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Judgy Fucker posted:For anyone else reading this thread looking for Europe travel advice: please don’t jump in front of speeding taxis just to prove a point. Do you want to have an authentic experience or not!?
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Sep 22, 2023 14:29
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Judgy Fucker posted:For anyone else reading this thread looking for Europe travel advice: please don’t jump in front of speeding taxis just to prove a point. I dunno, it can be part of a fun night out? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Ka4uNa9vY
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Sep 22, 2023 14:44
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I hate fun and love alive goons, what can I say?
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Sep 22, 2023 15:11
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EricBauman posted:I can't state more clearly how much I hate Amsterdam cab drivers. I will always step out into a crossing when I can tell they have no intention of even slowing down and will 100% give them the finger to tell them what I think of their driving when they brake just in time. Whenever I do this, they almost always get out of their car to scream at me. Must be great for their passengers to see what a piece of poo poo they've entrusted their life to I once had one of them cut me off on my bike by ignoring a yield sign to such an extent that I could not brake and lightly brushed their door. Then the driver demanded financial compensation. When I proposed to fill out insurance forms (which would clearly show he was at fault) he was suddenly not so interested any more, started swearing and drove off.
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Sep 23, 2023 01:27
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I got a job in Amsterdam recently and to get there I have to cross a busy bike path using a zebra crossing. Zebra crossings are one of the very few places where pedestrians have right of way over bikes. But I quickly learned cyclists aren't gonna brake if you hesitate. You make eye contact with whatever cyclists are approaching and you just confidently step onto the bike lane zebra crossing and they'll brake a bit and swerve around your back. It's all fine but I can see this being a somewhat intimidating situation to tourists.
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Sep 23, 2023 07:42
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To the goon who recommended breakfast/brunch at Sidecar in Copenhagen... That was the best breakfast I've ever eaten in my life. Just absolutely incredible. Literally writing this as I go back for seconds like the fat North American pig I am. It's just a smidge out of the way, and I would have never gone if it wasn't for the recommendation. Thank you! Other folks in Copenhagen go to it!
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Sep 23, 2023 08:33
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Carbon dioxide posted:I got a job in Amsterdam recently and to get there I have to cross a busy bike path using a zebra crossing. Zebra crossings are one of the very few places where pedestrians have right of way over bikes. Another Amsterdam thing I hate related to that topic: "trick pedestrian crossings" in Amsterdam, where it is painted like pedestrians have some sort of implied right of way, but actually cars do. This is what I mean by a trick crossing: https://www.google.com/maps/@52.358...i8192?entry=ttu Like why would you paint that on the ground, when that type of indicator is not used anywhere else in Europe, in a tourist-heavy area? I get what it means now ("don't stop your car here if there's traffic") and probably Dutch people grew up knowing what it means, but it also implicitly indicates that pedestrians can walk across the street at that location when traffic is stopped, but not when traffic is flowing. Which as far as I can remember, I have never seen anywhere else in Europe. So it's like an "OK to jaywalk here" sign, whatever use that is. Amsterdam is probably the least pedestrian-friendly major city in Western Europe, due to the large variety of traffic, mixed with a constant stream of absolute rear end in a top hat bikers. Love the Hague, love Rotterdam, am really glad that I don't have to go back to Amsterdam so often anymore. I've never understood why tourists only ever go to Amsterdam, when the Hague is better in almost every way. I actually like Amsterdam outside Prinsengracht and there are some neat museums in the city center, it's just that there is a striking lack of comfort there as a pedestrian. The handful of streets that don't allow bikes on them either have trams on them instead (e.g. Leidsestraat) or are 100% packed to the gills with tourists at all hours of the day, like the area just south of the main station that is populated by 19 year olds going to H&M, tacky museums, or overhyped shops with 45 minute cookie queues (yeah Van Stapele is good, but god drat, those lines). Presumably Amsterdamers never go to the center within the Singel canal. I know my friends living there never do, anyway, except to go to or from the station.
