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EB Nulshit
Apr 12, 2014

It was more disappointing (and surprising) when I found that even most of Manhattan isn't like Times Square.
I have to spend a week in Dublin for work, then I was thinking of asking for a week off to go have fun in London since I have an old friend there I haven't seen in almost two years. I guess that means I don't need to spend the weekend in-between in Dublin, though? I was also thinking of asking if I could fly up the preceding Friday to spend an extra weekend in Dublin, but if it's not that cool then maybe I'll go up on Monday like the rest of my team..? Or maybe I should go up the Friday before but don't spend the preceding in weekend in Dublin, but use it to explore nearby areas?

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MagicCube
May 25, 2004

I think there's enough to do in Dublin and the surrounding area to keep you busy for the time you're there. For me the highlight's of Dublin were Kilmainham Gaol, the Writer's Museum, and Dublinia. There are also some neat day-trips outside of Dublin that I enjoyed. I did a bus trip that went to Newgrange and the Hill of Tara. Newgrange was really cool because you can go inside of it and it's older than the Pyramids and Stonehenge.

I've heard many people say Dublin isn't that interesting, but I certainly enjoyed it! I guess it's down to tastes though because I am/was very interested in Irish history and Irish literature so Dublin was a great place for me.

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

The cliffs of Howth are a short train ride away and make for a great little hike, with a beautiful view of Dublin. Be up there for the sunset or sunrise, if possible. Apparently there are some really spectacular hiking opportunities further afield, but we didn't have the time, sadly. Kilmainham Gaol as mentioned previously is really interesting and a great primer on a lot of modern Irish history.
The book of Kells is worth checking out. If you make friends with some Trinity College students or just ask nicely, they can get you in for free.

There's a ton of great pubs around, so if spending half the day drinking and eating is your thing, enjoy. I know I did! A lot of the pubs in Temple Bar are really touristy though. Weird crowd and expensive drinks. Ask them how much their Guinness is, if it's 6 or more euro, move on.

Palpek posted:

Just lol at swapping Hamburg for Rostock. I guess the meta fun of choosing a random place on the map will have to carry you through this.

Departing on Friday. We're pretty good at making our own fun. :shobon:

If I don't post about it in the coming week I'm either dead or a prisoner of neo-nazis hiding in an abandoned cold war bunker.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
So what's going on in central Stockholm, actually, if anyone's living there? I've only been able to find a single recent article about the station, which predates the hooligan attack a couple days.

( http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/638398/Sweden-gangs-Moroccan-street-children-sexual-assault-immigration-worry )

Are the 'children' mostly actually as old as the guy pictured in the Express article? It's odd, I can pretty much only find articles by (1) ultra-liberal bleeding hearts crying about "refugee babies being clubbed to death by Swedish neo-Nazis" and (2) ultra-right wing outlets stating that "Moroccan street gangs expunged from Stockholm central station by righteous, gender-equal Swedes"

gtkor
Feb 21, 2011

Would second Howth. A few friends and I did that day trip and all of us had positive things to say, even the person who didn't really like hiking as a general rule.

Hollow Talk
Feb 2, 2014

Saladman posted:

So what's going on in central Stockholm, actually, if anyone's living there? I've only been able to find a single recent article about the station, which predates the hooligan attack a couple days.

( http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/638398/Sweden-gangs-Moroccan-street-children-sexual-assault-immigration-worry )

Are the 'children' mostly actually as old as the guy pictured in the Express article? It's odd, I can pretty much only find articles by (1) ultra-liberal bleeding hearts crying about "refugee babies being clubbed to death by Swedish neo-Nazis" and (2) ultra-right wing outlets stating that "Moroccan street gangs expunged from Stockholm central station by righteous, gender-equal Swedes"

A demonstration (with counter-demonstration), with police keeping people apart. Otherwise, it's regular politics, a report on begging/migrants/children and a lot of generic news? :confused: I mean, I don't live in Stockholm, but the major newspapers don't look particularly exciting or interesting.

