Travel EUROPE: Travel Tips & Tricks

[TheStinger]

ps: European passport not too sure about, mother was born in England, came to Australia at age 6, Father born in Australia.

My mum was born in Scotland and came to Australia when she was 10 and I was eligible. The only caveat was that due to me being born before 1983 (I think the cutoff was) I had to apply to become a British citizen first before I could get my passport. But if you are born after 1983, you are automatically entitled to British Citizenship and you can just go down to the post office and organize a time for an interview and go with your mums birth certificate, your birth certificate and a few other things that slip my mind right now (but all the information can be sourced at the post office) and they will do the check list, you pay your money (about $275 when I did it in early 2011) and they send it off to New Zealand and in about 3 weeks you get your passport.

Easy peasey.

 

[Scotland]

Also, not entirely sure Russia is entirely European, but does anyone have any experiences from Russia? I'd honestly like to do everything, time is the problem though, as well as money!

Russia isn't Europe, nor is it Asia. It's Russia, just ask a local.

It's well worth a visit, though. I visited on a tour and took in St Petersburg and Moscow. It's a fascinating place. The locals are an interesting bunch. Many speak English, but not many are interested in doing so. People (unfairly IMO) criticise Parisians and the like for not wanting to help English speaking visitors, but the Russians take it to an all new level. If they don't want to speak to you in English, they won't - regardless if they are fluent or otherwise. I've also never been to a place with such a high discrepancy in attractiveness between the women and men. Think Yelena Isinbaeva and Damian Monkhorst as typical examples. They are super serious about visas, border crossings etc. so be prepared to be anal with your organisation and planning and spend hours dealing with customs and immigration who will stand around doing nothing if they feel like it. You can argue with them, but chances are they (as above) won't speak to you in English and you'll end up in the Gulag. I highly recommend taking the Metro in Moscow. The architecture in the stations is incredible. Costs less than a dollar for a one way journey from any point to the next too.

 

[morri]

Visit Hamburg in germany, absolutely lovely. really cosmopolitan and great public transport It has a lovely dam river in the heart of it as well as a huge harbour, plenty of pars, and awesome music scene and nightlife if you are into it.

 

[wce4premiership]

Considering starting to plan this holiday properly now, have given myself 3 months (July, August, September) with the final destination being oktoberfest. During the start of the trip, being summer I am thinking of doing coastal regions, islands etc.

Has anyone here done the running with the bulls? Would love some insights.

Also, I've heard the rail system across Europe is great, but say for example the journey is a long one, is it still worth it or just as good to fly?

 

[Scottroo]

Considering starting to plan this holiday properly now, have given myself 3 months (July, August, September) with the final destination being oktoberfest. During the start of the trip, being summer I am thinking of doing coastal regions, islands etc.

Has anyone here done the running with the bulls? Would love some insights.

Also, I've heard the rail system across Europe is great, but say for example the journey is a long one, is it still worth it or just as good to fly?

I did july august september october back in 2010...my recomendations, head to turkey and organise a gallipoli tour...i can recomend accomodation and a tour if you like.

Hit spain greece etc in either late august early september, still cracking weather but not quite as busy and expensive, we didnt do running of the bulls but did la tomatina which is unreal.

we went to greece just for the islands, went to mykonos, stayed at playtos glatis which is an awesome beach about 10 mins from mykonos town and paradise beach which is where the good clubs are. we then went to santorini which is very different from mykonos, we stayed at kamari beach which is black sand. was pretty cool

hit my up for some info if you like, can recomend some cool places to stay

 

[Scottroo]

Considering starting to plan this holiday properly now, have given myself 3 months (July, August, September) with the final destination being oktoberfest. During the start of the trip, being summer I am thinking of doing coastal regions, islands etc.

Has anyone here done the running with the bulls? Would love some insights.

Also, I've heard the rail system across Europe is great, but say for example the journey is a long one, is it still worth it or just as good to fly?

we did a heap of trains from say rome to venice etc etc, and a couple from country to country but if its easy and cheap to fly the longer ones id do that. but if your going from say frankfurt to munich, definately train

 

[wce4premiership]

Cheers for the info mate, very early stages of planning so far ie: Basic list of ideas floating around but nothing on paper, just the available dates. I have been told that the greek islands are amazing, but the rest of Greece is dirty and depressing, any truth? Yeah I need to work out a draft itnerary to get basic distances and weigh up each travel day as either a train/plane or even a hire car stretch maybe of a week somewhere, anywhere you would recommend for good driving roads (scencic, good places to stop etc)

Help is very much appreciated, prefer talking to people that have travelled for advice rather than reading information on websites trying to sell you things.

