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Honj Steak posted:Get any SIM card in the first country you visit and use it in the other countries. There are no roaming charges between EU countries and almost all providers pledged to uphold that in the UK even after Brexit. That's good to know about the UK. I'll second the "Just get one from the first country for as long as you're staying there," even though I had a problem with this last September. Bought a card in Budapest from the local T-Mobile, and it stopped working as soon as I hit the Croatian border. Kept asking me to log into local network or something. I couldn't figure it out, and it became such a huge hassle to me that I just spent the extra C$17 for a week-long unlimited data card in Zagreb that lasted me exactly to my last day in Slovenia, too. I still don't know why this happened. Does Hungary have particularly strict laws about the SIM cards? I assume if you're a local with an actual registered T-Mobile account, it would've worked.
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Feb 3, 2020 17:05
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So I did a 9 days trip in Austria. It went extremely well, so if anybody lazy wants to do something similar, go ahead. My small travel gimmicks are always the same, here they are: - to eat as much local food as possible, at least a new dish a day - at least one hiking day - I am a birdwatcher so I will always have my binoculars on me if I go hiking! - we always rent a car because we love to randomly stop and visit something on our way I already did Vienna 10 years ago and spent a whole week there, exclusively doing museums. But this time I went with my boyfriend who's not that into museums (just a bit) so we instead did other cities. Day 1-3: Vienna. Airport, fast transfer to a hotel, not the most central one, but still pretty close to it (20 minutes of walk). As an antique dealer, History and art are my main things so we did museums mostly. We did: - Kunsthistorische museum, a great GREAT museum. I don't want to go too much into details but it's a must do if you're very interested in art history. - Musikverein's Golden Hall. My childhood dream! Bought dirt cheap tickets online since I bought them the day before the concert. Had a terrible "seat" (actually had to stand) but at least I was tall enough to see most of it. - State Hall: a breathtaking library. Great free audioguide to download on your phone. - Schönnbrunn Palace: a classic palace with a good audioguide. Day 3-6: Salzburg. We drove from Vienna to Mozart's birthplace. The road has nothing special. We made only two stops; one in a village to have lunch, and the other in Melk, to visit a stunning monastery. Much recommended. Salzburg is a beautiful small city that is unfortunately overrun by tourists. The city is at full capacity and trying to get lunch without booking became very VERY frustrating. Not many hotels and get very expensive quite quickly. We did: On day 4 (since we have arrived in the evening on day 3), we walked around the city, discovered a bit around. We visited the cathedral, explored around the small streets, walked to the fortress (we never take any lift). We get to try a local dessert called the "nockerl", nice experience but please do eat it only if you're truly hungry since it's huge and very rich. On day 5, we escaped to neighboring Bavaria, Germany, I couldn't tolerate the massive influx of tourists. We decided to hike in Berschtergaden National Park. We woke up early in the morning, parked our car and took a small ferry to Saint Bartholomew. We hiked to the "Ice Chapel", an ice cave. Definitely a highlight! Pictures of the ferry, hike, and ice chapel:    Day 6-8: Innsbruck. We drove from Salzburg to Innsbruck, which is pretty much the ski capital. It was a long drive, and we stopped twice. One for lunch in a random small ski town, and another to see Krimml falls, one of Europe's tallest falls. Very scenic road, we passed through beautiful ski resorts such as Geilo. We arrived in Innsbruck in the evening. Very nice hotel (called Nala hotel). I love this city, everything is so much better than in Salzburg. Less tourists and more "outdoor" people. We visited on the first day the town. Very quick to visit but it's beautifully surrounded by >2000m mountains. We visited the Hofburg, good museum about the city's history. The old town is nice. On the 8th day, we hiked to the top of PatscherKofel, almost 2300m. It's only 15ish minutes from the center of Innsbruck. There's a small restaurant at the top and there's a nice view on the city. We rented snowshoes to accomplish this.  Day 8-9: Hallstatt. My boyfriend wanted this, and I insisted beforehand it might be overrated. And yeah, it's overrated and we kind of regret it. Stupidly expensive and we are no longer impressed by "cute European villages" as we feel that many of them are tourist traps more than anything else. Perhaps because we are Europeans (well I'm half-French and he's French) so we have this type of villages pretty much everywhere in France. Day 9: Last evening in Vienna. A great dinner to finish it off. Good bye Austria! Birdwatching count: "only" 23 bird species. I hope it will somehow help some of you?
