|
If you plan things well, a year trip can really only involve a couple of Schengen crossings. The schengen zone is pretty big. I only crossed it twice in a year in Europe.
|
#
?
May 13, 2011 12:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 21:30 |
|
|
bobthecheese posted:Buying a vehicle Check mobile.de and autoscout24.de for price points. You just have to make sure that the van still has TÜV
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2011 12:55
|
|
|
enki42 posted:Secondly, obviously there's no guarantees, but saying you absolutely will be caught for overstaying a Schengen visa is a massive overstatement. People regularly overstay their visas and even work without getting caught. Your odds are actually quite good so long as you're not crossing Schengen boundaries often and not crossing any borders with a reputation for being tough, like Turkey -> Greece. I knew many, many people who lived and worked in Germany and regularly flew home to visit family, all for multiple years without a residency permit. This is becoming significantly more difficult due to the current political climate in Europe. Schengen border checks and even internal checks are becoming, as Saladman said, much more frequent. I know people who have gotten away with crossing back into Bulgaria after overstaying their visa (though on buses and trains, not in airports). It has, however, occasionally come down to bribes. This is significantly less likely to work in Western Europe, though there you have the benefit of Schengen.
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2011 14:12
|
|
|
I have been looking to book a flight from Toronto to Dresden from august 19 early early early in the morning to august 27th, when ever. The prices have gone from 1300 to 900 to now 1500. Any advice on the proper way to get a good airfare?
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2011 20:42
|
|
|
Can someone help explain to me the reservation system when using the Euro-Rail pass? My group and I bought 5-country passes, but apparently we need to also make separate reservations for each leg of our multi-country journey. Where do we go to make these reservations? Do we need to make them pretty far in advance, or is it something you can do at the station before leaving?
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2011 21:38
|
|
|
MentosMan posted:Can someone help explain to me the reservation system when using the Euro-Rail pass? My group and I bought 5-country passes, but apparently we need to also make separate reservations for each leg of our multi-country journey. Where do we go to make these reservations? Do we need to make them pretty far in advance, or is it something you can do at the station before leaving? Depending on the route it can be a good idea, certain trains between major cities fill up fast, especially on weekends/holidays. If you're using eurail and by extension the expensive trains like TGV and ICE, you'll want a reservation. Just go to the ticket office in the station where you're starting, they can usually set you up for at least part of the way.
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2011 00:04
|
|
|
MentosMan posted:Can someone help explain to me the reservation system when using the Euro-Rail pass? My group and I bought 5-country passes, but apparently we need to also make separate reservations for each leg of our multi-country journey. Where do we go to make these reservations? Do we need to make them pretty far in advance, or is it something you can do at the station before leaving? Go to the rail station say as soon as you get to that city and book for the time you are leaving. In spain this cost something like 6 euros to reserve the seat and in France it was 1.50. I say do it as soon as you get there because we were stung trying to get some tickets in France on the day we left and they were all out of the seats they allocate to rail passes so we had to spend 50 euros and buy a seperate ticket. I think they fill up a lot quicker in France. It really depends on the route but if you are just going with the flow you could probably just rock up to the station and get a ticket as long as you are prepared to either spend money on another ticket or spend another night in that city because they are out of seats. enki42 posted:If you plan things well, a year trip can really only involve a couple of Schengen crossings. The schengen zone is pretty big. I only crossed it twice in a year in Europe. Ive been checked multiple times going Spain > France and Italy > France They usually have police at the border rail stations. I think there were a few checking in Austria as well. Fists Up fucked around with this message at 04:40 on May 16, 2011 |
|
#
?
May 16, 2011 04:37
|
|
|
Fists Up posted:Ive been checked multiple times going Spain > France and Italy > France I was checked on an ÖBB train by German police going from Austria into Germany (Bavaria) last February. I was kind of confused by it, because you know, Schengen. I asked if something had happened, and the one officer just replied back, "Routine."
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2011 07:48
|
|
|
A few days ago they stopped doing this between the Netherlands and Germany / Belgium. Was ruled illegal, because of Schengen. It's effectively an internal border control.