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Sep 23, 2023 11:28
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Saladman posted:This is what I mean by a trick crossing: https://www.google.com/maps/@52.358...i8192?entry=ttu That is a weird one. You're right, the cross means don't stop your car there. But there's more to it. - There's no zebra crossing so pedestrians don't have right of way. That much is clear. - There are no yield signs anywhere in sight so for wheeled traffic, default rules apply. The default rules are (like most places in Europe): - Yield to traffic coming from the right. - Turning traffic needs to yield to straight traffic on the same road, e.g. if you're turning left and a car is coming at you from straight ahead you need to let it pass. Unlike most other European countries, cyclists are considered equal to cars in regards to these rules (it applies to all wheeled traffic; I think technically even skaters are included). Now, if you're cycling on that cycle path on the right side of the road and you decide to turn left, but there's a car on the road just behind you going straight, who has right of way? a. The cyclist, because they are coming from the right as seen from the car. b. The car, because it's going straight and the cyclist is turning on the same road. Frankly I don't know. Does this bike path count as part of the same road, or is it separate because there's a little paved median there? In this case I'd just make eye contact with the driver and see if they yield, if not I'd yield. 
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Sep 23, 2023 12:16
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The cycle path there is definitely part of the same road given how tiny the median is, so any turning cyclist would have to yield to traffic going straight.
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Sep 23, 2023 14:54
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Saladman posted:Another Amsterdam thing I hate related to that topic: "trick pedestrian crossings" in Amsterdam, where it is painted like pedestrians have some sort of implied right of way, but actually cars do. When I lived in the Netherlands I also much preferred the Hague or Utricht as well! What's the deal with ATMs offering some ridiculous conversion rate when I want to withdraw cash as an American? Is it offering a conversation rate that could possibly be better then my home bank, if my home bank actively hated me as a customer?
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Sep 23, 2023 18:47
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Dr. Fraiser Chain posted:What's the deal with ATMs offering some ridiculous conversion rate when I want to withdraw cash as an American? Is it offering a conversation rate that could possibly be better then my home bank, if my home bank actively hated me as a customer? This is a popular "scam" trick for tourist ATMs. It's a way for the operator of the ATM to make extra money. Doesn't just happen to Americans. I see it too when I go to a non-euro country. Always refuse this, it'll fall back to your own bank's conversion rate which is always better.
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Sep 23, 2023 18:53
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Dr. Fraiser Chain posted:When I lived in the Netherlands I also much preferred the Hague or Utricht as well! It’s the same "soft scam" also if you use a credit card in a non-home currency. You often get the option to use the local currency or charge in your home currency. It is never ever better to charge in your home currency, often (ime) around a 3-5% worse rate. So it won’t break your budget but it’s an easy thing to avoid, and eventually it would add up. Your bank will just use that day’s forex rate, at least ime with different banks, American, Swiss, and EU. The other annoying thing is that some banks will also charge you a fixed amount per foreign currency transaction, like my EU card was adding €1 to every time I used the card in Japan this summer to pay for something, which was annoying when I was buying like a ¥400 coffee. If I had "used home currency" instead of foreign currency it’s possible I would not have had to pay that €1, so it’s something I’ll think about in the future. Fortunately for me I was using cash for almost everything because I only noticed after the trip, but I probably spent like €12 in those stupid fees. Also yet another reason why US banks are so much better than European ones for regular clients. Literally never heard of getting a $1 surcharge on any credit card transaction abroad OTOH mortgages are so much cheaper here than in the US that I guess the amount saved on a loan will far outweigh the lack of credit card perks.
