Ferrari Mailing List: Re: NFC - Travel Agent/Concierge Ideas

[Matt Boyd (ferrari308driver]

All,

I'm loving all the intel you're providing. I was really just looking for someone to say "Call this travel agent and tell them what you want and they'll help set it up," but instead I've got some real first-hand knowledge and experience which is way better. THANK YOU. Britt, you went above and beyond and I'm looking forward to spending some time sharing all this info with my wife as I plan this trip out.

A couple quick comments. We really have very little time to do this trip, unfortunately. My parents both went to high school in Berlin in the early 1960s (my grandfather spent some time with Powers at the time of the spy trade, among other things), so we are arriving in Berlin the Thursday prior to the Sunday marathon. I initially had planned to travel Germany for the rest of the week with my wife just exploring, but yesterday she and I were invited to the age-group world championship marathon in London 7 days later. For those who don't know, if you apply normally to the London Marathon, it is a lottery with no joke well under 5% acceptance rate, so the chance of both of us getting in on the same year is miniscule. So using this world championship qualifying status is a huge deal.

I say all that for a few reasons. First, we're running in Berlin on a Sunday, and then running another marathon in London on the following Sunday. I have to get to London at least a couple days before the race for logistical purposes, but we also want to do our London vacationing prior to the race. My wife is a doctor so we're already pushing the envelope of how long she can be away from her practice, so we'll be leaving the day after the marathon, so all our London visiting will be before the marathon.

So....all that to say, visiting Berlin Thursday through Sunday, leaving Berlin Monday (or Tuesday), and arriving in London maybe Thursday to visit on Friday and Saturday). That leaves just a very few days in-between, and after talking with her she'd like to visit Amsterdam. We usually don't do city vacations, but for this first European vacation together it sounds like that's what we're going to do.

I know the best way to visit these areas is on foot, and normally that would be fine. Our honeymoon in November 2020 included 10 days of visiting National Parks and during that trip we hiked over 100 miles in addition to running a lot of miles, too. BUT....on this trip with two marathons, we likely will not be on our feet as much as we normally would be.

Sorry for the long-winded NFC email, but my next step will be figuring out the best way to get from Berlin to Amsterdam, best way from Amsterdam to London, places to stay in all three cities, and things to do in all three cities (places to visit, places to eat).

-Matt

On Tue, Apr 12, 2022 at 11:59 AM Lashdeep Singh via Ferrari <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com> wrote:

Matt, dining in England is very good.

Let me know when and where you will be and I will give some suggestions. 

Clyde, I will CC you also so you have an updated list and know where to go next time.

LSJ

On Apr 12, 2022, at 08:14, Clarence Romero Jr. <clyderomerof4 [at] gmail.com> wrote:

If you eat you will be eating everything else but British food

Lots of great Thai and Indian food 

Fo me London is 5 days max 

Changing of the guards

Tower of London

SoHo 

Trafalgar Square 

Take open bus tour like Brit says

Then take the train to Paris and eat well!

Stay in the Latin Quarter 

You can take the train back to London and go home from there!

     RF4-4EVR

Scars are Tattoos with better stories !

If you have no enemies, you have no character !

Clyde Romero    

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On Apr 12, 2022, at 8:04 AM, JOHN ASHBURNE via Ferrari <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com> wrote:

Matt

I agree with everything Britt says about London and I would add a visit to Harrod’s Department Store as a touristy place to visit that is huge fun. Have drinks at the Savoy Grill bar (or dinner) or afternoon tea at the Dorchester Hotel for a true British high life experience. There still may be a McLaren showroom on the east side of Hyde Park. 

A quintessentially British restaurant but with excellent food is Wilton’s on Jermyn Street. Expensive but worth a splurge for really well prepared English food in a club like atmosphere. Their raw oysters are some of the freshest and best I’ve had anywhere. It’s been 10 years or so but gentlemen may still need to wear a jacket and tie. 

Check the ads in Octane for some of the classic car vendors in London. 

Museums to consider include the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

Maybe take in a football game in Chelsea, it’s an experience.  

