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Life Lessons of a Military Wife (overseas in Europe!): Your Own Personal City Guide

Life Lessons of a Military Wife (overseas in Europe!)

My goal here is to make your life easier, especially those who are in the unique situation of being a military spouse. Yes...I've been around...but in a good way...and hopefully can share those tips, tricks and shortcuts with you too. I've been on this military bus for over 40 years now. My goals in life are to have a well-run home, few money worries, well adjusted children, money socked away and whatever happiness I can scoop out of life.

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After life as an Army brat, being in the Army myself and marrying a soldier, I can honestly say I have a bucket full of life lessons I can share to help you make your everyday life easier and enlightening. Don't waste your time making unnecessary mistakes and benefit from others who have come before you on your journey through life.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Your Own Personal City Guide

Having worked in the tour industry over here, I can see how expensive tourguides can be for those ubiquitous city tours. In my last job, we paid anywhere from 40 to 200 Euro to pay a guide for 1-2 hours for a nice little tour through their city or town. What if you, as an average tourist, had this luxury (without the great expense)...in your pocket no less.

On my own travels, I will frequently look for audioguides I can download to my mp3 player. Any mp3 player will do, although I am still partial to my Zune player. Google the name of the city and "mp3" or "audioguide" or try some of these sites below:

    I've also found that my Garmin Navigation device will let me download Points of Interest (POIs) along with photos of sites you are passing and the corresponding audio. Neat stuff. You can find some below:



    Alternatively, many of the more tourist-visited cities have regular tours throughout the day, that either meet at their tourist bureau, their main train station or some other central location. These can really be lowcost at around 5 euro per head. Google the name of the city and "tourist" to find their tourist bureau website, and then follow the links for "individual tours" or "city tours". Typically you show up at certain times of day at a designated location and then pay your guide after the tour is over.

    Which city tour has been your favorite and where have you found lowcost tours?

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    2 Comments:

    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Thanks for the info about the audio guides. I can't wait to try them as I explore the area. Have you discovered any places to get your hair done (cut and color)?

    Are there home improvement type places like OBI? How is the shopping there? Is it like Germany? Are there any contemporary furniture stores in the area? Any advice on purchasing school supplies?

    August 2, 2010 at 9:36 AM  
    Blogger ****Veteran Military Wife at Life Lessons of a Military Wife**** said...

    No, haven't investigated hair salons yet, although my neighbor frequently takes the train to Mons and gets hers done there somewhere.

    There are quite a few home improvement stores. I've been to Brico and one other one where we got a beautiful patio set at 30% off.

    I haven't really looked at new furniture, just been to some second hand stores....I know for cheap furniture (cause homes here have no storage, so you'll need cheap cabinets and such), many go to IKEA up in Anderlecht/Brussels, about 40 min away.

    School supplies we are doing the lazy thing and getting them at AAFES. There are also sales off post, but their supplies are a bit different. Elem school has supply lists here.

    August 3, 2010 at 8:40 AM  

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