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freebooter posted:LIVING IN LONDON! A friend and I will be arriving in London around November with the intention of living and working there for about a year. This will be the first time either of us has moved out of home into a place not provided by employers, and I'm pretty excited by the idea of living with my best friend in one of the greatest cities in the world. Cheapest areas are probably south of the river. Central London is stupidly expensive and not the best place to live, as it's so busy and you get sod all for your money. If you live a bit further from central you can get a decent place, and still get into town in a short amount of time. The Tube has a zone system, and for example I live in the north, Zone 2 and am about 20 minutes from the centre. Basically the further out you go the further your money goes. A few years ago I lived in Camden (north) which is a busy and trendy place and I paid about £520 a month for a doublebed room in a 4-bed flat. Now you'd probably pay more, say £600 for that. Obviously it'll differ if there's just two of you. Living with more people tends to bring the cost down a bit. I'm living a bit north of Camden now with my girlfriend and I'm paying a bit more than before but we have the flat to ourselves, though it's a one-bed so not as big a place. I can't say too much about the work situation, but you'll find that a lot of Australians do bar work. Or hairdressing. Also I've encountered a few doing temp work for agencies and such. Try this thread for more specific info: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3032504&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 It's an England thread but mainly populated by Londoners.
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Aug 6, 2010 17:22
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H floresiensis posted:Thanks, I was watching something on gypsys doing that and some thing with ATMs as well. I'll probably keep a purse on my side and zipped up. Is the public transportation confusing? All we have in my city is a bus, and I don't really pay attention when I am in Toronto with friends riding on their subway. Sorry for all the questions this is my first trip to Europe and my first trip alone. Yeah it's probably best just to travel light with a purse/shoulder bag thing. Don't do this:  as it screams 'scared tourist' more than anything.
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Nov 6, 2010 13:39
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H floresiensis posted:Thanks for all of the suggestions you guys. I tend to get anxious and overthink and overplan. As Fists Up said, lots of hostels offer private rooms. Pick a hostel that has private rooms and a decent common area and you will be able to get privacy at night and also meet people. Check out hostelbookers.com, I've always used them in Europe. e: hostelworld.com is good too, as Fists Up said
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Nov 7, 2010 13:00
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You could just do Ireland (to visit your friend), then spend the rest of the time in Italy and perhaps do some of Switzerland. Definitely cut down the number of places.
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Nov 11, 2010 12:35
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qirex posted:I couldn't find a London thread so I figured I'd post here. I'm going to be there for a week in mid-April. I was originally going to go see the Arsenal/Liverpool game at Emirates but tickets seem to start at £100 so I figured if I could find a cool bar and get really drunk with some fun rowdy folks for a fraction of the price. Should I start looking around the stadium? also try the England thread (mainly Londoners there tbh) http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3032504 and the London goon meet thread, there might be something going on when you're here. actually there's a GOON QUIZ on the 16th April which should be a blast, the last one certainly was. we're all a nice bunch and are always up for drinking http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3391872 weather is a bit unpredictable but at the moment it's 16-18, so will probably be around the same. nice enough weather. doubt there will be fog but most likely rain at some point (april showers!). wind can vary, and the long roads create a tunnel effect which can magnify it. in short, weather is very changeable. Lady Gaza fucked around with this message at 13:09 on Mar 22, 2011 |
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Mar 22, 2011 13:06
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Booked a last minute trip to Paris with my girlfriend, we're there for 4 nights. I'm looking into accommodation and was wondering about areas to stay in; any recommendations? We both like walking so somewhere fairly central would probably be best. We're probably going to go fairly cheap and get a private room in a hostel. If we do decide to spend a bit more money, what was the name of that website where you can rent apartments?
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Apr 18, 2011 14:07
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Paris is a great city. Queues and vendors and touts will only be a problem if you just go to the really touristy bits. I was there recently and it was so nice, I really enjoyed wandering around the Latin quarter.
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Jun 27, 2011 14:49
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goldboilermark posted:Does anyone know if the civil service strikes in the UK are affecting the airports in Scotland? I'm flying into Edinburgh tonight and got an email from EasyJet saying there might be delays. Does anyone know anything about this or have a pulse on the situation? Not sure if this has complete information but probably is worth a look. http://www.j30strike.org/location/edinburgh/ Give Easyjet a call and turn up early for your flight.
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Jun 30, 2011 10:14
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^ not directed at you as you have reasons for going to each place (family etc). Why is everyone spending 3 days per country?  You can spend that amount of time in some cities and still not see enough. It should be in the OP in big letters that it's far better to spend more time in each place rather than going from city to city every couple of days.
