Travel Tips and Makeups, by Roger Schamp
Roger Schamp discussed his July and August 2012 trip to Eastern Europe. He reserves hotels more than 6 months in advance, to save 25-30%, and is already planning a trip for May 2013. Concerts in foreign countries, as well as here, often fill up early and also need to be reserved in advance. However, airline flights are often full nowadays by the time that their fares would be “cheapest”.
His travel tips include planning far ahead, using public transportation, city audio-guides rather than tours, eating with the locals (if you can find where they are), packing light, not over-scheduling, and keeping a log of your photos so you know what they are after you return. He also distinguishes between stopovers (one night, with a simple clean and quiet hotel), and destinations, with a better hotel near what he wants to see. He advises staying 4-5 days in a large city and up to 3 days in a smaller city. Local people are very helpful for managing public transportation, which is usually inexpensive in Europe.
He packs light, including one carry-on and one personal item (a bag on a strap for immediate access). He carries a small notebook computer with Wi-Fi (which is often available free except in some hotels), and carries a small GPS unit which has maps of most of Europe and North America. Take charging equipment for your electronics, and don’t leave it behind anywhere. He brings a few clothespins, to help close the window drapes when he wants to sleep. He has a repair kit for glasses, and brings an extra pair of glasses as a precaution. He also has a small battery ultraviolet light to disinfect hotel-room items like remotes and doorknobs. He has a pocket battery timer/alarm with 5 separate times, as a reminder for events or awakening from a nap. He uses zip lock bags for carrying maps, so they are easy to find. He uses a separate Manila folder for each city, to keep hotel reservations and other information. He takes few clothes and only one pair of comfortable lightweight walking shoes (Rockport).
Roger discussed briefly the main sites he found interesting in each of the 6 cities he visited this year: Krakow, Warsaw, Minsk, Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn. These cities were more modern than he expected, and he enjoyed visiting their museums, parks, old town areas and shopping streets. (He passed around a photo album of his 200 “favorite” travel pictures.) Minsk was very big and modern, with cheap transportation and food but expensive hotels, and few Americans. He found that Minsk has no Rotary meetings in July, but he still managed to meet some Rotarians there. He enjoyed Rotary meetings in other cities and met other Rotarian travelers. These Clubs were all different from each other and from ours (there is of course no “Pledge of Allegiance” in foreign Rotary Clubs). Roger recommends traveling to visit other cultures, and enjoying Rotary as you go.