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Neris
Mar 7, 2004

don't you dare use the word 'party' as a verb in this shop
Yeah, I went to Antwerp kind of expecting it to be awesome and while it was nice, I was tired and we walked for ages and eventually I was just waiting to get hungry again so we could have an excuse to go into a cafe or get a little later than 11am so I could have a drink in a bar. Apart from the very pretty cathedral, I didn't feel too impressed by it. Apart from a couple of nice shopping streets.

I think it's better for nightlife and that - big student city and all.

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The Great Autismo!
Mar 3, 2007

by Fluffdaddy
Does anyone have any suggestions about places to stay near Plitvice National Park? It seems kinda difficult to do it from Zagreb or Zadar. Any suggestions?

Magic Underwear
May 14, 2003


Young Orc

goldboilermark posted:

Does anyone have any suggestions about places to stay near Plitvice National Park? It seems kinda difficult to do it from Zagreb or Zadar. Any suggestions?

If you had a car you could probably do it from either city as part of a very long day trip. If you really want to get the most out of it I would stay the night though. There are a few hotels right at the second entrance, they aren't expensive and though I can't vouch for any of them it's only one night, and if you've done it right you'll be too tired from hiking to care much. I'm pretty sure there are pensions in all the nearby villages too, but if you don't have a car getting around would be problematic.

I'll tell you I did it, which you shouldn't do: Bus from Zagreb (takes you to the second entrance), did the short tour, then waited at the bus stop for literally two hours waiting for a bus to Zadar that never came. Eventually a taxi-van stopped and some Belgians and I shared it for the same price as a bus ticket. I wish I had known the bus wasn't coming, I could have done one of the longer circuits.

Anyway, Plitvice is really beautiful, I would recommend it to anybody who was going to be in the area.

vanity slug
Jul 20, 2010

There's a direct line from Amsterdam to Antwerp. From there you can go to Ghent and then Bruges. Those three are the most recommended bits of Belgium I've seen, besides Brussels (which really isn't that great).

other people
Jun 27, 2004
Associate Christ
I am going to be in Barcelona and Paris next week.

I have a cell phone that I would like to put a sim card in. Can anyone tell me what prepaid sim I should be looking for? Would really like data, as well.

If you have any ideas for things to do or places to go in either city that wouldn't be in a guide book, please let me know!

sweek0
May 22, 2006

Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past
Yeah don't do Brussels, especially right after Paris as it's really quite similar to Paris in many ways, just not as big and nowhere near as good. I recommend Ghent too.

greazeball
Feb 4, 2003



Kaluza-Klein posted:

I am going to be in Barcelona and Paris next week.

I have a cell phone that I would like to put a sim card in. Can anyone tell me what prepaid sim I should be looking for? Would really like data, as well.

If you have any ideas for things to do or places to go in either city that wouldn't be in a guide book, please let me know!

French mobile companies are loving douchebags... as of April this year there was no data option on any pay as you go plan in all of France. If you or anyone else finds something in France, please share it here as I'm right on the other side of the border in Switzerland and roaming data rates are insane.

other people
Jun 27, 2004
Associate Christ

greazeball posted:

French mobile companies are loving douchebags... as of April this year there was no data option on any pay as you go plan in all of France. If you or anyone else finds something in France, please share it here as I'm right on the other side of the border in Switzerland and roaming data rates are insane.

Well that is disappointing to hear.

I am a bit more familiar with Paris, but I am afraid I will become disoriented in Barcelona. I guess I have learned to lean on google maps too much.

duralict
Sep 18, 2007

this isn't hug club at all

NoArmedMan posted:

Firstly, we are planning to come up from Paris to Brugge, Amsterdam and then on to Berlin. A few people we've spoken to have raved about Berlin, while others have recommended going further in to Central/South Germany. Eventually we'll end up in Prague before going on to Budapest.

Any ideas on skipping straight from Amsterdam to Berlin, then on to Prague vs travelling through central/south Germany?

