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FWIW, I still had power sockets on my 2nd class ICE ride. Not that it mattered, for the 30 minutes it took to get from Freiburg to Basel.
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Sep 8, 2014 23:01
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Jan posted:FWIW, I still had power sockets on my 2nd class ICE ride. Not that it mattered, for the 30 minutes it took to get from Freiburg to Basel. Power sockets are pretty standard on any but the oldest ICEs, I haven't been in one without in years. Just pray it doesn't get replaced short-term by an IC if you depend on it!
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Sep 9, 2014 02:20
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Can anyone recommend cheap accommodation near Heathrow that's right off the Piccadilly line? I just need a place to stay one night before I fly home. There's a travelodge for 47 pounds right by Hounslow Central, but maybe there's something better.
actionjackson fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Sep 9, 2014 |
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Sep 9, 2014 18:26
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Hollow Talk posted:Power sockets are pretty standard on any but the oldest ICEs, I haven't been in one without in years. Just pray it doesn't get replaced short-term by an IC if you depend on it! I think I was on an IC anyway, it certainly didn't look like the fancy ICEs. And it's probably better that way, since the ICEs apparently don't really have room for bikes or the oversized boxes to transport them in. 
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Sep 9, 2014 19:26
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There's a cheap bed and breakfast near Paddington, you can take the Heathrow Express from there.
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Sep 9, 2014 19:35
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What's Iceland like in late Oct/early Nov? Colder than in summer obviously, but are we talking "Put a thicker coat on" or "Everything is closed, don't go outside unless you have to"?
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Sep 9, 2014 21:54
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Put a coat on. The country doesn't shut down for half a year.
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Sep 9, 2014 21:58
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My buddy went to Iceland for a month in Late Jan/Early Feb 2 years ago and bruised the poo poo out of his elbow slipping on some ice on the way home from the bar late at night; Reykjavik is pretty busy year round from what he described.
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Sep 10, 2014 01:33
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I'm going to be in Europe for two weeks at the end of March. I'm flying into Milan and flying out via Prague. My figuring was I'd spend time in a couple of cities before spending sometime in Prague before flying out again. Does anybody have any recommendations? It'd be nice to see a few different places so I was thinking Venice, Vienna and then Prague with maybe another city shoved in as well (maybe Munich?) or is that too much shoved into too little time? I understand the weather might not be great at that time but I didn't really get to pick the dates of travel this time around.
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Sep 10, 2014 21:07
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Venice is great fun. For a day. Its really expensive and there's not a huge amount to do. Vienna, Munich, and prague are all good options. I'd say three days in each is enough. I'd recommend Salzburg and Bratislava as well, but it depends how much travel you want to do. Edit - oh and Verona's great too. There's a huge wine festival on the end of March. adamarama fucked around with this message at 22:07 on Sep 10, 2014 |
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Sep 10, 2014 22:02
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Testikles posted:I'm going to be in Europe for two weeks at the end of March. I'm flying into Milan and flying out via Prague. My figuring was I'd spend time in a couple of cities before spending sometime in Prague before flying out again. Does anybody have any recommendations? It'd be nice to see a few different places so I was thinking Venice, Vienna and then Prague with maybe another city shoved in as well (maybe Munich?) or is that too much shoved into too little time? I understand the weather might not be great at that time but I didn't really get to pick the dates of travel this time around. March is fine for all those places, it just means you're not going to hang out on the Lido of Venice. 4 days is probably enough for Milan, Prague, or Munich, unless you have particular nearby places you want to check out that would eat most of a full day (e.g. Neuschwanstein, Dachau, Sedlec Ossuary). Venice feels like more of a 2 full-day city, and Vienna more like a week+. Again to each his own, and actually March is probably the best time of year for Venice because it's not chock full of tourists (just [/i]regular[i] full of tourists). ^^^^ Salzburg is great too, for 2-3 days. Personally Bratislava was the biggest disappointment of any city I have ever been to on par with Maribor "European Capital of Culture" Slovenia--they both felt like backwater provincial towns of about 30,000 people. I'm not sure why Bratislava is recommended to tourists who haven't reasonably exhausted Vienna (> 7 days), but I'm open to finding out how I completely missed any charm there besides its cheaper-than-Vienna airport. Saladman fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Sep 10, 2014 |
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Sep 10, 2014 22:09
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Amaterasu posted:While we're staying in Munich I'm planning on day trips to Dachau and Neuschwanstein. Would a Bayern ticket be worth it? Just based on my experience, I'd suggest going with this tour group: http://www.newmunichtours.com/ I posted a recommendation in this thread before, but it was incredibly simple. You meet in the train station, pay the guide the fee, and they cover all of the transportation (trains and buses are needed to get to both of those sights). Plus, with Neuschwanstein, you avoid the hassle of waiting in line to get in. We had the same guide for both places and he was very friendly and knowledgeable.