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Nov 3, 2011 17:43
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I'm going to Finland, specifically Ylläs, 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.
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Nov 4, 2011 11:23
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Yes I've just had another look and it can get to -30 or -40 even. Fun! I have decent clothes that I take skiing so hopefully I should be OK..
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Nov 4, 2011 13:36
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With Ryanair you get the fewest problems if you only have carry-on bags. One of the more annoying things about them is their constant playing of adverts over the tanoy while in-flight. I really didn't want to hear about J2Os at 4am. Also they tend to vastly overestimate flight time (4 hours London to Pisa, really?) so that when they arrive before that time they can claim 90% or whatever of their flights are on time.
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Jan 12, 2012 14:08
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So, I'm sure it's been mentioned a million times in this thread (I've looked through the first third and the last ten pages), but anyone have any more recommendations for Berlin? I'm going on Friday (arriving lunchtime, leaving Monday evening) with my girlfriend. In general we like walking around and seeing the sites and getting a general feel for the place (when we went to Paris we must have walked across the entire centre), going to a couple of good museums, etc. So far on our list is: Bundestag roof Friday night Fat Bike Tour on Saturday Mauerpark on Sunday We thought that anything interesting we saw on the bike tour we could go back and look at in more detail afterwards. Also we plan to go to the DDR museum, maybe the Deutches Historiches Museum, East Side Gallery. For food, we are aiming to try Burgermeister, Monsieur Vuong, and some currywurst and falafel. Am I missing anything obvious? Also if anyone has any interesting bars they can recommend that'd be great, we're likely not to go raving or clubbing but wouldn't mind going to some cool places to have a drink. I'm a fan of different beers so somewhere serving more than just pilsener would be nice.
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Jul 13, 2014 15:37
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elbkaida posted:Did you book a ticket for this? If not, try to do that right now! I think online has to be a day or two in advance or something. I did book it, yes  Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, my list is now super long so am sure I will do a ton of things while I'm there.
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Jul 16, 2014 06:45
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I'm in Barcelona for a conference, I have 3 hours free tomorrow morning and maybe 3 the following morning. Any recommendations for things to do in these two instances? Since I'm unsure if I will be free the second day I'll put must-sees on the first day.
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Aug 31, 2014 16:31
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Any tips for Budapest? Going there Friday-Monday with my girlfriend. Among other things we like: unique food, beer/cool bars (well that's mainly for me), walking, historical/political sights, photogenic landscapes. We aren't too fussed about museums unless it's really stellar, or one that is important for understanding the city/local region (e.g. we found the DDR museum and topography of terror in Berlin really interesting). It seems Budapest has a lot of landmarks and is quite walkable, but just wanted any tips if anyone has them.
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Sep 21, 2014 20:49
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regularizer posted:I'm planning on taking a trip somewhere in Eastern Europe/the Middle East for about a week in November with a group of 6-8 guys in their early/mid 20s. We're traveling out of Tel Aviv and so far I'm considering going to either Istanbul, Prague, Berlin, Athens, or Bucharest. We're looking to go somewhere that will keep us occupied with sights, museums, activities, and night life for that week that isn't too expensive. Does anyone have any insight about any of these places, or think I should check somewhere else out? Istanbul is one of my favourite cities. Beautiful, loads to see, safe, cheap, good transportation, great nightlife. Highly recommend it.
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Oct 4, 2014 18:29
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PT6A posted:I've never been there personally, but I have yet to hear anyone say something bad about visiting Istanbul. The worst thing I've heard is, "well, if you don't like chaotic, big cities, it might bother you..." Yeah Istanbul is massive and super busy but that's another reason I loved it. Even at 4am the centre of town was buzzing.
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Oct 5, 2014 13:34
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Zilkin posted:Planning on spending a week with my brother in London this January, and would love some detailed tips on what to do. This will be the first London visit for both of us. Things we have planned so far are: If you like science and history museums the Hunterian is worth a visit. It's at the Royal College of Surgeons and is all about anatomy and surgery, lots of things floating in jars. It's quite small and doable in a couple of hours.
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Oct 13, 2014 22:34
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Powerthirst posted:I'm headed to Europe for 13 days in May and since I have never been outside the country I am wondering if anyone has some suggestions for me. I will be meeting my brother in Athens for the last couple days of my trip and to fly home. This is far far too much for 13 days. Why not just go to Italy and then Greece for a few days?
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Oct 17, 2014 05:55
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Omits-Bagels posted:Here is a list of Paris day trips that I wrote a few months ago... http://thesavvybackpacker.com/day-trips-paris/ Oh that's your site? I stumbled across it while searching for tips for travelling light. Found it very useful!
