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Cheesemaster200 posted:So I am flying to Vienna in 3 hours, anyone have any suggestions of places to see and eat at? How about nightlife? Visit one of the traditional Cafes and have some Apfelstrudel. You'll probably take a walk through Maria-Hilferstraße (U-station zieglergasse or neubaubasse) for shopping, at the lower end, there's the Museumsquartier, which has a few different museums and some hip cafes and restaurants. Also, nice architecture in that area. Naschmarkt (U-station Kettenbrückengasse) is a great foodmarket. There are also little restaurants, most of which are very good. Schloss Schönbrunn (Little Versailles)... i didn't enjoy the building very much, but apparently it's the most visited sight in Vienna. But the Park behind it is great for a walk. My fav museum by a long shot is the aquarium "Haus des Meeres" (U-station Neubaugasse). Great way to spend an afternoon.
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Sep 21, 2010 09:08
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I'm thinking of taking my girlfriend to Madrid sometime early next year for a long weekend (Thursday to Monday). I have a budget of maybe 100 euros a night for the hotel. She likes museums and sightseeing, I like bars/restaurants (I really wanna try out the whole tapas bar crawl thing). Does anyone have any suggestions for particular dates to go, hotels to stay at, places to visit, things to do etc?
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Sep 21, 2010 16:45
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So I'm studying abroad in Dublin until Christmas. My friends and I are going to book our first few getaways very soon. Here is the list of places we want to go, not including trips around Ireland: Paris London Glasgow/Edinburgh (I'm not a huge fan but it'll be a 5 euro flight and my friend has family there) Italy (I think Rome and Venice?) Depending on time/money, we have also been throwing around the idea of going to one or two of these places (in no particular order): Prague Spain (Barcelona?) Greece Budapest Bratislava Croatia Amsterdam Berlin Most of these trips would be Thursday-Sunday, varying slightly depending on RyanAir costs, minus one in late October that is a little longer due to a bank Holiday which I think we are going to do Italy for. I only know a little bit about these places so any suggestions would be amazing. I probably left out some really cool places too. The goal is doing it cheap but still hopefully going to some really cool and memorable places, since I'm sure we won't be able to make it back out here for at the very least a few years. If possible I'd like to at least do 1 place where we can live like kings for a weekend with the exchange rate because prices (especially booze and eating out) have been loving us over in Dublin.
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Sep 21, 2010 20:51
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flyingfoggy posted:So I'm studying abroad in Dublin until Christmas. My friends and I are going to book our first few getaways very soon. Here is the list of places we want to go, not including trips around Ireland: This is a huge list and there's no way you can do it all in a meaningful way. Rome takes a hell of a long time to do, as the city is spread out and everything isn't concentrated. Also, almost everywhere you listed is on the euro, so it'll be somewhat expensive. You won't see any entire country, so I'd probably scratch croatia (flights/logistics is more complicated) as well as spain. You could do any large city in a weekend, it won't be hard. As with any large cities, there's loads of history/buildings/museums, as well as bars/clubs and whatnot. Berlin is still the premier party city in Europe. If you want some really memorable/cool places there's plenty inside the UK, and your travel costs will be much, much cheaper. There's tons of old cool stuff all around scotland and ireland, and you could easily fill up your time just going around.
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Sep 21, 2010 21:17
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What are some good websites geared to backpackers/college students traveling abroad?
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Sep 21, 2010 21:42
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flyingfoggy posted:Prague While there should be a cheap Ryanair line Dublin-Zadar, I wouldn't recommend Croatia. Croatian coast is amazing in summer, but much less so in fall and winter. I would choose Barcelona and Amsterdam on this list.
