Europe Trip Recommendation

[me_dennis]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Man...I really need to re-eavluate my finances then. I'm sick of taking 1 week holidays in Mexico, we need more than that.

My car is paid for, paid off for sometime now. It too is a 10 yr old car. I have zero debt outside my mortage. CC is paid off each month, nothing on my LOC. I consider myself a pretty frugal person but do tend to eat out a bit too much.

We need to tighten up apparently.

Eating out is probably what's killing you. Assuming you pay $10 for lunch, and $30 for dinner, another $10 for snacks and coffee, that's $50/day.
You can easily get by on $60/week on groceries and cook at home instead, with leftovers for lunch.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by me_dennis

Eating out is probably what's killing you. Assuming you pay $10 for lunch, and $30 for dinner, another $10 for snacks and coffee, that's $50/day.
You can easily get by on $60/week on groceries and cook at home instead, with leftovers for lunch.

####ing Albertans. I'm lucky if I get by on $80/week, cooking at home.

[Flabbibulin]

$60 and $80 a week on groceries?? I wish. Have to get my wife to take some tips for you all.

edit- after I think about it, the two of us are about $1000 a month at safeway, but that will always include a certain amount of non-food items of course. I would guess we are about $100 a week each on food- that is on the leftovers for lunch routine. 70% of that is probably in the produce and poultry sections. Anyway, off topic.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by me_dennis

Eating out is probably what's killing you. Assuming you pay $10 for lunch, and $30 for dinner, another $10 for snacks and coffee, that's $50/day.
You can easily get by on $60/week on groceries and cook at home instead, with leftovers for lunch.

Ya I'm pretty bad for buying lunches. I really need to stop doing that. I just hate brown baggin it. Sandwiches all week gets old in a real hurry. I'm not the most creative cook.

[FlamesPuck12]

For those who have been to Venice, did you stay in Mestre or in the main city? It seems like its twice as expensive to stay in the main city when you can stay in Mestre and just take a 10 minute train in the morning and at night.

[Cain]

Belgium.

Beer. Waffles. Chocolate.


Changed my life beerwise. I also loved Amsterdam, that was a great city.

[Flabbibulin]

Originally Posted by FlamesPuck12

For those who have been to Venice, did you stay in Mestre or in the main city? It seems like its twice as expensive to stay in the main city when you can stay in Mestre and just take a 10 minute train in the morning and at night.

When I was travelling Europe by myself around 2005, I stayed in Mestre and recall it being longer than 10 minutes, but perhaps I am not remembering correctly- I think I was also taking a bus in, which would obviously be different. Stayed right in Venice a couple years ago, but was part of my honeymoon and wanted to get a decent hotel in the heart of venice. I can't recall the ballpark price, but it is definitely one of the more expensive places to find a hotel.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Flabbibulin

Wife and I are going to England and Finland this July on a trip to visit extended family. Kind of feel like we aren't taking full advantage of the trip though as we have been to both more than enough times and won't have the time to go elsewhere. Will still try and get in some things we haven't before- although no offense to Finlanders (or Saskatchewanites for that matter), but there isn't much difference between Finland and Saskatchewan once you get out of Helsinki. Oh well, too bad my extended family doesn't live on the Amalfi coast or something.

Airfare through BA in July was absolutely ridiculous- about $1800 each... not including the flights to Helsinki.

Have you been to Savonlinna for the opera festival? Opera isn't my thing but seeing it in the middle of a castle was pretty cool. Also the home town of Rask.

You've likely done it but take a trip across the Baltic to Tallinn. The old medieval central part of town is a little known gem. If you go I'll send you the name of the hotel we stayed at. It had gigantic rooms and was right on the other side of the town wall.

[Flabbibulin]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

Have you been to Savonlinna for the opera festival? Opera isn't my thing but seeing it in the middle of a castle was pretty cool. Also the home town of Rask.

You've likely done it but take a trip across the Baltic to Tallinn. The old medieval central part of town is a little known gem. If you go I'll send you the name of the hotel we stayed at. It had gigantic rooms and was right on the other side of the town wall.

Was just talking about the ferry trip over to Estonia- have never done it but considering- a lot more doable I think than an overnight trip over to Stockholm. The pictures of Tallinn look amazing. We will have a rental car to visit the mom's side of my family, but they are more towards Tampere.

[Aeneas]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

I'm going to Paris in May for my 8th or 9th trip and have a few ideas beyond the usual or some ideas on how best to experience some of the usual places. As I said in a previous thread, if you're interested in Monaco and can make May 11th work I recommend getting tickets for the Historical Grand Prix. 60€ for tickets that are 600+ two weeks later for the regular Grand Prix.

Enjoy your trip.

Hey FF. Was intending to skip Paris on an upcoming trip (been there done that sort of thing) but now I need to go in for a day. Your thoughts on an approach plan.

Staying for 3 nights in Pont Sainte Maxence, so 50-60 km north of Paris.
Will have a car. There are 5 of us.

First thought was to drive as far as Gare du Nord, park it; then take train to the center.

Other options include driving all the way, and train all the way in. Your thoughts?