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2011 13:54
|
|
|
Even in Schengen, they can still do 'random' checks. They're not random. If you're Moroccan and driving a Dutch Mercedes into Germany, you have a significantly larger chance of being pulled over than me, a white guy driving a small Toyota. They can also temporarily reinstate border controls for reasons of national security or severe risk of cross border criminal activity. These reasons do not exist at the moment, but a lot of countries are looking at reinstating checks to keep out Romanians who want to do our dirty work. They use Tunisian 'refugees' as a cover for this.
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2011 16:57
|
|
|
My girlfriend and I have been planning a trip for a while now, and we finally leave in a couple days! We are going to Barcelona for a week, and spending the remaining 2 weeks traveling in Italy. What has been hazy throughout the planning though, is what city in Europe we were going to land in. We are flying buddy passes to save a pile of cash, but that limits us to several cities. We've been wrestling with Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt in the passing weeks. Out of the blue today we were told that our best opportunity to catch an affordable, fast, and business class flight(booya) is to fly to London. We were totally open to this since we view it as a chance to see a different city that wasn't in the initial itinerary. So, people that have been to London, or live in London, what must we see? What must we do? What must we eat? Feel free to speak to us like people that had no idea that they were going to London in 24 hours until 30 minutes ago. Well, because we are. Also, I'd also appreciate any input on things to do and see in Barcelona. We will be there for a solid week so we'll have ample time to explore the city and culture. Any specifics or generalities about places to eat or drink would be very welcome as well. TL:DR version: We like food, fun, sights and sounds. Where do we find those in 3 days of London and 7 in Barcelona?
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2011 18:37
|
|
|
One nice day plan would be to go to Waterloo station, walk along the South Bank, go on the London Eye, then walk across the bridge to Westminster, take a photo with Big Ben, then wind your way back to Covent Garden, check out all of that, and from there go to Leicester Square, have a nice late lunch. Then head down and finish up in the National Gallery. A properly authentically-grim London going-out experience would be to go to Camden and hit one or two of the hipster-ish pubs up by Chalk Farm (the two stations are close to each other and a ten minute walk) so if you fancy seeing Camden Market (tourist thronging full of tat but it has a soft spot in my heart) you could also get in a few drinks. I had a great time in Berlin for a three day visit when I did the Fat Bike tour - so look into that. I know they do one in London  What kind of food/budget do you like? I have a fairly encylcopaedic knowledge of London restaurants at this point so I may well be able to recommend something to you! Fyi, there's pretty much everything in London so don't say 'whatever' - Korean, Sushi, Chinese, Russian, Burgers/steakhouse, Italian, French, Hi end, low end, 'shabby chic', Spanish, European/fusion, etc etc etc Neris fucked around with this message at 20:05 on May 16, 2011 |
|
#
?
May 16, 2011 20:02
|
|
|
Our budget is one of a modest backpacker's (we'll being staying in cheap hostels, or even couch surfing). I for one am more apt to spend some money on some good food, so I wouldn't mind spending a little more, nothing too expensive though. As far as what we'd like to eat, we could probably do without the Spanish/Italian cuisine since we will be vacationing there (unless there is something exceptional that we just can't miss). I really want to eat some typical London grub (like some fantastic fish and chips) but beyond that I realize that London is a fairly int'l city and they'll have it all. So anything fun and delicious from dirt cheap to moderately affordable we are open to.
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2011 20:22
|
|
|
Eat curry. Lots and lots of curry.
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2011 20:35
|
|
|
Go to Tayyabs in Brick Lane at lunchtime and eat drat amazing curry for little (BYOB as well so even cheaper). Go have some Pie and Mash in S&M (never been but heard positive things!) near Spitalfields Market. As for the elusive 'great fish and chips' I have no suggestions, but the idea is to buy it from any place which is a 'fish bar' or whatever (NOT a chicken shop ick their chips are awful), while being quite drunk, preferably in the rain while waiting for a bus!
