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spacebrospiff posted:Berlin or Munich for 3 days. Berlin, no question about it. Granted I've only spent 10 hours in Munich and 5-6 weeks in Berlin in total. I'm thinking of flying from Turkey to somewhere in Europe for 5-7 days around the end of this month, maybe on the 26th or 27th. Traveling solo. Now, I could always go to Berlin, but I'm considering doing something different this time. Also, I gave up drinking, so that puts me in a very different position compared to my previous solo travel experiences where I would check out the cultural/museum/shopping activities during the day and hit the bars and clubs at night. Maybe paradoxically, I'm considering Ireland--Dublin and Galway, perhaps. Would I get really bored at night? I'm also considering Prague (again, with the Czech being the top consumers of beer per capita, I don't know where I'm getting that), London, and Naples. I haven't been to any of these places (not counting Berlin) and I don't have any friends in them except for London, which I last visited about ten years ago (and I was born there). I'm not really sure what I'm looking for, to be frank; I guess I'm a little lost. I haven't picked up any new hobbies like hiking or what not that would make one place more of a draw than another. How about camping in Normandy? Has anyone done that, and would it be difficult to get to the sites from Paris without a car?
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May 11, 2013 08:13
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asaf posted:Berlin, no question about it. Granted I've only spent 10 hours in Munich and 5-6 weeks in Berlin in total. I'd also say Berlin, and my experience is almost the opposite of asaf (only spent 3 days in Berlin, but like 2 weeks in Munich). Munich is nice to hang out and I'd probably love living there, but kind of lonely and boring for a solo tourist. If you're travelling with other people then I'd say it's a tossup, but I'd still go Berlin. Re: Asaf, getting anywhere in Normandy except Le Havre without a car is hard. Trains go to many of the cities, but far from good coverage. For example, it's basically impossible to get to the coast between Le Havre and Fécamp without a car -- namely Étretat, which is one of the more beautiful/famous towns along the northern French coast. There are probably regional buses that can take you between the areas, but they'll probably run like once per hour. I'd recommend just renting a car in Le Havre; driving's fun and it'll only be like €30 a day. And bring a GPS or download maps on your phone. E: Here's a map of where you can get by train in Normandy. (Note the grey line is not a train route and brown lines mean they stop basically continuously along the entire route; green lines show all stops.) 
Saladman fucked around with this message at 08:52 on May 11, 2013 |
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May 11, 2013 08:45
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I have a license but I've never owned a car and the last time I drove was for my exam in 2009 :/ Actually I'm also considering biking in the Netherlands now; the geography and infrastructure seems pretty amenable to several day-trips by bike. And I'd have something to do at night besides drinking...
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May 11, 2013 09:29
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Hello, travelgoons! A couple of friends and I have been planning an Interrail trip in June, lasting about a month. The first draft of our route is here, and was made by one of us as more of a guideline, with no input from others as of yet. We also briefly discussed the possibility of going to Italy from Istanbul or Greece, and continuing from there. It's still a work in progress, and that's where I'd like some of your input as well. I don't know much about Eastern Europe, having only been to Prague and Budapest, so any suggestions you might have about places we absolutely should or shouldn't visit in the general area of the route would be greatly appreciated.
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May 11, 2013 09:57
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asaf posted:I have a license but I've never owned a car and the last time I drove was for my exam in 2009 :/ Actually I'm also considering biking in the Netherlands now; the geography and infrastructure seems pretty amenable to several day-trips by bike. And I'd have something to do at night besides drinking... Hadn't thought of that. Yeah a bike will work fine -- it's not that far really, you just wouldn't want to walk it. It'd be an easy bike ride along the coast. It's not Netherlands flat, but not particularly hilly either.
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May 11, 2013 14:27
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For those who have traveled to Paris, are there cheap phone rentals in CDG? I've read that this is the better approach compared to renting a phone and minutes. Anyone have experience with it?
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May 12, 2013 16:51
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How abundant is free Wi-Fi in Europe? From what my study abroad returnees from Berlin told me, it's pretty much limited to the universities and Starbucks and McDonalds and stuff over in Germany.
