Ironman273 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 So I was planning on taking the family to Europe this summer and was hoping I could get any sorts of advice from other Neowinians. I was planning on going to Paris then taking a train to Barcelona and continue to Italy (Venice, Florence and Rome). Going mid June to beginning of July, roughly 2 weeks. The last time I vacationed in Europe was in 1989, so things have probably changed a bit That time taking the trains was no hassle and we pretty much played it by ear. I was considering using Airbnb for lodging instead of traditional hotels so if anyone has any experience with that please share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeChipshop Member Posted January 5, 2015 Member Share Posted January 5, 2015 Although not in any of the places you've mentioned, i have a lot of mates on AirBnB and it seems to be a pretty good service with some nice places on there. Having been travelling in Europe (well i am in Europe anyway) since the early 90's i'd say not much has changed, you'll probably even travel on a few of the same trains Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian M. Veteran Posted January 5, 2015 Veteran Share Posted January 5, 2015 Rome is an absolutely lovely place. The metro in Rome is pretty easy to navigate - and if you can, avoid the tourist restaurants. There are loads of places which are amazing off the tourist track. Pizzeria Ai Marmi in Trastevere is the best pizzeria I've ever been to. If you want to do a bit of a European Tour, I'd probably suggest flying to London, staying a few days, then getting the Eurostar to Paris (or you can fly, but the Eurostar is probably quicker given the amount of time you have to spend waiting around at airports). From Paris you can then fly to Rome (if you fly into Fiumicino it's about 25 mins by train away from Trastevere). You could even add Amsterdam into the mix if you wanted a 4 stop holiday! Bear in mind that if you do go to London, you'll have to go through immigration twice, as we have separate immigration controls in the UK to mainland Europe, so you'd go through immigration in London and then again in Paris. Once you're in mainland Europe you can cross borders without any controls (or even a passport for that matter), so Paris -> Italy will be an easy journey - just bear it in mind if you're booking cabs or anything . In the summer time the queues at UK immigration can be horrendous. One thing I've been planning on doing myself is a drive from northern to southern Italy. Might hopefully be doing that this year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 When I went the first time we started in London and worked our way down through the low countries, Germany and ended up in Italy. This time around we juggled various itineraries and decided to hit the places my wife wanted to see: Paris, Barcelona and Italy. We also only have 2 weeks and we want to make sure we enjoy the places without feeling rushed so I'm pretty sure it'll be those 3 countries. One concern I had was travel within Italy. I figured once I was there it would be simple to get from city to city but checking the Eurail site it has some weird schedules from, say, Venice to Florence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted January 5, 2015 Global Moderator Share Posted January 5, 2015 the fact that you have 2 weeks is good, but travel time is a huge burden. I would really focus on 1-2 cities in Italy. on my first trip to Europe we did back packing through several countries. We had 2.5 weeks, but we were running in and out of train stations every 2-3 days. It got old pretty fast. I've done the jaunt from Paris to Barcelona. It's exciting and fun but takes a long time. I dont know what it's like today, but we even had to change trains in southern france near the border. That train from the border to Barcelona was horrible. Since it appears you'll be traveling from Florida, you can automatically toss out 3-4 days for flights. Most likely it'll be an overnight flight, so those are essentially 2 days gone. The return flight will most likely be during the day, so there's another day lost. That will leave you with, basically, 10-11 real days in Europe. Paris for 3 days, travel day, Barcelona for 3 days, travel day, then whatever city in Italy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted January 5, 2015 Author Share Posted January 5, 2015 I didn't count the travel in and out as my 2 weeks. The flight is overnight so I get there in the morning. I'm considering that my first day. I'm also budgeting one day's travel between cities, except within Italy, where it should be half a day. Right now I have Paris for 3 days, 1 day travel to Barcelona, 2 days in Barcelona, 1 day travel to Italy, then stay within Italy 9 days, then leave the next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vojta Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I've done the jaunt from Paris to Barcelona. It's exciting and fun but takes a long time. I dont know what it's like today, but we even had to change trains in southern france near the border. That train from the border to Barcelona was horrible. Direct connection 186 miles per hour: http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/larga_distancia/productos/AVEFrancia/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakem1 Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 You're trying to squeeze far too much into two weeks IMO. You could easily spend a week in Paris and still only see a fraction of what it has to offer. Rome is the same and the other cities you've mentioned deserve at least a few days each. If you can't take more than two weeks holiday I would just focus on two cities (probably Paris and Rome) and fly between the two to minimise the time spent travelling. Alternatively, there's a sleeper train between Paris and Rome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compl3x Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Watch out for the street scammers? I've read in some places they can be bad. One I read about in a reddit post was people come up to you and hand you a trinklet or piece of jewelry and then make a scene, usually accusing you of theft, to try to make you pay for it to shut them up and get them to go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 Watch out for the street scammers? I've read in some places they can be bad. One I read about in a reddit post was people come up to you and hand you a trinklet or piece of jewelry and then make a scene, usually accusing you of theft, to try to make you pay for it to shut them up and get them to go away. My son was just telling us about that! (he spends a lot of time on Reddit) The Evil Overlord 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Evil Overlord Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Just don't expect it to be like in the Transporter movies or From Paris With Love, the lack of hollywod explosions can be a turn off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 What are my options for a SIM card? Is it economically viable between three countries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vojta Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Yes, it doesn't matter how many European countries you visit: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech/cell-phone-europe See also other related articles there. Ironman273 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Yes, it doesn't matter how many European countries you visit: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech/cell-phone-europe See also other related articles there. