I might go to Europe

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Thor

If your flights allow, do a 2 day stopover on the way in Iceland. If you do it on the weekend you will see a crazy nightlife scene.

But yeah 3 is what I would do in your shoes for sure.

Forgot to follow up with you Thor, but I booked for 6 of us boys coming up to Reykjavik at end of October for 5 days down there. Really looking forward to it!

[drPepper1]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Go to Budapest, just go.

Will def try to fit in some time for the Budapest women, but so far it's looking more like Paris, Barcelona, Ibiza, Munich, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam and reading festival in London..http://www.readingfestival.com/line-up

Might squeeze in one of Switzerland, Budapest, or Belgium also

[polak]

Barcelona is awesome! Make sure you hit up Opium if you're into clubs. Full of tourists so you can get around and it's big and busy. Fancier though so a dress shirt and shoes is a must.

Ibiza... well that speaks for itself.

Sigh, today is the last day of my trip. Going to go chill by the Eiffel Tour all day and try to soak it in as much as possible

[NBC]

Originally Posted by drPepper1

Will def try to fit in some time for the Budapest women, but so far it's looking more like Paris, Barcelona, Ibiza, Munich, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam and reading festival in London..http://www.readingfestival.com/line-up

Might squeeze in one of Switzerland, Budapest, or Belgium also

You should come up with some contingency plans. Swaths of central Europe are in a high flood alert at the moment with Prague, Dresden and parts of Austria worst affected.

Please check out the situation before you go there and have alternate plans if some of the places you want to go are in recovery mode.

[NBC]

Originally Posted by drPepper1

Flight is officially booked! So far I know i'll be heading to Barcelona, Prague and ending in London for the 3 day Reading Festival for now.

As for places to stay, do any of you have experiences with any of the hostels out there? would it be better to rent an apartment room daily or stay at a party hostel?

Pepper, my hosteling days are well behind me, so I'm afraid I cannot offer any tips or advice on where to stay. Like another poster mentioned, Premier Inns and Travelodges in the UK can be good value, so can B&Bs. Typically if you are a single traveller, B&Bs are an ok option. You can stay for £30 in many places across the country - even cheaper if you don't mind sharing a bathroom. Sometimes hostels are just as expensive and you get a bunk bed in a room of 20, communal bathrooms, terrible continental breakfasts and curfews.

Small hotels and pensions are good value in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. Central European destinations usually have a good selection of cheap, small hotels and rooms to stay in. They can be enjoyable if you want to get away from the backpackers swapping stories of where they've been and how long they've been "travelling" for. Also Ibis hotel chain is pretty cheap. My better half and I stayed in one in Bratislava and it was under 40 euros for a double, singles even cheaper. They are clean, basic and cheap. Most have wireless internet. Personally, I prefer these types of places as I value privacy over partying. But then I'm old!

Accommodation in Paris, London, etc can break the bank if one's not careful. I'd think for you that a nice mixture of accommodation types would suit your needs.

If you have any questions about locations, etc in some of the places you are going, feel free to PM me and I'll help out if I can.

[NBC]

Originally Posted by polak

Ibiza... well that speaks for itself.

Did you enjoy it there tovarich?

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by polak

Well it's the second last day of my 5 week European adventure. Had a blast but I have to say, I miss Canada, a lot, so I think it was a perfect amount of time.

After this long, you start to notice that everything in Canada and the US just makes so much more sense. Thats what I miss the most outside of friends and family and my own bed. There are so many little things here in Europe that make you go "wtf were they thinking?" I know a lot of it is from having to build around ancient infrastructure but even a lot of the new, modern stuff makes no sense and it's not just construction, it's also the way that stuff is organized and planned and carried out.

Or maybe that's just cause I've spent the last 5 weeks in Poland, Spain and France where the general attitude seems to be, why do it right when I can do it half assed and have a smoke instead...?

Outside of those little annoyances this trip has been unreal. I'm pretty sure I was on the brink of death from 4 weeks of straight partying. There were 3 days where I didn't have a drink in those 4 weeks. In Ibiza I wasn't home before 7 am, 4 out of the 5 nights. I met so many great people and made so many amazing memories, this will definitely be something I look back on when I'm old and smile. If anyone is reading this and is on the fence about doing a trip like this, DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I lived there for a year and had to detox just to feel part of society again.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

I would avoid Switzerland, not because it isn't beautiful, but rather because it is the most expensive place to visit out of anywhere listed here. It is pretty easy to be frugal in major cities such as London and Amsterdam... in Switzerland, every single thing seems to cost major money.

[me_dennis]

sorry to hijack this thread, but I will be in Munich for a week (6 days 7 nights) in early september, so just before oktoberfest.

We plan on renting a car and driving around Germany, and I was wondering if anyone has any tips on which places are worth checking out?

We've come up with a list of places that we'd like to check out:
- neuschwanstein castle
- prague
- dresden
- berlin (we may skip this and spend more time in bavaria)
- switzerland (which city would be good to stay in?)

Thanks in advance!