[sleepingmoose]

Originally Posted by Flabbibulin

Was just talking about the ferry trip over to Estonia- have never done it but considering- a lot more doable I think than an overnight trip over to Stockholm. The pictures of Tallinn look amazing. We will have a rental car to visit the mom's side of my family, but they are more towards Tampere.

I also highly recommend Tallinn. Awesome town centre, friendly people, and great history. Also some of the most beautiful women in Europe there.

[billybob123]

Originally Posted by sleepingmoose

I also highly recommend Tallinn. Awesome town centre, friendly people, and great history. Also some of the most beautiful women in Europe there.

And ugliest guys. (i.e. you look better in comparison)

They love to party too, if you're into that, they never really shut down.

[indes]

See the strippers in Prague!! I went after grad in 07 and it was mind blowing. Gorgeous

[polak]

Just used airbnb for the first time ever. that site is awesome

[FlamesPuck12]

Originally Posted by polak

Just used airbnb for the first time ever. that site is awesome

Ah yeah, I was going to ask if anyone have used Airbnb to rent. I've heard some good things about the site from friends who used it before so I've been doing most of my booking on Airbnb for the trip.

One of the hosts had to cancel the reservation for Venice so as a result, Airbnb gave me 20% additional credit to find a new reservation which worked out pretty well considering that Venice was the most expensive Airbnb we had so far.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by FlamesPuck12

For those who have been to Venice, did you stay in Mestre or in the main city? It seems like its twice as expensive to stay in the main city when you can stay in Mestre and just take a 10 minute train in the morning and at night.

Look into staying on one of the nearby islands with good ferry service to Venice. Venice kinda sucks. Don't spend more than one night there.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Look into staying on one of the nearby islands with good ferry service to Venice. Venice kinda sucks. Don't spend more than one night there.

Yeah, the place is a frickin' zoo during the day time. There is hardly anywhere to stand, and good luck finding somewhere to sit without paying for it. I remember standing close to a table and had no where else to go because I was at the edge of a huge crowd, and some angry man came out and told me that if I wanted to stand there, there I would have to pay 10 euros because I was too close to the table.

When I went, I stayed in Rovinj, Croatia and caught a catarmaran there and back. I heard that it at least settles down there at night and it is a lot more relaxing, but I didn't get to see that part.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Flabbibulin

Was just talking about the ferry trip over to Estonia- have never done it but considering- a lot more doable I think than an overnight trip over to Stockholm. The pictures of Tallinn look amazing. We will have a rental car to visit the mom's side of my family, but they are more towards Tampere.

Do it, you won't be disappointed. We stayed at the Hotel Taanilinna. It isn't fancy but the people running it are great and the double deluxe rooms are big. I forget the name of the room we stayed in but it was huge (room is the one pictured on the left http://www.tallinnhotels.ee/taanilin...ouble%20Deluxe )

The overnight trip to Stockholm is so long. If you want to you that way though I'd suggest just going to the Åland Islands. They are definitely not like Sask. rent bikes and just cruise around the islands. Great place.

If you have a car have you been up north? We took a great trip with our local Finnish friend from Jyvaskyla all the way up to Nordkapp in Norway. 2 days to drive there but was great. You could just go to Rovaniemi, take your picture standing on the arctic circle, see Santa, and eat some reindeer but going to the top of Europe was a memorable experience.

Originally Posted by Aeneas

Hey FF. Was intending to skip Paris on an upcoming trip (been there done that sort of thing) but now I need to go in for a day. Your thoughts on an approach plan.

Staying for 3 nights in Pont Sainte Maxence, so 50-60 km north of Paris.
Will have a car. There are 5 of us.

First thought was to drive as far as Gare du Nord, park it; then take train to the center.

Other options include driving all the way, and train all the way in. Your thoughts?

With 5 parking at Gare du Nord makes sense instead of training it all the way. We've rented a car from there and there are lots of one ways and it might be a bit of a show to get to your garage but it's doable. Here's some garage options. http://www.parkingsdeparis.com/EN/Ga..._car_park.html

[nik-]

Originally Posted by polak

Just used airbnb for the first time ever. that site is awesome

It really is, I'm going to book my whole trip using it, minus a few news in big cities. I got a whole apartment for 2 days, like 5 minutes from major sites, for less than the price I was going to pay for one night at a hotel.

The site is crazy good.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Nyah

I'm heading to Europe Friday to check some more cities off my list:
- Vienna
- Prague
- Istanbul
Does anyone have any tips or good recommendations for things to see & do? I've heard Vienna has a really good Holocaust Memorial. Mostly looking for historical stuff & food. I don't know too much about Istanbul or Prague, so any advice would be awesome.

I think you left on your trip already but if you're checking back here I can send you some suggestions for Istanbul. Definitely check out Topkapi and go into Hagia Sofia and The Blue Mosque. Make sure you wear pants to go in the mosques and make sure any women with you wear conservative clothing and has a scarf to cover their heads.

Do go to the Galata tower and the bridge. If eating at one of the places along the bridge make sure you get the price of everything up front. They will pour you water and charge you for it even if you don't ask for it. Their initial prices are good but be aware of extras. I think it's a bit of a tourist experience to get hustled by the restaurants there but it's something I remember.

Visiting the market is also a must of course. Take a ferry ride on the Bosforus. Istanbul is a hilly city but the tram system works great.

Any questions just ask.