Edit: Here, for example: http://www.dn.se/sthlm/flygblad-uppmanade-till-markering-mot-gatubarnen/

Hollow Talk fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Feb 1, 2016

AKA Pseudonym
May 16, 2004

A dashing and sophisticated young man
Doctor Rope

Saladman posted:

So what's going on in central Stockholm, actually, if anyone's living there? I've only been able to find a single recent article about the station, which predates the hooligan attack a couple days.

( http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/638398/Sweden-gangs-Moroccan-street-children-sexual-assault-immigration-worry )

Are the 'children' mostly actually as old as the guy pictured in the Express article? It's odd, I can pretty much only find articles by (1) ultra-liberal bleeding hearts crying about "refugee babies being clubbed to death by Swedish neo-Nazis" and (2) ultra-right wing outlets stating that "Moroccan street gangs expunged from Stockholm central station by righteous, gender-equal Swedes"

I pass through that area all the time and aside from what happened Friday night it's completely safe. There's some Roma beggars but just sit around.

Seven Hundred Bee
Nov 1, 2006

Hi!

My wife and I are currently planning a honeymoon to the South of France. We'll likely be flying into Nice, and taking a train to Arles where we'd spend several days exploring the area, and then back to Nice for several days there.

We're somewhat concerned about our ability to explore the area around Arles without a car. We're interested in visiting the lavender fields, maybe a day trip to Aix en Provence, maybe Nimes, as well as some just random rambling cobblestone villages. Does anyone have experience in getting around the area on public transportation? We're willing to pay for some private tours, but would like the flexibility that and anonymity that public transportation affords.

MagicCube
May 25, 2004

Seven Hundred Bee posted:

Hi!

My wife and I are currently planning a honeymoon to the South of France. We'll likely be flying into Nice, and taking a train to Arles where we'd spend several days exploring the area, and then back to Nice for several days there.

We're somewhat concerned about our ability to explore the area around Arles without a car. We're interested in visiting the lavender fields, maybe a day trip to Aix en Provence, maybe Nimes, as well as some just random rambling cobblestone villages. Does anyone have experience in getting around the area on public transportation? We're willing to pay for some private tours, but would like the flexibility that and anonymity that public transportation affords.

My experience in the south of France was that the regional train connections between cities were very good and rather inexpensive. Arles, Nimes, Avignon, and Orange are all very well connected and have lots to see. Aix-en-Provence is a bit less connected from those four though. Exploring/getting to smaller towns without a car might be a bit difficult because public transport outside of rail was fairly weak in my opinion.

Try to take one day from Nice and visit Monaco as well. The train ride alone is worth the trip, but I thought Monaco was great.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

There is pretty great bullet train coverage ask the way south to Sevilla in Spain (which is South of Madrid), it gets spotty south of there but generally runs faster than 70mph. And yeah, it's soooo cheap.

Seven Hundred Bee
Nov 1, 2006

Welp, tickets booked, now we're stuck! Our plan right now is try to reserve a car in Neme, and drive it back to Arles for a day or two of random bumming around. Apparently they have a really good stock of automatics. Does anyone have experience with short-range biking day trips in the area? I know there's lots of guides, but most of them have 30-40 mi biking days, and not really our cup of tea.

ddiddles
Oct 21, 2008

Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm a schizophrenic and so am I
Has anyone done a long term (3-6 months) Europe trip on the cheap?

I'm currently in the US, and I decided to move back to England to live and work, but want to live like a bum traveling around Europe for a bit first. I hold a UK passport so I don't have to mess with any Visa stuff traveling around the EU, and will be arriving in London on July 1st with about $19,000 saved up.

I want to have as much as that still in my bank account as I can after I finally get tired of being a smelly hobo, has anyone here had any experience with the cost of traveling around on public transport and staying in hostels/couch surfing? I'm hoping to also land a couple short term jobs in certain places so I'm not moving all the time.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

ddiddles posted:

Has anyone done a long term (3-6 months) Europe trip on the cheap?