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Nov 8, 2014 02:25
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Zilkin posted:We'll be there for about 7.5 days. We've got the things we wanna do in London pretty well planned out, and at the moment the day trip is planned to be Oxford visit. Honestly though with all the museums we are going to see in London it would be cool if our day trip wasn't to see an old university town. Although the Pitt Rivers Museum seems kinda cool. Also if people have suggestions on what to do in Oxford that would cool too. You could go to Brighton for the day, it's like 45 mins from London Victoria station. It's a big seaside town and had cool independent bars/cafes and lots of little shops (go to 'the lanes'). It'll be cold, mind you, but then everywhere in the UK will be cold mid-January.
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Jan 5, 2015 08:53
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What's Portugal like in mid March? Thinking of heading there for a week (from the UK) with my girlfriend. We're not bothered about beaches, we were probably going to check out Porto and Lisbon and do a couple of day trips into the countryside.
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Feb 9, 2015 08:47
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My wife has a conference in Basel at the end of June so we're both going to fly out there a week earlier and then I'll fly back once her conference starts, so we'll have 8 nights in Switzerland for our trip. I've been to Basel a number of times, and we're not so bothered by spending time in cities, so our initial plan was to: - Fly London to Basel in morning of Sat 16th June, and then get train straight to Lucerne so we're there early afternoon - Spend a few nights (3/4) in Lucerne and do some day trips - Get the train down to Interlaken area and stay (3/4; depends on if we spend 3 or 4 in Lucerne) in one of the smaller mountain towns (not Interlaken itself), see the Jungfrau, do some day hikes - Get the train back up to Basel early on Sat 23rd June, spend the afternoon and the night in Basel - I'll fly back to London the following day, my wife will stay in Basel for a few more days for her conference How does that sound? We're more interested in the outdoors, e.g. day hikes, seeing mountains, etc. and the weather should be good so we want to make the most of it. Lucerne seems like an attractive place so we'd also probably spend a day wandering around there. Just wanted to check I've got the right amount of time in each place; it looks like there's a lot of outdoorsy stuff in each place so didn't want to rush anything. Lady Gaza fucked around with this message at 16:29 on Feb 24, 2018 |
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Feb 24, 2018 15:57
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Thanks both, that's some really useful info. I didn't realise there were so many mountain trains/cable cars but that's great as I busted my knee from too much downhill hiking in Patagonia last year, so am keen not to repeat that. Looking at the Jungfrau region in more detail, it seems we can get the early train up to the Jungfrau as you suggest, and then after we're done up there get the train down one stop to Eigergletscher, and then walk the Eiger North face trail down to Alpiglen, before getting the train back down to Grindelwald. Do you know if the Jungfrau train ticket allows this? Technically it'll be three journeys; Grindelwald-Jungfraujoch, Jungfraujoch-Eigergletscher, and Alpiglen-Grindelwald.
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Feb 25, 2018 12:17
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I reckon I should be OK - did my knee in from going down Fitz Roy too fast and then doing another quick hike the next day. As long as I don't do 12 hour days I should be fine! I've got some decent trail running shoes which have great grip. Didn't think about the snow - naively thought the weather would be great in June! Hopefully the Eiger trail is open by the 22nd June as that's one I'm really looking forward to. Where do you check snow reports?
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Feb 25, 2018 20:04
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Is this the one you mean? https://www.gate1travel.com/europe/united-kingdom/2018/escorted/ireland-england-tours-14dgbie18.aspx Looks like you’ll spend most of your time on a bus, with the remainder being shepherded a short walk away from the bus to take a couple of photos of some landmarks. I can appreciate not wanting to do loads of planning or thinking but the UK is an English speaking, organised, developed, safe nation. Pick like 3 (or 4 at most) destinations you want to see, book some hotels and then just book some trains between them (or fly if you’re going from London to Edinburgh if you want to save time). There are tons of guides online that can plan out 2/3/4/5 days in basically any place, so you don’t really have to think. And even if that’s too much, just turn up and wander round, enjoy spending some actual time in the locations rather than sat on a bus staring at the UK’s road network.
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Apr 19, 2018 08:19
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I had the best carbonara of my life at a little restaurant run by an old couple, in a back street near the colosseum. Rome is so good for food.