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May 14, 2013 04:15
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Jerry Manderbilt posted:How abundant is free Wi-Fi in Europe? From what my study abroad returnees from Berlin told me, it's pretty much limited to the universities and Starbucks and McDonalds and stuff over in Germany. Yeah, it's that and random cafes. Some Eastern European countries (Macedonia, Georgia) have wifi everywhere, but this isn't yet the case for most parts of Western Europe.
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May 14, 2013 06:51
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Jerry Manderbilt posted:How abundant is free Wi-Fi in Europe? From what my study abroad returnees from Berlin told me, it's pretty much limited to the universities and Starbucks and McDonalds and stuff over in Germany. EricBaumann's right but here's the wiki page on it anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_wireless_network#Europe I've used public wifi in a few places. In Geneva, the wifi is technically available in parks but it was spotty and pretty poor. In Dublin, they have free wifi on buses now so there's probably more coverage than what's in the wiki atm. In Geneva it was an open network that you could connect to with no password. In Dublin, there was a sign up page similar to the McDonald's thing (SMS confirmation code required). A lot of places in France you can find wifi networks that are free to customers of the phone company, or I think you can enter you CC details and get time but gently caress that I didn't try it.
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May 14, 2013 07:00
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A major ISP in the Netherlands is now turning their customers' routers into hotspots, but I believe they are only accessible to other customers, so far... Trains also have free wifi here, and some cities have open wifi projects (Leiden, Groningen).
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May 15, 2013 21:11
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I'm a bit confused about where to buy individual train tickets. Next month, I'm planning on taking the train from: London to Paris Paris to Amsterdam Prague to Berlin If anyone has a site that would explain this that would be great!
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May 16, 2013 06:20
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Mr.AARP posted:I'm a bit confused about where to buy individual train tickets. Next month, I'm planning on taking the train from: Your answer to all three is Bahn.de.
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May 16, 2013 07:35
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How bad of an idea is it to go travel around touristy places (like Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague) in July with no accommodation booked? Really want to just wing and not have to prebook accommodation and decide how long I want to spend it certain areas but I've heard it's not a good idea cause July is really the peak of peak season.
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May 16, 2013 09:59
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Weatherproof posted:How bad of an idea is it to go travel around touristy places (like Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague) in July with no accommodation booked? Really want to just wing and not have to prebook accommodation and decide how long I want to spend it certain areas but I've heard it's not a good idea cause July is really the peak of peak season. The trade-off for spontaneity is choice and price. That is to say, you will have much less of the former and have to spend more of the latter. It's not impossible or inadvisable. It just depends on what you're willing to deal with.
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May 16, 2013 12:38
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Weatherproof posted:How bad of an idea is it to go travel around touristy places (like Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague) in July with no accommodation booked? Really want to just wing and not have to prebook accommodation and decide how long I want to spend it certain areas but I've heard it's not a good idea cause July is really the peak of peak season. For example, Berlin and Prague have a chain called Plus Hostel. The booking fee is 1.99$ and you can modify or cancel your reservation up to 48 hours before your first day. You can check out their website https://www.plushostels.com
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May 16, 2013 12:58
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Mr.AARP posted:I'm a bit confused about where to buy individual train tickets. Next month, I'm planning on taking the train from: I would actually reccommend Eurostar.com for London to Paris, and Thalys.com for Paris to Amsterdam. Prague to Berlin is best done on Bahn.de (though you will travel on a EuroCity train). Book as early as you can, you can book up to 120 days in advance on Eurostar and 92 days in advance for the other two. Edit: Infact I don't think you even can book the first two on Bahn.de (as those single train journeys anyway) nozz fucked around with this message at 17:44 on May 16, 2013 |
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May 16, 2013 17:34
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Most of the time, train travel is much more expensive if you don't book in advance. If you don't book several weeks in advance a 20 Euro ticket can go as high as 60-100 Euros on the day of travel. A 50 Euro prebooked ticket can go 120-150 on the day of.