I'm currently in the US, and I decided to move back to England to live and work, but want to live like a bum traveling around Europe for a bit first. I hold a UK passport so I don't have to mess with any Visa stuff traveling around the EU, and will be arriving in London on July 1st with about $19,000 saved up.

I want to have as much as that still in my bank account as I can after I finally get tired of being a smelly hobo, has anyone here had any experience with the cost of traveling around on public transport and staying in hostels/couch surfing? I'm hoping to also land a couple short term jobs in certain places so I'm not moving all the time.

Just general tips that apply basically everywhere:

Couch surfing is fairly easy, especially when you're in the off-season (not summer). If you have no references you might have a little bit of trouble.

Public transport is hard to save on, especially travel between cities. Ride sharing might be a thing that exists, but I don't have any experience with it and never have heard of anyone doing it. Hitchhiking is easy in very specific places (e.g. mountain roads, distant countryside) but almost impossible in others (e.g. anywhere near a major city, though this may vary by country). Sometimes you can take the slower trains and save a LOT of money (e.g. in Spain the slow trains are like 1/3rd the cost of the fast trains on identical routes). In other places you're out of luck (e.g. in Switzerland train prices are by km). In many cases, flying with EasyJet or RyanAir will be cheaper than taking trains. Long distance buses are usually the cheapest option, but they're honestly pretty goddamn hard to find information about and I've never taken one, nor have I ever even seen a bus terminal, so all my info there is hearsay.

$20k is way more than enough money for six months, although yeah I get that you don't want to spend it all.

If you camp, you can also save a bunch of money in more "expensive" countries, like Switzerland, although if you don't like hiking then CouchSurfing is probably a better option. CS will also be pretty hard/impossible to get in small mountain towns, especially in summer. If you stay in hostels, you'll probably use all the money you saved by staying in a hostel on alcohol.

Buy all your food in supermarkets. Turkish food might also be roughly equivalent calorie-for-price to grocery store prices in certain countries.


I think long-distance buses are the only thing that I've written that isn't fairly obvious/well-covered by Google-searching about this. Everyone seems to love Eurail and Interail, but buses are a way better deal, and their massive expansion is still pretty recent, e.g. the Deutsche Bahn is being hit hard by a massive expansion of bus usage in Germany. Maybe DB will start offering decent services and run trains on time... but more likely they'll cry to the government and try to get buses regulated / taxed more.

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

Rostock report - The city center can be seen in about a day, and has a cool cathedral. There's a Stasi prison museum filled with insane DIY submarines macgyvered together out of outboard motors and vodka, which East Germans used to escape the DDR via the Baltic Sea. Wärnemunde the coastal part, is a pretty typical beach resort town and unexceptional apart from discovering that fish döner is a thing.

We also spent a day in Schwerin, the capital of Magdeburg province. Touring Schloss Schwerin was a ton of fun, probably the highlight of the trip.

All said it was a good trip. There was plenty to see in two and a half days and there were no neo-nazis lurking about.

Saladman posted:

I think long-distance buses are the only thing that I've written that isn't fairly obvious/well-covered by Google-searching about this. Everyone seems to love Eurail and Interail, but buses are a way better deal, and their massive expansion is still pretty recent, e.g. the Deutsche Bahn is being hit hard by a massive expansion of bus usage in Germany. Maybe DB will start offering decent services and run trains on time... but more likely they'll cry to the government and try to get buses regulated / taxed more.

Bus tickets are definitely a lot cheaper for most of Europe, but they are also slow, and uncomfortable for overnight trips. I like taking them for shorter trips, but an interail rail pass is probably a much better investment for someone who is going to be traveling for months at a time.

Edit: bus terminals are almost always located within sight or a couple minute's walk from the central stations. They are terribly advertised, just look for a line of buses with some backpackers standing around outside.