Is la tomatina the huge tomato fight? Would be awesome haha

 

[crazyman27]

Driving along the Croatian coast is awesome.

 

[Scottroo]

Cheers for the info mate, very early stages of planning so far ie: Basic list of ideas floating around but nothing on paper, just the available dates. I have been told that the greek islands are amazing, but the rest of Greece is dirty and depressing, any truth? Yeah I need to work out a draft itnerary to get basic distances and weigh up each travel day as either a train/plane or even a hire car stretch maybe of a week somewhere, anywhere you would recommend for good driving roads (scencic, good places to stop etc)

Help is very much appreciated, prefer talking to people that have travelled for advice rather than reading information on websites trying to sell you things.

Is la tomatina the huge tomato fight? Would be awesome haha

Yeah la tomatina is the tomato throwing thing, crazy times...we hired a car for ireland, drove around for a week starting in dublin, upto carrick in shannon, then sligo, down to galway, spent 2 nights at a farm with an aussie mate in kilfanora then, down to ring of kerry etc...pretty cool

 

[Cruyff14]

Deadset go to Slovenia. The place does not disappoint.

And do you know any other languages?

 

[wce4premiership]

I don't know any other languages, am considering learning Spanish (although I'm aware it's of little use throughout the rest of Europe)

I've heard great things about Ukraine, has anyone been? Am looking very seriously into Odessa, not sure what else is good.

 

[robbieando]

Just got back from 6 weeks in Europe and if I was to do anything over again it would be to learn basic Spanish. While I spent more time in French and German speaking nations, it was Spain that was the only nation where the basic phases didn't work on the whole for me. In France you can get away with not speaking French as long as you make an attempt to say hello in French and ask if the person you are speaking to can speak English in French, they respect the effort. In most other Northern European counties they speak English, but learn the key phases and put in the effort.

As for trains you'll very rarely get many direct trains even within counties so put a cap on the longest amount of travelling you'll do in a day, research like crazy for time and rarely do 2 train changes. Look into a rail pass, if not for savings at least for the reservations that you'll need to get in some countries. If you have a an iPad download the DB Navigator app or research on the DB website.

Hotels are good, but pick a daily price point and try and stay central to the main train station. You can get away from that in London and Berlin by staying further out of the city centre but close enough to public transport.

As for cities I would recommend, well I loved Zurich and Innsbruck so I put them down as must see cities. As are Berlin and Amsterdam. But most of all do a rough plan, book your flights (maybe fly into say London, but depart from Frankfurt to save having to double back to London, saving a day of travel and importantly money) and then book sightseeing/events that you want to see and them into your trip into it and plan around those. Also be flexible in planning if it can save you time and money.

 

[wce4premiership]

Throughout July I want to try stay coastal, take in the warm weather in coastal areas (greek/spanish islands, riviera, portugal, odessa?) tossing up a few ideas of how to spread it out best.

On a side not, anyone have any recommendations of places to maybe break up the long flights. For example on the way to America I went to thailand first for 5 days, on the way back we stopped in Hawaii for 5 days. I just don't really know many places worth stopping into for 4 nights or so on the way in or the way out.

 

[Scream]

Recently spent 4 months in Eastern Europe. Spent a fair bit of time along black sea coasts of Bulgaria and Romania.

I could talk all day but Ill only mention a few places along there. The best thing about this area is that there were no Aussies, it actually felt like you were on a holiday unlike most Touristy destinations in Europe. We are a plague.

The first would be Sunny Beach Bulgaria. Sunny beach is a resort town that pops up in the middle of nowhere that is for the wild hearted. If you like to have a bit of a party head here, its similar to Bangla road Patong but with more class and a great variety of people from all over Europe. I got here from Istanbul by bus and you drive for hours without seeing much except green grass then it jumps out at you and your mind is blown. Not much to do hear in terms of sights or history, just beach and good times. Nothing better than partying all night and finishing up with a swim in the therapeutic Black Sea while the sun rises over the horizon.

A short bus ride up the coast is Varna. I only spent a couple of days in Varna but it is a pretty classy town. Sweet bar scene and some great restaurants. Its a pretty historical place with plenty to do and learn about Bulgarian history. Not a necessity but if your working your way up its worth a stopover. From there you can catch a bus up to Constanta which is on the Romanian side. Constanta is also a resort town with beaches and high rises but I found the architecture and history interesting. Crazy nightlife to. Didn't get up to Odessa, my guess it would be pretty similar. Headed inland to Bucharest after this which I loved. Old town Bucharest is pretty and at night I have never seen a guy to girl ratio quiet like it, it was literally 1:4. It was like Christmas came early. The Romanian girls are really approachable and I had many a great nights there

Also went to the greatest and cheapest beer hall in Bucharest. I cant get enough of Bulgaria and Romania.