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Sep 23, 2023 23:40
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Saladman posted:
Firstly that is not a pedestrian crossing, it's a bike path. Common mistake for tourists. But you do see the same thing with pedestrian paths too. I don't think it's just an Amsterdam thing, it's completely normal to me and I grew up elsewhere in the Netherlands. The lines indicate that the bike/footpath goes across the road. The X means no stopping. There are otherwise no yield markings or zebra crossing so pedestrians/cyclists don't have priority. Here's the same thing for a footpath (no bike path) crossing in a random small village in Drenthe: https://maps.app.goo.gl/MbbdDMMiJAazQrSY6 Here, there are even yield markings for pedestrians to show that they don't have priority. In the one you posted, this is implied by the road exit construction (you are coming down from sidewalk level, it is thus an exit so you don't have priority). Entropist fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Sep 24, 2023 |
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Sep 24, 2023 02:56
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I'm not Dutch or even European, but never in a million years would I interpret those road markings as a pedestrian crossing. Down here that type of marking would indicate "don't block this area while waiting in traffic", and from the comments above it seems to mean basically the same thing in NL. And yes as others have said, the "charge in home currency y/n" thing is basically a scam. There's almost no situation where you're better off choosing your home currency over the local currency. You'll find it at credit card terminals as well, not just ATMs. I once had a mildly-heated argument with a hotel in China where they kept pressing the "AUD" instead of "RMB" button while I was trying to pay for the room. It took about 5 attempts before I could convince them I wanted to pay in RMB, and since it was a week-long stay at a moderately fancy hotel the difference was something like $50. Sure, that $50 isn't going to send me broke, but paying $50 to press button B instead of button A for literally zero benefit is insane - and of course it's the principle of the thing.
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Sep 24, 2023 03:55
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webmeister posted:I'm not Dutch or even European, but never in a million years would I interpret those road markings as a pedestrian crossing. Down here that type of marking would indicate "don't block this area while waiting in traffic", and from the comments above it seems to mean basically the same thing in NL. That's what the X means. The part that is confusing is the dashed line -- the link that Entropist shared is a better example of that ( https://www.google.com/maps/@53.068...i8192?entry=ttu ), because that is what I find ambiguous as gently caress and must certainly lead to at least a few dozen tourists per year impacting cars, because it is not a notation used anywhere else in Europe and it very much (to me) implies pedestrians are protected.
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Sep 24, 2023 11:16
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The dashed lines are a cycle crossing pretty much everywhere I've seen.  Dunno if I've ever seen them crossed out like that but "dont' stop here" seems like a more obvious interpretation than pedestrian crossing. Saladman posted:It’s the same "soft scam" also if you use a credit card in a non-home currency. You often get the option to use the local currency or charge in your home currency. It is never ever better to charge in your home currency, often (ime) around a 3-5% worse rate. So it won’t break your budget but it’s an easy thing to avoid, and eventually it would add up. Your bank will just use that day’s forex rate, at least ime with different banks, American, Swiss, and EU. 
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Sep 24, 2023 13:16
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Entropist posted:Here's the same thing for a footpath (no bike path) crossing in a random small village in Drenthe: https://maps.app.goo.gl/MbbdDMMiJAazQrSY6 Hold on, yield markings don't apply to pedestrians 
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Sep 24, 2023 17:49
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SixFigureSandwich posted:Hold on, yield markings don't apply to pedestrians OK I finally figured out the point of them in part: in a 50 kph zone, the lines are useful for "you can cross here, it is not considered jaywalking, but you do not have priority". For the 30 kph picture: now I am even more confused as to their utility. Can you not cross legally anywhere as a pedestrian in a 30 kph zone in NL? Normally you can cross anywhere in the street in a 30 kph zone, it's just you only have priority if it is a 30kph + zebra. But since you can't get a jaywalking ticket in a 30 kph zone as a pedestrian I don't get why it would be useful to have a "cross here, but you don't have priority" marker. Also that picture has yield sign shark teeth (which I'm not sure I've ever noticed on a ped/bike-only crossing) but only on the median, which is too small for a bike to fit safely. What is the point of requiring someone to stop in the middle of that tiny street crossing? That's also the issue I had with that Amsterdam crossing I linked. You have to cross two rails and two lanes of traffic, and each median is like 30 cm in width, not even remotely enough for a bike unless you turn it completely 90° sideways. It just seems like a passive aggressive action from city planners against pedestrians and bikers.
