Hostel Tour in France

Enjoy this short video tour of a hostel in Tours, France. This is one of very few affordable places to stay in the city center of Tours, a pleasant city located in the heart of the Loire Valley. This town is a great home base for day trips to the surrounding vineyards and chateaus or to take nice walks and bike rides along the Loire River.

Read about the hostel and view more photos at http://www.hostelz.com/hostel/9959-HI---Tours-Hostel

Be aware that this hostel, like some others in Europe, do not offer online reservations, but must instead be contacted by phone or e-mail to make a booking.

Red Wine's Christmas Gift

We often get questions about when our book is going to be published, and we are happy to say that we are one step closer to that goal. The magic of the holiday season must have given us a little luck, because Santa brought Red Wine a book agent! We are currently signing a contract with Writers House Literary Agency in New York City. The search for an interested publisher will begin after the New Year. We will keep you posted on our progress and thank you so much for your support!

You can view information about our agency at http://writershouse.com/.

Book Update

We have completed the book proposal this week after working on it for two months, and we are looking forward to moving forward with the process of getting the book published. In the meantime, please enjoy the first 20 pages of our recently revised first chapter that we have posted below. We look forward to all comments and questions. Happy reading!

Red Wine-Proposal for Blog

Red Wine Is On Facebook!

Red Wine Helps You Sleep on Trains is now on Facebook! Become a fan of the page at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Red-Wine-Helps-You-Sleep-on-Trains/188597554874 and become a member of a global community interested in backpacking and travel. Also, remember to subscribe to our blog at http://www.youtube.com/user/redwinehelpsyousleep to receive notifications of our latest videos.

Taking Cell Phones Abroad

When it comes to taking electronic devices like your cell phone, MP3 player, or laptop abroad, we suggest leaving the gadgets at home in order to truly experience Europe. By using call centers and internet cafés located in all major cities, you can contact home cheaply and as often as you feel is necessary. We only suggest taking a cell phone if you are traveling for a long period of time and want to have it with you in case of an emergency, or if you are traveling in a group that plans on splitting up sometimes and want a way to contact each other. However, you will often find that cell phones add unnecessary costs to your trip and eat up money that could be used to pay for hostels or food.

Lisa from Denver, CO, shares her experience about taking a cell phone to Europe:

I really wanted to have a cell phone since I was just going with my one friend and it was both of our first times in Europe. I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect over there, so I wanted to be able to contact my friend. In case we got separated and only had one key to our room (which did happen once), I didn’t want to be stranded (which also happened once). I also wanted a phone in case I ran out of money (which I did) and needed to call my mom to send more (which she did, thankfully).

I ended up meeting a guy in Kilkenny, Ireland, and my friend went home early from the pub. She ended up not answering her phone to let me in. She shut it off - so it ended up not even helping when I actually needed it. I also wasted a ton of money by calling her 10 times trying to wake up her since it charged you a buck every single time you connect to voicemail.

My cell phone company gave me a big rundown on what things will cost, especially with my data plan (internet). I had to turn the data services off manually, and I had to keep my phone off as well because roaming charges were unreal. My phone company also told me I could get a new chip/phone in a European phone store when I got there that could work as a pay-as-you-go phone and plan. I opted not to do that though, mostly because I didn’t want to do all that extra work. I ended up just paying about $100 in extra charges which my mom paid most of as a gift to me because she wanted me to call her a few times to tell her about stuff.

Hunt for Holiday Sales On Backpacking Gear

If you are planning on backpacking in 2010, Christmas is the perfect time to ask for travel gear like your backpack, travel towel, and toiletry case. If you don’t want to crowd your list to Santa with backpacking gear, you should still try to take advantage of the holiday sales both online and in stores. When it comes to outerwear, we decided to do the work for you. Listed below are some of the best online prices available when it comes to packable jackets and fleece that are ready for you to take advantage of.