Seriously Bruges is pretty lame. It has some nice Flemish Gothic buildings and canals, but there's nothing there you can't find in other places in Belgium. And it's not that Bruges is crowded with tourists, it's just that there's almost nobody else there (no, really). Go to Ghent, it's beautiful in exactly the same way Bruges is but the locals aren't outnumbered 20 to 1 by the tourists so they actually have things like nightlife and cheap restaurants.

To answer your other question, If I were you I'd go in a big loop, Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague-Budapest-Vienna-Munich - it'll put you within two hours of a huge international air hub (Frankfurt), none of the trains will take longer than about 6 hours and since you're on a rail pass you can make stopovers for a few hours in places like Dresden or Bratislava if you feel like it without any extra effort, since the train goes through them anyway. I just did more or less the same thing in reverse, it was really easy and cheap. (protip: if you take the train directly between Prague and Budapest you'll have to buy a 20EUR ticket in Slovakia because it's not on your eurail pass. Go via Vienna and switch trains, it'll take about the same amount of time.)

I'm going to Sofia tomorrow and then have no idea what to do next. What's within about a 5 hour train ride that's worth seeing? I'm thinking of going back to Istanbul (where I am now) and then spending a bunch of time in Anatolia, but I hear good things about Romania. I have all the time I want but not a lot of money, and I can't go back to the Schengen Zone for three months.

HeroOfTheRevolution
Apr 26, 2008

duralict posted:

I'm going to Sofia tomorrow and then have no idea what to do next. What's within about a 5 hour train ride that's worth seeing? I'm thinking of going back to Istanbul (where I am now) and then spending a bunch of time in Anatolia, but I hear good things about Romania. I have all the time I want but not a lot of money, and I can't go back to the Schengen Zone for three months.

Go to Veliko Turnovo. You'll need to take a bus, but it's worth it. From there, go to Ruse then take a train up to Bucharest, and then go see some of the cities like Brasov and the castles (Peles is better than Bran and at a train stop between Bucharest and Brasov).

You can also go to the Black Sea coast. Varna is really nice for a big city (much better than Sofia), and Nessebar and Sozopol are pretty neat little resort towns with some old Revival period architecture.

Understeer
Sep 14, 2004

Now with more front end grip.

Kaluza-Klein posted:

Well that is disappointing to hear.

I am a bit more familiar with Paris, but I am afraid I will become disoriented in Barcelona. I guess I have learned to lean on google maps too much.

What kind of phone? Looking at the SFR website, they appear to have prepaid cards for the iPhone 3G and 3GS that include unlimited data. You get limited to 2G speeds after hitting a cap (the more expensive the prepaid card, the bigger the cap) but it's better than nothing.

http://s5.s-sfr.fr/mobile/uc/00/35/75/10/Doc_FIS_LCA.pdf

sheri
Dec 30, 2002

Is $1k a good price for May for a trip from Minneapolis to London and return trip from Paris to MSP?

greazeball
Feb 4, 2003



Understeer posted:

What kind of phone? Looking at the SFR website, they appear to have prepaid cards for the iPhone 3G and 3GS that include unlimited data. You get limited to 2G speeds after hitting a cap (the more expensive the prepaid card, the bigger the cap) but it's better than nothing.

http://s5.s-sfr.fr/mobile/uc/00/35/75/10/Doc_FIS_LCA.pdf

nice one, going to check this out for sure

Pantaloon
Apr 19, 2004

Fantastic thread for advice. I've blocked out my Gothenburg > Copenhagen > Berlin > Ghent route and now have to think about the nitty-gritty. I've never done any backpacking or hostel-hopping before, so here's a pile of ig'nant questions:

1) Money: should I get a big pile of foreign currency before I leave, or just eat the transaction fees and get cash as I need it? Will my plain magstripe debit card be worthless in the land of chip-and-PIN? I'm banking with Chase, if anyone has any experience traveling with that setup.
2) Should I buy or rent a real twentysomething travel backpack for a 12-day trip, or will a small carry on suitcase or rolling duffel work? I've no idea what the hostel locker dimensions are, but I assume they trend towards the small.
3) Any favorite city map iPhone apps? Or should I just hit tourist offices and stick with paper ones?
4) Is it worth it to buy a cheap prepaid phone for a 12-day trip? Can I even use one SIM across four countries?

