Europe Revisited

Newcastle Herald

Monday May 26, 2003

Noel Whittaker

With some help from technology, Australian travellers should try to get the best value for their euros.

EIGHT years ago I went to Europe for a holiday last month I went back.

Of course the famous sights were no different even though the number of tourists has quadrupled, but it's amazing how technology has changed the holiday experience. This is why advance planning is so important when you travel overseas.

Most mobile phones will work fine if you request global roaming before you leave, but they can cost you dearly if you don't do your homework. I wasn't up to speed in this area when I left and was happily using the provider TIM that popped up on my screen when I arrived in Rome. A few days later, a fellow tourist pointed out I could save a packet by adjusting my phone to one of the other Italian providers, WIND.

Fortunately I took his advice because the bill arrived last week and I find that a 2.36-minute phone call to Australia on TIM has been billed at $16.05 whereas a 2.19- minute call on WIND was $4.16.

So before you leave go to the Telstra or Optus websites and bone up on global roaming. You will find a list of all providers in each country and their charges, which vary immensely. When you get to your destination turn on your mobile, find settings and then phone settings and then change from automatic to manual. A list of all the providers will come up and you can select the cheapest option.

The easy way to save on phone calls is to buy an international calling card when you arrive. I paid 10 euros for one in Rome that gave me 46 minutes of calls to any landline in Australia from any phone. Keep your mobile phone for SMS messages. They're less than 50cents each.

Of course, if you have a mobile phone, hairdryer or laptop computer with you, you'll need to recharge it regularly and to do this you'll need an adaptor. There are hundreds for sale at every Australian international airport but once you leave our shores, you'll find them as scarce as hens teeth. Make sure you buy a couple of adaptors here.

The next job to do before leaving is to become internet savvy. There are ATMs on every corner so carrying traveller's cheques are a thing of the past but overseas ATMs have one major problem, they won't give you the balance of your account. If your banking services are available online, it's a simple matter of going to your nearest internet cafe{aac} and checking the balances and moving money around and paying bills as needed.

But the benefits of being able to use the internet don't stop there.

Part of our holiday was spent living in a house in the Italian lake district and we decided to go to Milan and stay one night as my wife figured we would be too exhausted from shopping to make the 50-minute drive home. Most clothes and shoes are much cheaper in Italy.

It was a spur of the moment decision and the challenge was to arrange a booking. Of course we fell back on that brilliant Australian company wotif.com, and it took less than five minutes on their website to book a reasonably priced hotel right in the middle of the city.

We also put our using the Metro experience to good use. Every guide book warns against driving a car in big cities like Milan, Paris and Rome but it was a breeze to drive on the freeway to within five kilometres of Milan, park the car at one of the huge parking stations, and then make the 15-minute trip on the subway. The return train ticket was two euros each and it cost just 10 euros for overnight parking.

In Florence we made the mistake of driving the car into the city and overnight parking was 42 euros.

If you need a camera, buy it in Australia. I fell in love with a Nikon that was a not negotiable 879 Euros ($1582) everywhere. A quick web search revealed that $US550 was the going rate and an email home confirmed the same camera was $1100 in Australia.

The big squares are still a tourist trap. Coffee for two with a single tiny sandwich and two bottles of water came to 18 euros ($32) in one of Rome's famous squares. Yet, in a side street cafe{aac}, a superb pizza and a huge salad washed down with a small carafe of house red was just 11 euros. It pays to eat where the locals go.

If you need a haircut have it before you leave. It's hard to get a quote first when the barber doesn't speak English and I was shocked to find after the event that a haircut in Switzerland cost 35 francs ($42). Lucky it was a short back and sides that will last for a while!

Noel Whittaker is a proper authority holder for Whittaker Macnaught Pty Ltd, licensed dealer in securities.