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Feb 3, 2020 19:31
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I have 8 days in Europe in late march; should I got to Scotland or Southern Spain?
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Feb 4, 2020 04:08
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Do you have interests or preferences?
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Feb 4, 2020 05:49
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Cheesemaster200 posted:I have 8 days in Europe in late march; should I got to Scotland or Southern Spain? yes
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Feb 4, 2020 09:15
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But not both in the same trip, please.
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Feb 4, 2020 12:41
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Brexit trip to visit all the territories the UK is going to lose: Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Gibraltar
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Feb 4, 2020 23:53
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Waci posted:Do you have interests or preferences? We were just in Madrid and Barcelona last year and really liked Spain. I wanted to do Seville, Cordoba, and Granada on that trip but just didn't have time. I have 7-days off (Friday-Monday) off in March and am looking to do a trip which is within reasonable direct flight distance to New York. I don't really want to rent a car, and I would figure that Spain would have a lot better weather at that time. However Scotland is real cheap for our dates. Spain also has a more defined itinerary with what we would like to see, but I I am completely unfamiliar with Scotland sans Edinburgh. I guess my question is what would be possible in Scotland for our time frame and whether a longer trip at a different time of year would be warranted; or whether late march would be a good time to visit due to the crowds, decent weather etc. Scotland just seems very spread out and difficult to visit without a car, and I am having trouble putting together a competing itinerary. I am not trying to visit both, though we may do a one-night stopover in London. We usually do this while visiting Europe and it breaks up the flight over.
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Feb 5, 2020 03:54
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Scotland in March is likely to be rainy and quite cold (40-50F), and without your own car it's going to be awkward to get out of Edinburgh/Glasgow and basically impossible to visit the Highlands and islands.
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Feb 5, 2020 13:24
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So along the same lines I have a trip forming where I will be going to Dublin in early May to see a friend's play. She and her fiance are doing 8 plays in four days so I'm hoping to see it once at the most. GF and I will be in Dublin for a few days without any kind of itinerary while they do that and then when the play is done we're considering some light travel for like four days. If this has been covered in the thread please let me know and I'll dig through it. I'm curious what the weather will be like and what things I should try to visit in Ireland. I've never been out of the airport in London but I think that would need to be a different trip. I've also already been to several countries in Europe so I think we'd probably avoid crossing the sea altogether. All the day trips I see are like 15 hours away lol. To be specific, I am sure we'll find our own things to do in Dublin like see the illuminated manuscripts and drink ourselves stupid every day. I'm wondering about where to go from there.
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Feb 6, 2020 19:49
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kiimo posted:So along the same lines I have a trip forming where I will be going to Dublin in early May to see a friend's play. She and her fiance are doing 8 plays in four days so I'm hoping to see it once at the most. GF and I will be in Dublin for a few days without any kind of itinerary while they do that and then when the play is done we're considering some light travel for like four days. I think that I and a few other posters have covered Dublin, but it really depends on your interests. For example, drinking yourself stupid is a lot of fun, but if alcohol actually does interest you, the Teeling and Jameson distillery tours are fun, the Irish Whiskey Museum is always interesting (even if you're not in to whiskey), and so is the Guinness Storehouse. There's also the Little Museum of Dublin, the Irish Famine Exhibit (right nearby on the third floor of a mall), the Leprechaun Museum was a lot of fun, Kilmainham Gaol (just book a tour beforehand, because they won't let you into the actual main area of the gaol otherwise, which I didn't do). I also enjoyed the Dublinia exhibit and St. Michael's cathedral (great exhibits underneath). Those are just off the top of my head. Still disappointed I didn't visit the Irish Emigration Museum, but there's always a next time. The city was very walkable compared to a number of other European capitals (which is saying something), so I never once bought a pass or anything. I can't comment on the weather, though, because I was there in September. I would definitely save London for another trip. I've been there twice and still feel like I missed a lot.