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Sep 21, 2010 22:20
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Hey no one has suggested actual things to do in Rome yet. We're planning on spending just a few days there in November. Tell me all about Rome! I asked about Rome on http://vark.com and was told by a dude in Boston to go to Trevi Fountain, St. Peter's/Vatican Galleries, Capitoline Museum, Forum, Colosseum, the Pantheon, eat gelato at San Crispino or Giolitti, and have dinner in Trastevere or Monte Testaccio (where the locals eat, supposedly). Not sure if this advice is good or bad, or if there's anything we'd be missing out on. We can probably avoid the overly-touristy places, but I'm not especially sure if anything would be packed during November.
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Sep 21, 2010 23:16
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JeffreyAtW posted:[...] Tell me all about Rome! All of Rome is overly-touristy. That list looks pretty good (though I've only been to Rome as a tourist) and will certainly take up all of your 'a few days.' Flyingfoggy posted:Prague You can skip Greece in winter too, since the islands aren't as fun then, and if you want to see Athens, you should instead go to the British Museum. Also, since you're a study abroad student, you can skip days of class on either Friday or Monday, and then a lot of those places are meaningfully-doable in a long weekend. Pretty much the only European cities that I've felt demanded more time than 3-4 days are Rome, Paris, and London.
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Sep 22, 2010 07:16
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JeffreyAtW posted:Hey no one has suggested actual things to do in Rome yet. We're planning on spending just a few days there in November. Tell me all about Rome! Should give you plenty of ideas.
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Sep 22, 2010 08:26
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Omits-Bagels posted:What are some good websites geared to backpackers/college students traveling abroad? For what?
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Sep 22, 2010 19:05
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JeffreyAtW posted:Tell me all about Rome! Rome loving owns. I live in Naples, so I've been to Rome for a few weekend trips myself. One Day: Spend the whole morning on The Vatican. Make sure you do the "long itinerary" through the Vatican museum to see the Pope's Apartments before the Sistine Chapel. The Other Day: This is all walkable, I know because I've done it, but buy a day pass for the metro. It's only like 4 euro. Flaminio metro stop and start walking: Piazza del Popolo, Villa Borghese, across to Villa Medici, then down the Spanish Steps. This will get you to Spagna metro station. I recommend this portion of the day when you are not hungry or thirsty, because Piazza del Spagna is seriously the home of the most ruthless, cutthroat touristy price gouging anywhere in Rome. Case in point: I asked the price of a caffe in a caffeteria right across from Spanish Steps and the dude quoted me 9.50. The typical going price in most of the country is less than a euro. Barberini: The Capuchin Crypt is literally the first church you run into when you exit onto Via Veneto from this station. It's a short (but potentially pretty confusing) walk West to the Trevi Fountain. A little further will get you to the Pantheon. From the Pantheon, walk South through the Jewish ghetto and across a bridge to Trastevere to eat dinner. You'll know it's the right bridge because it goes over a little island (also making it easy to find on a map). If I'm not mistaken, there are no metro stops in that neighborhood - there are busses, but I've only used the bus in Rome once, and I had Romans with me who knew where to go (incidentally, they took us to Trastevere to eat lunch). The metro is foolproof. Anyway. Colosseo: The metro here will put you right in front of the Colosseum. resist the urge to go straight there first. Go to the Forum first to buy your ticket. The line at the Colosseum will take you like an hour and a half to two hours if it's busy. There is no line at The Forum. Then go back to the Colosseum. See that poo poo. If you're around the exit of the Colosseum in the early afternoon and already have your ticket, you can probably get on with a Free walking tour of the Forum. For what it's worth, the Colosseum is badass, but I thought the Forum was way more interesting, especially since I took a tour. You can probably get the Forum tour for free by looking around the exit side of the Colosseum for tourists milling about waiting for something or looking for people hawking the group tours - you'll notice them because while there's like a million of them at the entrance, there'll probably only be the one or two at the exit. Oh, and on this metro station itinerary, buy a bottle of water, and save the bottle after you drink it - there are fountains all over the place around the Forum and Colosseum where you can get drinking water for free.