Just trying to avoid any egregious mistakes on my first time out.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Pantaloon posted:

Fantastic thread for advice. I've blocked out my Gothenburg > Copenhagen > Berlin > Ghent route and now have to think about the nitty-gritty. I've never done any backpacking or hostel-hopping before, so here's a pile of ig'nant questions:

1) Money: should I get a big pile of foreign currency before I leave, or just eat the transaction fees and get cash as I need it? Will my plain magstripe debit card be worthless in the land of chip-and-PIN? I'm banking with Chase, if anyone has any experience traveling with that setup.
2) Should I buy or rent a real twentysomething travel backpack for a 12-day trip, or will a small carry on suitcase or rolling duffel work? I've no idea what the hostel locker dimensions are, but I assume they trend towards the small.
3) Any favorite city map iPhone apps? Or should I just hit tourist offices and stick with paper ones?
4) Is it worth it to buy a cheap prepaid phone for a 12-day trip? Can I even use one SIM across four countries?

Just trying to avoid any egregious mistakes on my first time out.

1) No, eat the transaction fees as you go, just pull out big amounts (like your daily maximum) each time and the $2 ATM fee won't be so bad. The actual rate you'll get will be pretty close to the Forex rate, and not the terrible rates that your local bank will give you (or the similarly-terrible rates that exchange bureaus will give you). Magstripe cards don't work everywhere but they work most places, including every ATM I've ever tried in Europe. It needs a PIN, but I assume your debit has a PIN.

2) If it fits in the overhead bin of an airplane it should be fine. I use a rolly suitcase that converts into a backpack when necessary. It sucks as a backpack so I only use it like that if I really need to (i.e. no flat roads, lots of stairs, whatever)

3) LonelyPlanet has city guides, otherwise you can enter the name of your city and hope it has one particularly (Berlin and Copenhagen probably have their own apps).

4) Probably not unless you're couchsurfing, in which case I would still use my US phone and use SMS anyway. Make sure your iPhone data is turned off—I don't know how to turn off EDGE without jailbreaking, but at least you can turn off 3G with a stock phone. Some phones (e.g. WorldSim) work across all countries, but most do not. If you buy one in a store, it almost certainly will charge "gently caress you" rates as soon as you go to the next country. Europe is kind of like the USA was before they eliminated the difference between "long distance" and "local" calling ten-ish years back.

sheri
Dec 30, 2002

How easy it is to use the public transportation systems, particularly in London, Amsterdam, Bruges/Brussels, Paris, and the surrounding areas? I think those cities are going to be the main stops on our trip, and being from middle of nowhere USA with very little with respect to public transportation, planning something like this seems big, overwhelming, and a little expensive.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

sheri posted:

How easy it is to use the public transportation systems, particularly in London, Amsterdam, Bruges/Brussels, Paris, and the surrounding areas? I think those cities are going to be the main stops on our trip, and being from middle of nowhere USA with very little with respect to public transportation, planning something like this seems big, overwhelming, and a little expensive.

Super easy.
Very easy.
No idea/Very Easy
Super easy.
Depends where you're going, but most likely pretty easy as long as you can read a train timetable or are courageous enough to ask someone at the info booth (who will speak English in all of those places).

Walking is also a reasonable alternative in all of those places in most cases, unless you're going Versailles or Windsor, in which case you need to take a train.

The Viper
Oct 4, 2009
Hey dudes, I'm going interrailing (by myself) in August. I'm flying into Berlin on the 15th of August and hoping to be in Rome to get a train by the 31st of August. I'm looking to visit Kracow, Ljubljana, Lake Bled, and then maybe Venice, Florence or Milan before finishing up in Rome. Now, there are two interrailing passes, but the only one that looks feasible is the €250 Euro one (ten days travel in 22 days). This is a bit pricey, and I was wondering if I'd be better just booking tickets individually. Am I mad? Also, does anyone have any recommendations between Florence, Venice and Milan? I'll probably only make it to one.

hankor
May 7, 2009

The feast is not the most important meal of the day.
Breakfast is!

Pantaloon posted:

3) Any favorite city map iPhone apps? Or should I just hit tourist offices and stick with paper ones?