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Feb 6, 2020 20:14
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Dublin is also very easy to get out of. It's a nice city with lots to do, but if you do want to get out for a bit and give yourself a bit of space from the crowds, other Irish cities like Galway, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and even Belfast are very accessible by rail. I had a day in Galway and loved it, I just wish I could've spent longer there. I also did a very small part of the Dublin Mountains walk, if you're into that sort of thing, from Shankill DART station to the famous Johnnie Fox's pub in Glencullen. There are other, much longer walks all around Ireland that let you see and do more but this was a nice day excursion for someone with poo poo legs like myself.
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Feb 7, 2020 14:47
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My husband and I are considering being stereotypical and going to Paris for our 10 year anniversary in October. Looking for suggestions for places to stay and a 3-4 day itinerary. I have no interest in going into the Louvre, art museums/galleries just don't interest me but I love museums more generally.kiimo posted:To be specific, I am sure we'll find our own things to do in Dublin like see the illuminated manuscripts and drink ourselves stupid every day. I'm wondering about where to go from there. I've posted about Dublin in the thread. I reckon you need about four days there.
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Feb 7, 2020 16:30
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Bollock Monkey posted:My husband and I are considering being stereotypical and going to Paris for our 10 year anniversary in October. Looking for suggestions for places to stay and a 3-4 day itinerary. I have no interest in going into the Louvre, art museums/galleries just don't interest me but I love museums more generally. Go to the Invalides museum, it's awesome. I like staying in the 8eme/9eme personally, it's a little bit cheaper because it used to be a semi-red-light-district but it's completely fine now. If you'd rather stay on the other half of the river I'd go for the 5eme/6eme to be pretty central to stuff.
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Feb 7, 2020 18:30
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Bollock Monkey posted:My husband and I are considering being stereotypical and going to Paris for our 10 year anniversary in October. Looking for suggestions for places to stay and a 3-4 day itinerary. I have no interest in going into the Louvre, art museums/galleries just don't interest me but I love museums more generally. Stay in Le Marais or, less ideally but ok, Montmartre. Stay away from the Latin Quarter, which is basically the only part of Paris that is 100% awful; at least La Defense has some sort of sterile business charm to it. Latin Quarter is now unfortunately just full of hawkers trying to get you into bad overpriced restaurants, people running scams, people selling plastic Eiffel towers, and the type of people that only travel on cruise ships and organized tours of 60+ people per group. Otherwise just check Wikivoyage and see what’s up your alley, there aren’t any hidden gems in Paris, it’s all mapped out and online. Check AtlasObscura for slightly less famous sites (though usually of lesser interest than sites on Wikivoyage). The Pompidou is usually a pretty good bet to visit for anyone who likes museums but doesn’t want to see more museums full of Impressionism and/or paintings of Jesus.
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Feb 7, 2020 18:31
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I've been to some decent book shops and jazz cafes in the Latin Quarter (I think it still has a bunch of good cinemas too?) but these are rapidly disappearing and, yeah, I wouldn't usually stick around there long otherwise. I kind of feel the same about Montmartre if I'm honest. I stayed in the 9th arr. near Place Pigalle last time I was in Paris and it was fine, cheap for Paris, which was the important thing for me. Some of the bars/clubs around there are infamous for being scams but so long as you're aware of that you can usually spot them a mile off.
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Feb 7, 2020 19:50
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The thing I hate most about travel is how many people are trying to take advantage of you.
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Feb 7, 2020 19:56
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Fitzy Fitz posted:The thing I hate most about travel is how many people are trying to take advantage of you. If you go to the parts of the country where the people from that country go to on trips, that problem becomes much smaller, or even stops existing.
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Feb 7, 2020 23:12
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in my experience if you're not obviously a tourist people generally leave you alone even in places that guidebooks tell you are "risky" or "dangerous"
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Feb 7, 2020 23:47
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Great tips re: Latin Quarter, we'd been considering they area originally based on how it seemed about 15 years ago so it's handy to know it's not great now.