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May 16, 2013 21:47
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Should I do 2 days in Prague and 3 in Berlin or vice versa?
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May 17, 2013 01:01
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Also, do ISIC cards really come in handy or is it not worth the $25?
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May 17, 2013 01:41
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Weatherproof posted:How bad of an idea is it to go travel around touristy places (like Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague) in July with no accommodation booked? Really want to just wing and not have to prebook accommodation and decide how long I want to spend it certain areas but I've heard it's not a good idea cause July is really the peak of peak season. It's actually perfectly okay. We did this last year through the entirety of June and had absolutely no problem booking hostels (and good ones at that) all of 12-18 hours before we went there. Depending how long you plan to be there a eurorail pass is pretty good for what you want to do as you can literally just look at the train schedules and hop on a train an hour later. Re: Mr.AARP: They were two of the best cities imo, so it's a tough choice. Prague is beautiful but for touristy things you could do it in 2 [full] days. I'd say take three in Berlin as there's more to do. Alternate answer: 3 in each if you can schedule it. E: Any student card will suffice if you have one. But if not definitely worth it, everything is cheaper for students in Europe. Alkazard.exe fucked around with this message at 02:46 on May 17, 2013 |
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May 17, 2013 02:43
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I was wondering if it'd be worth getting a Eurail pass, but the one for 3 months is something like $1384 USD and I'll probably only be able to go out and about on the weekends from mid-August to mid-December. Should I just book trains over that period, or go for airplanes if I want to go from, say, Berlin to Munich or Berlin to Istanbul or Berlin to Amsterdam?
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May 17, 2013 05:07
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The London Tube decided to have a signal failure for nearly an hour and a half at the exact time I was on the way to the airport so now I have to drop hundreds of dollars on a new ticket and lose a whole day to the airport. Thanks London, you rear end in a top hat.Jerry Manderbilt posted:I was wondering if it'd be worth getting a Eurail pass, but the one for 3 months is something like $1384 USD and I'll probably only be able to go out and about on the weekends from mid-August to mid-December. Should I just book trains over that period, or go for airplanes if I want to go from, say, Berlin to Munich or Berlin to Istanbul or Berlin to Amsterdam? Don't get a Eurail pass. It's only good if you're planning to do a lot of train travel around middle distances in mostly western and northern europe. There's no advantage to using one in the Mediterranean countries because they're usually fixed-price trains anyway, and unless something's changed recently Eurail isn't valid in the Balkans (so you'd have to pay separately for most of the way to Istanbul anyway). Eurail's not smart for really long legs (like Berlin-Amsterdam) because you have to pay surcharges for high-speed that easily makes it more expensive than just buying the tickets individually, and it's not smart for short legs either because the average per-day cost of the Eurail works out to significantly more expensive than any commuter line's cost. Basically you have to work at it to get better value out of Eurail than just buying individual tickets. ISIC cards are worth it if you don't already have a student ID or if your student ID is clearly from outside the EU. And 3 days in Berlin/2 days Prague is better than the reverse.
