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GregNorc posted:Stupid question: How bad is the weather in Europe in late fall? Chances are, it's not going to be quite freezing, and it might rain quite a bit. Take something relatively warm (layers work best) that is rain-proof and you should be fine.
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May 10, 2015 17:25
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GregNorc posted:Stupid question: How bad is the weather in Europe in late fall? Late fall is like late November? You might pass snow in the countryside near Vienna and Berlin, but probably not even that. It'll be around 5°C and probably light drizzle.
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May 10, 2015 20:36
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So far (and I've only been here for about an hour), I'm really liking Logroņo, and that's before I've even had a chance to go wine-drinking. It seems very... clean and orderly compared to Sevilla and Madrid (also, gently caress me, do they ever seem to love roundabouts), but there's still things going on even close to midnight on a Sunday. It's also dirt loving cheap compared to those cities, and also compared to Granada. My taxi ride from the train station took 5 instead of 20 (could've walked, mind you, but my phone decided to run out of batteries so I had no idea where I was going). The hotel seems really good for under 100/night, too. Is there some kind of downside that I'm not seeing yet, or is it just "out of the way" enough that poo poo's still super cheap? Granted, the Alvia was much less nice than the AVE, but that's pretty much the only negative thing I have to say about this part of the journey so far. FaceEater suggested I go on a hike, but with forecast highs well into the 30s for my whole stay, I think I might take a pass on that one.
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May 10, 2015 22:49
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PT6A posted:just "out of the way" enough that poo poo's still super cheap? In my experience, yes, that's the one. It's not on a lot of travel radars except for foodies. I mean, it's a small-ish town. You could lap the whole thing in a day if you were cruising. I'd say if you're not down for the hike (I still recommend it though, very pretty views and kind of a cool way to break the monotony of just being an urban dweller for your trip), take that bus to (La) Guardia. Quick trip, good afternoon escape. Wine, old Roman ruins, stuff like that. Also forgot to rep the Museo de La Rioja. Stuff dating back to Roman times, and if you're into winemaking they've got some cool old school winemaking implements on display.
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May 10, 2015 23:46
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Ireland trip So I'm planning a trip to Ireland this September, was wondering if anyone here had advice or tips. My rough plan is as follows (7 nights in Ireland): Day 1: Fly into Dublin (from Canada, so the flights generally arrive early in the morning), spend the day seeing the city. Day 2: Do a day trip out of Dublin. Right now, I'm looking into the monastery at Glendalough, which looks both historic and has some beautiful nature stuff Day 3: Bus/train down to Cork, spend the day around the city. Day 4: Do a day trip somewhere (haven't decided yet). Day 5: Bus/train to Galway Day 6: Day trip to Cliffs of Moher or Aran Islands (still deciding) Day 7: Do something in the morning, travel back to Dublin to stay overnight Day 8: Fly out of Dublin (flights back to Canada leave around 12-2 pm or so) Any suggestions?
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May 11, 2015 15:43
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I've never been to Ireland, but unless it's pretty boring, that's a very packed itinerary. I'd spend a minimum of two days in any place I was interested in visiting, and even that would be pretty rushed. EDIT: If Ireland is a nice country, you're going to find some place you really love and you'll kick yourself for not spending more time there. Trust me, it already happened to me in Sevilla and it's happening right now, as we speak, in Logroņo. 3 and a half days simply is not enough. Is this place ever awesome. On the other hand, now I really don't get what everyone sees in Granada. It's okay, but I left there knowing I didn't really have to return at any point, and that's the only place in Spain I can say that about. PT6A fucked around with this message at 22:16 on May 11, 2015 |
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May 11, 2015 17:59
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Gully Foyle posted:Ireland trip I'd cut out Cork and the accompanying day trip (easy because you haven't decided) and spend those two days in Dublin. Dublin is an amazing city with tons to see and you'll barely scratch the surface of even the most famous sights in one jet lagged day. Also for a day trip from Dublin I'd recommend Newgrange (amazing temple that's older than the Pyramids) and the Hill of Tara with: http://newgrangetours.com Based on my (1) Ireland trip, what I'd really recommend is spending half that trip in Belfast with a day trip to the Giants Causeway/Bushmills and the other half in Dublin with a day trip to Newgrange.