Fruits of the sea fucked around with this message at 12:11 on Feb 11, 2016

Palpek
Dec 27, 2008


Do you feel it, Zach?
My coffee warned me about it.


I recommend using Bla Bla Car: https://www.blablacar.de/

At least in Germany it's extremely popular and you can find a good ride at any time between big cities for a price that costs a fraction of a train or even bus ticket. If you travel in a small group it can get even cheaper. The upside is also that you're traveling with a local person who is open for conversation and can tell you some first-hand stuff about the city you're traveling to. The site operates in other countries too but I don't know about its popularity, you'll have to find out yourself.

ddiddles
Oct 21, 2008

Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm a schizophrenic and so am I
Thanks for the info guys. How common are campsites around Europe? I kind of wanted to have a one man tent and sleeping bag that I can use to save money on accommodation, though I guess getting to the campsite would cost some Euros as well.

Total Confusion
Oct 9, 2004

Palpek posted:

I recommend using Bla Bla Car: https://www.blablacar.de/

At least in Germany it's extremely popular and you can find a good ride at any time between big cities for a price that costs a fraction of a train or even bus ticket. If you travel in a small group it can get even cheaper. The upside is also that you're traveling with a local person who is open for conversation and can tell you some first-hand stuff about the city you're traveling to. The site operates in other countries too but I don't know about its popularity, you'll have to find out yourself.

Another option for ride sharing in Germany is the most German word ever... https://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de

Also, buses in Germany are super cheap and quite nice, https://www.buslinenensuche.de

Entropist
Dec 1, 2007
I'm very stupid.

ddiddles posted:

Thanks for the info guys. How common are campsites around Europe? I kind of wanted to have a one man tent and sleeping bag that I can use to save money on accommodation, though I guess getting to the campsite would cost some Euros as well.

There are plenty, but they are indeed more common in rural areas. In many countries it's not allowed to just put up a tent wherever.
Amsterdam does have like 3 campsites on the edges of the city though, not even that far from the center, and accessible by public transport. The same probably applies for other Dutch cities, people like camping here. I'm not sure about elsewhere in Europe.

The one closest to my place in Amsterdam costs like 10 euros a night, 4 for the tent and 6 for a person, depending on the season.

Entropist fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Feb 11, 2016

Ferdinand Bardamu
Apr 30, 2013
Another +1 for blablacar. I used it extensively when I lived in Bolzano and Trento. Much cheaper and easier to travel to, say Munich, on the weekends if you can find a doable option. The long distance train between Verona and Munich is the worst I have experienced in all of Western Europe. Very slow passage up through the Brenner Pass (they are in the process of building a very, very long train tunnel between Austria and Italy) on older trains and always, always oversold. Even before the refugees would board to try to sneak into Austria from Italy, there would be dozens of people waiting in each vestibule for the next empty seat. This was mainly in Austria, where people with a OBB transit pass can board any class (?) of train. In Italy, my Sudtirol pass only permitted me to board Regionale trains. Those trains reeked of piss, are sometimes air conditioned and sometimes heated. The difference in train quality when transferring in Brennero was made quite clear.

Blablacar, on the other hand, was great. Usually my driver would be a chatty Italian guy travelling to Munich for the weekend to visit his girlfriend. We would joke about Germans and the strange Italians that lived in Sudtirol.

ddiddles
Oct 21, 2008

Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm a schizophrenic and so am I
Well my plans changed really quickly.

Originally I was going to try and score a job before moving to England, taking two weeks when I get there to explore around a bit before finding a flat.

Now I'm going to take $7,000 of the money I'll arrive with and see how long I can continuously travel on that, hopefully landing freelance web dev jobs/random side jobs to replenish it along the way. That'll leave me about $12,000 when I'm done traveling that I can convert to pounds and cry.

Found a super cheap ticket for July 1st to land in London, spending two weeks in the UK visiting all my relatives and exploring a bit, then I'm just going to pick a country and go.


Hahah, four months ago I was looking to buying a house where I currently live.