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May 17, 2013 11:41
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Berlin to Munich (6 hours) or Amsterdam (7 hours) can be easily done by train if you want. Berlin to Istanbul by train would be an adventure in itself, but would take ages and involve 3 sleeper trains at a minimum I think, so probably better to fly that. One-way prices for Berlin-Amsterdam start at €29 when booked as far as possible (92 days) in advance, steadily increasing to €120+ as tickets sell out. Berlin to Munich will have a similar price. There is also a sleeper service to Munich or Amsterdam which might be useful, these would start at €80ish I think for the cheapest sort of bed. Flying may be cheaper sometimes, though watch out for the cost of getting to and from the airport which may ruin any savings. The railpasses are really only worth it if you have no plans, and so can't book long in advance, and want to travel using the train constantly all the time. People seem to just go for them because they have heard of it and they market it towards tourists, even if most people don't actually make the best use of them. They are not any kind of amazing bargain deal... its just an expensive pass that gives you a lot of freedom in exchange. And despite that in many countries you still have to pay an additional reservation fee for your Eurail pass on high speed trains or sleepers (For Germany its only on ICE Sprinters and sleepers, not on normal ICE trains) If you were set on getting a Eurail pass, it probably isn't worth getting a global one, instead choose a regional/select/country pass and choose the country/ies you would do most of your traveling in. nozz fucked around with this message at 12:06 on May 17, 2013 |
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May 17, 2013 12:03
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Ah. Would I get any discounts from my ISIC card, since I'll be attending university in Berlin? e: I'm already aware that I get free U-bahn access as a student. Jerry Manderbilt fucked around with this message at 22:01 on May 17, 2013 |
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May 17, 2013 17:36
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I don't believe so. There's just a youth ticket (common on transport in Europe) for under 25s, which is essentially the same idea. I have to disagree with the comments against Eurorail passes. I thought it was great, and the best part is you don't have to book ahead, so you can really wing it or plan as you go. Maybe you want to stay another night in a city? No worries, no pesky airline or bus fare to worry about! Changed your mind on where you want to go? No worries, just walk to a different platform! There's also no "fee" for high speed trains? The only things I was aware of were some countries required a small reservation fee, the only one I encountered was.. I think heading in to Denmark. Poland had it to but we didn't go there. We took it from Frankfurt -> Munich -> Vienna -> Bratislava -> Prague -> Berlin -> Copenhagen -> Stockholm (and then out to Jonkoping and back). Then Amsterdam(airport) -> Antwerp -> Amsterdam. Would recommend it 100x over as the best way to travel if you use it enough to make it worthwhile. That was 500ish euro each on the 30 day global pass.
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May 17, 2013 18:24
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So basically you did a large number of middle-range train rides in mostly northern Europe in a short time, aka the one time Eurail is consistently cheaper - and it still works out to an average of E55 per leg (E500 divided by nine legs) so it's not really cheaper (in Germany) than buying a few days ahead of time anyway. Nine days on trains out of 30 also means you were averaging 2 days per city between train days, which is a punishing pace to keep up for a month. If you'd spend 4-6 days per major city like we're always suggesting in here then you'd have managed only 5-6 legs and that would put the average cost closer to E100/leg, which is about parity with same-day German ICE tickets on most of the legs you took. Or about five times more expensive than same-day tickets for similar distances in, say, Italy. Eurail isn't nearly as flexible as it seems, basically, because it's an incredibly uneven return on the cost depending on where you wind up using it. If you plan ahead enough to be sure you're getting a good deal out of it, then you might as well buy in advance anyway. It's definitely possible to get a better deal out of Eurail than is otherwise possible, but only if you're moving quite fast across a lot of middle distances, mostly in Germanic countries, and you don't want to book ahead by at least a few days in countries that have variable pricing. Otherwise it's almost always a worse deal than just buying individually, even without consistently booking ahead.
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May 17, 2013 20:15
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Eurail isn't a magical 80% discount and I don't think it's intended as that. I mostly use it because of the freedom of being able to travel whenever I wanted. Last time I was in Sweden I met some cool people in Göteborg, and due to the Interrail ticket I had I was able to stay an additional two days. If I had prepaid a ticket I'd have had to leave regardless, or mess up my entire trip schedule and/or pay double for travel. One thing is true though, don't buy it for countries with super-cheap railways like Italy. But for central and northern Europe I can only recommend it.
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May 17, 2013 22:42
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peak debt posted:Eurail isn't a magical 80% discount and I don't think it's intended as that. Nope, but it sure is marketed as that -- or at least it's the impression that "woo post college Eurotrip!!" travelers seem to have of it (both American and European). Basically everyone I personally know who's purchased a Eurail ticket has used it for tours like like Amsterdam -> Paris -> Geneva -> Rome and then leave, which is massively more expensive than buying all of the tickets individually. It just seems to me like you have to plan out very well to make sure it's worth its while, which kind of defeats the purpose in the first point. YMMV; I always fly everywhere using EasyJet or WizzAir if it's longer than 4 hours by train.