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Sep 12, 2014 16:46
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So I realized my time in Berlin may be very museum heavy. Can I fit in Topography of Terror, Bauhaus archive, Pergamon Museum and maybe DDR or Checkpoint Charlie (or some other Cold War related museum) into 3-4 days? Anything else that's worth checking out?Sand Monster posted:Just based on my experience, I'd suggest going with this tour group: http://www.newmunichtours.com/ I did these tours in Munich, Paris and Amsterdam and recommend them as well. Some of them are free tours and you tip the guide at the end whatever you think it was worth. Cacator fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Sep 13, 2014 |
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Sep 13, 2014 22:30
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Cacator posted:So I realized my time in Berlin may be very museum heavy. Can I fit in Topography of Terror, Bauhaus archive, Pergamon Museum and maybe DDR or Checkpoint Charlie (or some other Cold War related museum) into 3-4 days? Anything else that's worth checking out? Yes, no problem but you might get sick of history. Those places are all approximately a half days' worth each (3-4 hrs). Pergamon Altar closes for like the next 10 years at the end of the month, so if you're going to skip one museum, don't skip that one. I spent forever at checkpoint Charlie but I also read like every drat thing. Normally I never read plaques but I found it particularly interesting, I guess because it's so recent historically compared to most museums. The Holocaust memorial is haunting and also fairly small, and close to everything else, so that may be worth visiting if it won't horrify you too much and ruin the rest of your day.
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Sep 13, 2014 23:15
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Saladman posted:Pergamon Altar closes for like the next 10 years at the end of the month, so if you're going to skip one museum, don't skip that one. Goddamnit, it closes two weeks before I get there.  I planned on checking out the Holocaust Memorial anyway, but is it just the memorial or is there more to it?
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Sep 14, 2014 06:30
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Cacator posted:Goddamnit, it closes two weeks before I get there. Bummer. I'm not sure how much closes besides the altar, but that's one of the most impressive things, so. Might still be worth going, like the Rijks was partially open for it's like Guinness-winning world's longest renovation in Amsterdam. There's a museum underneath the Holocaust memorial. It's fairly small and mostly photographs and quotes from victims IiRC.
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Sep 14, 2014 09:13
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Saladman posted:Bummer. I'm not sure how much closes besides the altar, but that's one of the most impressive things, so. Might still be worth going, like the Rijks was partially open for it's like Guinness-winning world's longest renovation in Amsterdam. According to their website, most of the other exhibitions should still be open. They have a short bit about the works that will be undertaken alongside a list of open parts of the museum here: http://www.smb.museum/en/museums-an...2bef80be09dc708
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Sep 14, 2014 12:57
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My wife and I are going to visit Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp at the end of October/start of November. We'll probably split 8 days between the three cities, and will be going from Amsterdam. We're looking into renting a car and driving, but I have heard that parking can be a bitch and expensive in some of these places. I'm wondering if anyone can give me an idea of how much it will cost to park per day in these places? Ballpark estimate is fine. We figure the rental car and gas will be roughly equal to the cost of trains and buses which will give us some extra flexibility. I want to make sure I'm not screwing myself by going by car. Thanks!