MagicCube
May 25, 2004

ddiddles posted:

Now I'm going to take $7,000 of the money I'll arrive with and see how long I can continuously travel on that, hopefully landing freelance web dev jobs/random side jobs to replenish it along the way. That'll leave me about $12,000 when I'm done traveling that I can convert to pounds and cry.

I think $7000 sounds pretty good for a lot of travel. At $50 a day in expenses (which is doable) that $7000 could last you almost 5 months. Some countries will cost you a fair bit more per day, but that can be balanced out by some travel through the Balkans or Eastern Europe where costs can be quite lower.

I did 10 weeks in hostels and a few hotels and spent about $4000 for the whole trip including airfare.

ddiddles
Oct 21, 2008

Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm a schizophrenic and so am I

MagicCube posted:

I think $7000 sounds pretty good for a lot of travel. At $50 a day in expenses (which is doable) that $7000 could last you almost 5 months. Some countries will cost you a fair bit more per day, but that can be balanced out by some travel through the Balkans or Eastern Europe where costs can be quite lower.

I did 10 weeks in hostels and a few hotels and spent about $4000 for the whole trip including airfare.

Yeah I'm hoping to spend a bit of that time in Asia to bring the cost down as well, maybe 1/3 western europe, 1/3 eastern, 1/3 asia. I think if I can grab some side work I can live for about 6 months, which seems like a long enough time to me.

Who knows, my only solid plan is get to France day 1.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
Traveling between different cities and countries is going to be by far your biggest expense. If you're not set on seeing every single capital city in Europe (like 99.9% of backpackers want to do), you could save a lot and see just as much TBH. Like, you could spend three weeks going from southern France along the Atlantic Pyrenees to Italy, instead of doing every single backpacker's standard route of Madrid->Barcelona->Paris->Amsterdam->Berlin->Prague in the same three weeks which would cost a ton more. YMMV, but the Standard Backpacker Itinerary just sounds so banal to me. Every 20-something-backpacker sees Paris, but almost none of them see Carcassonne, or the Canal du Midi, or Pont du Gard, or the Calanques, or Èze, or etc. Granted, some of those are a pain in the rear end without a car (Pont du Gard, Calanques).

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Mmm I have fond memories of Carcassonne. That sounds like a good side trip for this summer.

ddiddles
Oct 21, 2008

Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm a schizophrenic and so am I

Saladman posted:

Traveling between different cities and countries is going to be by far your biggest expense. If you're not set on seeing every single capital city in Europe (like 99.9% of backpackers want to do), you could save a lot and see just as much TBH. Like, you could spend three weeks going from southern France along the Atlantic Pyrenees to Italy, instead of doing every single backpacker's standard route of Madrid->Barcelona->Paris->Amsterdam->Berlin->Prague in the same three weeks which would cost a ton more. YMMV, but the Standard Backpacker Itinerary just sounds so banal to me. Every 20-something-backpacker sees Paris, but almost none of them see Carcassonne, or the Canal du Midi, or Pont du Gard, or the Calanques, or Èze, or etc. Granted, some of those are a pain in the rear end without a car (Pont du Gard, Calanques).

I figured I'd stay away from the expensive touristy places, maybe save those for when I'm settled down in the UK and do weekend trips. Though my mom is from Berlin, so I think I may have to stop there.

What I'm really interested in is old castles/architecture, and meeting people.

Is there any other ways to up my chances on getting hosted with CS? I don't really have the option to host anybody where I currently am now, and probably won't be able to before I leave.

Hashtag Banterzone
Dec 8, 2005


Lifetime Winner of the willkill4food Honorary Bad Posting Award in PWM
Anyone been to La Tomatina? I was gonna be in Madrid or Barcelona during the festival, but now I'm thinking 2 nights in Valencia so I can throw tomatoes at people might be worth it.

Doctor Malaver
May 23, 2007

Ce qui s'est passé t'a rendu plus fort

ddiddles posted:

Is there any other ways to up my chances on getting hosted with CS? I don't really have the option to host anybody where I currently am now, and probably won't be able to before I leave.