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Feb 8, 2020 11:19
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Bollock Monkey posted:Great tips re: Latin Quarter, we'd been considering they area originally based on how it seemed about 15 years ago so it's handy to know it's not great now. Yeah I’ve heard it used to be nice, but its soul has been replaced by souvenir shops and terrible French restaurants catering to ripping off tourists. There are still some nice places there (like Shakespeare and Company) but i wouldn’t recommend anyone to stay there. If you both speak French, then there are always a ton of shows going on. You can stop by the Hôtel de Ville and see what’s going on; often even free or cheap. Probably all over the city but IME I always seem to end up going out in 10th or 19th when we visit. Generally I find the north bank of the Seine (left? Right? Christ i can never remember the river convention) to be more interesting than the south, kind of like London. That said if you’re near a good metro line it doesn’t matter that much, even though Paris is enormous and there’s something cool on almost every arrondissement. I’d agree also that 9th is nice to stay in; I guess that’s what I actually meant by Montmartre. The more typical "Montmartre" itself is kind of a hassle since it’s on a huge hill. I kind of like the touristyness there as it’s mostly artists schlocking their stuff and not migrants selling umbrellas, roses, and plastic keychains. That said I haven’t been up to sacré cœur in about 5 years, even though I spend 5 or 6 days in Paris every year, so maybe it’s gotten generic gift shop-ified too.
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Feb 8, 2020 12:58
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Julio Cruz posted:in my experience if you're not obviously a tourist people generally leave you alone even in places that guidebooks tell you are "risky" or "dangerous" Yeah, a couple years ago my husband wanted to walk around the Eiffel Tower area. Cool, no problem. I've been there like a hundred times in my life but I didn't mind. So we do it, and after twenty minutes Mr. Hookshot goes "how come all the scammers are talking to me and everyone is ignoring you?" He was walking around gawking at the Eiffel Tower while I was walking around playing Pokemon Go. I didn't get approached once.
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Feb 8, 2020 16:37
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Saladman posted:Yeah I’ve heard it used to be nice, but its soul has been replaced by souvenir shops and terrible French restaurants catering to ripping off tourists. There are still some nice places there (like Shakespeare and Company) but i wouldn’t recommend anyone to stay there. No French that isn't cobbled together from long-forgotten lessons at school, unfortunately. Thanks for the other tips though.
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Feb 8, 2020 21:17
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Dance Officer posted:If you go to the parts of the country where the people from that country go to on trips, that problem becomes much smaller, or even stops existing. Plus, those places are often way cooler and more affordable and less unpleasantly crowded. At least, that has overwhelmingly been my experience in Spain. Really you can't lose.
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Feb 9, 2020 03:05
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Bollock Monkey posted:Great tips re: Latin Quarter, we'd been considering they area originally based on how it seemed about 15 years ago so it's handy to know it's not great now. Quartier Latin is still charming a few blocks behind the Panthéon. Also rue des écoles is still good and has nice restaurants. Saint Michel? An absolute no-no.
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Feb 10, 2020 16:19
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Bollock Monkey posted:My husband and I are considering being stereotypical and going to Paris for our 10 year anniversary in October. Looking for suggestions for places to stay and a 3-4 day itinerary. I have no interest in going into the Louvre, art museums/galleries just don't interest me but I love museums more generally.
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Feb 11, 2020 03:49
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Bollock Monkey posted:My husband and I are considering being stereotypical and going to Paris for our 10 year anniversary in October. Looking for suggestions for places to stay and a 3-4 day itinerary. I have no interest in going into the Louvre, art museums/galleries just don't interest me but I love museums more generally. Louvre is absolutely worth it, it is huge and there is a lot of variety. So even if you're not that interested in paintings (though there are some really amazing ones), you can check out the classical egyptian or greek areas where they keep the stuff that was Other cool museums, depending on your interests, are: - the Musée du Quai Branly, which is dedicated to indigenous cultures around the world - the Musée des Arts et Métiers, where you can find a bunch of old instruments, inventions, prototypes, etc. Very nerdy but if you're into that it's really interesting.