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Sep 14, 2014 16:35
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Sub Par posted:My wife and I are going to visit Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp at the end of October/start of November. We'll probably split 8 days between the three cities, and will be going from Amsterdam. We're looking into renting a car and driving, but I have heard that parking can be a bitch and expensive in some of these places. I'm wondering if anyone can give me an idea of how much it will cost to park per day in these places? Ballpark estimate is fine. These places are so close and trains in Belgium are so cheap you should just not rent a car. Parking is a pain in the rear end in all of these places. I drove up there last year and since I have non-EU plates, I just didn't pay for parking (try and find me), but I got like 3 tickets in 4 days and it was over New Year's Holidays. Metered parking in Bruges was like €10/day or something insane too, and damned if I'm going to go feed a meter every 3 hours, and pay lot parking was like €25/day. It was less in Antwerp and Ghent but not that much less. Since you would be renting a Belgian car, you'd have no choice but to pay the tickets if you got them (otherwise your rental company would track you down and charge you for them, plus a surcharge for having to find you). Edit: I'm normally all for renting cars and do it at every opportunity, but this is one of the rare cases I would recommend against it. Trains are very easy to use and all 3 of your target cities are ultra close and cheap to get to and around. Once you're in all 3 cities, you would not use the car at all. There's not really anything in the Belgian countryside to see either that requires a car unless you want to go to some of the beer abbeys. Saladman fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Sep 14, 2014 |
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Sep 14, 2014 16:54
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Thanks. Maybe we're just not looking in the right places but we're seeing things like buses from Bruges to Amsterdam that cost in the 20 euro range per person (trains are more) and the car, including gas, is like 192 euro total. I would love to not take a car and not gently caress with parking and stuff, but I guess I just don't see the cheap trains. Edit: my wife informs me that I am wrong and stupid. Ignore this. Thanks! We're gonna take the train. Sub Par fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Sep 14, 2014 |
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Sep 14, 2014 17:17
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I went to Ghent and Bruges by car a few years ago and it was fine. I googled beforehand to find free parking places. In Ghent we parked at an uni campus for free about 20m walking away from the center, and in Bruges on a long parking place just to the west of the center, with about 10 mins of walking. Usually you can find something outside the center if you search beforehand, like the P&R places in the Netherlands.
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Sep 14, 2014 19:40
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Entropist posted:I went to Ghent and Bruges by car a few years ago and it was fine. I googled beforehand to find free parking places. In Ghent we parked at an uni campus for free about 20m walking away from the center, and in Bruges on a long parking place just to the west of the center, with about 10 mins of walking. Usually you can find something outside the center if you search beforehand, like the P&R places in the Netherlands. Out of curiosity, how did you find this? I googled "Free parking Bruges" and got stuff like this: http://www.car-parking.eu/belgium/bruges/car-parks which seems to show that the cheapest parking is €8.70/day. Antwerp and Bruxelles seem to have Park and Ride, which in my experience is rarely actually free, but usually very cheap. I used that in Brussels and the only cost was like the €1.50 each way for the metro to get there and back. Uni parking probably isn't free either, although I guess the tickets given from university meter maids are legally unenforceable unless you actually attend the university. At least in my limited experience. E: Within Belgium the trains are a great price at least besides Thalys. All 3 of your legs together won't run much more than about €50/pp. I'm pretty sure you're not under 25, but if someone else reading this is, you can get a carnet of 10 voyages anywhere in Belgium for I think €50, which means you can cross the entire country for €5. Just realized you were talking about buses from Ams -> Brugges, but anyway if you rent a car I guess you'd have to drive it back to the Netherlands or face an insane one-way fee, unless Benelux does something nice unlike car rental agencies in the rest of Europe. Saladman fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Sep 14, 2014 |
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Sep 14, 2014 21:17
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https://www.brugge.be/randparkings Pretty much the first result for Bruges. These are all free and there's even a map showing their locations. I think I used Magdalenastraat but both of the ones in the west are close to the center. In bigger cities you might need to take a bus or tram when doing this but that's not too expensive. e: Ghent: http://www.mobiliteitgent.be/met-de-auto/parkride-pr Antwerp: http://www.parkereninantwerpen.be/parkeermogelijkheden select Parkeermogelijkheden and then Gratis parking, at the right side of the map Entropist fucked around with this message at 22:54 on Sep 14, 2014 |
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Sep 14, 2014 22:50
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I'm taking a Danube river cruise in the beginning of october and I can't seem to get a feel for which jacket to bring for the weather. It's between a hard shell ski jacket with removable fleece liner, rain jacket with fleece or a trench coat type rain jacket as a classier option.