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May 18, 2013 00:25
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I'm flying to Prague at the end of November, and three weeks later I fly out of Budapest. During those three weeks I want to work my way down through Austria and on to Hungary. I've just booked 4 nights in Prague, but other than must leave from Budapest I don't have any set plans as yet (other than seeing all the Christmas Markets). Can I just wing it and try to find a hostel once I get to a place, or will it be difficult to find cheap accommodation? I am on a budget, so I don't want to be paying heaps of money if I can avoid it.
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May 18, 2013 21:35
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smilehigh posted:I'm flying to Prague at the end of November, and three weeks later I fly out of Budapest. No hostels will be even close to full then, so you can definitely wing it. It will also be pretty easy to find accommodations via CouchSurfing or AirBNB if you want to save money and if you're travelling alone and don't want to be bored as hell by yourself (you won't meet that many people in hostels in late November, particularly Monday through Thursday).
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May 19, 2013 01:03
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Weatherproof posted:How bad of an idea is it to go travel around touristy places (like Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague) in July with no accommodation booked? Really want to just wing and not have to prebook accommodation and decide how long I want to spend it certain areas but I've heard it's not a good idea cause July is really the peak of peak season. I did it three years ago and it was alright. Try to book your Friday and Saturday nights ahead of time. If you end up going to Paris, I'd book ahead as well. All the hostels seemed horrible and dirty for such high prices.
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May 22, 2013 03:17
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Mrs. Mahler posted:If you end up going to Paris, I'd book ahead as well. All the hostels seemed horrible and dirty for such high prices. This is generally true for Paris hotels as well (places in the 100-120 Euro range). I've been to Paris twice (12'ish years and 3 years ago) and neither of those times have been good experiences. My wife and I have traveled extensively across Europe over 6 or 7 countries and Paris always comes up as the place that we say we'll never return to, or at least for a long time, because of the experiences we've had. It's not from a lack of trying either. As I've said, we've been lots of places and I think we do a pretty good job of trying to integrate to the cultures we visit.
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May 22, 2013 13:12
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LaserWash posted:This is generally true for Paris hotels as well (places in the 100-120 Euro range). I've been to Paris twice (12'ish years and 3 years ago) and neither of those times have been good experiences. My wife and I have traveled extensively across Europe over 6 or 7 countries and Paris always comes up as the place that we say we'll never return to, or at least for a long time, because of the experiences we've had. It's not from a lack of trying either. As I've said, we've been lots of places and I think we do a pretty good job of trying to integrate to the cultures we visit. In my fairly extensive experience there, the only way to enjoy Paris is to rent an apartment on VRBO or wherever. It'll still cost you in the €100–150 range but it'll be way nicer and more 'legit' feeling than a 2** hotel. I've never done the hostel thing though, so YMMV if you're into that kind of thing (not you you, LaserWash).
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May 22, 2013 14:05
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Does anyone have recommendations for cool stuff to do/see in France in the area between the German border, Lyon and Paris? I will be traveling through and am not in a hurry.
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May 22, 2013 14:07
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Saladman posted:In my fairly extensive experience there, the only way to enjoy Paris is to rent an apartment on VRBO or wherever. It'll still cost you in the €100–150 range but it'll be way nicer and more 'legit' feeling than a 2** hotel. I've never done the hostel thing though, so YMMV if you're into that kind of thing (not you you, LaserWash). From everything I hear, you are right. The last place we stayed had above average ratings from LOTS of people on TripAdvisor. It turned out to be a 2-star rated roach motel. We were given an opportunity to look in the rooms to fit our level of comfort and picked the one that least smelled like smoke and appeared cleanest. Even then, the comforter smelled like poop (literally) and when we informed the guy at the front desk that half our lamps were working in the room, he just shrugged with a "what am I supposed to do?" look on his face. Don't forget the people in France have day long strikes on a basically weekly basis. We got the pleasure of having to take our luggage by ourselves to the nearby train station because the taxis were striking on one of those protests. We only learned this through the concierge at the front, saying it would be difficult to get a taxi, to which he wasn't too concerned about getting out in front of it and helping us get one. Also every hotel room in Paris is smaller than the closet in our master bedroom. That includes the bathroom. Again, this is coming from someone that doesn't complain about this stuff too much because I've traveled extensively around Europe and know what sizes to expect from European accommodations. Paris, ugggh.... I guess if you've never been it will be neat for you, but just know it is what it is. LaserWash fucked around with this message at 14:38 on May 22, 2013 |
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May 22, 2013 14:35
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My wife and I stayed at a chain hotel in the 17th that wasn't too bad. It was very clean, the staff was nice, and they had free wifi. It wasn't at all "Parisian," but if you just want a relatively cheap, clean place to sleep, it would fit the bill. The neighborhood seemed slightly sketchy, but it worked out fine.