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2011 23:47
|
|
|
Me and the G/F are going to Spain for about 5 days at the end of June. We will spend 2 days in Madrid and 3 in Barcelona. She really likes art and architecture, so the Sagrada Família Church is the absolute must. After that maybe another architectural sight or two, but I would really like to spend a day off the beaten path, maybe see something that most tourists don't. Can any goons give me some recommendations for things to do? Also on a side note, I studied Spanish in high school (I know, who hasn't) but I was good at it and if I crammed, I'm sure most of it would come right back to me. Anyone know of any good books or resources that I could use to bring my Spanish back quick?
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2011 09:24
|
|
|
The "Teach Yourself" series of books and CDs is pretty decent. It's probably completely unnecessary though. Anywhere you go in Western Europe, especially big tourist centers like Barcelona and Madrid, will have people that speak English, or at worst a menu with pictures that you can point to. There's no need to learn a language outside of some minor things (please, thank you, hello, goodbye, where is ____) if you're only going on a 5 day tour, and I guess you remember those. And as far as I know (I don't speak word of Spanish outside Sesame Street basics) in Barcelona they speak Catalan which is completely different than normal Spanish so your high school Spanish won't help much at all.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2011 09:55
|
|
|
HeroOfTheRevolution posted:And as far as I know (I don't speak word of Spanish outside Sesame Street basics) in Barcelona they speak Catalan which is completely different than normal Spanish so your high school Spanish won't help much at all. They do speak Catalan in Barcelona and the surrounding areas, but almost everyone are bilingual and speak Castellano ("regular" spanish) perfectly fine, at least in my experience. And English of course. I got along with my school Spanish just fine in Barcelona.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2011 10:45
|
|
|
Yeah, everybody speaks Spanish in Catalonia and more people speak it regularly than Catalan in Barcelona (that changes in rural areas), so your Spanish will be perfectly fine.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2011 11:04
|
|
|
The Atomic Man-Boy posted:She really likes art and architecture, so the Sagrada Família Church is the absolute must. After that maybe another architectural sight or two, but I would really like to spend a day off the beaten path, maybe see something that most tourists don't. Can any goons give me some recommendations for things to do? We rented scooters in Barcelona, and it was one of the more memorable days of a year long trip. Traffic can be a bit hectic, so if you're nervous about riding through busy streets it might not be for you, but it was an absolute blast - definitely check out the Sagrada familia, the Gaudi park, and the hill off to the side of the city that I can't remember the name of. If either of you are Dali fans, there's an amazing Dali museum actually designed by Dali about an hour north of Barcelona by train - it makes a great day trip.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2011 12:54
|
|
|
enki42 posted:the hill off to the side of the city that I can't remember the name of. Montjuïc or Tibidabo.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2011 13:13
|
|
|
Edit: doublepost
maskenfreiheit fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Mar 13, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 18, 2011 03:28
|
|
|
I'm going to be spending a 2 days in Florence, followed by a week in Rome in a month (I went to Rome 5 years ago and did the cheap college student hostel lifestyle). Since Florence is small enough, I've already got a place picked out and the details planned. However, I have a few questions about Rome. I read through this thread and got some great ideas: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3158217 in addition to the big places I had already seen. 1. I'm really stuck on where to stay. Hostels are out. My wife and I would prefer a private room and bath. This has me leaning towards hotels, although it seems like renting an apartment could also be an option, maybe? What are the pros/cons to this? Are there reputable apartment sites for Rome? 2. Where should we stay? Previously I stayed in a hostel near the main termini. Ideally, we would like to be close to attractions and not spend ALL our time walking or waiting on buses/metro, but was thinking finding a place outside the super touristy spots might be nicer. We don't have any problem walking and if we could save some money AND be in a nicer place with more "Rome" culture than tourist that might be a plus. 3. We really want to see one of the ancient cities. When I was in Italy last, I spent some time in Naples and Pompeii. We'd really like to see Pompeii together, but I recall it being a pretty big trek. Is Rome -> Pompeii as a day-trip feasible? What would be the best way to accomplish that? If not, we can just go to Ostia to get a similar atmosphere, but Pompeii is really high on the to do list. We just don't want to lose more than a day in Rome to do it... 4. Having read that Rome thread I came across a lot of cool under-the radar stuff. It's an older thread; any other cool tips and tricks and neat hidden gems? 5. Are there any cool things happening in Rome/central Italy from ~June 10-20? Things like festivals, concerts, sports things, etc. The last time I was in Rome was when the Live 8 stuff happened to occur and it was really cool to be at a concert in the circus maximus. 6. We are big wine drinkers. Is it feasible to just buy a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers and head to park and drink it? Is that frowned upon (public drinknig etc)? Should I pack a corkscrew in my checked bags? Thanks and sorry for the wall of text...