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Sep 24, 2023 19:04
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You can cross legally everywhere as a pedestrian in NL except on highways. If it's not a zebra crossing, and there are no pedestrian traffic lights, it's either a bike crossing or an indication that it's a "safer" place for pedestrians to cross compared to other places nearby, without giving them priority. Now, you'd never get shark teeth on a pedestrian crossing so that one case should be a bike crossing despite how narrow it is... except it doesn't connect bicycle paths, it connects sidewalks on either side. So it makes no sense. Looking back at street view history, you can see in the 2009 pic, before they added traffic calming stuff, the sidewalk on the far side was a separated bike lane instead. Maybe when they rebuilt it after that they got confused about the status of bike path - now sidewalk and put in the bike-ish pedestrian crossing? My only conclusion is this crossing is not up to standard, perhaps because the local village traffic planners don't know the guide book as well as the big city ones?
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Sep 24, 2023 20:49
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On the long ride home from Croatia to LA, flew into Frankfurt tonight. We were well into final approach, landing gear out all that business. They abort the landing and have to hang out in a holding pattern. Someone was flying a drone over the airport space. They close the airport and thirty flights are cancelled. My connection completely missed, and my hotel booking for a layover rendered worthless. They fly over to another airport to refuel and eventually come back. We land 4 hours late. We will not be rebooked at the airport, just have to wait for an email sometime tomorrow. Vouchers for hotels and taxis in 3 hour lines. Absolutely free-for-all to land a ride. I'm in a hotel bed without my luggage now at 2 am. Started at 6 pm for a 1.5 hour flight to Frankfurt. Wife developed a stomach bug on the plane. About as good as it gets travel wise
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Sep 29, 2023 01:05
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Dr. Fraiser Chain posted:On the long ride home from Croatia to LA, flew into Frankfurt tonight. We were well into final approach, landing gear out all that business. They abort the landing and have to hang out in a holding pattern. Someone was flying a drone over the airport space. They close the airport and thirty flights are cancelled. My connection completely missed, and my hotel booking for a layover rendered worthless. They fly over to another airport to refuel and eventually come back. We land 4 hours late. We will not be rebooked at the airport, just have to wait for an email sometime tomorrow. Vouchers for hotels and taxis in 3 hour lines. Absolutely free-for-all to land a ride. I'm in a hotel bed without my luggage now at 2 am. Started at 6 pm for a 1.5 hour flight to Frankfurt. Wife developed a stomach bug on the plane. About as good as it gets travel wise Sounds like a pretty typical German train experience. Looks they’re going eco by making flights as lovely as trains, rather than by improving their trains. More honestly, sounds like poo poo luck. I’ve flown through Frankfurt a lot and never had any problems. Absolutely I competent though that a drone would interrupt their airport for more than like 10 minutes.
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Sep 29, 2023 08:14
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I had a stop-over in Frankfurt this summer and there was some kind of catastrophic issue that cancelled basically every outgoing flight. To the point that the airport intercom announced that there weren't enough hotel rooms and travellers with children got priority for those that were left. Then they said that all the stores were closing in an hour, so get your food now. Apparently I was lucky as poo poo, my flight was one of the last to leave the airport. The airport gods giveth and taketh away
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Sep 29, 2023 08:20
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Eh, if you’d change “Frankfurt” to “Orlando” or a similar city in that story I wouldn’t even blink. Edit: I don’t mean to downplay the shittiness of the situation, just that the shittiness may not be Frankfurt-specific. WithoutTheFezOn fucked around with this message at 18:30 on Sep 29, 2023 |
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Sep 29, 2023 18:26
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Going to Albania next week, 6 days in Tirana and 4 in Durrës. Anything I should particularly look out for? Mainly interested in food and old stuff, not really bothered about nightlife.
