HELP! I'm going to Europe, what do I do? - EUROPE MEGATHREAD OWNZONE

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > HELP! I'm going to Europe, what do I do? - EUROPE MEGATHREAD OWNZONE

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Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Fragrag posted:

Does that magnetic strip ever get used actually? I don't think you should worry too much unless you want to get some money from the ATM with that credit card.

Cashpoints use the chip too, the only places where the magnet thingie is used are old-rear end small shops without chip readers, no?

# ¿ Aug 30, 2011 12:18

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 21:34

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Landsknecht posted:

Eastern european girls will gently caress you and then get super clingy since they want to go to the EU/US/Canada and have a better life

Supposing this fantasy is true, I must remind everyone that the only remaining non-EU Eastern European states are as follows: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, B-H, Kosovo. Better hurry up bruv!

# ¿ Sep 6, 2011 21:46

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Landsknecht posted:

Europeans just seem to appreciate being left alone a hell of a lot more than americans (especially in scandinavia), and it's pretty common to get a "WTF are you doing" look if you start to talk to someone when you don't have a question to ask/something important to talk about.

I'm gonna let you in on a secret: we just don't want to talk to Americans. It's all an act.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2011 00:20

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

250 euros a day? loving hell, I've done week-long trips on a few hundred euros and had a good time, you might as well stay drunk for two weeks straight and then wonder later how you actually ended up in Albania.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2011 15:51

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

PadreScout posted:

In Dallas I didn't do the clubbing thing cause I don't dance and it's freaking impossible to talk to people in a proper loud rear end nightclub, so I'm hoping to find more.. cafe/pub type places where I can talk up the locals, walk around- I dig architecture, buildings are nice.

You should check out Lisbon, it's central bar district is the chillest place on Earth. Berlin is cool too, but hella spread out and I've found travelling there a bit of a par.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2011 15:20

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Ishamael posted:

Any restaurant recommendations for Rome or Florence? Looking for something medium-priced, preferably unique/interesting or just goddamn delicious.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/if-youre-ever-in-florence-you-have-to-visit-this-m,11518/

# ¿ Sep 21, 2011 19:51

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Omits-Bagels posted:

I work in Paris for a vacation apartment rental company and I recommend a rental apartment over a hotel.

No way.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2011 19:37

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Sepist posted:

I'm in the intial stages of planning a europe backpacking trip and could use some advice. I plan to go in late march/early april with a friend - doing flight searches it looks like the cheapest way into europe will be from JFK to London (about half the price of other airports) so I will want to land there, from there I'm not sure where to go.

I have no particular places I want to see and I've never been overseas, I just want to backpack through a few countries, stay in some hostels, eat some street food and just take in whatever I can. I'm going to go for about 10 days and based on that I could use some guidance on what would be a good itiniary. My original plan was to hit UK/France/Switzerland and Italy but friends have been saying you need 10 days just to do Italy so I'm considering removing that from my list.

10 days isn't a lot, so you should think about minimising pointless travel time. Flying would complicate things, cos even if your flight only lasts an hour all the hassle will take half the day. By train you could do LDN, Paris, Brussels and Dam pretty easily. Or if you want to take it further out, I'd only pick Switzerland over Southern France or Berlin if you're really into, idk, lakes and cuckoo clocks.

Alternatively, if you're not that interested in London, just get a cheap flight from there to Barcelona, Nizza, Rome, Milan, whatever. You can get a round trip for probably 60 quid on easyjet if you book now for March or April.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2011 17:27

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Lady Gaza posted:

I'm going to Finland, specifically Yll�s, over Christmas. I know it's going to be very cold, about -15C I think, so I've got lots of warm clothes. Has anyone been there or anywhere similar in the Arctic Circle? Any tips? Hopefully will be seeing the Northern Lights, I'm wondering if my camera will hold up in those temperatures.

It's gonna be very dark

And yes, you will almost certainly see enough of aurora borealis to get bored with them.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2011 14:36

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Doctor Malaver posted:

From what I know about metal and nationalism in (most of) Europe, they don't overlap. Don't know much about the Scandinavian scene but still I think you are exaggerating this issue.

The overlap would be in Slavic Europe, innit? In Scandinavia the worst you can say about metal socially is that it's hillbilly music.

Helsinki and Stockholm will both be nice enough in February, not too much snow but the wind from the sea can be a bitch. I infinitely prefer them in the summer, but there's a certain charm to the darkness too. Berlin is a much more interesting city than anywhere in Scandinavia obviously though.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2011 15:30

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

If it doesn't go down to -5C or so, it'll be preposterously ugly with all the brown slush and rain. But yeah, take some good shoes with you, it'll be dark but not too cold.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2011 01:28

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Re: the Alhambra - can you get tickets if you book like two days in advance, or does it have to be earlier? We're travelling through Andalucia with no set dates or plans, but I really do want to get in there.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2015 12:07

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

King's Cross is totally fine and super convenient.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2015 23:17

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

HookShot posted:

Yeah that schedule sounds bad, skip Dresden and spend those days in Prague, I'd probably actually just spend all that time in Prague and skip Germany entirely.