[NBC]

If you are interested in history, I'd suggest going to the Obersalzburg in Berchtesgaden, which is the location of Hitler's Kehlsteinhaus (Eagle's Nest). The views are breathtaking. It is near enough to Salzburg which is of course the birthplace of Mozart.

While in Munich one can visit Dachau Concentration Camp. Opened in 1933, Dachau was the first concentration camp in the Third Reich.

On the western side you have probably the nicest part of Germany in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley also known as the Rhine Gorge. The area between Koblenz and Bingen is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and you can take river cruises between the two places quite easily and they are highly recommended.

[East Coast Flame]

Girlfriend and I are doing a trip through Europe at the end of June/early July.

Thought we had our itinerary figured out, but these floods have gotten us to reconsider.

The plan was London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Dubrovnik and Milan....but now we are thinking about skipping Prague. Any recomendations of where we should go instead?

[NBC]

Depends on what you want to do and your itinerary route. There is an awful lot in between central Europe and southern Dalmatia. You could spend some time on the islands in Croatia. Brac, Vis, Korcula are all accessible from the mainland. Ferries will run from Dubrovnik, Split, etc.

If you want cities, you could go to Munich, Vienna, lots of places in Italy. Florence is nice in June.

The options are limitless, well except for the flood zones.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by East Coast Flame

Girlfriend and I are doing a trip through Europe at the end of June/early July.

Thought we had our itinerary figured out, but these floods have gotten us to reconsider.

The plan was London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Dubrovnik and Milan....but now we are thinking about skipping Prague. Any recomendations of where we should go instead?

I haven't been to Milan, so I can't comment, but two places in Europe I absolutely loved, and thought was a must is Paris and Nice. As well, Rome has a lot to see, though partying wasn't too interesting. Paris is a fantastic all around city though. Food, culture, partying, woman, structures - it's got everything.

[OffsideSpecialist]

It sounds like pretty well the entire area I'm planning on going to are the ones being flooded at the moment. Although, hopefully things should be better by August.

I'll be flying through Munich regardless, but I have been thinking I should come up with an alternate plan in case of trouble where I'm planning to go.

Also, anyone have experience with US Airways? That's who I'm flying with. I have a connection in Philadelphia each way, about 1:40 on the way there and 2:20 on the way back...so I hope that is sufficient time.

[NBC]

Things will be fine by August though that is going to be the busiest month in terms of tourism - Europe wide.

[polak]

Home sweet home!

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by polak

Home sweet home!

What were three top things (ie: would do again)?

What were three bottom things (ie: would not do again/was a let down)?

[polak]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

What were three top things (ie: would do again)?

What were three bottom things (ie: would not do again/was a let down)?

Hmmm both of those are really hard questions.
I'd say the top 3 memories/things to do, in no order were:

- Seeing the quarter finals at the French Open
- All of the partying. Sure it was expensive, but definitely worth it to me.
- Watching the Champions League final at a packed Irish Sports Bar in Barcelona in my Borussia Dortmund gear. An absolute blast.

There was also a ton of other great, more touristy things like the stadium tours we did in Mardid and Barcelona or going into Notre Dame or on top of the Eiffel Tour (pretty good work out fyi), but I'm not really into most of that. For me it's more about trying to soak in where I am then spending times in museums and stuff. For example, despite only having one night in London (layover) walking along the Thames, pub hopping and talking to randoms was another one of my favorite experiences.

Also, because of this picking let downs is actually pretty hard. I guess Madrid in general was sort of a let down. Very nice city and there are a few cool things to see but that time might have been better spent in another city. I also kind of regret flying every where. Might have been cool to train it a few times. Another let down was our resort in Ibiza. We thought staying in an all inclusive would be awesome but because it was a lot more family oriented, I think we missed out a bit on the party atmosphere during the day which you could see at some of the other hotels a long the beach... Oh, and the time spent in the tiny town in Poland where my family lives sucked as well, but hey, I didn't have much of a choice there. Have to see my family.

There are many many more amazing memories from this trip outside of those that I listed earlier and really there aren't very many bad ones if any. It was just an amazing trip in every way.

One thing I will say is that I'm waiting until I have more money next time I go to Europe. Seems like if you have a little cash to blow a place like Paris, or Ibiza would be heaven and all the little things that bugged me (like the hotels) would be fixed.

[MissAvery16]

Anyone ever eat the space cakes or truffles while in Amsterdam?

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by MissAvery16

Anyone ever eat the space cakes or truffles while in Amsterdam?

Yes...and yes. Space cakes all depends where you go to get them. We bought some at Amnesia and they were great and yummy. Apparently Paradox has the strongest edibles in Amsterdam, but most coffeeshops will have edibles. Some have weed, some have hash, the good ones have both!

As to truffles, we did the "Philosophers Stone" ones. It was pretty fun, definitely not the same as a mushroom trip but definitely worth doing once just to see. You can also get Wet Shrooms there and dry them out, they aren't allowed to sell dry shrooms. We got ours from "The Magic Mushroom Gallery" which is down by the flower market. Its about 10 euros for a serving. They taste pretty gross as you might expect.

Also this is a great website to find out more about the coffeeshops in Amsterdam, it was our resource guide when we went.

http://www.coffeeshop.freeuk.com/index.htm