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Oct 1, 2023 18:04
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If you can be flexible in your itinerary, Berat is a pretty cool castle town to the south. I realize that's most of the country in the opposite direction from Durrës, but it's a small country after all. If you rent a car you could do it as a day trip, or you might be able to hire a driver or something. To be honest, I got the impression that most of the older stuff was kind of down to the south, and Tirana had seen a lot of bulldozing in the communist era -- the signs at the ultra-modernist church in the city center indicated it was built specifically to replace an old one that was destroyed. The most well-known world heritage site unfortunately is way down at the southern tip (Sarandë) and is probably kind of out of range if you intend to only stay in the north, though it is a neat Greek/Roman/Ottoman layered site that's well-preserved and clearly presented. The closest to old stuff I saw in Tirana was a mosque from the Ottoman days, but they do have a archeological museum in the city. And if you just mean historical, not like centuries old, Bunkart is a neat relic of the communist era. As far as food, a lot of it felt kinda similar to Greek food (understandably, given the proximity) and on the whole I didn't find anything to rave about. To be fair, I spent most of the trip in small villages and even when in Tirana didn't go seeking top restaurants, and had just come from Crete where food was consistently amazing. I did enjoy a byrek, though, kind of a calzone-esque cheese pie. I got my most memorable one in Pogradec but I don't think you'll have to hunt too far to find a place that serves them. And if you're up in the east edge of the city, almost into the mountains, I had a nice meal with a view at Bar Restorant Olsi
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Oct 2, 2023 07:01
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Julio Cruz posted:Going to Albania next week, 6 days in Tirana and 4 in Durrës. Anything I should particularly look out for? Mainly interested in food and old stuff, not really bothered about nightlife. I just talked to someone who returned from Albania a week ago and she recommended sticking to the south, sorry  Mainly Sarandë and Ksamil for some time on the beaches, though there's stuff to see around too if you can drive.
mobby_6kl fucked around with this message at 12:16 on Oct 3, 2023 |
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Oct 3, 2023 12:09
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So I'm in Barcelona for the rest of the year (I work for a company with really generous remote work policies that probably won't be in business next year, so I figure I may as well make the most of it). There's obviously plenty to do, but I'm wondering if there's anything neat to check out that tourists might not generally know about, either within the metro area proper or within an hour or so on the Regional. Probably going to take a long weekend and hit up Zaragoza since it's a quick trip by AVE.
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Oct 4, 2023 12:17
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1secondpersecond posted:So I'm in Barcelona for the rest of the year (I work for a company with really generous remote work policies that probably won't be in business next year, so I figure I may as well make the most of it). There's obviously plenty to do, but I'm wondering if there's anything neat to check out that tourists might not generally know about, either within the metro area proper or within an hour or so on the Regional. Probably going to take a long weekend and hit up Zaragoza since it's a quick trip by AVE. I don’t think there is anything in Barcelona that tourists don’t know about, but the Montserrat Abbey is close and pretty neat and at least when my wife went there in mid October a couple years ago, there were few people at the abbey and literally no one on the trail around it. If you want to go to the Pyrenees at all, rent a car and go ASAP as they’ll start snowing and closing down sometime in the next 4-12 weeks, depending on how snow works this year. Last year it was exceptionally late with like zero snow until after New Year’s, but expecting mountains to be a snowy danger zone by mid November is more typical. Even if it snows late in the season, hiking kinda blows when sunset is at like 5:30pm.