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May 11, 2015 22:21
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Gully Foyle posted:Ireland trip I did a similar trip last year, but with only Dublin and Galway. Glendalough is a good choice, it is touristy but not as much as you'd expect, in fact it is impressively messy for such a historic site. The valley is nice too. It's not a bad idea to avoid hanging around in Dublin because it's not that special compared to the rest of Ireland. It might be tiring to do only day trips though. Malahide Castle, Powerscourt House or the Guinness brewery might also be nice around Dublin. In Galway I went to the Cliffs of Moher (nice, but very touristy) which was recommended to me over the Aran Islands. Cliffs on the island are similar, but smaller. I also took a tour of Connemara. It made me feel like an old person to take a bus tour like that, but it's really the middle of nowhere so I couldn't think of another way, and the additional information and tour stops were interesting. Galway is nice enough to spend a day or two in too, especially if a walk along the bay sounds like a nice idea to you. I traveled back from Galway by night bus to the airport directly, it was okay for a night bus but still not a great experience. e: Apparently the previous poster disagrees about Dublin. I preferred the town atmosphere of Galway and found the whole thing to feel much more Irish. Dublin could have been another European capital, and the landscape is not as cool in that part of Ireland. Entropist fucked around with this message at 22:34 on May 11, 2015 |
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May 11, 2015 22:31
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Yeah, unless you're in a bad city, you'll probably want 2-3 days just to scratch the surface. Like I said, I didn't even care very much for Granada, but I'm still glad I spent a few days there (though 5 was too many, for me). It's better to know there are cities and places left to visit, rather than trying to hit every place in one trip and being run down at the end of it.
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May 11, 2015 22:33
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PT6A posted:Yeah, unless you're in a bad city, you'll probably want 2-3 days just to scratch the surface. Like I said, I didn't even care very much for Granada, but I'm still glad I spent a few days there (though 5 was too many, for me). It's better to know there are cities and places left to visit, rather than trying to hit every place in one trip and being run down at the end of it. What's "better" depends a lot on the person and what they want out of their trip.
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May 11, 2015 22:37
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Entropist posted:e: Apparently the previous poster disagrees about Dublin. I preferred the town atmosphere of Galway and found the whole thing to feel much more Irish. Dublin could have been another European capital, and the landscape is not as cool in that part of Ireland. That's fair though, it's different for everyone, but I absolutely loved Dublin. I'm really into Irish history and Irish literature so I spent close to full days at Kilmainham Gaol, Writers Museum, National Museum, and DUBLINIA.
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May 11, 2015 22:40
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DNova posted:What's "better" depends a lot on the person and what they want out of their trip. I suppose so, but spending only a day in each place seems like too little. I can see 2 days per place, but that's still quite rushed. Unless your trip's purpose is to check off all the boxes on some grand list of locations, I'd really advise taking it at least a little easy and having a few days where you aren't travelling all across hell's half-acre.
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May 11, 2015 22:44
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PT6A posted:I suppose so, but spending only a day in each place seems like too little. I can see 2 days per place, but that's still quite rushed. Unless your trip's purpose is to check off all the boxes on some grand list of locations, I'd really advise taking it at least a little easy and having a few days where you aren't travelling all across hell's half-acre. I'd advise doing what makes you happy and enjoy your trip.
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May 11, 2015 22:46
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DNova posted:I'd advise doing what makes you happy and enjoy your trip. Can't argue with that, but recently I've spent a lot more time wishing I'd stayed in places longer, rather than wishing I'd had the opportunity to see some other place for half a day. It's an issue of my psychology as much as anything, but when I'm thinking of going someplace, I usually have a dimmer view of what it is or what it will be than when I'm actually there, so as much as I like the whirlwind tour in a lot of ways, especially when I'm making plans, moreso than when I'm on the ground, I'm just saying it might be a good idea to put some slack into the schedule. What I'm learning in the process of my trip is that I wish I had more time in each place, even though I thought I might actually be stretching my attention span in some places when I booked this whole thing. But, on the other hand, I've had trips where I didn't much care for anything and 24 hours per place would've worked fine, so I dunno. It's loving impossible to tell until you're on the ground.
