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Anyone got any tips on the best way to fly from Sydney to Portugal?
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Sep 4, 2017 06:01
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actionjackson posted:Hello, I've been to Bratislava a quarter century ago, when they were still recovering from communist rule. It was a pretty city but my mother's wallet was stolen when we walked through a pedestrian walkway of an ancient city gate. When we were in the middle of the narrow walkway suddenly it filled up with a huge crowd of people and by the time we had wormed through them they'd emptied our bags. I haven't been there since, so I have no idea if that trick still exists.
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Sep 4, 2017 07:02
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actionjackson posted:Hello, Carbon dioxide posted:I've been to Bratislava a quarter century ago, when they were still recovering from communist rule. It was a pretty city but my mother's wallet was stolen when we walked through a pedestrian walkway of an ancient city gate. When we were in the middle of the narrow walkway suddenly it filled up with a huge crowd of people and by the time we had wormed through them they'd emptied our bags. Nah, the crime situation is much better than in the early nineties (like in other post-communist countries I guess). Just have a standard level of awareness, same as anywhere else. As far as language is concerned, younger people tend to speak passable English, and people in the tourist places certainly will, although this is not the case for the rest of the country. When do you plan to come? Boats from Vienna to Bratislava only run until the end of October. Although I'm not sure if the cruise is worth it - it is pretty expensive and this stretch of the Danube is not particularly interesting.
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Sep 4, 2017 07:54
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bowmore posted:Anyone got any tips on the best way to fly from Sydney to Portugal?  Ow! Okay, fine! I like Hipmunk for finding flights. I don't book through them, but it's good for finding the available routes, then you can go price hunting on the airlines' own web pages or through a travel agency. Remember that airline ticket pricing is a dark, forbidden art based on alien maths. Collateral Damage fucked around with this message at 08:58 on Sep 4, 2017 |
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Sep 4, 2017 08:54
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Might be worth it to find the cheapest flight from Australia to anywhere in Europe and then use Ryanair or something to get to Portugal from there for like $40
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Sep 4, 2017 13:25
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Beware of luggage though, lowcosts have a limit
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Sep 4, 2017 13:40
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Cheapest to Europe from Sydney is usually via China Southern to Guangzhou, then KLM to Amsterdam and a connecting flight to Lisbon or Porto. If you have the cash I'd just fly with a gulf carrier (emirates, Qatar, Etihad) since you'll complete it in two legs and get it over with. Going to Slovakia, we got the train there from Vienna on Boxing Day a couple of years back and it was fine. Not much to see since everything in the city was closed  but you'll hopefully have better luck.With your phone, just be aware of your surroundings! Keep it in your front pocket (wallet too), and if anyone approaches you in the street or starts to invade your personal space, put your hand in your pocket. Particularly on public transport. And if you're really worried, get your phone backing up to iCloud or whatever each night, backing up photos as well. That way if something does happen, it's not a disaster and you don't lose an entire holiday's worth of photos. File a police report if it gets stolen and then claim the replacement cost on your travel insurance.
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Sep 4, 2017 14:45
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Bratislava is fine, but I sure wouldn't recommend it as a day trip from Vienna unless you're going to spend like > 5 days in Vienna.. and even then probably not. There's just nothing going on in Bratislava, it'd be like if someone was going to San Francisco for 4 days, there'd be zero reason to go to Oakland. I think the only reason people go to Bratislava is so that they can say they've been to Slovakia. The train station area is pretty lovely (bunch of old drunk Slovaks hanging around) but the city itself is fine if a bit provincial-feeling. It does absolutely not feel like a European capital, except maybe Vaduz. Wallet in front pocket is generally a good idea, but you're unlikely to be pick pocketed or anything. Bratislava is probably safer than wherever you're from in North America. For the person buying tickets to Lisbon from Sydney: either Google Flights or subscribe to SecretFlying and wait for a deal from Sydney to Europe (I doubt you'll ever see a Lisbon-specific deal for Australia) and then buy a cheap ticket from there to Lisbon and back. TBH this is a pain in the rear end as it would not be on the same flight codeshare, also no checked luggage without $$$ extra, so I'd only recommend doing it if it's a huge sale. Also make sure your connection time from London–Lisbon on both inbound and outbound has a LOT of extra time built in, because if that flight is late, then you miss your Australia leg and you're hosed with no recourse. I bought a similar ticket, also through Lisbon, a few months ago and immediately regretted not just spending an extra $400 per ticket and getting a better itinerary. No cancellations. Oh well.