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GotBored Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Watch out for the street scammers? I've read in some places they can be bad. One I read about in a reddit post was people come up to you and hand you a trinklet or piece of jewelry and then make a scene, usually accusing you of theft, to try to make you pay for it to shut them up and get them to go away. I'd honestly just throw it back at them or drop it on the floor and walk away, not sure why people get all panicky when someone gets loud and tries to create a scene and cave into their demands. For Ironman273, I'd suggest packing light so you can do a bunch of shopping and then bring that shopping back to the US with you. Also if you do decide to travel by train you should get luggage suitcases that are light and easy to move around as you may be walking with them a fair bit. For taxi's as a general travel tip only use taxi's with meters, I think you will be fine in the places your visiting but in some locations you will get ripped off being a tourist if they just give a set price rather than go by the meter. For the attractions you want to visit you should check tripadvisor for info and tips which will come in handy: e.g.: http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g187791-d192285-r3545482-Colosseum-Rome_Lazio.html backup and clear you camera or smartphone memory so you have plenty of space for more pictures. As for AirBnB, I personally have not used it but it has some very nice places on it and friends have used it to rent holiday houses near the beach locally in Australia and it worked well for them and it also seems like a better option than renting multiple hotel rooms or one large expensive room for the family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perochan Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I was told to avoid any tourists spot like Paris because of scammers and stuff. And i was told by my German friend that the best places to visit in Europe is Amsterdam, Switzerland, and Scotland. You know the places tourists don't usually go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compl3x Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I'd honestly just throw it back at them or drop it on the floor and walk away, not sure why people get all panicky when someone gets loud and tries to create a scene and cave into their demands. I'd probably be inclined to do the same thing. I guess they only need to sucker-in a few people an hour and they probably earn more than many people doing honest work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Thanks for all the input guys. I will be traveling by train. Luckily my wife is a great packer so we can usually do a one week trip for 3 with 2 carry-ons. This 2 week trip we're probably going to do with 2 carry-ons. I was looking at getting a Eurail pass. After checking a couple more ticket prices (the prices have dropped a little in a week) I think I decided in flying into Barcelona, then going to Paris, then Italy. The flight to Italy was on XL France Airways, which has pretty bad reviews. The flight to Barcelona is more but it's British Airways. Anyways, is the Eurail pass worth it or would it be better to pay for the individual trips? I'm still searching the costs of the individual routes but I thought someone here might have some insight on rail travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 Shameless bump for me. Ignoring my last question (which was a little complicated) does anyone have any general tips for rail travel in Europe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetor Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Dude, come to Portugal in the summer; it's one of the best experiences you will have in your life: great weather, fantastic food, incredible beaches, warmest people you will meet and good night life for chilling. All that just in capital (Lisbon), so imagine if you go to some of the best places like our medieval castles (Lisboa, Sintra, +E.Worm Jimmy and Odom 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukenorman Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 If you have never been to Germany then visit Bavaria Germany. Clear lakes, clean country nice architecture etc . On the list I saw online latin romance countires. At least visit one Germanic ( and yes Germany is not the only Germanic country for example Netherlands is another Germanic country because Dutch is a Germanic language. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 Dude, come to Portugal in the summer; it's one of the best experiences you will have in your life: great weather, fantastic food, incredible beaches, warmest people you will meet and good night life for chilling. All that just in capital (Lisbon), so imagine if you go to some of the best places like our medieval castles (Lisboa, Sintra, +E.Worm Jimmy and Praetor 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 Yay! Got my tickets. Now there's no turning back. One question I had, if someone could help me out. I'm arriving to Barcelona and I realize I am going to rely heavily on a mobile data connection for communicating with the Airbnb hosts and to use Uber for transport. Should I get a SIM card when I land in the airport or get it cheaper in a shop in the city? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiranui Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Barcelona is the pickpocketing capital of the world. Tip: put mousetraps in your pockets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetor Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Barcelona is the pickpocketing capital of the world. Tip: put mousetraps in your pockets. now that's a Pro Tip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.png.d0ebccb494f4680a0aee8f8a4c46d4de.png)
Recommended Posts