Trip to Europe over winter break, advice?

[kabouter]

I would start at London, if you aren't on a real tight budget (and if you haven't bought the tickets yet).

I don't know if it's possible to trade the train for a car and return it in Italy, if that is possible I would make this trip:

London - Paris - Amsterdam - Berlin - Rome - Venice, this way you can stop in between and visit cities if you feel like it.

Berlin is a great city, I'm not that big a fan of Munich though.

When you go to Amsterdam, you need to visit one of the coffee shops, but don't go to the bulldog or the grasshopper, I hate those shops.

And pub crawling is great if you want to see a bit more of the city. If you are in Amsterdam, make sure you visit Paradiso, on the Thursdays they always have a great party called de noodlanding.

I'm in south Africa during the winter, otherwise I could show you some places to get completely wasted in Amsterdam :P

Ohw and if you are interested in the second world war you could visit Omaha, Gold beach etc... in northern France. But it's quiet a boring place, no night life what so ever...

[GoblinMason (Craig)]

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I would start at London,

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Good advice; this is what I did. Then flew to Barcelona; you can get really cheap tickets through airlines like easyjet and jetblue.

And if you do go to London, stay at the Generator Hostel.

[GoblinMason (Craig)]

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-the 3 of us only speak english, and we're assuming that we can get by without knowing any other language.

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In Amsterdam, Paris, Munich, and Berlin they all speak good enough english, although they don't appreciate it so much in Paris. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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- we're not sure of how much stuff to bring. someone suggested just bringing one of those huge backpacks and only a few changes of clothes, and I think we might be leaning towards that. What are your thoughts on that vs. a suitcase?

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Definitely do the big backpack. I didn't, (I had like a big over the shoulder bag) and I regret it.

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-do you think its better to plan out specific places to go beforehand, or just do most of it spur of the moment. i was thinking it's probably better to plan out places to go every night, and then we can just change it if we find somewhere else to go..

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You've already done WAY more planning than we did, but everything worked out fine. However, as I said, a little planning for hostels helps a lot. If I had to do it over again, I would plan better.

-Craig

[Sigurd]

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-the 3 of us only speak english, and we're assuming that we can get by without knowing any other language.

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Try to pick up a bit of Italian and maybe a little bit of French before going.
It really helps to have a faint idea of what something means, if the one who are going to explain it to you is speaking a bad English.

Also, it could make some situations much easier e.g. ordering at small resturants. Most places have English menus, but you could easily end up with something funny on your plate. I had the forsight to ask the waiter what "tripa" was (menu stated that it was "cow". What it didn't mention was that it was the chopped up stomac of a cow served in tomatoe soup. Also, it may be a good idea to check if the side dish is inluded when you order a steak (you wouldn't want to order a steak with triple potatoes and double salad).

[Jeffmet3]

Hey thanks for your advice so far.

This is what our updated itinerary is:

21 arrive in paris 7am
22 paris
23 paris
24 leave paris either noon or 3pm arrive in amsterdam
25 amsterdam
26 amsterdam
27 leave amsterdam to berlin
28 berlin
29 berlin
30 leave berlin, arrive in prague
31 prague
1 leave prague arrive munich
2 munich
3 munich
4 leave munich arrive florrence
5 florrence
6 leave florrence arrive rome
7 rome
8 rome
9 rome
10 leave rome 10am

we've been doing some research online and checking around, but if anyone had any specific suggestions of places to go in any of the cities it would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,

jeff

['Chair]

nothing really to add ... but strongly consider splurging on a hotel when you are in Amsterdam. AEK and myself paid roughly 175Eur/night.. well worth it.

in your next trip, you should consider spain.

I personally wasn't impressed w/ paris...2 days max and kick an extra day in Amsterdam.


Also while in Amsterdam, talk to the locals, ask for recommendations on coffee shots. AEK did a great job of this.

[upncoming]

since your going during the winter, just take a few days in london and amsterdam, then spend the rest of your time in the alps. thats were it all happends during the winter in europe, great skiing and the afterski is amazing

[Jeffmet3]

thanks,

we've decided that we're going to be staying in cheap hotels rather than hostels.

also, we want to see some sites and [censored] like that, so we're pretty set in our intinerary. if we wanted to go skiing, there's plenty of nice places in america

[William]

I don't understand you're not visiting London.
You can fly for practically no money to London from other European cities. Try Ryanair.com. You need to book online and some weeks in advance to get the best prices.

Enjoy your trip [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[BDub1]

I would cut a day from Munich and add it to Prague, the city is awesome. Of course, ya gotta visit ACF in Paris, if nothing else than to have your lungs filled with 2nd hand smoke. Have a good trip.