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Sep 4, 2017 16:25
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It's incredibly easy to avoid being robbed in Europe if you're sensible about it. Keep valuables in front (or ideally interior) pockets, don't flash them about, be wary in large crowds and on public transport, don't leave your phone out while you're eating, etc etc. Basically it's the same precautions you'd use at home, but for some reason a lot of Americans seem to think that Europe is packed to the brim with pickpockets and muggers who'll converge on them the moment they step off the plane.
Julio Cruz fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Sep 4, 2017 |
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Sep 4, 2017 16:42
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Julio Cruz posted:It's incredibly easy to avoid being robbed in Europe if you're sensible about it. Keep valuables in front (or ideally interior) pockets, don't flash them about, be wary in large crowds and on public transport, don't leave your phone out while you're eating, etc etc. Basically it's the same precautions you'd use at home,but for some reason a lot of Americans seem to think that Europe is packed to the brim with pickpockets and muggers who'll converge on them the moment they step off the plane. That's because the USA's gov website with international travel advices basically implies that this is the case if you look up the travel advice for any European country.
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Sep 4, 2017 18:06
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Carbon dioxide posted:That's because the USA's gov website with international travel advices basically implies that this is the case if you look up the travel advice for any European country. Jesus christ: https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/country/switzerland-and-liechtenstein.html "Crime: Pickpocketing and purse snatching are common. Be especially vigilant in train and bus stations, airports, public parks, and when conferences, shows, or exhibitions occur in major cities." Are you loving kidding me. I have literally never heard a single anecdote second or even third-hand of pickpocketing or purse snatching occurring here.
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Sep 4, 2017 18:22
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vetinari100 posted:Nah, the crime situation is much better than in the early nineties (like in other post-communist countries I guess). Just have a standard level of awareness, same as anywhere else. As far as language is concerned, younger people tend to speak passable English, and people in the tourist places certainly will, although this is not the case for the rest of the country. It will be at the end of this month https://twincityliner.com/en The alternative is the train, which is much cheaper. But a boat trip sounds more fun. For the train, it looks like I would have a to take a bus north from the main train station (Bratislava-Petržalka). As I said, I'm only in Vienna a few days, one day I want to do the combo walking-biking tour, for like 39 euros you get a 2.5 hour walking tour in the morning and then a bike tour around the city in the afternoon. If you have other suggestions for Vienna let me know. actionjackson fucked around with this message at 18:46 on Sep 4, 2017 |
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Sep 4, 2017 18:44
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Saladman posted:Jesus christ: Wait, you're in Liechtenstein? We went through there just a few days ago! And yeah, the idea of pick-pocketing seems kinda comical in what is close to the richest country on earth edit; oh, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Still, after 12 days in Switzerland I think we saw a grand total of one (1) homeless guy and never even felt vaguely close to thinking about approaching maybe potentially feeling slightly a little bit unsafe webmeister fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Sep 4, 2017 |
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Sep 4, 2017 19:18
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Saladman posted:Bratislava is fine, but I sure wouldn't recommend it as a day trip from Vienna unless you're going to spend like > 5 days in Vienna.. and even then probably not. There's just nothing going on in Bratislava, it'd be like if someone was going to San Francisco for 4 days, there'd be zero reason to go to Oakland. I think the only reason people go to Bratislava is so that they can say they've been to Slovakia. Well, it's a relatively small city (450K oficially, about 700K with people living here with residency elsewhere). The main train station is indeed trash, although it is slated for renovation soon. But it's true that Bratislava doesn't have much to offer compared to Vienna or Prague. Walk around the historical center, go up to the castle, I'd be hard pressed to come up with more stuff to do in one day. We don't even have the advantage of low prices anymore. actionjackson posted:It will be at the end of this month If for any reason you decide to come by train, be aware that Petržalka is not the main station. It's in the middle of a huge commie-era housing estate. The main station is called Bratislava - Hlavná stanica. Trains from Vienna can go to either one. You can take a bus no. 93 from one to the other (or to the city center).