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Oct 4, 2023 14:08
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1secondpersecond posted:So I'm in Barcelona for the rest of the year (I work for a company with really generous remote work policies that probably won't be in business next year, so I figure I may as well make the most of it). There's obviously plenty to do, but I'm wondering if there's anything neat to check out that tourists might not generally know about, either within the metro area proper or within an hour or so on the Regional. Probably going to take a long weekend and hit up Zaragoza since it's a quick trip by AVE. What kind of stuff are you into? There's a lot to do in Barcelona, not much is really unknown as Saladman said, but you can get pretty far down the lists and find great gems. For example the less traficked Gaudis, obviously they aren't unknown but most tourists won't end up going. And they can be just as good as the big ones (although nothing compares to Sagrada). If you're already here, it's festa major season, at least in my neighborhood next weekend, I suggest checking out castellers (human towers) and correfoc (pyrotechnic parade). Check the programs of the Sarrià festa, and also Les Corts for possibilities, those are two neighborhoods I know having their festas ending next weekend. In other parts of the city maybe other neighborhoods too. Find the full programs for a million more events, including concerts, neighborhood barbecues/paellas, and tons of stuff. I assume you don't have kids or you would have mentioned it but if you do, lots of carnival-type attractions and other kid stuff too. Just to go deeper on that because I feel like sharing (hope people don't mind this kind of post)... probably the #1 thing I recommend people to do if they can find one is go to a correfoc. The main city one was a couple weeks ago, here you can get an idea of the vibe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGKrjTHS0ss The neighborhood ones are way less crowded and more manageable. Last weekend was the main correfoc in my neighborhood, pretty sure I'm in this video somewhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o9FNyT78pM Next weekend as I linked above is the Can Rosès correfoc, must be one of the smallest in the city (it's like a sub-neighborhood event within the Les Corts festa major). Here are some pics I took last year:  These are like 10-year-olds by the way.    Anyways, besides local festas... I always suggest just checking out neighborhoods and getting the vibe of the main plaza or street. As long as it's warm enough to sit outside, have a beer or coffee in a busy outdoor place and take it in. For example I really like Plaça de la Concòrdia in Les Corts and Carrer Major de Sarrià in... Sarrià. Nothing that will blow you away and if you're in a different part of the city there's probably similar places around but if you want to do something less touristy just getting the feel for different neighborhoods is something I love at least, anywhere I go. For getting out of the city, haven't been to Zaragoza but heard good things, I personally love Valencia for a weekend and with the high-speed rail Madrid is also reasonable for a weekend trip (although of course a weekend doesn't do it justice). For closer by (day trips), you have Tarragona to the south and Girona to the north, and lots of great smaller towns to the north as well. People always think of the beaches in Costa Brava but some great inland towns are Begur, Besalú, and Rupit to name a few. The smaller towns might be kind of dead outside tourist season (not sure really), up to you if that's a plus or not. I'd recommend checking the festival calendar of these places too same as the Barcelona neighborhoods. You would need to rent a car or find a guided driver on Viatour or whatever for those type of places. By train I would say Girona and Tarragona are your best short trips, both are worth doing (in that order). There's plenty of hiking in Costa Brava too if you don't want to go all the way to the Pyrenees, also closer to Barcelona at Collserola. And speaking of hiking Montserrat is a must whether or not you want to hike (also accessible by train). Always happy to talk about Barcelona and give more recommendations if you just prompt me a particular category/interest. Or just check my post history. SurgicalOntologist fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Oct 4, 2023 |
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Oct 4, 2023 21:30
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Saladman posted:the Montserrat Abbey is close and pretty neat and at least when my wife went there in mid October a couple years ago, there were few people at the abbey and literally no one on the trail around it. SurgicalOntologist posted:If you're already here, it's festa major season, at least in my neighborhood next weekend, I suggest checking out castellers (human towers) and correfoc (pyrotechnic parade). Check the programs of the Sarrià festa, and also Les Corts for possibilities, those are two neighborhoods I know having their festas ending next weekend. In other parts of the city maybe other neighborhoods too. Find the full programs for a million more events, including concerts, neighborhood barbecues/paellas, and tons of stuff. I assume you don't have kids or you would have mentioned it but if you do, lots of carnival-type attractions and other kid stuff too. This is awesome, thank you both! Montserrat is definitely on my list, and my general priority is interesting architecture and historical sites. I need to figure out how to get up to Besalú (might actually be worth doing a Viator for that since it's right up my alley). I'm interested in hitting up a couple of Penedes wineries, but it looks like I can just spend a day on the Regional route that goes to Tarragona via Vilafranca del Penedes to do that. Follow-up question: we're coming up on the 48H Open House weekend, which is always a blast in Chicago and Barcelona also participates. There are some clear highlights (Fundació Julio Muñoz Ramonet, Collegi Major Ramon Llull); are there any really neat buildings I should try to check out if they're open that aren't generally open to the public?