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Feb 11, 2020 10:54
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Cheesemaster200 posted:Last time I was in Paris I stayed here with my wife. It is on the border of the 9th & 2nd arrondissement, walking distance to the river, and all north facing train stations. All their rooms were industrial grade soundproof, so we slept like a rock. Great for a couple on an anniversary. Looks lovely but is about double our budget! Chikimiki posted:Louvre is absolutely worth it, it is huge and there is a lot of variety. So even if you're not that interested in paintings (though there are some really amazing ones), you can check out the classical egyptian or greek areas where they keep the stuff that was Quai Branly especially sounds right up my alley, cheers!
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Feb 11, 2020 20:17
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Bollock Monkey posted:Looks lovely but is about double our budget! Yikes, yeah it gets up there for October. We were there in July and it was like 150 euros a night.
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Feb 12, 2020 01:14
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So uh, Serbia. Heading down to Belgrade late spring. We'll be spending a bit over 3 full days on spot and will do the compulsory pub crawling, gun shooting etc. Anybody with knowledge of the region who could recommend a destination for a day trip out of town and/or particularily good watering holes/places to eat in the city? We are currently considering heading down to Golubacki Fortress or heading north to Novi Sad.
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Feb 12, 2020 11:23
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so that means I can be a cheapskate and post about posting instead of having some wit or spending any more on comedy avs for people. Which I'm also incapable of. Comedy.
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Most people in Portugal will understand Spanish, right?
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Feb 13, 2020 01:18
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Lol What even makes you think that
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Feb 13, 2020 08:56
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Some of my Portuguese friends can get by in Spanish but I doubt it’s common for most people to understand it well. There’s a lot on the internet about this. https://medium.com/@google_82078/can-spanish-speakers-understand-portuguese-ebf865ac3922
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Feb 13, 2020 09:18
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People will generally understand Spanish in Portugal, but speaking it can make you seem like a very stupid person who doesn't know the difference between the languages. Most young people speak good English
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Feb 13, 2020 09:48
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Dance Officer posted:Lol Sources online like the one linked directly below you. "Portuguese speakers, on the other hand, have a much easier time dealing with spoken Spanish," meeting Portuguese speakers IRL, and professors in university who taught me that. If it's a myth, it's a common one and corresponds to many people's experience. Good to know most young people will speak English anyway. I'm traveling there for work and all my colleagues speak English very well, but I wasn't sure about traveling in less urban areas. Thanks, all. WrenP-Complete fucked around with this message at 12:05 on Feb 13, 2020 |
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Feb 13, 2020 12:00
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There's also a difference here between European Portugese and Brazilian/South American Portugese. In my experience Brazilians have an easier time with Spanish as their variety of Portugese is closer to Spanish. My Spanish friends also understand it more easily. European Portugese and European Spanish are pretty different.
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Feb 13, 2020 14:28
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Entropist posted:There's also a difference here between European Portugese and Brazilian/South American Portugese. In my experience Brazilians have an easier time with Spanish as their variety of Portugese is closer to Spanish. My Spanish friends also understand it more easily. European Portugese and European Spanish are pretty different. To clarify, the pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese is more like that of Spanish with its clear, emphatic vowels. European Portuguese reduces vowels dramatically and sounds more like French (or Russian). Brazilians often find it hard to understand EP. That's unlikely to make a huge difference in the speakers' understanding of Spanish imo but it's possible
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Feb 13, 2020 14:34
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Spanish that's spoken in Spain is different from the Spanish that's spoken in the Americas. Much like the Portuguese.
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Feb 13, 2020 15:21
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Dance Officer posted:Spanish that's spoken in Spain is different from the Spanish that's spoken in the Americas. Much like the Portuguese. Of course, but the differences are smaller in Spanish
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Feb 13, 2020 15:32
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| # ? May 25, 2024 21:23 |
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Ras Het posted:European Portuguese reduces vowels dramatically and sounds more like French (or Russian). Holy poo poo, thank you. I've had so many people be utterly baffled when I tell the that Portugal-Portuguese sounds exactly like Russian to me. It still takes me about a minute of listening to tell whether it's Portuguese or a Slavic language when I hear it.
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Feb 13, 2020 16:53
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