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I read online before going to Spain that Europeans don't wear shorts, sneakers or baseball hats and only the latter was true in my adventure, so I was wearing long pants, uncomfortable shoes and baseball hats the whole time
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Jun 11, 2013 12:15
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Sicily is absolutely fantastic and mindblowing, my favourite Italian region (and I'm Italian, guess it counts something). Taormina dude. Don't you dare to leave the island before going there.
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Jun 11, 2013 17:57
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Parisians don't wear shorts in Paris. They will (very often) wear shorts when on vacation.
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Jun 11, 2013 17:57
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southern Europeans' attitude towards shorts is more or less the same as Americans' towards people who wear pajama pants outside. Cosmopolitan cities and pretty much the entire northern and eastern part of the continent just don't care at all whether you wear them. E: I wear shorts there anyway because gently caress pants, it's hot. And you're not going to pass for a local anyway. Just try not to be obnoxiously tourist and it's fine. (don't wear convertible pants) duralict fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jun 11, 2013 |
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Jun 11, 2013 19:49
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I will not wear shorts during the workday, but I guess that is a given. I will however wear them on the weekend and after work (not in the evening when going out though). Hoewever, running shoes are for running, not for wearing them with white socks and shorts.
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Jun 11, 2013 19:49
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Kolta posted:Heading to Prague Sunday. Can't wait! Slovakia is great and all but I need a change of scenery. Anyone wanna grab a beer? How long are you going to be staying? I might not be available on Sunday but I'd be up for it during the week.
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Jun 12, 2013 00:37
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I'm going to Barcelona for the first time in a few weeks. Any suggestions, things I should read, or things I should know (other than beware of pickpockets)?
Petey fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Jun 12, 2013 |
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Jun 12, 2013 22:27
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The pickpocket threat in Barcelona is highly overblown at this point. You still shouldn't leave poo poo lying around where it can easily be grabbed but Las Ramblas is very different than it was five years ago. Plan your church/cathedral visits for the morning and evening. Most of them charge entry in the afternoon but are free after about 4:30 (the specific hours depend on the church though).
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Jun 12, 2013 22:50
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duralict posted:The pickpocket threat in Barcelona is highly overblown at this point. You still shouldn't leave poo poo lying around where it can easily be grabbed but Las Ramblas is very different than it was five years ago. However if a Ramblas whore walks up and grabs your balls, try not to be immediately paralyzed by fits of drunken laughter - her other hand is in your pocket!
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Jun 13, 2013 01:12
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pylb posted:Parisians don't wear shorts in Paris. When I lived in Paris I rarely saw anyone other than tourists wearing shorts. That said, just wear well-fitting shorts if you want. No one cares what you look like.
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Jun 13, 2013 06:11
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So I'm traveling to Europe next month to visit some friends and have a bit of a time away from Asia. The first place I'm going is Berlin, to meet up with a friend I'll be traveling around with. Looking at plane tickets, flying in to Frankfurt is close to I was also planning on spending about 1 day in Frankfurt which will be mainly spent doing some work in a jetlagged stupor in whatever hotel room I find myself in before heading to Berlin the next day, but there are probably better ways I could spend that time so suggestions would be nice. fake edit: I also noticed there are two different Berlin airports, and I will be flying out of Berlin. Is one markedly better/easier to get to/etc than the other? Flights seem to be about the same-ish price from either.
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Jun 13, 2013 15:16
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mobby_6kl posted:How long are you going to be staying? I might not be available on Sunday but I'd be up for it during the week. Me and my fiancé will be there until Thursday. Then we're heading to Berlin. Pm me.
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Jun 13, 2013 15:28
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Frankfurt is a major hub, especially for Asian flights. You could also check out Munich for good flights.
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Jun 13, 2013 15:53
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Magna Kaser posted:The first place I'm going is Berlin, to meet up with a friend I'll be traveling around with. Looking at plane tickets, flying in to Frankfurt is close to Nothing wrong with this plan. The Frankfurt airport is far busier than any of the ones in Berlin, so it's not that surprising it's cheaper to fly to.
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Jun 13, 2013 16:03
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Jeoh posted:Frankfurt is a major hub, especially for Asian flights. You could also check out Munich for good flights. I am a bad poster. I already got my tickets to Frankfurt because of the price. Munich was similar to Frankfurt in price, but not on the days I wanted to fly in. I was mainly wondering if flying in then training was some horrible mistake I've made, and if anyone knew anything interesting to do in Frankfurt.
