"London to Honfleur.—The Villa de Lisbon and the Villa de Paris twice a week."
All the great steamship companies issue pamphlets (gratuitously) containing the information needed by travelers. These can be obtained by writing to the office of the company, or by personal application, and it is advisable for a traveler who expects to wander away from terra firma to provide himself with a stock of these documents. They are of essential advantage in laying out a route, and by a little study a tourist may often save much time and money. Take the following as an illustration:—
In 1873 the writer was at Vienna to attend the great exhibition of that year. At the close of the affair he projected a journey to Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and persuaded a friend to accompany him; the time of each was limited, and it was desirable to make the trip as expeditiously as possible consistent with doing it thoroughly. Information concerning the facilities of eastern travel was difficult to obtain, and it was concluded to postpone final arrangements until reaching Constantinople. There were three companies engaged in navigating the waters of the Levant, but no one of them would give the least information about another. "You can buy a through ticket by our line," said the agent of each, "and then you may stop over at each port till the next ship of our company comes along." This seemed fair enough, and is what is done by the majority of tourists, but it was thought possible to improve on the plan.
The handbooks of the companies, French, Austrian, and Russian, were obtained, and with these books before them the twain sat down one evening in the hotel. It required a couple of hours to arrange a route, but by dint of hard work it was accomplished. The result was something like the following:—
Leave Constantinople by Austrian Lloyd steamer of the —th, and go to Syra, one of the Greek Islands. There connect with a steamer of the same company for Athens.
Spend eight days in and around Athens, and return to Syra by an Austrian Lloyd ship.
Spend a day at Syra, and then take the fortnightly French steamer for Beyrout. It stops two days at Smyrna, and part of a day at each of half a dozen points including Rhodes, Alexandretta, and Latakieh, so that a fair view of those places can be had.
Eight days after the arrival of the French steamer at Beyrout, an Austrian one will touch there. This time will suffice for a journey to Baalbeck, and Damascus, and the return to Beyrout, so as to catch the Austrian steamer, and proceed to Jaffa, the port of Jerusalem.
Eleven days later a Russian steamer will touch at Jaffa, on her way to Egypt. Eleven days will be enough for Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, and the river Jordan, together with the return to Jaffa, to catch this Russian steamer.
The plan was carried out to the letter. There was plenty of time for seeing everything, and no loss in waiting for ships in the different ports, save in a single instance that had no serious consequences. The scheme had a decided advantage over the ordinary plan of buying a ticket by a single line, and depending only on the ships of that line. In the latter instance you are compelled to wait for a fixed period, while by traveling independently, and knowing the movements of all the ships serving the ports in which you are interested, there is often a material saving of time.