The number of people you hosted isn't crucial, but it's good to have a large number of connections in general. Find some RL friends who have CS accounts and connect with them. You can also look for local CS meetups and go there to connect with people.

You can set your account that you can't receive guests but you can show them around town.

Jenner
Jun 5, 2011
Lowtax banned me because he thought I was trolling by acting really stupid. I wasn't acting.
Got plans to visit Spain with family this May. We've largely got the trip planned out but I'm mostly looking for a way to get from Madrid's airport to the train station and looking for recommendations for what to do in Seville, Córdoba, Granada, Málaga and Madrid.

If you know of any good places to eat or how to find them hook me up because I'm mostly interested in the food.

PT6A
Jan 5, 2006

Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Jenner posted:

Got plans to visit Spain with family this May. We've largely got the trip planned out but I'm mostly looking for a way to get from Madrid's airport to the train station and looking for recommendations for what to do in Seville, Córdoba, Granada, Málaga and Madrid.

If you know of any good places to eat or how to find them hook me up because I'm mostly interested in the food.

I didn't stay in Sevilla really long, but I'd say you definitely must check out Mechela restaurant. I went two out of the three nights I was there and it was so good, and not particularly expensive. I don't recall if they take reservations, but if they do, make some, or you'll be waiting.

Food-wise in Granada, I don't have any particular recommendations, except to just go up and down Calle Navas drinking and eating tapas.

I have more experience in Madrid, so I can give you more detailed recommendations there. Is there anything in particular you're looking for? Tapas, fancy sit-down meals, pizza, etc? There's a little bit of everything and most of it is quite good. Where will you be staying in Madrid?

Regarding getting from the airport to the train station, you have three options and a fourth really bad option: the airport express bus, the Cercanias train, a taxi, or the metro. The metro is a bad option because it requires two transfers. If you have AVE tickets, the Cercanias will be free, but it only stops at T4. The Airport Express stops at the old terminal complex (T1,T2,T3) and costs €5/person I believe. A taxi would be the fastest option, but also the most expensive -- probably around €30 I think. I've only used the metro and taxis to get to and from the airport, personally, because I've never gone directly to the train station from the airport.

EDIT: Apparently the taxi will be a fixed 30 euro, the airport express bus will be 40 minutes and 5 euro/person, and leaves every 15 minutes, and the cercanias train leaves every 30 minutes and takes 27 minutes. More info and options here: http://www.gomadrid.com/transport/airport_options.html

PT6A fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Feb 13, 2016

ddiddles
Oct 21, 2008

Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm a schizophrenic and so am I
Got a question about banking in the EU.

I'm going to be in the UK for a few weeks before I go backpacking Europe, and it's eventually where I'll settle down after my trip. Would it make my life easier opening up a bank account in the UK when I land and transferring all my money there, and use that debit card around Europe? Or will it make much of a difference.

There's a couple banks in the UK that have accounts meant for people who just moved there and don't have the proof of residence yet, but if I'd be paying the same sort of ATM fees as using a US debit card, I may just do it after I'm done traveling.

Entropist
Dec 1, 2007
I'm very stupid.
A UK bank account would still involve currency conversion, so it'd still cost a bunch of money. An account in Euros would be best, but then that's not very practical once you're in the UK. I guess it depends on whether withdrawals from US or UK accounts are cheaper on the European mainland and I don't know that.

teacup
Dec 20, 2006

= M I L K E R S =
Really small question about Paris, we are training from Paris to Bordeaux in April. Just have a little app where I am sticking directions and travel times for public transport now as we are leaving for other places first and I don't want to have to run around looking for wifi and figuring out the morning of.