John

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 12, 2022, at 2:58 AM, BRITT ROTHMAN via Ferrari <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com> wrote:

Hi Matt,

I don’t know what you want to see, what your timeframe is or what you like to do but seeing as I lived in the U.K. for 22 years and travel to a different European city weekly with work I can give you a few quick thoughts.

1. You could spend 25 weeks in London and not see everything as a tourist so if it’s the first time stick with the well known tourist sites, just cause they are well known doesn’t mean they aren’t worth seeing.

2. The best way to see a new city on the first day ( in my opinion) is one of those open top bus rides you can take that are hop on-hop off for a few hours. They hit most of the interesting sites and will give you ideas for things to see. 

3. Berlin will have a tourist office, the airport arrivals will probably have a tourist office. Grab some brochures and you will have a few ideas. You don’t have enough time to get bored.

4. I would spend more time in London then in Berlin ( personally). 

5. Walk walk walk. Especially London. Unless the weather is impossible ( buy a brolly) then walk. The underground and taxis are always available.

6. London is easy, too much to see in a few days. Depending on your preference ( and crowds I can say all the following ( you can Google for details). : Walk Hyde Park, particularly on a Sunday morning, Goto Greenwich, take a river taxi from parliament south to Greenwich on the Thames, get off and walk back through the tunnel under the Thames., Visit St Pauls, Visit the Tower of London, Visit the Covent Garden, walk Regent and Oxford Streets, walk around the palace, Green Park, past number 10, around New Scotland Yard, also there are dozens of very good museums, to many to see in 22 years!. There’s the London transport museum, the art museums, etc. there are loads of tourist offices and ideas in those. Visit HMS Belfast moored in the Thames and tour her, Ride the London Eye for the views. 

7. You could just walk around London and see a hundred sites for free and have a good time, you could do this for 2 weeks. No need to plan and actually no need for the hop on bus when in London. Do that in Berlin. 

8. Research the transport situation from the London airport you use to where you are staying. Taxis are easier but you have to pay. Everything in the U.K. is screwed right now for airports so expect to wait a long time in lines and a long time for check in and to get your bags.

9. Have fun.

BR in Stockholm

Sent from my iPad

On 11 Apr 2022, at 18:03, Clarence Romero Jr. <clyderomerof4 [at] gmail.com> wrote:

Any major hotel can assist you with that in the area

     RF4-4EVR

Scars are Tattoos with better stories !

If you have no enemies, you have no character !

Clyde Romero    

Confidentiality Notice:  This e-mail ( including attachments ) is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U. S. C., Sections 2510-2521, and is intended only for the persons or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain confidential or privileged material.  Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, dissemination, copying, forwarding or distribution is prohibited.

This email transmission, and any documents, files or previous email messages attached to it, may contain confidential information that is priviledged.  If you are not the intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the information containes in or attached to this message is STRICTLY PROHIBITED.  If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify us by reply e-mail at Clyderomerof4 [at] gmail.com or  by telephone at (678 6419932)and destroy the original transmission and its attachments without reading them or saving them to disk.

On Apr 11, 2022, at 9:56 AM, Matt Boyd <ferrari308driver [at] gmail.com> wrote:



All,

NO FERRARI CONTENT -- delete now.

It used to be in the old days that when one wanted to go on vacation, they contacted their travel agent who helped set up everything. Nowadays we have the internet and for less money, we can figure it all out ourselves. Concierge travel is for those who have more money and can let someone else take care of things. That's why I don't know anything about it and am enquiring to those of you who might have knowledge.

Short story -- my wife and I are fortunate enough to have entries to both the Berlin and London Marathons at the end of September/beginning of October (both races are difficult to gain entry). There is only one week in-between, and neither of us have traveled Europe much at all.

Buying one-way flights from DC to Berlin and London back home is simple enough, but looking for someone to help us plan a sightseeing trip between Berlin and London but we have only one week.

Does anyone have a favorite travel agent/concierge service they can recommend?

Thanks!

-Matt

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