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May 11, 2015 23:30
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PT6A posted:Can't argue with that, but recently I've spent a lot more time wishing I'd stayed in places longer, rather than wishing I'd had the opportunity to see some other place for half a day. It's an issue of my psychology as much as anything, but when I'm thinking of going someplace, I usually have a dimmer view of what it is or what it will be than when I'm actually there, so as much as I like the whirlwind tour in a lot of ways, especially when I'm making plans, moreso than when I'm on the ground, I'm just saying it might be a good idea to put some slack into the schedule. What I'm learning in the process of my trip is that I wish I had more time in each place, even though I thought I might actually be stretching my attention span in some places when I booked this whole thing. Yes. This is why I get a little annoyed when people assert their preferences on others. Make disclaimers if you want about how tiring travel can be, but this constant chorus of needing X amount of time per city is tiresome. I had a loving blast in Istanbul for the 10 hours I was there (at the expense of 40 hours on trains). I planned to stay in Varanasi for a day and ended up staying for 5. There are no rules to travel.
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May 11, 2015 23:46
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Edit: doublepost
maskenfreiheit fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Mar 13, 2017 |
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May 12, 2015 13:48
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spoof posted:I'm still working my way though the list but my favourites so far have been The Portrait Gallery of the Golden Age at the Hermitage Amsterdam (wasn't as impressed with Alexander, Napoleon and Josephine), and the Cor Jaring half of Huis Marseille (though the other half wasn't bad either). Entropist posted:The queuing is not quite as bad with the pass, since you won't need to buy a ticket. I was in those places on the Easter weekend which is also infamous for its crowds, and it wasn't too terrible once inside. In case of the Rijksmuseum we could get right in without queuing with the pass, though it was later in the afternoon. Crowded, but not like you couldn't move freely. To avoid the crowds, it will help to go early.
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May 12, 2015 14:12
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GregNorc posted:The only rule is... there are no rules. I was in London last year and me and a group of friends ate at some swedish garlic restaurant where everything is covered in garlic, including the beer. We took a 40 minute tube ride back home. That couldn't have been pleasant for the other passengers.
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May 12, 2015 14:23
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Thanks for the great feedback for my Ireland trip. Based on it, I'll look into cutting out Cork. I could then do 3 nights in Dublin, 3 nights in Galway, and one night back in Dublin before the flight home, depending on how flights work out. The reason I was looking into a 3 city trip was just that I don't have many chances to travel compared to the places I want to go, so I have no idea when I will get back to Ireland
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May 12, 2015 14:54
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I'm planning on renting a car in Spain this June. Particularly to explore the region around San Sebastian. I'm flying in and out of Bilbao and it's looking pretty cheap to rent from there. Renting right from San Sebastian is a bit more expensive, but will save a couple days of rental time since I won't need it the whole time, though I was looking forward to doing one way along the coast. Anyone have any experience parking in San Sebastian? I've read that parking is basically limited to several underground garages and that they are quite expensive (20-30 euro/day). Do they fill up? Does the daily rate cover coming/going whenever? Info available online is pretty mixed. My airbnb is right in the middle of the old town, but I'm fine with walking a bit to park as I will mostly just be doing a couple day trips and not coming and going. What about driving in the region in general?
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May 12, 2015 22:42
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I did a roadtrip of seven or eight days around Ireland back in January. I didn't find Dublin to be all that great; a day was enough, you wander along the river and through Temple Bar and do the Guinness brewery tour (which is really good btw). It's nice enough but I wouldn't want to spend ages there, and if you're travelling alone I imagine it would be even less interesting. Cork was also not hugely interesting; I quite liked Galway, Kilkenny and Killarney, but again, wouldn't want to spend more than a day or an evening there. Ireland is really more about the countryside than about towns and cities. (Which obviously is not ideal when you're not renting a vehicle.) Cliffs of Moher were good. Killarney National Park is beautiful, as is most of the Ring of Kerry. Blarney Castle is interesting even aside from the check-it-off-the-list kissing of the Blarney stone, though I imagine outside of winter it's probably packed. The Wicklow Mountains are quite pretty too.