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Oct 5, 2023 10:30
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1secondpersecond posted:Follow-up question: we're coming up on the 48H Open House weekend, which is always a blast in Chicago and Barcelona also participates. There are some clear highlights (Fundació Julio Muñoz Ramonet, Collegi Major Ramon Llull); are there any really neat buildings I should try to check out if they're open that aren't generally open to the public? Not really but thanks for the reminder to sign up! Other highlights on the list I see would be Casa de las Punxes, Palau de la Música, Hospital de Sant Pau, and Temple d'August which are all worth seeing, but I think they're not typically closed unless something changed so you might not need to go that weekend. Ah, another I see that we'll probably go to is Escola Industriale -- we go all the time for my son to ride his bike since it's a nice protected, paved area with shade and benches. Only time I went inside is when I begged the attendant to let my son go to the bathroom, but there's definitely some interesting architecture. Anyways, I'll try to post back after looking through the list more closely.
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Oct 5, 2023 11:42
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straw poll - do people trust TripAdvisor or Google reviews more when looking for places to eat?
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Oct 15, 2023 17:48
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Google maps 100%
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Oct 15, 2023 17:59
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Yes, TripAdvisor is only filled in by American tourists, Google Maps is where the locals leave reviews.
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Oct 15, 2023 18:05
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TripAdvisor seems to be boomers from the US or UK filling out most of the reviews. Don't stay in a hotel near the Munich train station, it's the red light district! And there are a lot of immigrants in the neighborhood, too! Oh dear.
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Oct 15, 2023 18:57
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WaryWarren posted:TripAdvisor seems to be boomers from the US or UK filling out most of the reviews. Don't stay in a hotel near the Munich train station, it's the red light district! And there are a lot of immigrants in the neighborhood, too! Oh dear. Yes, this is all there is to say about it. Google Maps is pretty reliable. No European uses TripAdvisor.
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Oct 15, 2023 19:03
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I check trip advisor just for the major attractions in an area, otherwise google maps for things like restaurants, bars or shops. Speaking of which, for the next long-ish weekend I'm doing an open-jaw trip to Bologna-Pisa. If you have any local pro-tips for stuff to do that isn't on lists like this one https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g187801-Activities-oa0-Bologna_Province_of_Bologna_Emilia_Romagna.html thatn those could be cool.
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Oct 15, 2023 20:13
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TripAdvisor is nice for doing a first-pass filtering based on photographs - as far as I know (could be wrong!) there's no easy way to quickly filter Google restaurants based on appearance. So if I want to find a place with nice ambiance, I either have to go to a part of a city I think should be nice (near a river, on a hill, ...) and click around a bunch, or I flip through TripAdvisor and look at the photos for something that looks like I'd enjoy, then I double-check. The reviews on TA are definitely trending much older and are seem to generally be written by short-term tourists. Some places also have nearly all of the TA reviews being from cruise ship / giant bus tour type of tourists too, who have such extremely different preferences to me that I entirely discount them, e.g. Palermo, Kotor Bay. Personally, I tend to remember the ambiance of a restaurant more than the actual food, so if I have to pick between ambiance and food quality, I trend towards selecting for ambiance unless the food is catastrophic. Although, usually you can find a place with both a good atmosphere and good food. Google reviews are generally much better, but I don't find it very good for narrowing down "find me nice places to eat in [huge city]", unless you've already narrowed it down to "find me nice places to eat in [huge city] that are [some particular foreign cuisine]".
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Oct 15, 2023 21:31
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mobby_6kl posted:I check trip advisor just for the major attractions in an area, otherwise google maps for things like restaurants, bars or shops. A day or two to chill in Lucca (very near to Pisa and much nicer than it too, imo) is nice.
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Oct 16, 2023 15:12
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mmkay posted:A day or two to chill in Lucca (very near to Pisa and much nicer than it too, imo) is nice. One day in Lucca, one day in Arezzo.
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Oct 16, 2023 15:42
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