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Sep 4, 2017 20:26
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Saladman posted:Jesus christ: To be fair, there's a lot of Americans that come to any place in Europe kitted up like they're going on loving safari or something, and I can see you eventually get so sick of their nonsense that you rob them out of sheer spite. I suspect for someone who's already living on the margins of society, the giant camera and ridiculous safari hat are like a giant "please rob me!" sign.
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Sep 4, 2017 21:31
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E: Probably not pertinent
orange sky fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Sep 4, 2017 |
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Sep 4, 2017 21:48
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webmeister posted:Wait, you're in Liechtenstein? We went through there just a few days ago! And yeah, the idea of pick-pocketing seems kinda comical in what is close to the richest country on earth Switzerland is responsible for Liechtenstein's foreign policy and relations, and... Basically everything else. I'm not sure if it's much more of an independent country than is Wales or Isle of Man, but maybe there's some reason. Come to think of it, the richest country per capita is filled with slaves, terrorists, and all sorts of high level international criminals (Qatar), so maybe there is some reason to keep an eye on Liechtenstein!
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Sep 5, 2017 07:26
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bowmore posted:Anyone got any tips on the best way to fly from Sydney to Portugal? Sydney - Dubai, Dubai - Lisbon is pretty much your best bet here. Emirates is a great carrier and the flight will be comfortable. Avoid the Chinese airlines if you can. If it turns out to be very expensive you can look at a train to Madrid and flying from there.
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Sep 5, 2017 15:32
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My parents are looking for recommendations to stay in Paris. Cleanliness is absolutely paramount and they would like to be under 200$ prefer around 150$ a night. Apart from that close to tourist sights is good as they have no transportation.They will also have to get to the airport at some point for a flight to rome. Apart from that they are open to anything old new modern whatever. Can you suggest either some hotels or neighborhoods for airbnb? They are reluctant to use airbnb though
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Sep 9, 2017 17:24
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^ What do you mean by "they have no transportation"? The Metro subway system is the best way to get around Paris. If they can't use that, then their accommodation location will require some thought, but if it's simply a matter of not having a car then they can still travel easily and cheaply on the Metro. My partner and I stayed at the Hotel Saint Paul Rive Gauche which was excellent but maybe a little out of their price range. The way we figured out where to stay was by narrowing down the arrondissements (districts) we wanted to stay in and then looking on TripAdvisor for well-rated options in our price range. If they want to be close to the tourist sites then probably somewhere in the 1st to 6th arrondissements would be better (we stayed in the 6th) but I think if they are okay with using public transportation then they could probably get somewhere cheaper in a higher arrondissement.
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Sep 9, 2017 18:17
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Do they care about going out at night (restaurants, shows) or are they just going to go to museums, eat early, and go home by 9pm? If the latter, then anywhere is fine. Also if they are not fit, they may want to avoid the Sacre Coeur area as they might not appreciate the 200 steps they'd have to walk up and down. Don't stay too close to any train stations. They're not dangerous, but it doesn't feel nice. Le Marais is IMO the most fun part of town, lots of little lively streets with shops and stuff going on and not as touristy or awful as the Latin Quarter. They will need to take the metro or they are going to be exhausted walking all over Paris. It's possible to walk everywhere, but it's at the upper limit of reasonable. That price is fine, you can easily get a good, full apartment for €120 in any part of town.