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Jun 21, 2018 20:04
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I just came back from Oberland. After spending a few days in Luzern my wife and I had 4 days staying in Wengen and used that as a base to do some easy hikes on the various mountains. Wengen is a tiny town up the side of a mountains and was a really relaxed place to stay, with good train/gondola connections up the mountain and down into the valley. There are a ton of hikes you can do but I found this site: http://www.momstotszurich.com/category/region/bernese-oberland/jungfrau-region/ that really helpfully lists our various ones with pictures, directions, travel info, food stops, etc. do you don’t have to plan. It’s focused on hiking for families with kids but we still found it a really useful guide. As it was still early/mid June when we went the weather wasn’t always great, so we had a list of hikes we wanted to do and depending on the weather each morning we’d pick one ( I wanted to do the Eiger trail but it was still closed due to snow). The tourist and train station offices in that region are so helpful and have so many maps and speak perfect English it’s easy to get by. The Swiss have basically built a cog rail or gondola up every mountain so travel is easy. We were there for a week and bought the half-fare pass (available online) which saved loads of money. If you’re just sticking to the Jungfrau region I believe there’s a travel pass for there. Let me know if you have any specific questions about the region as it’s very fresh in my mind.
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Jun 28, 2018 06:44
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Beachcomber posted:I've heard they have a semi-impressive series of canals you might want to check out. Lauterbrunnen seemed quite nice, I only passed through but much better than staying in Interlaken in my opinion. Train/gondola connections up to the mountains are good too. If you’re thinking about travel passes, try and work out how many trips you’ll do up/down the various mountains while you’re there - sbb.ch gives prices, so you can work out if you’ll save money getting the Jungfrau pass or if something like the Swiss half fare card is better. We went with the latter as we went to Basel/Luzern/Jungfrau region and so were using trains/buses across the country. I can’t comment on driving in Switzerland but trains are super convenient and easy to use, I never once wished I had a car while there.
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Jul 3, 2018 07:27
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I don’t know much about the pass, but every trip I did from Wengen was using the transport on that map. If you’re doing the maths I would suggest comparing cost of Jungfrau pass vs individual ticket prices (at half rate) plus the cost of the half fare card, rather than vs full fare tickets.
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Jul 3, 2018 09:00
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Beachcomber posted:Wait... You negotiate for restaurant prices? Yeah it’s a thing in brick lane, kind of expected actually. Haven’t seen it anywhere else in the uk though.
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Oct 27, 2018 08:53
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HookShot posted:5 nights in Florence is way too many, and I say that as an art nerd that hates Florence but still, even objectively, that's too many. Do 5 in Turin, 3 in Asti, 3 in Florence and the rest in Rome. You will want those extra days in Rome, believe me. Yeah I loved Florence but we had 3 and that was fine. Maybe if we’d done more day trips into the countryside we could’ve had more.
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Feb 11, 2019 08:27
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I got a train from Rome to Florence, it was quite convenient
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Feb 11, 2019 17:53
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Shy posted:If I'm going to Vienna for three nights, are there week days that are better or worse for whatever reason? It’s a big international city so don’t imagine it’ll make much difference when you go. Sunday hours might be shorter for some shops, and also check that any museums you want to go to aren’t closed (some may do on a Monday for example).
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Mar 4, 2019 06:15
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I liked Florence. Though I went in mid/late September so crowds weren’t so bad. It was still ridiculously hot.
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Apr 12, 2019 20:09
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Two of my American family visited Europe for their honeymoon. They came to see us in England, went up to Scotland, then onto Amsterdam, Paris and Rome. All in 2 weeks.
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Apr 22, 2019 15:30
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bones 4 beginners posted:Hey looking for advice on where to stay in Switzerland in June for some easy to intermediate hiking. I've read a lot of pages suggesting the Bernese Oberland area, specifically Murren, Grindelwald, or Lauterbrunnen. I'm wondering which places are best for ease of access to a variety of trails(as in, not the same view over and over). I don't care about it being crowded or touristy, just looking for whatever facilitates hiking the best. That area is great. I stayed in Wengen which was really nice but as it was partway up one mountain, to get to other mountains for other trails I had to go down to the valley and then often get two (albeit short) other trains/gondolas. Somewhere in the valley like Lauterbrunnen or Grindelwald might be better, the latter being busier from what I can remember. Bear in mind that in early June some higher trails may be closed due to snow - I went early/mid June and the Eiger trail (which I really wanted to do) was shut. Otherwise it was fantastic, it wasn’t overly busy on the trails and the weather was great, plus all the alpine flowers were out.
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May 1, 2019 10:17
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If you want to focus on nature don’t bother with London or the south east of England. It’s fairly densely populated and areas like Kent, which can be quite nice, are quite flat and not as dramatic as say the Scottish highlands or parts of northern England.
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Jan 26, 2020 17:13
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lol
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Jan 31, 2020 23:12
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