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Jun 13, 2013 16:08
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The old city centre, city hall and cathedral are worth seeing, especially if you have any interest in gothic/neogothic architecture or Holy Roman Emperors. If you're only there for a day (or a part of one), I'm adverse to recommending anything less obvious without knowing what you're interested in/looking for.
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Jun 13, 2013 17:20
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Petey posted:I'm going to Barcelona for the first time in a few weeks. Any suggestions, things I should read, or things I should know (other than beware of pickpockets)? Go to Cafe de L'Academia for dinner one night. It's on Placa Sant Just. Not cheap, not extremely expensive, but somewhere in between. The food, though, is amazing. You can order half portions, which means you can try more things. Highly recommended. They only open between 20:30 and 23:30 and for lunch I think.
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Jun 13, 2013 17:38
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I'm headed to Paris and then Florence for the next few weeks for the first time. I'm interested in putting as much different delicious food in my mouth as possible. What are some restaurants or delis I can't miss? Budget isn't an issue.
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Jun 14, 2013 16:14
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Lieutenant Dan posted:I'm headed to Paris and then Florence for the next few weeks for the first time. I'm interested in putting as much different delicious food in my mouth as possible. What are some restaurants or delis I can't miss? Budget isn't an issue. If budget isn't an issue, you can't go wrong with Le Meurice in Paris.
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Jun 14, 2013 21:33
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Magna Kaser posted:So I'm traveling to Europe next month to visit some friends and have a bit of a time away from Asia. Nah. Frankfurt is lame, literally a town with some skyscrapers that are horribly out of place. Save for energies for Berlin, you'll need them. Berlin Schönefeld has several train connections to the city, you'll be able to get there using the S-Bahn network from literally any single location of the city, unlike Tegel.
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Jun 15, 2013 00:32
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Magna Kaser posted:The first place I'm going is Berlin, to meet up with a friend I'll be traveling around with. Looking at plane tickets, flying in to Frankfurt is close to Frankfurt is the biggest German airport while Berlin has 2 airports that are slated to be closed once the new one is finished building (only god knows when that will be). Its probably because of the very limited capacity of Berlin that Frankfurt is so much cheaper.
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Jun 15, 2013 11:28
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Kolta posted:Me and my fiancé will be there until Thursday. Then we're heading to Berlin. Pm me. Sorry, I don't have PM. But my email's mobby.6kl at gmail so... just let me know.
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Jun 15, 2013 15:31
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So I guess we're actually staying in Sitges, which I understand is a super gay tourist hotspot?? Should be interesting with my family.
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Jun 15, 2013 19:41
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Two questions. Should I bring my cell phone, buy one for Europe before I leave, or buy one in Rome. What is the best/easiest/cheapest GPS solution for backpacking. TIA
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Jun 15, 2013 20:35
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spacebrospiff posted:Two questions. Where are you from? If you're from the US you'll need to buy a phone in Europe unless you're with T-Mobile. Otherwise unless your phone is SIM locked, you can bring it with you and simply swap the SIM card. If you need to buy a new one do it in the US electronics is much cheaper there. The easiest GPS would be a cheapo Android phone as long as you can always depend on a network connection. You'll only need a real GPS device if you want to do fancy cross country hiking trips way out in nature. And those aren't easy to find in Europe anyway considering you're never more than a stone's throw from the next village unless you go to like northern Finland.
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Jun 15, 2013 21:45
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peak debt posted:Where are you from? If you're from the US you'll need to buy a phone in Europe unless you're with T-Mobile. Otherwise unless your phone is SIM locked, you can bring it with you and simply swap the SIM card. If you need to buy a new one do it in the US electronics is much cheaper there. US. And I have a Verizon phone I feel like replacing so maybe just use wifi? I heard wifi is pretty prevalent in the cities. I'm trying to decide whether I should just get the international calling plan for verizon for the month or get a phone in europe. I think it would be cheaper just to keep my phone. Would you recomending I just use my android phone for calling (international calling plan and skype to skype through city wifi) and GPS (city wifi)?