Sort of related: There is a great app by the rather unwieldy name of "Fahrinfo Berlin", it gives you full plans of the bus, tram and train network, the meat of the app is a rather handy route planer that you'll be thankful for if you aren't used to expansive public transport systems (for some reason tourists seem to have problems in grasping the concept of a metro that gurts the inner city)

hankor fucked around with this message at 09:52 on Jul 25, 2011

duralict
Sep 18, 2007

this isn't hug club at all
Thanks for the advice on Bulgaria/Romania, I'm going to Veliko Turnovo in a few minutes!

For public transit, the London and Paris metro systems are very easy and the infobooth people all speak English. Brussels is a little more challenging because they don't have maps everywhere like they do in Paris and London, but it's a pretty simple system so you can usually ask anyone you see for help. Bruges doesn't really have a public transit system other than a few buses that circle the historic district but it takes all of twenty minutes to cross it and the train station is right next to the edge of it, so just walk. But yeah if you have a little bit of time to play with, you can easily get around mostly walking even in the bigger cities, and you'll see a lot more. I only really used public transport when I went out at night.

The Viper posted:

Hey dudes, I'm going interrailing (by myself) in August. I'm flying into Berlin on the 15th of August and hoping to be in Rome to get a train by the 31st of August. I'm looking to visit Kracow, Ljubljana, Lake Bled, and then maybe Venice, Florence or Milan before finishing up in Rome. Now, there are two interrailing passes, but the only one that looks feasible is the €250 Euro one (ten days travel in 22 days). This is a bit pricey, and I was wondering if I'd be better just booking tickets individually. Am I mad? Also, does anyone have any recommendations between Florence, Venice and Milan? I'll probably only make it to one.

Do you like art/art history? If yes, go to Florence; if you aren't particularly into it, you'll probably enjoy Venice more. Milan is nice but it's not worth missing the other two for. A rail pass is definitely a good thing to have in Germany (it saves you a ton of money on long trips) but in Italy it's not actually the most economical decision because the slow trains (which you have to take if you want to use your rail pass) are surprisingly cheap. If I were you I'd get a shorter rail pass and buy the internal Italian ticket separately (though you should plan ahead and go to the ticket office really early because Trenitalia has by far the slowest salespeople I have ever seen). Also are you on an interrail or a eurail? Eurail passes aren't valid in Poland.

duralict fucked around with this message at 09:54 on Jul 25, 2011

The Viper
Oct 4, 2009

duralict posted:



Do you like art/art history? If yes, go to Florence; if you aren't particularly into it, you'll probably enjoy Venice more. Milan is nice but it's not worth missing the other two for. A rail pass is definitely a good thing to have in Germany (it saves you a ton of money on long trips) but in Italy it's not actually the most economical decision because the slow trains (which you have to take if you want to use your rail pass) are surprisingly cheap. If I were you I'd get a shorter rail pass and buy the internal Italian ticket separately (though you should plan ahead and go to the ticket office really early because Trenitalia has by far the slowest salespeople I have ever seen). Also are you on an interrail or a eurail? Eurail passes aren't valid in Poland.

Thanks a million for the info! I do love a bit of art history, and I'm a huge Renaissance fan (if not, sadly, a Renaissance man) so I think it might be Florence. It's an interrailing ticket, I'm Irish so I think that's the one you get. The idea about buying separate tickets in Italy is tempting, but the problem is I need to get a train from Rome to Bordeaux after the fact, so that might cost me a bundle without an interrail pass.

Imaginary Friend
Jan 27, 2010

Your Best Friend
Hey folks. So I'm off backpacking about in europe for a few weeks tomorrow with a friend and we're not planning that much (apart from first stop because that's the worst one) but was wondering if any of you know about any nice guided wine trips in italy/france. I'd ask for a truffle trip as well because hunting shrooms with a highly trained pig sounds awesome but not too likely for a backpacker haha.

Also, apart from Switzerland, any tips on pretty roads around the alps to go out longboarding on?

sheri
Dec 30, 2002

Well, I have no idea where to start planning itineraries for a trip like this, so anyone that wanted to chime in with help, that would be great.