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May 13, 2015 13:11
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freebooter posted:I did a roadtrip of seven or eight days around Ireland back in January. I didn't find Dublin to be all that great; a day was enough, you wander along the river and through Temple Bar and do the Guinness brewery tour (which is really good btw). It's nice enough but I wouldn't want to spend ages there, and if you're travelling alone I imagine it would be even less interesting. Cork was also not hugely interesting; I quite liked Galway, Kilkenny and Killarney, but again, wouldn't want to spend more than a day or an evening there. Ireland is really more about the countryside than about towns and cities. (Which obviously is not ideal when you're not renting a vehicle.) I feel the same about Dublin although I missed out on the brewery tour because it was closed or something, but I know a bunch of people who absolutely love Dublin and would want to go back so maybe we're the weird ones. Cork had some pretty hiking that I enjoyed.
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May 13, 2015 14:48
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hbf posted:I'm planning on renting a car in Spain this June. Particularly to explore the region around San Sebastian. I'm flying in and out of Bilbao and it's looking pretty cheap to rent from there. Renting right from San Sebastian is a bit more expensive, but will save a couple days of rental time since I won't need it the whole time, though I was looking forward to doing one way along the coast. I don't have the answer to most your questions, but I'm going to Spain in July and San Sebastian is on our route. We lucked out finding an apartment for rent that has a private garage but before we found that one I was looking into parking too. I found there are a couple free garages that are farther out and you can also park for free at the universities, then take a bus back into town. For a closer garage, the name that came up as the cheapest option is Txofre, which is I think 12 euros a day or less with longer stays. Not sure about how likely they are to be full though.
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May 14, 2015 03:56
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DNova posted:I feel the same about Dublin although I missed out on the brewery tour because it was closed or something, but I know a bunch of people who absolutely love Dublin and would want to go back so maybe we're the weird ones. Cork had some pretty hiking that I enjoyed. I depends what you're into I guess. I could see Dublin being fantastic if you were there with a bunch of mates and going out drinking every night, but I was on a family holiday. Also I guess it depends on what else you've seen. I live in London so Dublin's not really that different, if you come straight from America or Australia, all European cities are going to seem really different and awesome. I was enamoured with London when I first came here from Australia, and I still appreciate a good Old Town like Prague or Stockholm, but they don't blow my mind anymore.
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May 14, 2015 11:03
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Dublin's nice (and, to me anyway, very different from London) but not a city like NYC or Paris or other major cities with endless things to do. Like for freebooter, Ireland is much more about the countryside for me. I've got a family trip there this year and most of us have never been. Definitely including Dublin as it's worth seeing for sure, but doing my best to guide my itinerary away from there pretty quickly.
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May 14, 2015 12:10
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mich posted:I don't have the answer to most your questions, but I'm going to Spain in July and San Sebastian is on our route. We lucked out finding an apartment for rent that has a private garage but before we found that one I was looking into parking too. I found there are a couple free garages that are farther out and you can also park for free at the universities, then take a bus back into town. For a closer garage, the name that came up as the cheapest option is Txofre, which is I think 12 euros a day or less with longer stays. Not sure about how likely they are to be full though. Cool thanks for the info. Going look into the university parking.
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May 14, 2015 17:13
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hbf posted:Cool thanks for the info. Going look into the university parking. I'll be there starting Tuesday, I'll ask around for you if you're interested. Do you have an address or at least a street for your accommodations? If it's like my time in other Spanish cities, I'll spend the majority of it wandering around the old town, so I might be able to find something near-ish. EDIT: Also, to fly in the face of what I said regarding short visits: try to make time in your schedule to visit Logrono, even for just a day or two. It's the coolest city that (apparently) absolutely no English speaker has ever heard of. The food is wonderful, it's the heart of Rioja, so the wines are stunning, the climate is great, and everyone I met was super friendly. Also, it's incredibly cheap compared to more well-known cities, but the quality doesn't seem to suffer as a result. PT6A fucked around with this message at 17:38 on May 14, 2015 |
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May 14, 2015 17:22
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hbf posted:
Driving in Spain is generally easy outside of the cities. I have no experience in San Sebastian, but have driven in Grenada, Seville, throughout the Costa del Sol, Madrid (I guess a lot of Andalucia). In the cities I've been in, I always had to drive around a bit but always found something reasonable and safe. I live in the SF bay area so am used to pretty heavy traffic if that helps as far as your relative experience. I think most people worry too much about driving. As long as you're not already a nervous driver, just be careful. Driving a manual on the "wrong" side of the road was tough for me when I've done it but I've never had anything bad happen.