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2011 16:45
|
|
|
Douche4Sale posted:3. We really want to see one of the ancient cities. When I was in Italy last, I spent some time in Naples and Pompeii. We'd really like to see Pompeii together, but I recall it being a pretty big trek. Is Rome -> Pompeii as a day-trip feasible? What would be the best way to accomplish that? If not, we can just go to Ostia to get a similar atmosphere, but Pompeii is really high on the to do list. We just don't want to lose more than a day in Rome to do it... I went to Pompeii from Rome as a day trip, when I was there several years ago. We rented a car, and drove down there and back in a day. We didn't have time to go see the Vesuvius or any of Naples, but if you can live without those, it is definitely possible. Maybe it'd be possible to make it up to the volcano, but you'd be running up there in what is often extremely high temperatures. A quick search on Europcar quotes a price of around $150 for a single day (8am to 8pm) in the timeframe you specified. (It's even a Fiat 500, so it doesn't get more Italian than that)
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2011 16:55
|
|
|
Douche4Sale posted:a week in Rome 1. Pro: Apartment is way cheaper, you get a kitchen, and you get more space. Con: No one makes you breakfast. Yeah, you can go to any vacation rental site to get an apartment in Rome. I've rented 3 apartments in Rome all from https://www.vrbo.com but there are a lot of similar sites (e.g. vacationrentals.com). A lot of places will be crosslisted in several. For any stay longer than 3 days I would always get an apartment, especially since budget is somewhat of a concern for you. 2. The termini area kind of blows. The Pantheon/Piazza Navona/Trevi Fountain area is the most fun for a tourist since stuff happens there at night, while Termini/Colosseum are dead and boring at night. There are no places in Rome outside the super touristy spots, but I guess if you stay north of Villa Borghese it is somewhat more residential (also cheaper also more boring). 6. Yes, this is both legal and acceptable. If you rent an apartment, it will come with a corkscrew.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2011 17:54
|
|
|
Hi there quick question. I'm heading to a few countries this summer and want to go from Vienna --> Croatia, but not sure where to go. Leaning towards Rijek but thats just from wikepedia and a map. Any suggestions for a good spot to travel solo in Croatia ? Next stop is gonna be Italy if that makes a difference as well, and travelling by train.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2011 01:37
|
|
|
It would help if you said something about what interests you, how much time do you have, how much money... Rijeka is an interesting city, but more of a port than a tourist place. More docks and shipyards than beaches.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2011 03:06
|
|
|
Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik are all nicer than Rijeka. I liked Split more than Dubrovnik (a little less touristy), Zadar is small. How are you getting to Italy, by ferry? I took a ferry from Zadar to Ancona overnight and it was fine.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2011 07:58
|
|
|
I plan on traveling through the U.K. over this summer, and I'm curious about how much it's going to cost to eat each day. I will likely not be cooking for myself very often, and I normally eat twice a day. I'd like to eat more local type foods as opposed to chain restaurants.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2011 04:46
|
|
|
Anyone know of a good, cheap place to stay in Nice, France for 5 people? We're having difficulty finding a good option through hostelworld.com
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2011 04:53
|
|
|
Texibus posted:I plan on traveling through the U.K. over this summer, and I'm curious about how much it's going to cost to eat each day. I will likely not be cooking for myself very often, and I normally eat twice a day. I'd like to eat more local type foods as opposed to chain restaurants. This completely depends on you. You can eat out of a grocery store for £5/day, you could eat fish 'n chips and diner food for ~£10 a plate, or you could eat at nice restaurants for £15/plate and up. To be honest though, traditional 'British food' isn't known for being particularly worthwhile unless you're completely hammered, in which case it's fine. They have a saying in Europe that goes something like "in hell, the cook is British, the lovers German, and the bureaucracy French." E: Oh, here it is: Heaven: the policeman is British, the lover is Italian, the cook is French, the engineer is German and it is all organized by the Swiss. Hell: the policeman is German, the lover is Swiss, the cook is British, the engineer is French and it is all organized by the Italians. Saladman fucked around with this message at 10:07 on May 20, 2011 |
|
#
?