What should we do/see in the following cities:

London: We will have three full days, plus the day we arrive there.

Amsterdam: 2 days

Bruges/Brussels 2-3 days

Paris: 3.5 days (three full days, plus 1/2 day when we get there).

Paris and London we are for sure staying that length of time in each. We can shift time around in Amsterdam and Belgium if needed.

Landsknecht
Oct 27, 2009
I hope this person is trolling, nobody can be so unfunny and dumb

sheri posted:

Well, I have no idea where to start planning itineraries for a trip like this, so anyone that wanted to chime in with help, that would be great.

What should we do/see in the following cities:

London: We will have three full days, plus the day we arrive there.

Amsterdam: 2 days

Bruges/Brussels 2-3 days

Paris: 3.5 days (three full days, plus 1/2 day when we get there).

Paris and London we are for sure staying that length of time in each. We can shift time around in Amsterdam and Belgium if needed.

Ummm maybe I'd knock a day off the belgium portion and go to somewhere nearby london (york?) for a day, brugge+bruselles only need 1 day each, not much there

Stuff to see:

London: Tower, Westminster Abbey, St. Pauls, British Museum (takes at least 1 day), Some other museums (there are a shitload), Buckingham palace, maybe walk around hyde park, there's other stuff too, depends what you're into

Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank house (if you feel like it), Van Gogh Museum, walk around old town near canals, go out for mussels if it's the right time

Brussels: Really don't know what to suggest, city is kinda nice, has some parks, there's the EU parliament and a nice car museum

Brugge: OK town, all tourists, decent enough church, nice old buildings, I don't honestly know what other than that

Paris: Louvre, Notre Dame, Versailles, Orsay, Spend a fair amount of time walking around different areas looking at poo poo

greazeball
Feb 4, 2003



Imaginary Friend posted:

Hey folks. So I'm off backpacking about in europe for a few weeks tomorrow with a friend and we're not planning that much (apart from first stop because that's the worst one) but was wondering if any of you know about any nice guided wine trips in italy/france. I'd ask for a truffle trip as well because hunting shrooms with a highly trained pig sounds awesome but not too likely for a backpacker haha.

Also, apart from Switzerland, any tips on pretty roads around the alps to go out longboarding on?

The Haute Savoie in France (around Chamonix) is really scenic and you might want to check out the maps in this thread for Italian alp suggestions (although write a will before you go longboarding on an Italian mountain freeway).


sheri posted:

Well, I have no idea where to start planning itineraries for a trip like this

Get some guide books and look through them. You don't even have to buy them, you can just go to the library... the main attractions haven't changed in a while! Then come back with more specific questions.

bee
Dec 17, 2008


Do you often sing or whistle just for fun?
Hi Europe thread! I've been reading up some of the excellent advice in this thread and have come up with an itinerary...

4th Dec - Arrive Paris
8-9th Dec - Train to Barcelona
9-12 Dec - Barcelona
12-16 Dec - Madrid
16-19th Dec - Seville
19-23rd Dec - Lisbon
23 Dec - EasyJet to Rome
23-29th Dec - Tuscany
29th Dec to 4th Jan - Rome
4th-10th Jan - Almalfi Coast
10th Jan - EasyJet to Paris
10-13th Jan - Paris (and maybe train up to Amsterdam for the day sometime in this period)
13th Jan - Leave Paris, fly home to Australia

My boyfriend and I are travelling together, we're planning on getting one of those Eurorail pass things and just training it about, except for the two flights from Lisbon to Rome and then Rome back to Paris.

I was wondering whether the thread had any general advice for me taking into account my schedule, in particular when it comes to spending Xmas in Tuscany and NYE in Rome? I've heard that there are certain places you should avoid there where there are a lot of drug dealers trying to peddle their wares, especially around holiday season so if someone knowledgable can let me know some safety advice for this area, it would definately be appreciated.

Cheers :)

sweek0
May 22, 2006

Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past
Amsterdam is not a day trip - it's about four hours on the train each way - flying will be about the same including getting to/from the airports and check in.

