Quote: "I feel I should point out that I live in the UK and I've never ever seen a 'shaver socket'."
I've seen them in hotels, though...I've never needed to use a shaver...a standard razor suffices for me, you don't need any kind of plugs for that and you can use it abroad without worrying about plugging it in.
Quote: "A lot of laptop power packs have voltage conversion, much to my horror after I spent 40 quid on a universal converter. Check with your manufacturer first, but you may only have to buy a different plug for it."
They're fun...I've basically had to tape mine together because the pins won't grip into whatever output you want and I keep having to fiddle with it, but then I was happier spend £20 on a universal one (£40 is a bit steep, I take it you went to somewhere like Maplin?), rather than contact Acer and spend more on one of their cable specific to my laptop. It suffices. Still, it is useful for the voltage switch.
Also, London is a great place to visit and we find ourselves walking an awful lot (we don't like tourist buses, we like to find things for ourselves and stop and look at things, travelling by bus limits you) and there's a lot to see and plenty to do and the restaurants are pretty awesome. Bare in mind for any major city, you might become a target for muggers, and lets put it this way, tourists really stand out and they're easy targets. Make sure you keep you wallet in a very place. Even though we kept ours safe in Barcelona, my Mum still managed to loose €40 on an underground train. It doesn't mean be paranoid about it, just be sensible.
London does have its muggers, I'd stay stick in a group and stay in generally public places, like you would in any city. Bear in mind every city has a dodgy area.
Also, Germany, I've not been to any of the cities you're visiting, generally I've always found German people to pleasant. Don't be afraid to talk to them, I've found the Germans like talking to foreign people. Outside of the train station, random German approaches us and starts chatting to us in German...my Dad is the main German speaker in my family, but I know enough to get by, he wasn't present. So because my German was inadequate, like his English, we created a beautiful pidgen language. Same for the woman in the pub. The girl who sat next to me on the train, brilliant English and too, very talkative (she was from Cologne actually). She dreamed of moving to Ireland. Currently, I'm yet to meet a German I dislike.
Also...you can get around a country on basic phrases, Germany was easier, because I can speak a certain level of German well. Wie gehts dir? Ja, ich bin gut, aber ich bin mude. Mein deutsch ist schlect. Ich mochte zweimal brotchen mit kase bitte.
That last line was essential at the festival we went to. €1 per cheese roll, bargain!
Germany tends not to have a huge number of English speaking people, at least, all of my Taxi drivers didn't and not many people in the shops or bars did, so it's good to have the basics, like, "wie kostet die fahrt" (how much does the journey cost") and "zum flughafen bitte" (to the airport please) and naturally the numbers, (Es ist funf und zwanzig euro...It is 25 euros)