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Sep 25, 2010 15:12
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Oh god your post makes me want to go back to Rome. I bought my Colosseum ticket at the Forum. I remember eating lunch sitting against a wall in the shade opposite the Colosseum, then getting up and walking straight past the massive line and getting in in less than 5 minutes. The travel bug has just hit me hard.
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Sep 26, 2010 03:56
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I agree with that whole Rome post except for the metro part, the city is tiny and the only time you really need the metro is going to the Vatican and maybe Trastevere. Walk everywhere else, start halfway down via cavour (or near Termini). Do the trevi fountain, Spanish steps, Pantheon, Colosseum id say you really need 3 days, but you can do it in 2 at a push edit: no metro to Trastevere, i forgot and can't remember if metro tickets work on busses Skam fucked around with this message at 08:49 on Sep 28, 2010 |
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Sep 27, 2010 21:38
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Yeah, like I said, that whole big second chunk is walkable. If you really wanted to, you could walk to the Vatican, too - walk to Villa Borghese/Piazza del Popolo, go west and straight down Via Cola di Rienzo a couple miles. That said, the metro is incredibly simple to navigate, and a 24 hour pass is only 4 euro, so you can use it to get to one end of your itinerary and then back to where you're staying at the end. And walk the whole way in between. gently caress it, I might go back to Rome this weekend.
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Sep 28, 2010 04:34
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I'm planning a trip to Europe for October that'll last about a month. What cities are really fun and safe to bike through? Also, are there places where it's legal to bike on the sidewalk or with lots of bike lanes? I know some people hate people who do this but... I got used to it living in Japan and I get freaked out biking in the street.
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Sep 28, 2010 05:59
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Wow what an oddly specific topic for me to stumble upon after getting home from an 11 hour flight from Rome to Canada Stayed at Hotel Del Fori walked everywhere and it saved so much money thatwe saw so much cool poo poo we probably would have missed on the metro or buses. It was pretty sweet having Via Cavor, Via Nazionalie, and the shopping on Via Condotti not to mention the Pantheon / Forum / Colosseum all within walking distance. Walking there also gives you the added bonus of gauging your testicular fortitude as you and the missus try to cross on a crosswalk without the light stopping traffic and having polizia driving by smoking cigarettes shrugging. By the third day I would just let a few cars go to be nice then just close your eyes and run blindly onto the crosswalk cause they aint gonna let you by. Got to be aggressive. So many ristorantes and cafes and poo poo were within our hotel they all looked the same and they all have no problem grabbing you or your gf and trying to put you into a seat and trying to outsell one another. Part of the charm really. Stay near the ancient city area and you can walk to everything I mentioned earlier and not to mention the Trevi fountain or Circo Maxximuss or the ghettos etc. The best part about having our hotel about 4 minutes from the colosseum was there was little to no chance of us getting lost while walking about town lol. When I was there they shut down the whole street of Del Fori Imperiali on a Sunday with police blocking off both ends and the street filled with hundredsof young schoolchildren all playing volleyball in nets and uniforms on the street. It was quite the spectacle to see on our way to see the Trevi Fountain and it was fun to watch them all panic when a downpour started. We were only happy to have it rain once in a while since we were walking so drat much It felt nice. The buses can get a little cramped and hot especially the more touristy ones going to the vatican. They're not that bad but I could smell what people had eaten recently on some of them they were that up in my grill. The food is amazing, I could eat gelatoo and prosucttio (butchering it I think) all night long. Oh and dear god If you're planning on going to the Vatican Museum or anywhere near the Vatican BUY YOUR TICKETS AHEAD OF TIME ONLINE. I cant stress this enough, we did it for most places we went but it really paid off here. The line stretched like 4 blocks and was so daunting a wait in the heat I probably wouldnt have waited to get in had I not been able to skip directly to the front of the massive queue show my online ticket with my passport and get to seeing what I came to see. The Sistine Chapel was cool but I geuss I'm too respectful because the many guards telling everyone "no photos" and the signs declaring "no photos" seemed to deter about 70% of the group while the rest snapped away flash included. The only penalty was being told to stop so there was no real penalty to most who deemed it worthy enough to take a picture of what the rest of us were walking silently under and respecting. Hell I'm an Atheist who kept his mouth shut and walked around enjoying it for its history and beauty but I still respect the stuff enough not to take flash photography of it, you can start arguing like the one British couple I heard that "Pfft a million flashes probably wouldnt hurt it theyre just giant babies" however I'm of the opinion that it doesent matter if it takes 1 or a billion to harm the tapestries and paintings and stuff have some respect jerkwad and take pictures of the many things you're allowed. /end rant, basiacally GO TO ROME you wont regret it. Bring good walking shoes, good refillable waters bottles and a hearty appetite. And a room with air conditioning was certainly nice to come home to after sweating our balls off beating the pavement taking hundreds of pictures. Sorry for the spelling too, long rear end day dealing with massive flight time, flew 5000 miles in the last 24 hours.
