Mosel, Germany Skating Adventure :: July 17 - 23, 2016 Meeting Time & Place We meet on July 17, the first day of the trip, at 10:00 AM at the Hôtel Mercure in Thionville, France. The hotel is perfectly situated at 2 rue Georges Ditsch, near the old center of town, steps away from our skating path, and just across the river from the Thionville train station. You should plan to eat breakfast prior to our meeting and be dressed for skating (with your skates, helmet and other skate gear ready to go, but not on), as we will walk a short distance and begin our first skate. There is no airport in Thionville, so you will likely be taking the train from your airport city to our meeting point. From the train station, cross the bridge over the Mosel River and the hotel will be right in front of you. The Night Before The Tour If you wish to spend the night before the tour in Thionville, you have many hotels from which to choose and can simply go on Booking.com to find lodging with the prices and amenities you like! If wish to spend the night at Hôtel Mercure, where we meet the first morning of the trip, you can book a room directly on their website (or booking.com). This is a typical three-star European hotel and is not fancy but is perfectly located. Finishing Time & Place We will finish on the final day of the trip, July 23, at approximately noon at our hotel in Koblenz, Germany. We will shuttle you (in small groups since our van can’t fit everyone) to the main train station, which is only six minutes from the hotel. You can expect to catch trains starting around 12:30 to 1:00 PM from Koblenz to your next destination if you plan to leave that day. Getting To and From the Tour Location For those of you flying to the tour location, you have many choices of airports. Because we essentially skate from point A to point B during the tour, the nearest airport to the tour start is not the nearest airport to the finish. One option is simply to pick one airport based on overall convenience and ticket price. A second option is to fly into one city and out of another, which would also give you the opportunity to see other cities before and after the tour. Following are your nearby airport choices and, below that, our recommendations. Airport Station in Time to Time from Koblenz Recommendation Airport Thionville Brussels Train 3:40 to 4:40 4:00 Either Cologne/Bonn Train 4:30 to 5:00 1:10 to 1:30 Best for Departure Düsseldorf Train 4:40 to 5:40 1:45 Best for Departure Frankfurt Train 4:20 1:10 to 2:10 Best for Departure Frankfurt-Hahn Bus 2:15 1:10 Both Luxembourg Bus :45 2:20 Both Paris Train 1:45 4:30 to 5:00 Best for Arrival For your arrival, Luxembourg Airport (airport code LUX) is by far the closest major airport to Thionville and often has decent prices, although there are no direct flights from North America. There is no train station in the airport, so you will need to take City Buses #16 or #9 (runs frequently) or a taxi (30 Euros minimum) from Copyright Zephyr Adventures Page 1 Mosel, Germany Skating Adventure :: July 17 - 23, 2016 the airport to the train station and from there a train to nearby Thionville. Luxembourg is not too far distant from Koblenz so you might consider flying into and out of Luxembourg if the price is right, although you will need to take a train from Koblenz to Luxembourg’s city center and a bus from there to the airport. Next closest to Thionville and with much better international connections is the city of Paris and Charles de Gaulle Airport (airport code CDG) You will need to take the train from the airport to the city and the Gare de l’Est (East Train Station), from which there is a direct train to Thionville in under two hours. Although the train from Koblenz to Paris takes up to five hours, you might consider flying into and out of Paris if it is not possible to get an “open jaw” itinerary where you arrive in one city and depart from another. Frankfurt Airport (airport code FRA) is another good choice. It is a huge airport with many international flights and usually good prices. It is easy to reach from Koblenz and has a train station directly in the airport. If you want to fly home to North America the same day the tour ends, this is probably your only option since most North American-bound flights leave in the morning or early afternoon. Since the train to Thionville is long, a very good option if the flights are available is to fly into Paris or Luxembourg and out of Frankfurt. Dusseldorf Airport (airport code DUS) also has some direct flights from North America (including JFK in New York, Newark and Miami) via Air Berlin, United, American and Lufthansa. The Cologne/Bonn Airport (airport code CGN) is closer to Koblenz but has no direct North American flights.. The Frankfurt-Hahn Airport (airport code HHN is the most centrally located airport. It has no train station in the airport but does have bus service directly from the airport to Koblenz and to Luxembourg (you’ll have to take a train or bus from Luxembourg to Thionville). There are no flights directly from North America but many flights from major cities in Europe. During high season (approximately June through August) ticket prices from North America are higher and seats scarcer. Nevertheless, with a little searching you will be able to find an affordable ticket. We always make plane reservations ourselves via the internet. Go to www.zephyradventures.com/makingAirResv.htm for information on making plane flights via the web. You can also try your travel agent if you have one. When booking an international airline ticket, please keep in mind several things. First, cheaper, advance- booking tickets generally have restrictions on changes and cancellations. Second, changing your travel date a bit might result in a cheaper ticket price. Third, try flying from and to a major gateway city such as New York, Minneapolis, Chicago, Atlanta, or Los Angeles from the US. On the other side of the Atlantic, it might be cheaper to fly to a major airport such as Paris or even Amsterdam and then take a connection to your preferred airport. Late Arrival or Change in Travel Plans If for some reason you get delayed in your travel, we will ask you to contact one of our guides and let us know you will not make the meeting time. We will provide contact information in our pre-tour email, which we generally send out two to three weeks prior to the trip. We will be departing the town of Thionville around 11:00 AM on the first day. Unfortunately, if you miss the meeting point we won’t be able to easily come back to pick you up until the late afternoon. You can also arrange a taxi from the hotel or train station in Thionville for the 35-minute taxi ride to Remich, Luxembourg and our first night’s hotel. Copyright Zephyr Adventures Page 2 Mosel, Germany Skating Adventure :: July 17 - 23, 2016 Getting Around in Europe The train is the easiest and most convenient way to travel for short distances within Europe. You do not generally need to purchase a train ticket in advance. If you wish to do so, however, you can use a travel agent or book tickets yourself via one of the following websites: German railway site: This site has an easy search engine for finding train schedules, including international routes. (Remember to type the date with the day first and then the month and year.) The Rail Europe site lists fares and schedules in addition to selling the popular Eurail passes. Passes are usually only a value for trips of intensive train use. When purchasing train tickets, remember you can buy tickets for 1st or 2nd class and one-way or two-way trips. Also, when you buy a ticket at the train station, it will indicate the car number of the train. When you are at the station, look at the schedule board to see on what track the train will arrive. Renting a car is easy in Europe and can be done via travel websites such as Orbitz or www.AutoEurope.com. Car travel is very convenient for trips of short distance where you want to have the mobility to get to small, out- of-the-way places such as along the Rhein River. Cars are not a great idea if you plan to spend time in major cities, which can be very difficult to navigate. Finally, air travel within Europe has improved greatly in recent years, both in scheduling and pricing. Many discount air carriers now operate out of alternative, regional airports. If you plan to visit another region of Europe after the tour, air travel might be the best means of transportation. Hotel Contact Information After meeting in France on the morning of Day 1, we skate or bike from hotel to hotel (while our luggage is transferred) and stay in the following hotels during the tour. Night Hotel Town 1 Hotel Saint Nicolas Remich, Luxembourg 2 Hotel Römischer Kaiser Trier, Germany 3 Hotel Lekker Neumagen, Germany 4 Hotel Trabener Hof Traben-Trarbach, Germany 5 Hotel Karl Müller Cochem, Germany 6 CONTEL Hotel Koblenz Koblenz, Germany Extending Your Stay We encourage you to take advantage of your trip and extend your stay either before or after.