Visiting Europe for a month this summer - Page 12

Kneel B4 Zod · #**111** 03-12-2007, 09:56 AM

I lived in Athens for 3 months. It's the quintessential city that doesn't have a lot of traditional sightseeing to do, is not very pretty, but is an amazing place. Great food, great nightlife, great culture, very relaxing.

Marnixvdb · #**112** 03-12-2007, 11:03 AM

btw it surprises me a bit to see Versailles, Geneva and Copenhagen on the list? Nice cities, but wouldnt be my first choices. I live in Europe (the Netherlands) and I've never been to those cities, and even though I would like to visit them some time, I wouldn't include them on a Europe round trip. What are your reasons for picking them?

Re: trains/flight

If you get good ticket deals, flying can be less expensive than traintickets.

Kneel B4 Zod · #**113** 03-12-2007, 11:11 AM

Versailles isn't really a city, more like a day trip from Paris. still, I wouldn't go there unless I had 7 days in Paris, unless I had some particularly strong interest in landscaping or near-modern castles.

I've only been to Copenhagen once, it's fine. more to see and do in other cities I think.

flying can indeed be a good deal, but be real careful with RyanAir. lots of their airports can be very difficult/expensive to get to/from (like Milan Bergamo). Some are fine, like London Stansted. others are a pain but mayb worth it, like Brussels Charleroi.

basically, for travel within the 'core' of Western Europe, trains are probably easier. From southern Italy, Greece, Ireland, England, or places like that, flying can be a great choice.

britspin · #**114** 03-12-2007, 12:03 PM

Metetron- I know this might sound like a stupid idea, but if I'm around at the time, and you're planning to visit London around the 27th July, I'd be more than happy to show you round Parliament (I work in Parliament and have a security pass, so we can go to places the tourist guides won't go).

It'd have be on a weekday, though, so might disrupt your planning. PM me or post here if interested...

cheers.

Shadowrun · #**115** 03-12-2007, 02:25 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Metetron- I know this might sound like a stupid idea, but if I'm around at the time, and you're planning to visit London around the 27th July, I'd be more than happy to show you round Parliament (I work in Parliament and have a security pass, so we can go to places the tourist guides won't go).

It'd have be on a weekday, though, so might disrupt your planning. PM me or post here if interested...

cheers.

[/ QUOTE ]

did you like v for vendetta?

Im_Your_ATM · #**116** 03-12-2007, 03:34 PM

Before this thread dies out I thought I'd try to get some recommendations as well.

On June 24th I'll be in Tanzania for Kili climb and safari with a friend who is volunteering there. I'm debating if I should continue traveling from the 14th to the 24th, go to Tanzania and volunteer with him on the 15th or go back to the U.S. and fly back again. #3 option seems dumb.

Below is my friend's itinerary for us (he's been to Europe unlike me). I'd like to mix in the rafting that one of the posters mentioned but other than that I don't have enough knowledge to critique the proposed itinerary so please give some input.

One other question: if I stay abroad what is the best way to get my Kili climbing gear over to Tanzania? I don't want to carry it my whole Europe trip. 1. ship it by itself 2. send it over with my friend leaving from NY on the 24th even if it might be his third piece of luggage and must pay $$$ 3. carry it you baby

I can go between June 2 and June 15. Here is what I came up with so far:

June 2- Miami-Athens (Spend 3 days there going around the Islands)
June 4- Athens-Berlin
June 6- Berlin-Geneva
June 8- Geneva-Amsterdam (From here we can get back to Athens in the below way, or try to get the return ticket from elsewhere)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 11- Amsterdam-Milan
June 14- Milan-Athens

The total cost up until Amsterdam is $265 with taxes, and all the way back to Athens is $417 with taxes. Turns out my frequent flier ticket won't work for this trip because it is the busiest time of the year, but I can use the free complimentary first class ticket and we can split the cost, or try to find some cheap airfare. Looks like it'll be over $1,000 either way.

TheMetetron · #**117** 03-12-2007, 03:47 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Metetron- I know this might sound like a stupid idea, but if I'm around at the time, and you're planning to visit London around the 27th July, I'd be more than happy to show you round Parliament (I work in Parliament and have a security pass, so we can go to places the tourist guides won't go).

It'd have be on a weekday, though, so might disrupt your planning. PM me or post here if interested...

cheers.

[/ QUOTE ]

I did this with a friend who is an elected official in the Danish parliament and I thought it was awesome. I'd definitely be interested.

July 27th is a Friday, would it be possible to do it that day? I didn't think tours were open yet at that time so we didn't really have plans to go inside, but if it can be done that'd be cool.

What do you do there? They are fine with you bringing visitors? PM me and we can figure out the details.

Arnfinn Madsen · #**118** 03-12-2007, 05:24 PM

It's getting a bit messy, so don't really know what to comment/which advice to give. Geneva, really a [censored] city as in city for partying, staying in hotel, going to nice places, also a lot of people only speak French and people are generally arrogant and it is dirty. But there are some informative things (maybe not what you want to do in your holiday). You can visit the UN headquarter or the Red Cross headquarter or CERN and get good info about a lot of stuff. It is also a great base for a road trip part of the journey if you like nature, if you head southwest you drive into some of the most beautiful parts of Europe in France. It is nice in winter for skiing, but it is more beautiful in summer, absolutely fantastic. Again a matter of taste.

Arnfinn Madsen · #**119** 03-12-2007, 05:30 PM

Here is a site with pictures of the Alps around Grenoble (close to Geneva):

Grenoble Cycling pages

This one, just amazing, almost feel like going there tomorrow morning thinking about it:
Col du Galibier

Arnfinn Madsen · #**120** 03-12-2007, 05:47 PM

To the newest arrivals, slow down your speed, remember that when you go from Athens to Berlin or something similar everything is totally different, your mind needs some time to get adjusted to the new place, after a few days you start to feel the vibe more, then it is stupid to have to start thinking of packing bags, the greatest times are almost always from day 3-4 and on in the city/area.