Budget Travel
Progressively, I will pick and put up 5 best photos taken in each city on my Europe travel here which I love most (though the process takes a bit long 
). Being first of the series, 5 photos were picked for my first Europe Travel city, London. It was challenging to decide which are the 5 as I took nearly 1000 photos in London. Final decision was interesting. All the following 5 photos were picked from bunch of photos taken on my 3rd day in London when we had the best sunlight of all. Another proof of how I love natural sunlight and blue sky… Here they are:
1) Tower Bridge, the iconic structure across River Thames of Great London. (Captured with Nikon D60 with Tamron SP10-24mm (same to all following photos) at 16mm focal distance, ISO100, Shutter speed at 1/320 with Aperture of F8.0). You can see the mixing weather conditions on that day from the dark cloud. We had a heavy rain and strong wind just 5 minutes before and bright sunlight 5 minutes after. This shot would be perfect without the dark cloud overhead. The best time to capture the best sunlight on Tower Bridge is in the afternoon at 5pm. The sun was directly on top of us when we were there at 2Pm.
2) The famous mosaic feature wall at Tottenham Court Road Underground station. (Lens’ focal length set at 10mm, ISO400, Shutter speed at 1/30 with Aperture of F3.5., handheld shot). Tottenham Court Road underground station is famous with its colourful mosaic decorations all around the tube. The lighting of the photo was uneven naturally due to the ambient setting.
3) St. Paul Cathedral, the famous West End facade. (Lens’ focal length set at 10mm, ISO100, Shutter speed at 1/250 with Aperture of F8.0). Another 1 minute precious moment of bright sun and deep blue sky in between overcasting dark clouds. Visit the St. Paul Cathedral in the afternoon if you want to capture the best natural sunlight falling on its West end facade.
4) Authentic street light post on both sides of Westminster Bridge. (Lens’ focal length set at 12mm, ISO100, Shutter speed at 1/200 with Aperture of F11.0., fill flash fired). There are more than 10 motorway bridges crossing the River Thames. Westminster Bridge is so significant as it is the connecting bridge from Greenwich to the the House of Parliament. Along this wide bridge there are this beautiful street lamp posts sitting at every 10m. Fill flash was fired to reduce the contrast from the harsh sunlight in the morning. We thought the weather was going to be good whole day but unfortunately, it rained 1o minutes later.
5) Priscilla, Queen of the desert Musical Theatre. (Lens’ focal length set at 11.5mm, ISO400, Shutter speed at 1/13 with Aperture of F3.8., handheld shot with -2/3EV compensation). London is famous for its many musical theatres at almost every corner of the city centre. This is only one of them. I love it because it was shot handheld without any supporting tripod. Thanks to the 10-24mm ultra wide angle lens and DX format camera, I was able to capture the scene without serious visible motion blur at slow shutter speed of 1/13s!
No special photographic creation as you can see here. All of them are merely travel snapshots I made during my travel to Central Europe. It was a rush tour around 7 cities mainly for only sightseeing. For first time visitors, it was a perfect itinerary of Europe travel to cover so many travel destinations in such a short period of only 14 days. Coming up next is my travel experience in central Europe. Stay subscribed! If you have not, subscribe my RSS feed or email feed now for free updates on my travel stories. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog
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In Europe, there are all types of tourists accommodation you can choose from, B&B, hostel, budget hotel, luxury hotel, apartment or camping site. You can easily find tens of accommodations options that fit into your budget and requirement and you start to puzzle over which is the best.
Also bear in mind that every EU country has their individual culture and preference. One suitable type of accommodation in one EU country does not necessary the same in another EU country.
So how can we find the best accommodation type for our Europe travel? The best way in this off course is to try all different accommodation options available to you in every country so you can conclude with the best for your next visit. But how can every traveler do that? Many of us will not get the second chance to visit Europe again and we would hope to find the best accommodation option in our first time in Europe.
I had a hard time in my recent Europe tour as well. Adopting flash-packing travel style, I had a little bit more options for accommodation. At the end, the group of five of us stayed in all different type of accommodations in each city that we’ve been to!
You can do the same as well. It gives you more travel experiences on your travel. In case you are more particular in getting the right accommodation for better sleep at night, I would suggest these 5 guidelines to follow when booking your accommodation in Europe:
- 1 Person travel – If you are traveling alone, stay in B&B to be able to mix around with others and make more friends. It is also the cheapest accommodation option for single person;
- 2 Person travel – If both are couple, budget hotel is your option. There are chances where a double room is cheaper than 2 beds in B&B, though without breakfast (you won’t mind if you are couple and wake up late ). For unlimited budget couple, look for a luxury villas; If you are friends, stick to B&B for the same reasons as guideline (1);
- 3 Person travel – If you are traveling with a couple, stay in budget hostel or B&B so they can sleep in a private ensuite while you can stay in dorm; If 3 of you are friends, book for beds with breakfast or experience the 3-person campsite tent which would be the cheapest option;
- 4 Person travel – If you are 2 couples traveling together, try to get an apartment. It would be great option (can be cheaper option also) to stay together and cook together while still get some privacy at night with 2 rooms apartment. Or you can experience staying in campsite with 2 bed tents side by side; If you are traveling with your wife and 2 children, you can look for a family villa; If you are all friends, you can either stay in apartment, campsite or B&B;
- 5 Person travel – For the most economical type of accommodation, book an apartment! Either there are couple or not in your group, you can arrange rooms without issue. The best part of staying in apartment in Europe is that you can buy foods in supermarket and cook yourselves. Eating in restaurants in Europe is an expensive experience which should not be practiced every meal or day. Frozen pizza or chilled pasta and sandwich are very cheap in supermarket but still tastes great!; If you are traveling with children, family villas can give you more facilities and family fun.
Bed and Breakfast or B&B might not be the cheapest option in Europe especially when you book it last minute or walk in. Budget hotel might not be more expensive than B&B if you book it well in advance online. Apartment is normally slightly more expensive than B&B but you can cook yourselves and wash your clothes with a family room and in secured environment. Campsite is cheap while still offering everything you need in the compound with only downside of having mosquito and without heater at night.
So, with the number of members in your travel group decided, along with the above 5 guidelines, you can now decide which accommodation type suit you best in Europe and can start looking for one which is cheaper or closer to either your travel destinations or train station, NOW! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog
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