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Sep 15, 2014 00:33
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Any recommendations for AirBNB's in Florence? Starting to plan a trip next Sept.
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Sep 20, 2014 17:02
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bathhouse posted:Any recommendations for AirBNB's in Florence? Starting to plan a trip next Sept. Look for a nice one with availability for your dates at a price you can afford? Just do a search, and get somewhere central. If you have to take a bus to and from everyday then it's a bad location.
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Sep 21, 2014 12:04
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This is not a travel-related question, but I figure if anyone on this forum knows, it's someone here: Is there anywhere in either Sofia, Varna or Burgas where there's a palace or a castle or an old fortress on a hill that overlooks the city, so you can see most of the city from there? EricBauman fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Sep 21, 2014 |
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Sep 21, 2014 19:51
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Any tips for Budapest? Going there Friday-Monday with my girlfriend. Among other things we like: unique food, beer/cool bars (well that's mainly for me), walking, historical/political sights, photogenic landscapes. We aren't too fussed about museums unless it's really stellar, or one that is important for understanding the city/local region (e.g. we found the DDR museum and topography of terror in Berlin really interesting). It seems Budapest has a lot of landmarks and is quite walkable, but just wanted any tips if anyone has them.
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Sep 21, 2014 20:49
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Budapest was doing their initial roll out of their City Bike program when I was there, it might be up and running now, I would definitely recommend it as the portion of the city east of the river is pool table flat. I ended up renting a bike from Yellow Zebra (behind the opera house) and was able to cover a lot more of the city that way. It's almost as fast as public transit (the street cars are really efficient as well, an unlimited ride card is about the same price as a daily bike rental)
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Sep 22, 2014 00:47
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Cacator posted:Goddamnit, it closes two weeks before I get there. If you do the Sandeman's / New Berlin walking tour, you'll see the memorial along the route on the "Free" (aka tipped) tour. I'd say take the tour to get a quick feel for some really basic primer-level history around the center of heavily touristed spots in Berlin, and then go back if it piques your interest. Do the earliest tour they offer, and then you can stay in the center-ish of the city and go right back from there. A lot of people seemed uninterested / disappointed in the Holocaust memorial. I wasn't, and was kind of impressed that it's so weird and incomprehensible as a parallel to the events themselves. Blah blah art interpretations. If you're wanting to see more of the source, Sachsenhausen ( http://www.stiftung-bg.de/gums/en/ ) in Oranienburg is just a 45 minute train ride away. It's a tough visit. To the guy asking about Bilbao: Eat pinxos, stay in an old pension in the old part of town, climb the hills outside town, spend most of a day in the Guggenheim, check out the Mercado de la Ribera, rent a bike from one of the bikeshare offices and go nuts (it was free as long as you had a passport with you that they'd photocopy last time I went), ride up the funicular (Artxanda, I believe), and if you get a chance to get out of town, go to Gaztelugatxe, a chapel way out on a peninsula in a gorgeous little section of rocky coast. Edit: Also in Berlin, if you're doing memorials/museums, hop over to the Tiergarten Soviet memorial, and the Treptower memorial. The Treptower one is really, really impressive. I advise renting a bike to see a lot of the memorials (don't ride in/on the memorials) as you can easily pedal around town and make a day of seeing a lot of them. Yaam / Jaam rents bikes on the ultra cheap and is also a decent spot to kill some time, grab a few beers, chill on a riverfront beach, listen to some music. Ally McBeal Wiki fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Sep 22, 2014 |
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Sep 22, 2014 18:22
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Any French people in this thread who could advise me on a fast way to get from Cannes/Nice (I'll be in a small village between the two) to Bourdeaux? I won't have access to a car and google tells me a car journey would take around 8 hours anyway, so I'm thinking maybe TGV from Lyon?
