• I'll be alone (for the most part)
• I've never been outside of North America

Of particular interest, thoughts on Eurail v. flying and hotel v. hostel.
 

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Posted by Ron Keillor (Member # 1790) on 05-25-2006, 12:09 AM:
 
Britrail passes are highly recommended for England; fare structure since privatization is said to be a nightmare. Best guidebooks for me were the Michelin Green guides, and the red Michelin for accommodation and meals helped stay in budget (your local library may have some). Best advice would be to select a hub city/cities that you can spend some time in and do other sightseeing in- and out of. There are national rail passes for foreign visitors that must be booked before you leave; google search "rail pass (Country)". They also are bargains compared to domestic fares if you can spend time in one country.
 

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Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 05-25-2006, 12:22 AM:
 
Depending on what you enjoy, one can spend weeks in London and still not see everything! If you enjoy history and world-class museums...thenLondon is the place to be! If you love antique shopping...such as REAL antique furniture, silver, etc, then Oxford is the place to go. Aviation enthusiasts MUST see Duxford, and Didcot is excellent for Railfans!
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 05-25-2006, 12:58 AM:
 
I read that Eastern Europe tends to be cheaper, so if you have a budget you may want to stay there most of the time. Although planning out the trip in advance might take away some of the spontanaeity, you might want to look into places where you can take an overnight train ride, therefore saving on 1 nights hotel/hostel costs. Check out www.bootsnall.com for some good travel advice, and www.lonelyplanet.com as well, both of their sites have forums for Europe. Also Rick Steves site has some good info as well.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 05-25-2006, 01:06 AM:
 
Depends on what your priorities are. Train travel is a great way to see the countryside up close. Flying can be faster, though not always and it's also a hassle these days. Expenses might be a push - check on Eurorail passes and see how far a pass will get you, both in terms of cost and distance.

Hostels can be a lot of fun and quite inexpensive in exchange for some loss of privacy and perhaps the ultimate bit of comfort. But once in a while nothing beats staying in a nice hotel.

How's your language ability? Speaking even just a little of the local lingo helps tremendously with overcoming potential issues like the "Ugly American" stereotype. Pick up a tourist phrase book or two and have at it.

Sounds like you've planned a fun itinerary. Gads how I miss being able to travel overseas.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-25-2006, 03:50 AM:
 
The shrub huggers will doubtless mieow and hiss at me for saying this, but, echoing what Ron said, rail travel in the UK is unreliable and horrendously overpriced unless you book restricted tickets a long time in advance. For example, a walk-on fare from London to York (185 miles) will cost you the equivalent of around $150. Partly in response to this, there is now a well developed network of regional airports linked by low cost carriers. Examples include Ryanair, Easyjet, FlyBe and BMI Baby, which offer a range of UK domestic and European flights. Air Southwest also offers a great service from the south west to Manchester and Leeds, though it can be pricey if you want to fly at peak times.

If you can make it out of London, the National Film and Photography Museum in Bradford is well worth a visit - they show Cinerama on the first Saturday of each month. Am in a rush now but will add any more suggestions as and when I think of them.

As for Europe in late June, the soccer World Cup is taking place in Germany around then, which promises to be a major event.
 

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Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 05-25-2006, 09:21 AM:
 
Kick your Coke habit. Most places in Europe will overcharge you for things Americans take for granted. I'm only using Coke as an example. Drink Wine in France and Italy. Drink Beer in England and Germany. It will be cheaper. Find out what the locals are eating and eat that.

Pack your bag and carry it around your home town for a day. Then try to pack half as much. You can survive all summer in Europe with three changes of cloths and one pair of shoes. Also they have everything we have so you can take nothing at all and still find everything.

ATM is the way to get cash. Credit cards work well. Take $1,000 in Travelers checks for emergency back up, but don't spend it.

Be adventurous in your eating. Spleen Sandwich in Italy was a revelation for me.

Talk to people like you're Forest Gump. He was totally uninhibited and so you should be. Remember no matter where you go, there you are.

Since you are a member of Film-Tech, visit every cinema you can and take pictures. "Hi, I'm from Film-Tech, I have come to check out your theatre."

And unfortunately, Discount Air Carriers are much cheaper than rail, except in Eastern Europe.
 