May 20, 2011 10:05
|
|
|
Excellent, I was looking for these types of ballpark figures. I was reading through most sources and getting if you want to eat cheap buy your own groceries, but no real estimate of how much it would cost someone buying cheap meals outside of the markets. Thank you
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2011 15:02
|
|
|
I've never flown a codeshare before. So I have a question regarding baggage and transfers in London. We're traveling from San Antonio to Washington, D.C. to London on United. The ticket includes a flight from London (LHR) to Frankfurt on Lufthansa (code share with United, Star Alliance nonsense). So everything is on one ticket, but it's not on one airline. When we arrive at London, do we need to go through customs? Do we need to pick up our luggage in London and put it through UK customs? What about physically putting it in the hands of Lufthansa while at LHR? Does the baggage get transferred for us or do we need to physically pick it up and give it to Lufthansa?
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2011 18:49
|
|
|
I'm gonna be slightly helpful here since it hasn't been answered yet. My experience with flying is that they can tell you the details of what they're doing with your stuff at the desk where you first check in. Also, on exiting the plane there is usually a transfer desk nearby where again they can tell you if you need to pick up your luggage or if it gets transferred through.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2011 20:09
|
|
|
I'm planning my solo backpacking trip through eastern europe and the Balkans. The trip will be somewhere around one month in length (exact length depends on when and where I can fly back to Norway from.) I have some experience with eastern europe from travelling with my family, but I've never been to the Balkans and never travelled alone either. As such, I'm looking for some advide on my itinerary. The trip starts in Amsterdam, as I'll be on vacation with my family in the Netherlands when I leave. From there I'm thinking train to Prague, then Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Sarajevo and finally flying home from Split.I may have too many cities in a relatively short timespan, but I can't really decide what city to drop. Does anyone have any tips? I'm open to alternative destinations if you think I'm missing something huge. I'm interested in history, museums, the whole culture thing. Nice beaches are always a plus, while I'm not really hugely into nightlife.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2011 20:14
|
|
|
Drop Belgrade. The guy from Belgrade who posts here regularly will disagree but it's definitely the most missable out of any of those cities. Also Netherlands to Prague is a really long train ride. You might be better off flying.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2011 21:49
|
|
|
HeroOfTheRevolution posted:Also Netherlands to Prague is a really long train ride. You might be better off flying. Or hitchhike if you want to get adventurous, should be one of the easier hitchhiking routes.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2011 09:29
|
|
|
HeroOfTheRevolution posted:Also Netherlands to Prague is a really long train ride. You might be better off flying.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2011 11:56
|
|
|
I'll consider dropping Belgrade. As for the train ride, I'm not really that concerned. I do an equivalent trainride through Norway multiple times a year, so I think I'll do fine. It's boring, but survivable.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2011 13:36
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 21:30 |
|
|
I'm looking to travel with my family to Eastern Europe later on in the summer. I have a few ideas as to where I want to go-- most likely some combination of Germany, Poland, and maybe the Czech Republic or Hungary. My main concern is where to start the trip from, as I am worried about plane flight costs. I'll be starting in Austin, Texas, and I would certainly appreciate some help sorting out the best possible flight path for the least amount of money. The idea is to probably start in Germany and continue by train from there as we do have experience with the train system in Europe. Is this plan even realistic for two or three months from now without being outrageously expensive?
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2011 04:17
|
|