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Sep 9, 2017 18:32
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It's also worth noting that there's three main airports in Paris, one of which is in completely the opposite direction to the other two
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Sep 9, 2017 18:45
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Going to be in Spain/Portugal in late October. Doing Barcelona-Seville-Madrid-Lisbon for about 3 days a piece. What do people recommend for day trips from Seville or Lisbon? I wanted to do the Alhambra but a day trip from Seville is basically not possible unless we buy an expensive tour so I'm thinking Ronda or Cordoba, but it looks like Cordoba is on the way to Madrid so maybe it would be better just to stop there in between and store luggage somewhere? I've already picked out Toledo from Madrid and Figueres (Dali museum) from Barcelona. I also have two friends who've been mugged in Barcelona. I've been to many countries in Europe before and never really felt unsafe besides the noticeable efforts of gypsies in Paris, should I expect something similar there? Cacator fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Sep 9, 2017 |
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Sep 9, 2017 19:50
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Waroduce posted:My parents are looking for recommendations to stay in Paris. Cleanliness is absolutely paramount and they would like to be under 200$ prefer around 150$ a night. Apart from that close to tourist sights is good as they have no transportation.They will also have to get to the airport at some point for a flight to rome. If you want a basic, cheap but reasonable-quality hotel anywhere in Europe (or even worldwide?), go for Ibis Budget. Every Ibis Budget hotel is exactly the same with exactly the same rooms, so you know what to expect, which is clean rooms that have a bed, tv, bathroom and nothing much else. Nothing fancy but certainly nothing offensive.
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Sep 9, 2017 20:05
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Cacator posted:Going to be in Spain/Portugal in late October. Doing Barcelona-Seville-Madrid-Lisbon for about 3 days a piece. What do people recommend for day trips from Seville or Lisbon? I wanted to do the Alhambra but a day trip from Seville is basically not possible unless we buy an expensive tour so I'm thinking Ronda or Cordoba, but it looks like Cordoba is on the way to Madrid so maybe it would be better just to stop there in between and store luggage somewhere? I've already picked out Toledo from Madrid and Figueres (Dali museum) from Barcelona. You could probably do Jerez de la Frontera from Seville if you really want to. Do a sherry tasting, or tour a bodega, or whatever. It's a nice city, and only an hour away by train. Mind you, you don't have to do a day trip anywhere. Sevilla has enough to take up three full days on its own. EDIT: And as much as I liked Toledo as a day trip, I wouldn't particularly advise it if you're only spending three days in Madrid, unless you have something very specific you want to see. Three days in Madrid is so little you'll still be scratching the surface of awesome things to see/do/eat. PT6A fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Sep 9, 2017 |
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Sep 9, 2017 20:37
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Cacator posted:Going to be in Spain/Portugal in late October. Doing Barcelona-Seville-Madrid-Lisbon for about 3 days a piece. What do people recommend for day trips from Seville or Lisbon? Go to Sintra from Lisbon. Gorgeous town, and you can pick a historical site to explore up the hill. My partner and I ended up going back there on our last day in Lisbon to see the Moorish castle, having seen Pena Palace when we went before. It's a really lovely place.
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Sep 10, 2017 08:52
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Saladman posted:That price is fine, you can easily get a good, full apartment for €120 in any part of town. Yeah, I just came back from Paris and I had an AirBnB there that wasn't huge, but decent for a solo traveller and I paid a hair under one grand (Canadian) for 9 nights in the 18th, in Montmartre. It was fantastic. Taking the Metro into the centre was a breeze.
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Sep 10, 2017 18:47
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Cacator posted:Going to be in Spain/Portugal in late October. Doing Barcelona-Seville-Madrid-Lisbon for about 3 days a piece. What do people recommend for day trips from Seville or Lisbon? I wanted to do the Alhambra but a day trip from Seville is basically not possible unless we buy an expensive tour so I'm thinking Ronda or Cordoba, but it looks like Cordoba is on the way to Madrid so maybe it would be better just to stop there in between and store luggage somewhere? I've already picked out Toledo from Madrid and Figueres (Dali museum) from Barcelona. Cordoba's Gran Mezquita is one of my favorite tourist sites. That and the spindly little streets are worth a day trip if you can manage it. Dark alleys or side streets at night while solo or in a couple near Las Ramblas are the beginnings of many a mugging tale from Barcelona. Managed to speed walk/run out of an attempt there as well, but I chalk that up to blind luck. Just don't be there after dark.