Romanian drivers are without doubt the worst ive ever seen. Hired a car to drive to Serbia and have never felt so scared in my life.

Happy to let you know about Belgrade, Sarajevo or any others. Dont bother with Ukraine,out of the way and much less to do.

 

[Scream]

Deadset go to Slovenia. The place does not disappoint.

This.

Slovenia is the most naturally beautiful country. Bled and Tolmin are a must.

Ljubljana is like something out of a fairytale, the river area and architecture is spectacular.

Great people to, hitchhiked with a mate in the pouring rain after getting lost and got taken back to this couples house who took us in for the night

 

[Cruyff14]

This.

Slovenia is the most naturally beautiful country. Bled and Tolmin are a must.

Ljubljana is like something out of a fairytale, the river area and architecture is spectacular.

Great people to, hitchhiked with a mate in the pouring rain after getting lost and got taken back to this couples house who took us in for the night

Indeed

 

[The Dice Man]

Don't go in winter!!! I'm on the French riviera and was -2 degrees at 9am this morning. And yes my work is outdoors. Putain eh!!!

 

[Cruyff14]

Don't go in winter!!! I'm on the French riviera and was -2 degrees at 9am this morning. And yes my work is outdoors. Putain eh!!!

Nice?

Amazing.

 

[The Dice Man]

Nice?

Amazing.

Close... Cannes but I work out at Grasse and Valbonne area so it's colder than the coast.

 

[Cruyff14]

Close... Cannes but I work out at Grasse and Valbonne area so it's colder than the coast.

I thought Nice was spectacular. One of my favourite cities.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Jesus. Eight pounds from London to mainland Europe? I realise Ryanair is pretty awful, but that's insane. You pay that to go from Freo to the city and back!

And it looks like you can get, basically, 30 countries/three months on Eurail for about a grand. I guess that's pretty decent. I think I'll play it mostly by ear, having a few cities as certainties and a handful of definitive dates (soccer games, gigs, etc).

And overall, I'll say I have 7k for 11 weeks. That's excluding my flights from Aus and back to Aus, probably excluding the Eurail as well. Sound reasonable?

 

[Scream]

Where you going in Eastern Europe dude?

If you want an answer to the title of this thread. Belgrade.

 

[Ed_Gein]

Haven't really put much research into the costs but i reckon those rail passes only work for people that are looking to travel within the next day or 2. But if you plan everything to a T a few weeks in advance you could probably do it much cheaper (i wouldn't recommend it anyway, much better to travel on the fly). The cost of rail travel in a lot of Western Europe and Scandinavia make Australian prices look like a 3rd world country. Won't need a rail pass for Eastern Europe, you can just rock up and buy a train or bus ticket to travel between major cities for next to nothing i found. It was around £10 to go between cities in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland etc by bus/train. You'd be lucky to get somewhere 15 minutes away in Western Europe for that.

Why move to London? lol. It's pretty much a mini Australia, everywhere you go you'll bump into Aussies doing the same thing, it's boring. If you want adventure, move somewhere else where you can learn a language. Difficult at first, but it would pay off handsomely in the end. An Australian moving to London is quite mainstream SA.

 

[The Dice Man]

Jesus. Eight pounds from London to mainland Europe? I realise Ryanair is pretty awful, but that's insane. You pay that to go from Freo to the city and back!

And it looks like you can get, basically, 30 countries/three months on Eurail for about a grand. I guess that's pretty decent. I think I'll play it mostly by ear, having a few cities as certainties and a handful of definitive dates (soccer games, gigs, etc).

And overall, I'll say I have 7k for 11 weeks. That's excluding my flights from Aus and back to Aus, probably excluding the Eurail as well. Sound reasonable?

Yeah its extremley cheap. I was so worried about bag dimensions that I folded my bags in to make them a little smaller. Also worried a little about crashing too cause of the prices. But no problem. They make all their money on people not reading their conditions. ie if you dont check in online it costs you 20 or 30 euros or something to do airport check in. If you plan it like my girlfriend it, its really cheap.

I think 7k Euros for 11 weeks would see you get by pretty damn well.

 

[Sanders]

I'd probably spend six weeks in Eastern Europe. I know a fair few people and have checked some stuff, and they reckon $1200AU is enough for a month.

700 - 800 gbp per month?

Nah