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Jun 15, 2013 22:18
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spacebrospiff posted:US. And I have a Verizon phone I feel like replacing so maybe just use wifi? I heard wifi is pretty prevalent in the cities. I'm trying to decide whether I should just get the international calling plan for verizon for the month or get a phone in europe. I think it would be cheaper just to keep my phone. Although I don't know about Rome specifically, WiFi typically isn't as widespread that you can use it for GPS. Mostly bars and hotels and they like to limit it with logins. Local prepaid SIM with 3G is going to be much cheaper than your US plan and gives you a month's worth of 3G for about €10. There are two downsides however: 1) any phone you get with a prepaid SIM will be very cheap, but also SIM locked. Kinda useless if you're only staying a month. 2) Leave Italy and you can't recharge and if you somehow could, roaming charges are still pretty insane in the EU. So you'd need a new prepaid SIM for that country. This is slowly changing due to upcoming EU regulations, I'm finally on a plan where I can use my data + unlimited calls in the EU at €70 a month. It'll be a while before this happens with cheap prepaid SIMs though.
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Jun 15, 2013 22:47
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 You can pre-load maps on Android phones with Google Maps so you don't need an active data connection for navigation.
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Jun 15, 2013 23:24
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DNova posted:
You're blowin my mind. You say navigation, but how would the phonste know where it is without data. Or do you just mean navigation in the general, non android-gps way.
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Jun 15, 2013 23:50
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spacebrospiff posted:You're blowin my mind. You say navigation, but how would the phonste know where it is without data. Or do you just mean navigation in the general, non android-gps way. The phone knows where it is because it has a GPS receiver, which does not require any data connection. To SHOW you where you are, it needs maps, which you can pre-download in a really intuitive way with the app.
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Jun 15, 2013 23:52
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DNova posted:The phone knows where it is because it has a GPS receiver, which does not require any data connection. To SHOW you where you are, it needs maps, which you can pre-download in a really intuitive way with the app. Word. Thanks dude 
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Jun 15, 2013 23:57
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spacebrospiff posted:Word. Thanks dude No problem. Only bother with paying for cell service if you really need it. I think it's pretty easy to get by with wifi, even if you can only get it a few minutes a day at your hostel. Your Verizon phone will be useless in Europe in terms of actual service, so forget that idea. But as a tiny tablet computer with Wifi it can be extremely useful.
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Jun 16, 2013 00:05
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My wife and I have an unlocked GSM iPhone 4 that we buy SIM cards for when we arrive in a new country. This week is Austria. A1 charged €10 for 1000 minutes, 1000 SMS, and 1gig of data. We have tmobile in Germany (15 euros gets a card, 99 cents a day for data), and Vodafone in Czech Republic (same basic deal). Protip for iPhone users in big cities: get the app called "Metro." Really useful for getting around on bus, tram, and subways. You basically need to know zero about the layout of any city's system as long as you have a ticket. Headed to Andechs today. Innsbruck is an awesome little town. The people are friendly, the food is typical German-speaking-food awesome, and the vernicular up the nordkettenbahn was cool. It sounds silly given that we've been so many places over the years, but my wife and I fit it easily into the top five places we've been. Also, get your rear end to Prague. Now. Seriously awesome.
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Jun 16, 2013 05:01
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Heading to Prague in about an hour. As for GPS. I wouldn't worry about it. All you need is a metro map, a thumb tack* and a piece of string** and you're all set. *Thumb tack may cause harm and is not required. **String is not required.
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Jun 16, 2013 08:37
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Carrying a thumbtack on an airplane will probably cause you to end up in Guantanamo so a GPS might still be the better option.
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Jun 16, 2013 09:53
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DNova posted:
* in some countries (not here in Estonia for example). Used to work in older Google Maps versions, too. 
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Jun 16, 2013 22:39
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pigdog posted:* in some countries (not here in Estonia for example). Used to work in older Google Maps versions, too. What the gently caress? I was going to call you crazy but I tried it for myself and you are correct. Is it some weirdo licensing issue? 
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Jun 16, 2013 22:56
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Ok here is some information: http://support.google.com/gmm/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2650347&topic=2649131&ctx=t%20opic Note that such popular destinations as "Wallis and Futuna" and "Saint Kitts and Nevis" are available but Estonia is not  The good news is that a majority of the globe is covered.
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Jun 16, 2013 23:23
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I reached the maximum limit with 3 more cities to go! O well, I can download the last three after I leave Italy I guess.
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Jun 17, 2013 03:45
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mobby_6kl posted:How long are you going to be staying? I might not be available on Sunday but I'd be up for it during the week. I'm done in Prague. Sorry we couldn't meet up. It's been a crazy couple days. Prague is amazing though. Now I'm headed to Berlin for a few days. Any suggestions on museums. Like, must see ones.
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Jun 18, 2013 21:28
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