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Sep 11, 2017 13:33
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Ally McBeal Wiki posted:Cordoba's Gran Mezquita is one of my favorite tourist sites. That and the spindly little streets are worth a day trip if you can manage it. I'll second the other poster who said don't do long daytrips from Seville, Barcelona, or Madrid if you're only there three days. Since Cordoba is on the high velocity track to Madrid you could definitely stop there on the way and check out the cathedral and bridge (make sure to book separate tickets for the legs, of course, don't just get off in Cordoba on a Seville-Madrid ticket). The Cordoba cathedral is incredibly unique, and if you've ever been in a nice mosque you'll appreciate how crazy of a mix it is between a mosque and a cathedral. Also if you've never seen any propaganda pieces, you'll love the pamphlet that they give you along with the ticket. That said, "long" is kind of relative, as you can, e.g. get to Segovia in less than half an hour on the high velocity train from Madrid--faster than getting to El Escorial--it'll just cost you €€€. I would definitely recommend Segovia over Toledo if you do have to make a day trip, as it's both closer in terms of time, and Segovia is not as much of a tourist trap as Toledo, where 90% of the shops sell shot glasses and lovely swords (that's maybe only 50% of shops in Segovia). ???? Las Ramblas is incredibly highly policed, and I bet now its security is higher than security anywhere else in the country. Barcelona is probably safer than your home town in general. Maybe you could get mugged there 10 years ago, but no way today. (Pickpocketed today, maybe, but I wouldn't be paranoid about it.) Saladman fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Sep 11, 2017 |
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Sep 11, 2017 16:18
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Cacator posted:Going to be in Spain/Portugal in late October. Doing Barcelona-Seville-Madrid-Lisbon for about 3 days a piece. What do people recommend for day trips from Seville or Lisbon? I wanted to do the Alhambra but a day trip from Seville is basically not possible unless we buy an expensive tour so I'm thinking Ronda or Cordoba, but it looks like Cordoba is on the way to Madrid so maybe it would be better just to stop there in between and store luggage somewhere? I've already picked out Toledo from Madrid and Figueres (Dali museum) from Barcelona. Yeah I wouldn't do Alhambra from Sevilla unless you want a ridiculously long day. Ronda is pretty nice, if you can stomach the steep hikes down outside the walls you get a pretty fantastic view. From Lisbon, Sintra is going to be your best bet for a day trip. Though if you want to see Portugal's mini version of Cannes, jump on the metro heading west to Cascais (cash-caish). There's a nice cliff-top walk here to some cool caves called the Gates of Hell (Boca de Inferno), where in rough seas the water is absolutely churning. I wouldn't bother with Cascais on a cloudy/wet day though. On the Lisbon waterfront, go and see the Torre de Belem but I wouldn't bother going inside as there's usually a long line and it's the only place where you can't see the tower. Monastery of the Heironymites is good too. Go late in the day after all the guided tours have left. If you can swing it, stay overnight in Toledo. The city is totally different and way more chilled once the day-trippers have hosed off back to Madrid. The audioguide in the cathedral is really good, and don't miss the white synagogue (can't remember the proper name). One general thing with Spain and Portugal as well is to always check opening hours. A surprising number of places close on Mondays, and of course there's the ubiquitous siesta to plan around as well. Major attractions generally don't do the siesta, but always good to check. On the safety thing: yeah there are some rough edges in Barcelona, particularly smaller streets at night in the tourist areas. You're probably still safer than in the average US city. If you're honestly that worried about it, go out drinking with an old phone and a spare wallet with invalid cards and small amount of cash. And don't take your passport of course.