Landsknecht
Oct 27, 2009
I hope this person is trolling, nobody can be so unfunny and dumb
travelling at christmastime can be a loving nightmare, I don't know about france/italy (I actually assume it's worse there) but in germany the autobahn is packed, the trains schedules get hosed and everything's delayed, and god forbid that there might be some medium snowfall because then everything is even worse

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

bee posted:

Hi Europe thread! I've been reading up some of the excellent advice in this thread and have come up with an itinerary...

[List of 4 countries in 1.5 months]

My boyfriend and I are travelling together, we're planning on getting one of those Eurorail pass things and just training it about, except for the two flights from Lisbon to Rome and then Rome back to Paris.


Eurail pass will almost certainly be more expensive and less convenient (you have to book the train a day in advance) than just buying train tickets at the counter, unless you're planning on constantly going outside the major cities on your itinerary and not staying in them. Not to mention that Italy and Spain (and maybe Portugal) also hit you with fees every time you reserve a ticket, even if you have a Eurail pass.

NYE in Rome should be nice; I did Xmas there two years ago. Everything (e.g. rental apartments) are at peak price, but easy to find. People selling drugs won't bother you at all, they don't want to call trouble, and you probably won't go to the parts of the city where they are in the streets anyway, just like in Oz or the USA or anywhere else. The people who will harass you are the dudes selling fake Prada poo poo and copies of the leaning tower of Pisa. In neither case is safety an issue, though.

Imaginary Friend
Jan 27, 2010

Your Best Friend

greazeball posted:

The Haute Savoie in France (around Chamonix) is really scenic and you might want to check out the maps in this thread for Italian alp suggestions (although write a will before you go longboarding on an Italian mountain freeway).
Cheers. Will check it out once we get around those parts (also a will might be a good idea haha).

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Imaginary Friend posted:

Cheers. Will check it out once we get around those parts (also a will might be a good idea haha).

If you're going off-piste, then get helivac insurance, it's like £30 and if you gently caress up it'll save you like £4970. And yeah, Cham has great slopes. The Aiguille du Midi tram getting you all the way up to like 3800m to start out is nice too, if you're planning on climbing higher.

Veetard
Mar 30, 2007

sheri posted:

Well, I have no idea where to start planning itineraries for a trip like this, so anyone that wanted to chime in with help, that would be great.

What should we do/see in the following cities:

London: We will have three full days, plus the day we arrive there.

Amsterdam: 2 days

Bruges/Brussels 2-3 days

Paris: 3.5 days (three full days, plus 1/2 day when we get there).

Paris and London we are for sure staying that length of time in each. We can shift time around in Amsterdam and Belgium if needed.

I'm just going to assume it's your first time in these places and you're going during tourist season:

London: in one day, you can go to Westminster Abbey and see Parliament in the morning, then visit Buckingham Palace before spending the rest of the day at the British Museum. In another day, you can go to the Tower of London in the morning, then somewhere else like St. Paul's Cathedral or walk around Hyde Park before going to the National Gallery and/or the Portrait Gallery (which is at Trafalgar, so you'll see that, too). That's most of the tourist things that everyone does, and you can definitely do it all in two days as long as you're not trying to go to the British Museum and the National Gallery on the same day or something crazy like that. Other suggestions: go to some markets, walk around Piccadilly at night, Victoria and Albert Museum, science museums, afternoon tea somewhere, etc.

Amsterdam: There's a free walking tour around the city which is pretty alright. I don't know how you feel about drug use, but wandering around the Red Light District while stoned out of your mind is pretty great. Just, you know, keep your valuables safe. Unlike London, Amsterdam's museums aren't free. They all cost 15 euros each or something crazy like that. And if you've just spent 15 pounds each on Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's, and the Tower of London, you might be dying a little bit inside by the time you get to Amsterdam. Or, at least, that's my excuse for having nothing to recommend but a free walking tour and space cake. And Indonesian food.

Bruges/Brussels: gently caress Brussels. Stop there for maybe two hours and have a look around, then leave for Bruges or Ghent. The thing to see in Bruges and Ghent is the cities themselves--the architecture, the canals, the shops, whatever. Oh, except in Bruges there's Michelangelo's Madonna and Child in the Church of Our Lady (free entrance). The other important thing is to eat as much food and drink as much beer as possible. Mussels, fries, waffles, and chocolate are essential, and Turkish pizza if you're in Ghent. Obviously, Belgian beer is awesome, and it's not expensive.