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Sep 23, 2014 02:12
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prinneh posted:Any French people in this thread who could advise me on a fast way to get from Cannes/Nice (I'll be in a small village between the two) to Bourdeaux? I won't have access to a car and google tells me a car journey would take around 8 hours anyway, so I'm thinking maybe TGV from Lyon? I believe the only fast way is to fly. There's no direct trains from anywhere in Southeast France to Bordeaux. Even from Lyon, you have to go to Paris first which totals about 6+ hours. You can take a bunch of local trains in the south, but it will take roughly the same amount of time as it would to drive. It's pretty shocking looking up buses, trains, etc. that apparently Southwest France is a black hole.
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Sep 23, 2014 02:35
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Most trains will make you go through Marseille which means it takes like 10 hours with costs ranging from €100 to €200. Meanwhile a flight from Nice to Bordeaux with EasyJet will last 1h30 and cost from €100 to €150.
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Sep 23, 2014 08:44
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Lady Gaza posted:Any tips for Budapest? Going there Friday-Monday with my girlfriend. Among other things we like: unique food, beer/cool bars (well that's mainly for me), walking, historical/political sights, photogenic landscapes. We aren't too fussed about museums unless it's really stellar, or one that is important for understanding the city/local region (e.g. we found the DDR museum and topography of terror in Berlin really interesting). It seems Budapest has a lot of landmarks and is quite walkable, but just wanted any tips if anyone has them. Go to the Great Market Hall for lunch and a look around one day - it's awesome.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Market_Hall_%28Budapest%29 Also get the 3 day travel pass - it's cheap and incredibly useful - the subways and trams are very easy to use and reliable, the buses are a bit confusing though. http://visitbudapest.travel/budapest-info/getting-around/ Pookah fucked around with this message at 10:22 on Sep 23, 2014 |
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Sep 23, 2014 10:17
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MagicCube posted:I believe the only fast way is to fly. There's no direct trains from anywhere in Southeast France to Bordeaux. Even from Lyon, you have to go to Paris first which totals about 6+ hours. You can take a bunch of local trains in the south, but it will take roughly the same amount of time as it would to drive. It's pretty shocking looking up buses, trains, etc. that apparently Southwest France is a black hole. pylb posted:Most trains will make you go through Marseille which means it takes like 10 hours with costs ranging from €100 to €200. Thank you both, that's very helpful!
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Sep 23, 2014 10:50
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I've got 4 days in London coming up here next week. Any suggestions on best places to eat & drink? Thanks!
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Sep 24, 2014 02:54
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Macintyre posted:I've got 4 days in London coming up here next week. Any suggestions on best places to eat & drink? Here's a couple: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3447751 It really depends on where you're going to be and what you're in the mood for. London is an incredible town for restaurants though, we always eat very well whenever we visit.
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Sep 24, 2014 07:28
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So I'm going on a work trip to Germany and France in early November. I don't have my itinerary yet (I'm a travel agent so it's an educational trip) but it's 9 days flying into Frankfurt and out of Paris. Since its sponsored by a rail wholesaler I'm assuming a lot of trains and it was also sponsored by a German tourism promoter, French tourism promoter and a Monaco tourism promoter so those are probably good bets. I'll get my itinerary but it'll be guided with some free time and I'm guessing Frankfurt, down to the south of France before returning to Paris at the end. Anyway the important part- presents for the fiancee. Since we are saving money for the wedding nothing too much. Wine is off as we live in Australia and our wine industry is great and we don't really drink a lot. I'll get some Parisian chocolate I think? And anything too silly (a beret or something) is off. But what are some nice gift ideas to bring back? Also presents for siblings/parents etc. Also I'm assuming we will be training a lot, any hints for good train etiquette/ gadgets to make it easier/etc
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Sep 24, 2014 10:23
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Jean Paul Hevin is the best chocolatier in Paris, IMO. It's about a 5 minute walk from Tuileries metro station IIRC, so really easy to get to. It's not cheap, but it will be hands down the best chocolate you've ever tasted in your life. Seriously, every time I go to France I spend 500E in chocolate from there because it is the best ever and shipping charges to Canada are ridiculous (plus their service for international delivery can suck).
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Sep 24, 2014 10:32
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Ok this it a bit vague, but I could use some suggestions for fun/unusual things to do as a group in Amsterdam. Six of us are going there for a weekend in late Oct. Not interested in weed/whore-based ideas, but something a bit different to the usual museums would be cool.
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Sep 24, 2014 14:52
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