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Sep 28, 2010 07:33
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Is Rome alright to visit in early December? We would save 60 or so euro each on flights that weekend instead of our originally planned weekend in October.
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Sep 29, 2010 18:30
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Which is the good part of Amsterdam? I'm hopping over there in November for a friend's birthday, and it turns out the hotel my mates have booked into is a) a boat, and b) only accessible by a ferry that stops running at 1am (according to a couple of reviews, anyway). Which doesn't sound all that appealing. What keywords am I looking for for a hotel that'll be walking distance from stuff? I'm guessing 'by the airport' is a bad sign, right?
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Sep 29, 2010 22:13
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I've always read to make copies of your passport. Welp, I've made copies of my passport. Question is, should I be carrying my passport or the copies? On one hand, carrying the copies seems like a better choice because I can lose that and it's no problem, but Mr. Police Officer might think it's bullshit that I'm showing him a piece of paper instead of my real passport. Or are the copies so that if I were to lose my passport, I could go to the US embassy and show them my copy and get it replaced? Except Mr. US Customs Guy might also think it's bullshit that I'm showing him a piece of paper that I could have easily doctored.
Ziir fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Sep 29, 2010 |
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Sep 29, 2010 22:44
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Ziir posted:I've always read to make copies of your passport. Welp, I've made copies of my passport. Question is, should I be carrying my passport or the copies? On one hand, carrying the copies seems like a better choice because I can lose that and it's no problem, but Mr. Police Officer might think it's bullshit that I'm showing him a piece of paper instead of my real passport. Or are the copies so that if I were to lose my passport, I could go to the US embassy and show them my copy and get it replaced? Except Mr. US Customs Guy might also think it's bullshit that I'm showing him a piece of paper that I could have easily doctored. If you're going out in the day to somewhere that's dangerous/at risk of pick-pocketing, then carry the copies. Any police officer will be fine, and you can always go back to your hotel with them to get the read deal if they are a dick about it. If you're going clubbing or whatever and need ID, you might need your passport to get into a club. If you lose your passport, the US embassy won't need a copy in order to get it replaced. It might help to have your passport number, but you've already written that down separately, right?
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Sep 29, 2010 23:12
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Sunday Assassin posted:Which is the good part of Amsterdam? The airport is miles away from Amsterdam. You want an address that shows up in Amsterdam on google maps. Leidseplein isn't a bad keyword but be prepared for loudness. Ziir posted:I've always read to make copies of your passport. Welp, I've made copies of my passport. Question is, should I be carrying my passport or the copies? On one hand, carrying the copies seems like a better choice because I can lose that and it's no problem, but Mr. Police Officer might think it's bullshit that I'm showing him a piece of paper instead of my real passport. Or are the copies so that if I were to lose my passport, I could go to the US embassy and show them my copy and get it replaced? Except Mr. US Customs Guy might also think it's bullshit that I'm showing him a piece of paper that I could have easily doctored. The copies are so if you get pickpocketed you know what your passport number is. As said above, if you really think the odds of getting nicked are high then leave the originals at the hotel. Usually you don't need them anyway. I scanned passports/credit cards/everything and saved them as a password protected zip called lol.jpg uploaded to my email.
