue for all. DON'T convert your money at any shop/booth/kiosk... FIND A BANK. The fees are ridiculous.
Girls should carry the bulk of thier money in thier waist belt, but keep some handy for daily purchases. It was not the best when they would all be rummaging around in thier waist belts at each tourist shop.
I told my bank that I was travelling out of the country, upped my daily ATM withdraw amount, and I still had trouble paying with my credit card sometimes. First, in Switzerland, the Kandersteg Scout Center came up on some scam list with my bank and so was denied. It was hard to call and get it handled from there, but my husband helped and worked it out. Second, apparently Paris has some rule that no out of country credit card will be approved for over a certain amount - we planned on paying for all meals with our troop visa card and was denied each time. We ended up paying cash each time - would have be nice to know! London - no issues with our card!
Trains
I am still not sure how we were supposed to know what car to get on to find our assigned seats for each train we took from Adelboden to Paris. We always ended up on the wrong car, with our luggage, it was crowded, and hot, and total confusion. Sometimes we got yelled at for being in the wrong seats and sometimes we were told, no one ever sits in thier assigned seats. The Paris conductors were very impatient with our group. This travel day from Adleboden to Paris was the worst part of the trip by far.
Be sure to book all your train/bus travel in one call to Rail Europe as there is a $75 processing fee per call.
The Metro's were all VERY easy to navigate in London and Paris. Get some maps and just figure it out. Takes some time to start, but we were travelling around like pros in no time.
Have a firm plan on what to do if someone doesn't make it on a subway or bus. We ended up leaving behind a girl and her mom in the rush and then I had to go back and find them. Be sure everyone knows what stop you are looking for.
Subways can be VERY crowded at rush hour times. Prepare your girls to have to stand up, hold on, and be closer to strangers then they would ever want to (valuables in your waist belt!!!)
In London, the underground is.... well... underground... way underground. Many times there are large elevators everyone has to use to get to ground level. Pick-pockets love these enclosed places. Have your girls watch out for each other and stand in a way that thier backpacks are not exposed. We were lucky and we didn't loose any money, cameras, or other valuable.
Paris
The affordable accomodations in Paris are in less nice parts of town. If you are used to a big city - no problem. If you are not, it may be hard to deal with. Some of us were ok with where we were staying and some felt it was just a little too rough.
Make reservations for the Eiffel Tower WELL in advance (6 months!). and make time to see it at night.
Prepare your girls for the guys selling souvieners near the Eiffel Towee - they can be very pushy.
This was the place we had the biggest language barrier, but overall we really had no problem. Many people did not speak english, but we worked it out and found nothing but nice people along the way.
Many on the trip felt that Paris was thier least favorite stop. Lots of old churches. Lots of tourists.
The Louvre - all the displays are in french, so if you want to actually know what you are looking at, get an audio tour.
It stays daylight in Paris well past 11pm. This had a bigger impact on our day to day life then anticipated. We were up late every night and that made our morning start later.
The hostel we stayed at had one window in our room, that opened to an small, enclosed area which meant there was NO AIR at all. It was hard to sleep at night with the lack of a breeze and the humidity. A clip on fan would have done wonders. The girls room faced the street and they had a lovely breeze all night. A/C or fans seem to be nonexistent!
Shopping in Paris opens much later then you want it to.
One mom brought a translation book that was specifically for menus and it was a good thing to have at a few restaurants that did not offer english translations on thier menus. We just looked up what each thing was.
London
London was a breath of fresh air after the big city feel of Paris. still a city, but cleaner. nicer. WAY less touristy. Tons to see.
Make time to check out the WAGGGS office near Buckingham Palace (you can stay there overnight on the floor, but it is not set up well for that). We needed a place to eat lunch and it was a beacon glowing in the dark, hungry, hectic afternoon. They were super accomodating and it was nice to touch back to the reason for the trip - GS/GG - and just relax for a few minutes with people who understood our group.
Some London pubs/restaurants have a rule that they will not search any children after 6pm. Even though most of our group was 18+, they kicked us out!
Planning
I had never travelled outside the country before and I took on the task to act as tour guide. This made the trip extrememly overwheleming and stressful for me. I did choose this and in one respect I am glad I did, but I would have enjoyed myself more if we had used a tour service.
Be sure to manage expectations with the girls and adults during trip planning. It was so long in coming and so anticipated that some of the girls were let down a bit by the day to day grind of travelling with 12 people all the time. We did work it out and hit our stride, but I don't think any of us were mentally prepared for how it would REALLY be.
The girls were all 16 - 18 at the time of the trip and wanted to go off on thier own all the time. I was not totally comfortable with that and we had to work through to compromise. We should have discussed it more in advance.
More then one person needs to be comfortable reading a map of the city and directing the group. Maybe even bring a GPS that can just direct you. Navigating to new places was sometimes a struggle when no one but me wanted to read the map. I needed a break to just look around and enjoy.
We like to keep an open schedule when travelling and so this led us to the itinerary that is posted here that is grouped by area, but nothing was set in stone until we got there. We planned the next day, the night before, based on what we wanted to do, how we were feeling, and any new things we saw. Sometimes we were too tired to slog through and make the decisions, but we had to or we could not coordinate our group wake up time, etc.
Meals at restaruants take way longer then anticiapted in both Paris and London.
Your plans are only as good as your information. Our book never told us that the Royal Mews was closed on Fridays and we ended up making a mess of our itinerary to fit it in.
Bring a pedometer to see how far you have walked throughout the trip. We are sure we walked to the moon and back!
Postage is more expensive then you think it will be.
We paid for Paris and London Passes, both including unlimited Metro/Bus. We could have saved some money and bypassed these - we didn't use them as often as we thought we would, especially in Paris.
Food
I know it is grossly american, but you have got to make time to stop at a McDonalds in each country. It was a total hoot.
London: chips = french fries and crips = potato chips
Rocket salad = arugula lettuce
Laundry
Was an issue in every place we stayed, except Pax Lodge. By the time we were done site seeing each day, no one wanted to take the time or energy to find and figure out a Paris laundrymat. Many of us washed in the sink and dried all around our rooms. Some of the girls bought new things to wear (they were glad to so they could say they "picked it up in Paris.") In Switzerland, the machine was so small and took months to dry anything. In London, the machines were broken sometimes. Ugh - bring handwash soap sheets found at travel stores. We ended up using hand soap many times.
World Cup
We ended up on this trip throughout the time when the World Cup was being played. It was a factor in both Paris and London - large crowds gather to watch the game on large screens through the city. As soon as we realized we were in the middle of one, we high tailed it out of there. Mostly people are celebrating nicely, but they are drinking and sometimes get rowdy. It is a BIG DEAL.
Phone & Email
Email was pretty available at the places we were staying, but was sometimes slow or filled up with other people and you had to wait. With a little more effort, we could have sought out internet cafe's, but we never took the time.
Hostels do not have phones in the rooms to call out from. Have to go stand on the street and use a pay phone.
Phone cards were hard to find in Paris and the language barrier stopped alot of girls from trying to purchase one. I would definetly have them bring one along from home, even if the minutes are more expensive.