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May 15, 2015 03:10
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PT6A posted:I'll be there starting Tuesday, I'll ask around for you if you're interested. Do you have an address or at least a street for your accommodations? If it's like my time in other Spanish cities, I'll spend the majority of it wandering around the old town, so I might be able to find something near-ish. loving A, I'm happy to hear someone else vouch for this place. It ain't the biggest or the prettiest, but it's pretty close to the friendliest place in Spain I've ever been. And Spain overall is a fairly friendly place IMO. edit: Driving in Spain - The tolls can be loving expensive, but not a huge deal. If you enjoy driving for the fun of it, stay off the Autopistas/Autovias and take the regional roads from place to place. Slower, yes, but up in that region some of the driving is fun fun fun. But I come from a place where a single left hand turn in a 30 mile drive is not unheard of, so ymmv. Literally.
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May 15, 2015 17:38
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FaceEater posted:loving A, I'm happy to hear someone else vouch for this place. It ain't the biggest or the prettiest, but it's pretty close to the friendliest place in Spain I've ever been. And Spain overall is a fairly friendly place IMO. I found it quite pretty, actually. The best part was, you don't have to wait in line and pay money to see any of the cool buildings (good call on going to the museum, it was awesome). Out of curiosity, there's a bunch of dust, or plant matter, or some loving awful thing blowing in the air in Madrid right now and it's getting in my eyes and making them hurt; an idea what it is and when I can expect it to be over? It seemed worst over by the Museo del Prado.
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May 15, 2015 18:44
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My husband and I are doing 6 nights in Italy later this year - we will have a car for the entire trip. He's pretty well traveled, but I've never been to Europe and not the laid back one in the relationship. We have 5 nights in Montecatini and 1 night in Milan. Any general tips about Italy would be much appreciated. 1) I'm thinking while we're in Montecatini, we'd bus to Florence for 2-3 days and Lucca for 1 day. Are there scenic routes between Milan and Montecatini? Should I also considered going to Siena (driving to Val d'Orcia or San gimignano or Chianti) or Bologna (2 hr transit)? I would really like to see Val d'Orcia... (What's there to do in Montecatini?) Maybe stick a wine tour in there somewhere. If I can do Cinque Terre reasonably I would, but I don't think it makes sense. Anywhere else I should think about going? 2) I have a galaxy note 3 with Verizon which is apparently a 'World Phone'. I looked up data SIM cards here and the prices are ridiculous in comparison to what is apparently sold in Italy. How easy is it to just buy a prepaid SIM card when we get there? I would like to have GPS available when we land, because we do need to drive to our hotel, so would there be a place in the international airport to get one easily/cheaply? 3) What's the driving situation like? I heard that there's areas that aren't discreetly marked where you get fined for entering. And you have to give your license plate to the hotel concierge so they can give it to the police? Is this true? What's the deal with this? Are there any laws that I should be aware of that ignorant tourists (me) are likely to break? 4) What's the best way to communicate? I have google translate on my phone, and will have a few Italian phrases memorized (on a piece of paper). But any tips? 5) How does buying tickets in advance work? Are there stalls or something when we hit the airport in Milan to get tickets for stuff in Florence and a wine tour?