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Sep 30, 2010 00:57
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Other than Madrid and Barcelona what are some good places to see in Spain? Coming through from the south of france with around 2 weeks of travelling. Places I've briefly looked at include Granada and Zaragoza. What about some of the islands scattered about? Anyone been to Andorra? You could probably lump in portugal as well (and add a few days)
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Sep 30, 2010 03:49
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Fists Up posted:Other than Madrid and Barcelona what are some good places to see in Spain? Valencia!
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Sep 30, 2010 05:48
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Liface posted:Valencia! Reasons/specifics?
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Sep 30, 2010 06:23
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flyingfoggy posted:Is Rome alright to visit in early December? We would save 60 or so euro each on flights that weekend instead of our originally planned weekend in October.
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Sep 30, 2010 07:56
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So I will be flying into London to visit my sister on November 13th and will be in Europe till the 1st of December. She wants to have an adventure and I'd really like to see some of the Mediterranean countries (mainly Spain/France, maybe Italy). Whats the best way for us to go about doing this? I'm thinking maybe fly into Madrid with a rail pass and go up through Barcelona into France. Alternatively, my sister does have a car but I'm not sure how feasible it is for 3 English only assholes to go gallivanting across the continent finding rooms on the way. Also I'd imagine having a car in the major cities (Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome ect.) would be more trouble than it's worth. So what are my best options? Also bonus points for recommending cool poo poo I should see/do/eat. Edit: Is northern France going to be miserable in late November? Also are we going to get hosed by the language barrier? "They" say the French are assholes and will sneer at me for my efforts in French, but I assume thats bullshit stereotyping... Right? Zosologist fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Sep 30, 2010 |
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Sep 30, 2010 22:42
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Fists Up posted:Reasons/specifics? Ciudad de las Artes y las de Ciencias, the giant park that runs through town in the riverbed, and the nice people.
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Oct 1, 2010 04:16
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Zosologist posted:Alternatively, my sister does have a car but I'm not sure how feasible it is for 3 English only assholes to go gallivanting across the continent finding rooms on the way. Also I'd imagine having a car in the major cities (Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome ect.) would be more trouble than it's worth. It's very feasible, but having a car in major cities is definitely more trouble than it's worth. If you're planning to spend most of your trip in major cities, I'd leave the car. If you've been around Europe before, I'd recommend the car and hitting smaller towns; if you haven't, I'd recommend trains & planes and hitting more major sites. Northern France is going to suck in late November, but it won't be any worse than Britain sucks in November, so I guess it depends on how sick you are of London's weather by the time you leave. Spain and the French & Italian Rivieras should be nice though. Stereotypes are usually based in reality, but they're still just stereotypes, and also English is widely spoken and understood, particularly by younger (< 50) people, even in France. Some people will be dicks, some won't. My spoken French is pretty awful, but other than a few food service industry people, I've never had anyone be rude to me about it (usually they switch to broken English fairly quickly into the conversation).
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Oct 1, 2010 09:35
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Zosologist posted:So I will be flying into London to visit my sister on November 13th and will be in Europe till the 1st of December. She wants to have an adventure and I'd really like to see some of the Mediterranean countries (mainly Spain/France, maybe Italy). Whats the best way for us to go about doing this? I'm thinking maybe fly into Madrid with a rail pass and go up through Barcelona into France. As long as you have a good road atlas, driving on the continent isn't a big deal. The tolls on the autoroutes in France are pretty expensive and you don't really see anything from them so stick to the secondary motorways and you should have fun. With 3 people splitting the gas it's probably a better deal than trains. Just find a parking place in the big cities and use public transport once you're there. The French are nice, normal people. It's just the Parisians who have that reputation and even then there are plenty of non-assholes there. I have encountered some total dicks in Paris, but the French people I know say that the Parisians are pricks to everyone so I wasn't getting special treatment or anything.