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Posted by Dan Zastrow (Member # 3796) on 05-25-2006, 03:06 PM:
 
Ian is right on-don't carry tons of cash just use ATMs. I don't even bother with the traveler’s checks. I'm on my way to Prague in 4 days. Will stay there for a week, head to Krakow for awhile and then to Vienna. My two most favorite central European cities are hands down Budapest and Prague. Both have great/cheap beer, fantastic art & architecture the people are friendly. Do watch out for pick pockets on the trains.
 

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Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 05-25-2006, 03:49 PM:
 
Most intercity UK rail journeys have discounted quota-restricted APEX (advance purchase) tickets, with full price tickets costing many times that. The budget airlines also have cheaper tickets available in advance. www.seat61.com gives details of Europe wide travel by train and sea.

Watch out for the low cost airlines (especially Ryanair) flying into airports many miles (and occasionally in a different country) from the advertised city.

Credit cards are accepted throughout most of Europe (Visa and Mastercard, American Express is less widely accepted).

Book your accommodation in advance, many hostels are full during the summer (especially at weekends).
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 05-25-2006, 11:09 PM:
 
Thanks for the comments thus far.

==-=-==

quote: Paul Mayer

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How's your language ability?

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I assume that's rhetorical, but...

As a matter of fact, language is one of the main reasons that I'm going. I've studied a few languages (six besides English) to varying degrees of comprehension, but aside from about an hour in Tijuana when I was 18, I haven't spent any time in any non-English speaking countries.
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 05-26-2006, 01:08 AM:
 
Through the western Europe countries, the language barrier shouldn't be a problem, in Germany, Italy and Netherlands alot of the people spoke english or well enough to get by. Since they want your dollars or euros I'm sure they know enough to get by.
 

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Posted by Dieter Depypere (Member # 3184) on 05-26-2006, 02:38 AM:
 
Make also sure you drop by in Austria ;-)
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 05-26-2006, 05:02 PM:
 
Michael Schaffer can probably recommend some good brothels!

 

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Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 06-08-2006, 06:43 AM:
 

quote: Ian Price

---

Kick your Coke habit. Most places in Europe will overcharge you for things Americans take for granted. I'm only using Coke as an example. Drink Wine in France and Italy. Drink Beer in England and Germany. It will be cheaper

---

quote: Mike Heenan

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you might want to look into places where you can take an overnight train ride, therefore saving on 1 nights hotel/hostel costs

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quote: Ian Price

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Drink Beer in England and Germany. It will be cheaper.

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I sure wish (good) beer was as cheap in England as it is in Germany! I'm writing this from a hotel room on Hardenbergstraße, Berlin, having just bought a 50cl bottle of Berliner Pilsner from a stall on the street outside for 1.20 euros (about 1.30 dollars). For the equivalent quality and quantity of beer in England, you'd pay £2.50 ($4) in a supermarket or £4 ($6) in a bar.

No, I'm not here for the footy - meeting with the company which is building some telecine gear for us. Can't wait till we have it delivered.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 06-20-2006, 01:57 AM:
 
Well, at this time tomorrow, I'll be in London (assuming the flight isn't delayed ... etc). Perhaps I'll post an update once in awhile ... or maybe I'll just enjoy my trip away from the internet.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 10-12-2006, 05:27 AM:
 
Update:
I made it to 11 countries in 32 days:

• The United Kingdom
• Denmark
• Sweden
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Poland
• Slovakia
• Hungary
• Romania
• Austria
• Germany

I had a blast. Oddly enough, I did not see one film theatrically. Here are a couple "cinema related" pictures...
==

A theatre in Kaunas, Lithuania

==


Part of the Cultural Palace in Warsaw, Poland

==


An outdoor film festival in Vienna, Austria. Don't worry it is the proper aspect ratio, this was "Das Land des Lächelns" originally made for television.

==


Tivoli Film Theater - Munich, Germany.
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 10-12-2006, 09:48 AM:
 
Godd to see you made it "back."

My trick for foreign countries is to always check out the grocery stores. Good prices, familiar & not familiar items/brands. Louis
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 10-12-2006, 10:04 AM:
 
Let's see the pictures of the women... who cares about the nerdy film stuff.
 

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Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 10-12-2006, 07:25 PM:
 
Do you mind if I ask roughly how much the trip cost you? I would like to go to Europe in the year '09 or '10, if I am still alive. I am planning on Fiji next year(freakin expensive) and Tahiti in '08(frickin ridiculously expensive) to dive the rangiroa atoll.