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May 17, 2015 18:23
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Hey everyone, I'm planning on doing a trip to Europe for 1 month in late August and September and was wondering if anyone else is or has done this before? I don't want to go alone and none of my friends have the time nor the desire to travel in Europe for a month. I was thinking of signing up for this group travel package at top deck as it pretty much covers most of the places I want to visit: https://www.topdeck.travel/tours/summer-fun-and-sailing Its going to cost me roughly $4,320CAD for the travel without airfare being included, but I feel like, given what you are all saying, there isn't a whole lot of value in it and I could probably have more fun at a cheaper price elsewhere. Let me know what you think. Also, if any of you have any suggestions as to where I could potentially meet people who are also planning a month long trip around Europe please let me know! And if anyone here is planning something similar to me, please let me know and maybe I can join up with you! Thanks,
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May 17, 2015 19:28
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Defenistrator posted:Hey everyone, If you're a sociable person solo travelling is completely viable and fun. Hostels are full of solo travellers or small groups and there are always opportunities to make new friends and head out with them. I did 3 months in Europe on my own and I met and chatted with at least 4-5 new people every single day just at the hostel. I'm not a big fan of the full tour deals as I like to do what I want, when I want. However, if it checks off the places you want to go, seems feasible, and looks like you'd enjoy it, then more power to you.
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May 17, 2015 20:02
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Defenistrator posted:Hey everyone, Stay in hostels and you can meet people on your own, but how much you'll actually want to do this depends how social you are, and how willing you are to follow other peoples' plans -- otherwise about 5 days into the trip, you'll get sick of meeting people and going out for drinks and never seeing people again after the next day when everyone, hung over, leaves the hostel for [next city they spend 1 day in]. If money is not a particular issue, 3200 for that 27 day itinerary isn't bad. You could do it somewhat cheaper on your own -- although that exact itinerary is pretty packed and would be a pain in the rear end to organize all the trains and travel for (IMO). I guess it depends on (1) how much money you have, (2) how social you are, and (3) how much you want to do a full Eurotrip and not just a handful of places. If the answer to (1) is "not a lot" then probably you're better off DIYing and doing a smaller itinerary (maybe just Italy and the Balkans?).
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May 17, 2015 20:06
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Rurutia posted:My husband and I are doing 6 nights in Italy later this year - we will have a car for the entire trip. He's pretty well traveled, but I've never been to Europe and not the laid back one in the relationship. We have 5 nights in Montecatini and 1 night in Milan. Any general tips about Italy would be much appreciated. 1. You can drive by the sea and Cinque Terra from Milan to Montecatini and according to google it's about a half hour longer. The drive from Milan to Bolagna is pretty mediocre so I'd probably avoid that and drive by the sea though I haven't taken that route. Given that you drive by Cinque Terra you could then stop, though I think most people stop at the first village and then take a train. You should be able to find information online about it given how popular it is. If you don't have hotels already booked or a specific reason that you're staying 5 days in Montecatini, I'd probably spread out more and avoid daily drives from Montecatini. 2. Buying a sim is pretty easy and requires a passport. If you don't speak Italian expect some gesturing and confusion as in general most people in Italy don't speak English. For getting to the hotel, I would just preload the google map and use it to get there and then buy the sim later. You may be able to buy one in the airport, but I'm not certain. 3. The center of most cities is a ZTL, which means you can't drive in it without some sort of pass. Here are two quick google links for the two cities you mention visiting, Florence ZTL and Milan Area C. They are normally marked, but if you don't know what the sign means it may not be obvious. In generally, I would just avoid driving in a city to begin with as mass transit is normally good. 4. Have you been to a non English speaking country? Most common actions don't require communication and those that do can generally be accomplished with hand gestures. I kind of feel like google translate is rude and also time consuming, but you can fall back on it if required. I wouldn't expect to find people that speak English except at places that cater to tourism, as also noted above compared to other European countries I've visited the number of people who speak English in Italy seems really low. 5. No idea. I would expect that if you can buy tickets in advance, then you can probably do it online or at least find information about it.
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May 17, 2015 20:38
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On top of that, driving in the cities in Italy is a great way to add way more stress than you need to to your holiday, especially if you've never been overseas before and have never actually experienced just how insane Italian drivers really are.