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Oct 1, 2010 10:31
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Fists Up posted:Other than Madrid and Barcelona what are some good places to see in Spain? Granada is probably my favorite part of Spain. They do the tapas thing to a ridiculous degree there, and you can pretty much live off 2 Euro beers, the Alhambra is incredible, and the whole place has a really nice chilled out vibe. Valencia is nice as well. I didn't have an absolute blast in Seville, but that might have just been travel burnout.
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Oct 1, 2010 12:00
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Anyone have any good nightlife recommendations for Prague? Currently here staying at the Mosaic House which is a really nice "hostel" (though I guess it's more hotel than hostel" and I love the city but have struck out so far with finding fun bars/clubs to go to at night. Heading to Budapest tomorrow. Can't wait! Europe has been amazing so far.
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Oct 1, 2010 16:04
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Just want to chime in and thank everyone for all of the useful information, I'm planning on backpacking Europe from June-November in 2011 and really appreciate all of the information and views in this thread. Good work, goons!
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Oct 2, 2010 00:54
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Is flying into Istanbul and then backpacking throughout Europe during the summer a great idea? Anyone ever done something like this or flew into Istanbul?
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Oct 2, 2010 05:33
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This is almost completely opposite to the questions in this thread, but Europeans, if you've gone to the US is there some kind of packaged food that you miss? I'm from the US but now I'm living in Germany, and I know several people from other countries here. For example, last night we were talking and the Russian guy said he'll ask his parents to bring some Russian caviar for us next week when they come to visit. My parents are sending me my glasses in a small box that has some extra room to fit something small, but I can't think of what to tell them to send that I wouldn't really be able to find here in Germany. Any ideas? Some kind of snacks, spices, herbs, etc? It must be factory sealed as I don't think they can send it otherwise. It can't be chocolate or any candy that can melt because my parents live in the desert and it'll probably melt before it even leaves the city.
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Oct 2, 2010 08:48
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Ziir posted:This is almost completely opposite to the questions in this thread, but Europeans, if you've gone to the US is there some kind of packaged food that you miss? I'm from the US but now I'm living in Germany, and I know several people from other countries here. For example, last night we were talking and the Russian guy said he'll ask his parents to bring some Russian caviar for us next week when they come to visit. My parents are sending me my glasses in a small box that has some extra room to fit something small, but I can't think of what to tell them to send that I wouldn't really be able to find here in Germany. Just quickly off the top of my head in Ireland I can think of: black beans, cilantro, apple cider (they have hard cider everywhere but not the delicious kind we are used to in America), salt water taffy. I'm sure there are a lot more. Anything related to Mexican food has been pretty difficult.
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Oct 2, 2010 09:31
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You can't find cilantro/coriander in Ireland??
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Oct 2, 2010 10:01
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Ziir posted:Any ideas? Some kind of snacks, spices, herbs, etc? It must be factory sealed as I don't think they can send it otherwise. It can't be chocolate or any candy that can melt because my parents live in the desert and it'll probably melt before it even leaves the city. Ranch Dressing?
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Oct 2, 2010 15:28
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You can change people's whole lives in Europe by giving them a Reese's cup. That poo poo is unheard of over here and watching people react to it is sometimes hilarious.
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Oct 3, 2010 08:38
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Mexican candy sounds like an awesome idea, but I was hoping for something "American." I was able to buy Reeses Cups in Switzerland so they must have it everywhere.
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Oct 3, 2010 09:58
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Ziir posted:I was able to buy Reeses Cups in Switzerland so they must have it everywhere. I don't think Switzerland is the same place as "everywhere", I broke some out in Italy with some Australians and French kids, and none of them had heard of them.
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Oct 3, 2010 10:50
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