Ok all you european travellers

[Tankstar]

Ok so my friend and I took the plunge. we are doing a trip to europe (land in london fly out of Rome).

who else has been? tips? tricks? sites to see ect.

We plan to bus/train it all over and see as much as we can in 2 weeks (Plus one day)

I have always wanted to do this. And she was orignally going with her now ex boyfriend. they broke up, and this is where I her best friend steps in and says "Ill go" lol not even thinking about any of it. Trip is paid for now. just need ideas of great places to see and do.

we figure we will mostly stay in hostels. as really how long do you even stay in a hotel, all it is is for sleeping/showering. we would rather save money and do more. then sleep in luxary and see less.

So lets hear it.

and if any of you european chazzers want a house guest for a night or two to hang out with, let us know lol

I cant believe I did this. I just got back from Bahamas not even a month ago, and now have another huge thing to budget for lol. But oh well

[Dizzy]

Are you going from London to Rome? You want a whistle stop tour of lots of places?

If I was you is look at hiring a car, and travelling that way. You can get the train or ferry across the channel to the rest of Europe, and you can plan a tight schedule MUCH better. It probably wouldn't cost you much more in total than you would spend on public transport. And you'd get to see a lot more, on your terms.

There's lots to see in our fair isles if you're travelling round the uk at all. When are you going?

I'm down south in Cornwall in may with the dogs for a week, and if you venture up north at all, we have spare beds in Wales. And we are kind of central ish.... If you don't mind travelling an hour or so to get to the middley bit... Lol.


Eta

If you hire a car, just whack a route into google maps and work out stops on the way. I have lots of friends who travel to festivals all over Europe, and that's what they do. They see some cool places, hidden gems


The forumla 1 motels are SUPER cheap places to stay en route along motor ways etc. look at booking into them. Or look for youth hostels. They are also very cheap and in some cool places!

[Tankstar]

We are traveling from Londond and going south so to say, hitting paris, belgium switzerland and then italy. is the tenitave plan. who knows lol. we will be there may 9th.

we didnt want to rent a car, but are debating on it. due to tolls routes, driving on the "wrong" side, getting super lost ect lol.

Plus trains can doubles as hotels for the night lol.

Hostels will be our main choice of sleeping places.

[Dizzy]

You only drive on the wrong side in the uk, everywhere else is your side you could hire a car in France, so it'd be ok.

And I've driven a French car in france! You soon get used to it. It adds to the fun.

[Lyzelle]

I think I'm the only Chazzer that will be in Italy. Unless we do some great big, everyone fly to Italy meet up.

I'll be in Aviano, about an hour outside of Venice.

I can't promise you can stay with us since we don't even have a house yet. ...but you're welcome!

[Michiyo-Fir]

What do you want to know? I used to live in London and have been all over Europe.

I would say though, if you're going between Europe, I highly recommend the trains (Eurostar) or cheap flights from Easyjet compared to buying airlines like British Airways, etc. because it's SO cheap to get from place to place in Europe.

I've literally flown from London to Rome for something like 130-150 euros. If you book easyjet early, it's incredibly cheap!

In London if you're staying a week, an unlimited weekly Oyster card would be good. It basically let's you take transit (buses and tube) unlimited for a week and it's not too expensive. From my experience, better than paying each time, especially if you're going to a lot of places.

ETA: I would be careful when driving in Europe! London and Paris, traffic is extremely extremely hectic to my North American mind. Absolutely terrifying for me unless you're somewhere a bit more remote like Nice or Toulouse. I wouldn't ever dare to drive in those areas, the roads are incredibly narrow, lots and lots of one way streets... I can barely cross the road in central london

To get to France, the Eurostar if you book early is about £40 there, £40 from what I remember.

I think you'll have a ton of fun!

If you have time in London, try a game called hint hunt. It's an escape/problem solving game where they put you in a room and you have to get out. Everyone that I know that has gone loved it! Too bad I didn't get to go last time but definitely will next time

HintHunt

[GipsyQueen]

I would suggest flying with a cheap eurolpean airline (such as ryan air or german wings). You can get one way tickets really cheap (we flew from Rome to Frankfurt for 40€ with a piece of luggage.) It often cheaper than taking the train. And honestly... since you're only in Europe for about 2 weeks... you don't really want to waste your time on a train =/ We took the train to Rome from Frankfurt and it took us about 18 hours in total. It was a night train and we were totally finished for the day when we arrived because no one could sleep.

Oh. Don't drive. Save yourself the stress. We drive differently here, my friend (from the states) totally freaked. Street signs are different (we have like 100000 of them), if you go through Germany we drive FAST on the Autobahn and while it's awesome, if you are not used to it, it can get dangerous (like you check the left lane if you can merge... no one is there, then you actually try and merge and you have some car up your butt that wasn't there before and is now hitting the breaks). This is a problem in France and Germany. The Swiss on the other hand are slow.
Also you're not going to actually NEED a car. Public transportation is great here and you can get anywhere. Most Hostels won't have a parking lot either and you'll end up paying alot of parking fees. Siriously though, driving is not worth the stress. Esp. since you're driving though so many different countries, all the rules are a little different as well as the street signs, which if you ignore could get you in trouble =/ Also Gas is way more expensive here, we're at about 8$ for a gallon.



I would also suggest going to Germany, because a) you'll have a bed and b) I will be able to meet a chazzer. I also live in a beautiful city near Frankfurt.
I'm about 4 hours east of Paris and 3 Hours north of Basel.

[Laurelin]

We did kind of the opposite. Landed in italy, did Capri, Pompeii, Rome, Florence, then Lucerne, Paris, and London. We took a train from Paris to London but rode buses everywhere else. It was awesome.

[Laurelin]

As far as sights to see, my favorites were Pompeii and Switzerland. Switzerland is gorgeous. Florence is really neat too and Paris has some fantastic art museums if you're into that kind of thing. I loved the Musee D'Orsay but I have a thing for impressionism and post-impressionism. So many Van Gogh's in one place. <3

Versailles was a pretty neat day trip too.