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Sep 11, 2017 16:42
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Saladman posted:???? Las Ramblas is incredibly highly policed, and I bet now its security is higher than security anywhere else in the country. Barcelona is probably safer than your home town in general. Maybe you could get mugged there 10 years ago, but no way today. (Pickpocketed today, maybe, but I wouldn't be paranoid about it.) The last time I was there was three years ago and the guide on one of the walking tours (street art walking tour, would recommend) told us that he sees pickpocketing every day. Also a friend of mine had his bag stolen a couple of years ago and he witnessed another such incident. So even though I almost always give that Europe is Safe advice, I'd actually recommend a healthy dose of pickpocketing paranoia in Barcelona. I kinda doubt that anti-terrorism efforts reduced this kind of crime much.
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Sep 11, 2017 19:49
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Saladman posted:???? Las Ramblas is incredibly highly policed, and I bet now its security is higher than security anywhere else in the country. Barcelona is probably safer than your home town in general. Maybe you could get mugged there 10 years ago, but no way today. (Pickpocketed today, maybe, but I wouldn't be paranoid about it.) Last time I was there was about that long ago, so there's that! I'm very very much on the "Europe is safe and fine and so much more so than the US" side of the advice here, and I wouldn't give the advice if I didn't think it bore repeating anyway though. Dark streets near tourist centers after dark can be unsafe anywhere. I see it in my home city too. It's unfortunately not common sense. You'll be fine!
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Sep 12, 2017 03:27
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A guy tried to pickpocket me in front of my hotel at Placa de Catalunya but my phone was so massive he couldn't get it out. That's my story thanks for listening.
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Sep 12, 2017 17:02
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From roughly the 25th to 28th I'll be traveling from Prague to Amsterdam, probably by discount bus though *possibly* by car. I'd like to stop in Berlin on the way. Other possibilities are Pilsen (for beer) and Hamburg (for a a huge model train set). What can I do in Berlin for a day? What else can I do along the way?
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Sep 12, 2017 17:20
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Don't go to Pilsen, it's completely out of your way and it's not as if beer is in short supply in Czechia/Germany/Netherlands.
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Sep 12, 2017 17:27
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Cacator posted:Going to be in Spain/Portugal in late October. Doing Barcelona-Seville-Madrid-Lisbon for about 3 days a piece. What do people recommend for day trips from Seville or Lisbon? I wanted to do the Alhambra but a day trip from Seville is basically not possible unless we buy an expensive tour so I'm thinking Ronda or Cordoba, but it looks like Cordoba is on the way to Madrid so maybe it would be better just to stop there in between and store luggage somewhere? I've already picked out Toledo from Madrid and Figueres (Dali museum) from Barcelona. See my posts in this thread for Lisbon stuff!
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Sep 12, 2017 17:28
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Julio Cruz posted:Don't go to Pilsen, it's completely out of your way and it's not as if beer is in short supply in Czechia/Germany/Netherlands. But its the home of Pilsner! Shouldn't they have, a pilsner museum? e: thanks for advice though, I may indeed skip Pilsen, its true its out of the way. Count Roland fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Sep 12, 2017 |
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Sep 12, 2017 17:45
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Count Roland posted:But its the home of Pilsner! Shouldn't they have, a pilsner museum? They do indeed have a pilsner museum. You even get to taste their special unfiltered pilsen there, and only there. It was a lot better than the normal Pilsner Urquell, but that's not saying too much since Pilsner Urquell is a pretty lovely beer. (Although IMO all pilsners are lovely beers, so take my opinion with that in mind.) E: I actually liked the tour quite a bit and thought it was worth doing, although I'm not sure I'd recommend a big detour to do it, or even a daytrip from Prague unless you're in Prague a long time, which it sounds like you are not. There isn't much to do in Pilsen other than that, although I think the Škoda factory does tours too. We were so bored there after two days that we did a day trip to the Kutna Hora ossuary, which is pretty far but also pretty awesome if you do have a car and are going to Prague.
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Sep 12, 2017 18:53
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Considering doing a trip from Berlin -> Copenhagen -> Gothenburg -> Oslo. About 7 days or so - would you recommend this or any other stops I should make on the way?
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Sep 13, 2017 09:50
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Is this including time spent in Berlin and Oslo or is this just travel time between them with extra stops?
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Sep 13, 2017 09:53
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