If we are staying at a hotel within walking distance of Concorde Metro Station, and our train to Bordeaux is leaving from montparnasse (well the ticket says Mont 1 ET 2 but google says that's right) would it be right to take the green 12 line down? It looks like on metro maps that connects directly in but it's kinda hard to tell, and google says that actually puts us like 850 metres away from the train station. Not a big deal but with luggage and stuff if there is one that transfers straight in that'd be easier. I'm just not sure if I'm reading it right.

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

teacup posted:

Really small question about Paris, we are training from Paris to Bordeaux in April. Just have a little app where I am sticking directions and travel times for public transport now as we are leaving for other places first and I don't want to have to run around looking for wifi and figuring out the morning of.

If we are staying at a hotel within walking distance of Concorde Metro Station, and our train to Bordeaux is leaving from montparnasse (well the ticket says Mont 1 ET 2 but google says that's right) would it be right to take the green 12 line down? It looks like on metro maps that connects directly in but it's kinda hard to tell, and google says that actually puts us like 850 metres away from the train station. Not a big deal but with luggage and stuff if there is one that transfers straight in that'd be easier. I'm just not sure if I'm reading it right.

No, you are reading it right. I can't remember exactly for Montparnasse, but usually the metro stations, even if they connect in with a regular train station or an RER station, are a bit of a walk away. There's one on the RER line, I can't remember exactly which station - maybe Chatelet Les Halles - but I swear to god to get from the Metro to the RER which are listed as being in the same spot on the transit maps it's like a 10 minute walk.

On the bright side it will be signed really well.

teacup
Dec 20, 2006

= M I L K E R S =

HookShot posted:

No, you are reading it right. I can't remember exactly for Montparnasse, but usually the metro stations, even if they connect in with a regular train station or an RER station, are a bit of a walk away. There's one on the RER line, I can't remember exactly which station - maybe Chatelet Les Halles - but I swear to god to get from the Metro to the RER which are listed as being in the same spot on the transit maps it's like a 10 minute walk.

On the bright side it will be signed really well.

Ah that's easy enough. We are fine/young enough so it's not a matter of not being up for it, just don't want to be squinting at french signs on random backstreets. If it's easily posted around I don't see an issue :)

Thanks!

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

teacup posted:

Ah that's easy enough. We are fine/young enough so it's not a matter of not being up for it, just don't want to be squinting at french signs on random backstreets. If it's easily posted around I don't see an issue :)

Thanks!

Yeah, you won't even have to go above ground at all, just follow the signs as you leave the station.

Just be aware that when it's been like five mintues and you're still walking but still following the signs there's no need to panic, you will get there eventually.

Ramrod Hotshot
May 30, 2003

I am meeting my family in Italy from June 5 - 20. I'll be backpacking on my own for a few months before and after this two week period and seeing other countries in Europe.

Here's my dad's tentative plan:
- Land in Rome, and see the major sights for a few days (Vatican, Coliseum, etc)
- Fly or train to Venice
- Rent a car? to somewhere in the Italian Alps (I forget the town)
- Continue on to Interlaken

It's clear to me that two weeks isn't enough time for all this, and I think maybe he can make the trip a bit longer. But the time of year for them to visit is more or less set in stone. Which brings up another problem. It's increasingly apparent to me that this is the most popular time of year to go to these places in Italy, so much that it might be unenjoyable. Is this true? They seem to be pretty set on going to Rome and Venice, but I'm a bit ambivalent. Should I try to convince them to check out somewhere else in Europe at this time (early/mid June)? Any other thoughts?

caberham
Mar 18, 2009

by Smythe
Grimey Drawer

Ramrod Hotshot posted:

I am meeting my family in Italy from June 5 - 20. I'll be backpacking on my own for a few months before and after this two week period and seeing other countries in Europe.

Here's my dad's tentative plan:
- Land in Rome, and see the major sights for a few days (Vatican, Coliseum, etc)
- Fly or train to Venice
- Rent a car? to somewhere in the Italian Alps (I forget the town)
- Continue on to Interlaken

It's clear to me that two weeks isn't enough time for all this, and I think maybe he can make the trip a bit longer. But the time of year for them to visit is more or less set in stone. Which brings up another problem. It's increasingly apparent to me that this is the most popular time of year to go to these places in Italy, so much that it might be unenjoyable. Is this true? They seem to be pretty set on going to Rome and Venice, but I'm a bit ambivalent. Should I try to convince them to check out somewhere else in Europe at this time (early/mid June)? Any other thoughts?