Paris: The Louvre. The Eiffel Tower (walk up, it's not hard and the line is short and it's cheaper). Notre Dame (not the same day as the Eiffel Tower if you go up the tower, too). The problem with Paris is that it's the worst place ever for lines. Long, slow, horrible lines. Get to Versailles EARLY. Very early. Or get one of those Paris pass things that gets you a discount and lets you wait in a shorter line. I was in Paris in February and I still had to wait in lines for half an hour. It sucked. So, you might want to spread out your line-waiting and do one major attraction a day, then do something else, like walk around. Paris has some nice parks to wander around in and some weird fancy shops to look at. Men's underwear is particularly amusing.

The Great Autismo!
Mar 3, 2007

by Fluffdaddy
Is there a general consensus on WizzAir?

Landsknecht
Oct 27, 2009
I hope this person is trolling, nobody can be so unfunny and dumb

goldboilermark posted:

Is there a general consensus on WizzAir?

IMO they're pretty drat terrible, if you feel like paying an extra 20 euro or w/e go with someone like air berlin who is usually p. decent

Veetard
Mar 30, 2007

goldboilermark posted:

Is there a general consensus on WizzAir?

I dunno, I think they're fine. There seems to be a lot of hate for those super budget airlines, though, but I don't see the problem. They get you there on the cheap and it's not like the flights are very long. Then again, I always travel with nothing but a carry on so I never have to pay extra to check luggage.

HeroOfTheRevolution
Apr 26, 2008

goldboilermark posted:

Is there a general consensus on WizzAir?

Much better than RyanAir

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

goldboilermark posted:

Is there a general consensus on WizzAir?

Somewhat better than EasyJet. On par with the cheaper major US carriers (e.g. Northwest, RIP).

bee
Dec 17, 2008


Do you often sing or whistle just for fun?
sneek0 - Thanks for the advice, I guess we might be giving it a miss then this time around.

Landsknecht - It might turn out to be a shitfight, but really this is the only time of year that we're able to go due to work/study commitments. Cheers for the heads up. If it does snow somewhere while I am over there, it won't be entirely unwelcome as I've never actually seen snow before!

Saladman posted:

Eurail pass will almost certainly be more expensive and less convenient (you have to book the train a day in advance)...

NYE in Rome should be nice; I did Xmas there two years ago. Everything (e.g. rental apartments) are at peak price, but easy to find. People selling drugs won't bother you at all, they don't want to call trouble, and you probably won't go to the parts of the city where they are in the streets anyway, just like in Oz or the USA or anywhere else. The people who will harass you are the dudes selling fake Prada poo poo and copies of the leaning tower of Pisa. In neither case is safety an issue, though.

Thanks for the advice Saladman. I was told by a friend that the pass is the way to go, but they were travelling thorugh a lot more countries/cities than I will be in a shorter period of time. We want to be able to spend a bit more time in each city. We've booked rental apartments and paid deposits so that's already sorted.

Hamclam
Jan 19, 2005

I got in one little fight and my mom got scared she said "You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air!"
Hey anyone in Amsterdam wanna go for drinks! Me and my gal are going to be here for the next few days and we like making friends. There are bands and djs playing at the vangogh museum on friday if anyone wants to go on a goony museum tour.

Does anyone know the names of any free or cheap cool stuff to do here?

Send me an email if you want to do stuff with us! Hamclam@hotmail.com

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EricBauman
Nov 30, 2005

DOLF IS RECHTVAARDIG

Hamclam posted:

Hey anyone in Amsterdam wanna go for drinks! Me and my gal are going to be here for the next few days and we like making friends. There are bands and djs playing at the vangogh museum on friday if anyone wants to go on a goony museum tour.

Does anyone know the names of any free or cheap cool stuff to do here?

Send me an email if you want to do stuff with us! Hamclam@hotmail.com

I can't go, but you might want to post in the Dutch thread, there's always a bunch of people looking to go out in that thread.

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