Otoh if you even think of visiting Dresden you must have a good reason for it.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2016 20:10

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

I bet you lot get into all sorts of wacky adventures, whereas I just look at paintings and eat burgers and never need any of these things

# ¿ Sep 1, 2016 13:17

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Y'all need to give up on cars for a minute - you can take the bus to any remote backwoods hicksville basically anywhere in Europe.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2016 22:13

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

thistravel posted:

This is bad advice. It will take you forever to get to most places by bus, even if they are served by buses.

That's very relative. It doesn't really make a huge difference to me whether it takes me 7 or 10 hours to get to place X if I'm going to be reading, sleeping or drinking during that time anyway.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2016 20:20

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

I was gonna say that you can wear Chucks anywhere that you don't need a tie to enter but then thought that maybe I'm wildly misunderstanding France

# ¿ Oct 11, 2016 15:33

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Chocolate Milk posted:

There's quite a few free museums you would have seen mentioned (British Museum, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, etc). They're worth a visit although keep in mind that as they're free, some of the exhibits can be old-fashioned.

I like the possible implication here that the British Museum, arguably the greatest museum in the world, is somehow not quite up to par because it's free.

My standard advice for visitors to London is to get a taste of authentic regional South Asian cuisine, as that's much harder to come by anywhere outside of Britain. Some of the Pakistani restaurants in Whitechapel and thereabouts are incredible, and I love some of the South Indian places on Drummond Street (although I don't eat meat, so that'll skew my perception).

# ¿ Oct 19, 2016 12:26

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

HookShot posted:

Yes thank you I know what the word authentic means, and Britain is FAR from one of the rare places where you can find authentic South Asian food, which is what Ras Het said in his post.

That actually isn't what I said.

http://londonist.com/2016/08/where-to-eat-regional-indian-food-in-london

# ¿ Oct 19, 2016 18:36

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

I've found booking.com by far the easiest and cheapest option for hostel/hotel rooms, though I don't know what the selection is like in Ireland. It's trash in Scandinavia IIRC, but I've had nothing but good experiences in Russia, Germany, Spain and Portugal.

# ¿ Oct 27, 2016 12:58

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

I also like to get on top of a Jungfrau

# ¿ Nov 6, 2016 00:54

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Lisbon is beautiful and wonderful and full of fascinating history and good wine. I'd say you'd have to have some pretty specific reason to pick Malta over it.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2016 16:21

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Yeah I was gonna say that it might well be very rainy in Lisbon at that time of the year.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2016 16:35

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

hypoallergenic cat breed posted:

Neither of us drink, and we're southern college students so we tend to be kind of cheap. His eyes were bulging at just the price of how much getting from the airport to the hotel via tube is going to cost for the both of us.

Like three pounds? If the airport is Heathrow.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2016 16:08

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

caberham posted:

If you guys can't even afford the subway you might as well just enjoy this trip through google street view

I think they already understood that you're an obnoxious rich jackass

# ¿ Nov 17, 2016 16:36

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

hypoallergenic cat breed posted:

It's $7 usa or £5.30 person from Heathrow, but maybe I'm doing something wrong? We're used to driving ourselves everywhere so it's just odd paying. But yeah I'm an unemployed student and he's a painter and we were gifted the flight by my parents for my birthday so we're just trying to make the best of it while we're there. We were trying to find a nice birthday dinner.

Get Oyster cards, you will need them. Then it's three quid from Heathrow into town, or five quid on weekday mornings.

# ¿ Nov 17, 2016 17:07

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Dreadite posted:

Gonna be in madrid for a week prior to Christmas.

Questions:

1) Wat do (Museums, food, botanical gardens?)

2) Is there anywhere worth visiting around Madrid for this short trip? Is Valencia worth the 90 minute train ride?

Edit: Realistically, what can I expect weather-wise? Constant drizzle or just cold and dry? Will it be a waste of space bringing my hammock?

Prado and Thuyssen-whatsitsname are both very, very good. We missed out on Reina Sofia last time, but I can't imagine it being bad either. There's a botanical garden near the street where the museums are, but the only thing I remember about it is some pathetic looking super-rare pine that had CCTV guarding it. Oh and there's an exhibition pavillion at the gardens, last year they had a cool photography and video art exhibit there.

e: hang on, why would you bring a hammock?

# ¿ Nov 21, 2016 10:42

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Would you, like, go and set up a hammock in a park? I can see the appeal, but that sounds fairly weird, even ignoring the fact that you're going in December.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2016 18:13

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

caberham posted:

Just remember

So he probably wants to kid to grow up in some English speaking country. Instead of UK or Ireland I suggest the Netherlands. Unfortunately no one really speaks Irish and the language is still in the midst of a revival. Kid is going to be bilingual speaking English and Dutch, plus being in continental Europe beats living in UK. And if you ever get too stressed out just legally smoke some weed.

Live in a small Dutch village and commute to the city for work or whatever. Oh and the Netherlands being so flat you can just bike everywhere and take trains across the country.