Driving on Italian highways is very intense. Tail gate like race car drivers and speed like autobahn - even when there are speed limits. If you are traveling with your dad, I would drive. You can go to way more rural places. But I would not drive to interlaken because returning a rental car cross border gets prohibitively expensive. Either train to Interlaken and take public transportation or rent locally. But if you do rent locally, remember to pay for the highway pass. Switzerland gets expensive in no time so I advise public transportation. You can drive to Switzerland and drive back to Italy, but Interlaken is like the middle of the country and adds up quite a bit of travel time for 15 day trip. You are kind of pressed for time to visit 3 Italian places within 15 days.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Ramrod Hotshot posted:

I am meeting my family in Italy from June 5 - 20. I'll be backpacking on my own for a few months before and after this two week period and seeing other countries in Europe.

Here's my dad's tentative plan:
- Land in Rome, and see the major sights for a few days (Vatican, Coliseum, etc)
- Fly or train to Venice
- Rent a car? to somewhere in the Italian Alps (I forget the town)
- Continue on to Interlaken


You're not really hitting the high season. By mid-June it'll be getting there, but it's not really high season until mid-July through late August. Most Europeans only take holidays starting in July (when kids are out of school), and especially in August (when Italians and French do not work). I'd say your timing is perfect.

Renting a car is going to be tough because the one-way dropoff fee from Italy to Interlaken is going to absolutely screw you, like in the order or 300-500 bucks, so if you do want a car, you'll probably want to take a train from wherever you'll be in Italy to the closest major Swiss city and then rent a car there. Any Swiss car rental is going to have the highway pass by June so you won't have to worry about that—the highway passes always last 14 months and they activate Dec 1 and expire Jan 31st, regardless of when they were purchased. If you're just going to Interlaken to spend a few days there and not go around Switzerland any more, I'd just take the train. If you're going from, say, Bolzano and want to spend 2-3 days going through the Swiss Alps to get to Interlaken on the other hand, then renting a car in Lugano is going to be way better. Public transit is quite good in Switzerland even in small mountain areas, albeit at crazy prices (even for Switzerland). (Edit: Alternately, rent a car in Italy, drive from Venice around the Italian alps, drop the car off at the closest major Italian city, then public transit your way to Interlaken. Italy's public transit is much worse for small mountain towns than Switzerland's, like Caberham said.)

Driving on the Italian major highways--the autostrada--is fine and people aren't going to tailgate you any more than they would in the US or France. Exception: major ring road autostradas around major cities during high traffic times of day. gently caress the highway around Genoa. Driving in big cities is terrible too, but it doesn't sound like it's your idea anyway. Driving around the Dolomites for example is pretty relaxed.

If you do rent a car, DO NOT SPEED IN SWITZERLAND. There are an insane number of speeding cameras everywhere on the highway, local roads, minor highways, etc. Expect to pay $80-$100 for going 3 mph over the speed limit. (CHF 40 to the Swiss government, then usually rental companies add a stupidly high surcharge "administrative fee"). If there's ever a Swiss megathread, "DO NOT SPEED" should be its tagline, for so many reasons.

Saladman fucked around with this message at 23:30 on Feb 17, 2016

Entropist
Dec 1, 2007
I'm very stupid.
Venice is horribly crowded in anything but the lowest of low-season, though. I know everyone wants to see the city and for pretty good reason and there's not exactly an alternative to it, but keep that in mind.

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Julio Cruz
May 19, 2006
Also unless you want to set foot on every single island you only need to be there for a couple of days. You could do Venezia, Murano and the Lido in two and that's basically everything that's worth seeing.

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