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May 22, 2013 15:39
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Weatherproof posted:How bad of an idea is it to go travel around touristy places (like Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague) in July with no accommodation booked? Really want to just wing and not have to prebook accommodation and decide how long I want to spend it certain areas but I've heard it's not a good idea cause July is really the peak of peak season. Worst case scenario you might end up spending a night in a train station. It's a bit of a mixed ticket. The flexibility of having nothing booked can be great, but then you might not get a room in a good hostel. My advice would be to book over hostelsworld a few days to a week in advance. That way you have more choice. Also consider couchsurfing, it can be pretty sweet but you usually need to plan ahead for a long time.
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May 23, 2013 07:40
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I wanted to check something here. I had already posted a thread about it but wanted to double check here in case my thread falls through the cracks. I'm going to be going to the UK for a period of time to stay with a friend, about four months. I'm going to be taking some computer components along: hard drive, motherboard, power supply (maybe), etc. I'm positive I can package them safely. I've got static bags, bubble wrap, foam, etc. Is there anything I should know about putting them in a carry on, such as if they need to be declared or anything? It is some circuitry with loose wires and poo poo bundled with it and I admit to a fair degree of paranoia about flying since it always feels like everyone is pretty jumpy about stuff.
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May 23, 2013 14:06
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LaserWash posted:From everything I hear, you are right. The last place we stayed had above average ratings from LOTS of people on TripAdvisor. It turned out to be a 2-star rated roach motel. We were given an opportunity to look in the rooms to fit our level of comfort and picked the one that least smelled like smoke and appeared cleanest. Even then, the comforter smelled like poop (literally) and when we informed the guy at the front desk that half our lamps were working in the room, he just shrugged with a "what am I supposed to do?" look on his face. I lived in Paris for 18 months and only experienced one or two strikes that impacted travelers. One was a single day taxi strike and another was a train strike that limited train service. But yeah, the service often leaves a lot to be desired — especially in cheaper hotels. I always recommend renting an apartment from AirBnB or something similar. Paris is my favorite city but maybe I am just biased.
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May 23, 2013 15:12
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Yeah, Paris is an awesome city. I've spent tons of time there and have literally never experienced a transit strike or anything like that. I'm probably biased as well, but Paris rules. Tracula posted:I wanted to check something here. I had already posted a thread about it but wanted to double check here in case my thread falls through the cracks. I'm going to be going to the UK for a period of time to stay with a friend, about four months. I'm going to be taking some computer components along: hard drive, motherboard, power supply (maybe), etc. I'm positive I can package them safely. I've got static bags, bubble wrap, foam, etc. Is there anything I should know about putting them in a carry on, such as if they need to be declared or anything? It is some circuitry with loose wires and poo poo bundled with it and I admit to a fair degree of paranoia about flying since it always feels like everyone is pretty jumpy about stuff. I've seen a photographer who had two cameras, about four lenses and accessories have literally everything he had looked at SUPER CLOSE because it looked suspicious that he had that many electronics on him. I mean, there's no guarantee it'll happen to you, you almost certainly won't really have any problems, but you might want to get to security well ahead of your flight if you're taking that stuff on with you, just to be safe.
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May 23, 2013 17:47
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