The kid would grow up bilingual anyway if the parents speak English to them, that logic is weird.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2016 11:53

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

ulvir posted:

Heading to Tallinn this coming Easter (being Norwegian, I've already looked up public holidays and such to be safe). Any tips on what to see/experience there, and places to eat? Not 100% on number of days yet, but I suspect at least 3-4 nights.

The old town is neat, and there's good views from the top part with the big churches and whatnot. Haven't done any of the museums in the central city, but the maritime stuff in the Paks Margareeta tower (at one of the entrances into the old town) looks cool.

If the weather is nice you can take a walk down the shore towards the west from the main harbour. First there's some old Soviet fortress, then an old Soviet prison that you used to be able to get into (not sure about right now), and then you get to Lennusadam, where there's a naval warfare museum. All of that area is still weirdly underdeveloped, I really liked its vibe.

I can only offer vegan food recommendations, but V on Rataskaevu was fantastic, so I can't imagine the other Von Krahl restaurants next to it would disappoint either. Must Puudel is a fun hipster caf� at the southern edge of the old town: the food was good and the inner courtyard is super nice. And since you're Norwegian, everything everywhere will seem basically free to you.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2017 14:40

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

birds posted:

Anyone have any information on taking a train from Prague to Cesky Krumlov? Is that even an option? Google Maps keeps telling me to take the RegioJet bus.

Don't know anything about this specific case, but for future reference, Rome2rio knows these sort of things better than Google Maps. https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Prague/%C4%8Cesk%C3%BD-Krumlov

# ¿ Jan 30, 2017 18:28

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Doctor Malaver posted:

They have trolleybuses in Belgrade, I haven't seen that anywhere else.

They have them all over Eastern Europe and Russia.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2017 22:26

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Doctor Malaver posted:

Well I didn't seen them in Moscow, Kiev, Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, Ljubljana or Zagreb.

Moscow has the largest trolleybus network in the world apparently. Anyway, I'm not an expert on the matter, but I've been to Petersburg, Moscow, Novgorod, Tallinn and Kaunas lately, and they all had trolleybuses.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2017 00:21

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Jedi Knight Luigi posted:

Hi all, I have a 20-hour layover in Helsinki on April 13. Could I get a hostel recommendation within walking distance of obvious things to see in Helsinki? I'll be landing at like 11 at night, and plane leaves at around 7 p.m. the next day. Enlightenment on "obvious things to see" also appreciated.

The obvious things are probably the cathedral and the area around and to the south of it, and the Suomenlinna fortress a 15min ferry trip away out to the sea. So a hostel between the central railway station and Kauppatori would be good for you, but I don't know about them.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2017 19:38

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

birds posted:

And what's the point of the ParisVisite? That seems way more expensive than the Navigo.

You need a passport photo for the Navigo, so it's already a bit more effort than the tourist ticket. We stuck with the single tickets when we were there for a week, we might have lost a few euros on that, but it's a simple and convenient system.

# ¿ Mar 7, 2017 16:08

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Saladman posted:

most of a tourist's Paris is very walkable except getting to Sacre Coeur or moving between two distant places (e.g. Arc de Triomphe to Pompidou).

Maybe I'm a weirdo, but to me that's pretty walkable if you're not in a hurry, and the Sacre Coeur is only a few kilometres from say the Louvre (and the stairs are a minor nuisance for a healthy person). You'll get much more out of walking the Champs-Elysees for an hour than of dealing with the metro for half an hour

# ¿ Mar 8, 2017 15:30

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

Sweevo posted:

Why does everybody from America think they're going to get scammed or robbed the second they step off the plane?

They sense that we hate them

# ¿ Mar 14, 2017 12:44

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

HookShot posted:

Because being in a nice rental car is always more comfortable than being in a huge bus?

Part from the huge fact that you have to drive

# ¿ Mar 15, 2017 11:19

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 21:34

Ras Het: May 23, 2007; when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child - but now I am a man.

sausage king of Chicago posted:

My mom has a friend who is getting married in Vidago, Portugal. She asked my girlfriend and I to come with her, but we are stuck with making the plans. Looking into it, it seems like kind of a pain to get to. The closes airport appears to be Porto, which is a little over an hour away, so we'd have to rent a car. Last year I was thinking about driving from Paris to Amsterdam and everyone in this thread told me to not do that for various reasons and take a train instead, which I did. Is it the same thing here?

We were considering renting a car, driving it from the airport to Vidago for the wedding, then driving the car down to Lisbon which is like 4 hours away. Is this a terrible idea? I'm also considering telling my mom we won't be able to make the wedding and just going to Lisbon instead for a trip, since this whole thing seems like a big pain to plan and execute.

Take the bus? Santos Viagens seems to run several buses a day from Porto to Vidago. And if you cannot take the bus due to being American, just get a taxi from Porto - a hundred euro between three people isn't that much.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2017 20:42

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > HELP! I'm going to Europe, what do I do? - EUROPE MEGATHREAD OWNZONE

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