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May 17, 2015 23:50
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Sorry if it wasn't clear, I'm definitely going to try to avoid driving in the cities. We're in a hotel that's about 2min walk from the central public transit hub, so we'll be bussing to Lucca and Florence. Otherwise, the car will probably just be parked at the hotels. The main purpose of the car will be to get us between Milan and Montecatini. I was uncertain about whether driving to Siena would be worth it, or if it'd be terrible there too. I know the way we have it set up isn't the most ideal, but it's because we actually bought a package deal that was incredibly cheap. We paid significantly less for our whole package (lodging, flights to Italy then to Seychelles then back to US, and car included) than we paid last year just on just flights Seychelles. Our whole package was half of the cheapest total just for flights I could find on ITA matrix for a US -> Europe -> Seychelles -> US trip. v  vasur: Thanks for the tips! For some reason I thought Cinque Terra was a bit more north, but now I see the path you're talking about. Looks like the train to Cinque Terra is about 4 hours from Montecatini, so we'll probably just stop for a little and then... come back on another trip. Re Communication: I've actually never been to a non English speaking country without being with someone who didn't also speak the native language (including myself) - although using hand gestures to communicate is something I'm versed in. I wasn't thinking about using google translate to show them the translated text, but instead to use the audio tool to train myself how to speak the translation myself. Would that be rude to say it really poorly? :S I was mostly concerned about it in terms for (example) asking for where to buy a SIM card or asking about ZTL's or something like that.
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May 18, 2015 03:08
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You can buy train tickets in advance online, and then pick it up at the machine. Or you can just buy them at the ticket booth / machine.
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May 18, 2015 07:08
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Rurutia posted:Re Communication: I've actually never been to a non English speaking country without being with someone who didn't also speak the native language (including myself) - although using hand gestures to communicate is something I'm versed in. I wasn't thinking about using google translate to show them the translated text, but instead to use the audio tool to train myself how to speak the translation myself. Would that be rude to say it really poorly? :S The Google translate audio for Italian is actually surprisingly good and no one should think it's rude for attempting to speak. The issue you'll probably come across is that both your example questions are somewhat complicated and you may not receive an answer that you can understand if you ask them. Prefacing questions with saying that you don't understand Italian or understand very little definitely helps, you can use the translator, but I'm sorry I don't speak Italian is Mi dispiace non parlo italiano and I don't understand is non capsico. I've found that the mobile companies have stores all over the place and it's pretty easy to go in and buy a sim card. Vodafone, TIM, Wind and Tre Italia are the four big companies. As someone commented about driving in Italy, I'll put my take on it which is that it isn't bad if you drive aggressively while paying attention. In American people wait for huge gaps in traffic to do anything and don't really pay attention to what is happening around them, if you attempt to drive like that in Italy then you'll get run over and think that Italians are the worst drivers in the world. This doesn't really apply to the north where you'll be, but as you get farther south traffic rules are treated more as guidelines.
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May 18, 2015 09:45
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asur posted:As someone commented about driving in Italy, I'll put my take on it which is that it isn't bad if you drive aggressively while paying attention. In American people wait for huge gaps in traffic to do anything and don't really pay attention to what is happening around them, if you attempt to drive like that in Italy then you'll get run over and think that Italians are the worst drivers in the world. This doesn't really apply to the north where you'll be, but as you get farther south traffic rules are treated more as guidelines. Yep. I've done two years of living/driving in Rome now and the trick is to drive the cars, not the lanes. Watch how other people drive and try to emulate that because safe driving is predictable driving and in Italy that means aggression (although it depends how far north/south you are, as asur says -- the culture shifts massively). You need to be hyper aware of everything that's going on around you, including your blind spots and what gaps are about to open up just in front of you and be immediately filled by two motorbikes and a smart car. e: Honestly though just try to be aware of what's going on and remember a few universal rules that are there to help you and stop you from getting killed, like don't cut off trucks or buses because it's a dick move and if something goes wrong you'll die, stay in the right lane unless overtaking, and if somebody pulls up behind you and starts flashing their lights it means they want to overtake you. It's a bit chaotic at first but even if you drive like an old nonna and piss off everybody by doing 90 in a 130 you're still probably not going to die, just don't freak out because it's "driving in italy" and drive off a bridge into a gorge Sulla Faex fucked around with this message at 10:25 on May 18, 2015 |
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May 18, 2015 10:18
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