I'm sure prices will go up over the next few years, but im just curious what air, lodging and food cost run.
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 10-12-2006, 07:58 PM:
 
Wow Jeremy, what a whirlwind trip! It seems a shame not to spend enough time in each place to "see" the country and meet the people.

While I've been to the Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, and Sweden...most of my world travels have been in the Far East. Many times in Japan, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

I really like going to the small, off-the-beaten-path, "mom & pop" stores and eateries and (trying to) yak with the locals and tasting the "native cuisine". What a BLAST!
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 10-12-2006, 08:25 PM:
 
Chris, from the travel forums I visit, it's usually recommended that you budget about $60 a day, not including airfare. Airfare to Europe is really cheap right now at least, from Phx to Berlin its like $450 to $550 after taxes, and you can get around cheaply on trains or low budget airlines etc. Who knows what's in store for the next 3 years though.
 

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Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 10-13-2006, 02:52 AM:
 

quote: Mike Heenan

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Chris, from the travel forums I visit, it's usually recommended that you budget about $60 a day, not including airfare

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$60US = £33 a day. I can't see you surviving on that if it includes accomodation especially in the UK.

For example ,not that I am condoning eating this crap on a regular basis but it gives a recognisable worldwide comparison, in London you are likely to pay the equivalent of around £4 or $7.20 for a big Mac meal
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 10-13-2006, 04:36 AM:
 

quote: Chris Hipp

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Do you mind if I ask roughly how much the trip cost you?

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quote: Phil Hill

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Wow Jeremy, what a whirlwind trip! It seems a shame not to spend enough time in each place to "see" the country and meet the people.

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quote: Louis Bornwasser

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My trick for foreign countries is to always check out the grocery stores.

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quote: Mike Heenan

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Let's see the pictures of the women...

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ok... this was on the ferry from Stockholm, Sweden to Riga, Latvia.


 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-17-2006, 01:38 AM:
 
Well...she seems VERY friendly.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-17-2006, 08:13 AM:
 
An English 'ladette' lured by the cheap booze, probably.
 

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Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 10-17-2006, 10:55 AM:
 
For a second I thought it was one of Richard Hamilton's pics
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 11-24-2006, 04:39 AM:
 
Well, I'm going back. I'm flying from Chicago to Vilnius, Lithuania with a 6 hour lay over in London, but I have to transfer from Heathrow to Gatwick.

My main question, what's the best way to get from one to the other? I've found a National Express bus online ... looks like it'll be about £24 (single/one way). Any better options out there? This will be 26 December, so I expect it to be a fairly hectic/busy traveling day, the layover is (supposedly) 11am - 5pm ... the 26th is a Tuesday.

The other question is: Six hours... enough time to do anything on the day after Christmas? Or am I pretty much stuck assuming LHR & LGW are going to be crazy & I'd be better off going straight from one to the other?
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-25-2006, 08:31 AM:
 
Firstly, I'm sorry to break this to you but Heathrow is the shittiest airport in the history of the entire universe: American friends constantly complain of 2-3 hour queues to get through immigration, for one thing (I'm told that the only way to avoid this is to take a daytime flight from the East Coast to Heathrow, which leave around 8am EST and arrive around 9pm GMT). On Boxing Day, however (see below), it should be a bit better, as there'll probably be fewer flights coming in, and fewer passengers on each flight.

On a normal working day, the easiest and cheapest Heathrow to Gatwick transfer is as follows, but it takes a while. Take the Picadilly Line train of the Underground (tube) from Heathrow to Gloucester Road. The journey time is around 50 minutes. At Gloucester Road station change to the District or Circle Line westbound to Victoria (10 minutes). The ticket from Heathrow through to Victoria will cost you around £3-4. At Victoria go upstairs to the mainline (National Rail) stations. From there you have two options. One is the 'Gatwick Express' train, which is very quick (around 25 minutes) but is also pricey - around £15 I think. You can also take a normal commuter train on the same line (look for trains to Brighton), which takes a little bit longer and stops at one or two places (around 40 minutes) but is a lot cheaper. To be on the absolute safe side I would allow 2 1/2 hours from terminal to terminal. Make that 3 1/2 if you're doing the trip on a Sunday, when they frequently close railway lines for maintenance and put you on a bus instead. You might like to do this in reverse coming home, I guess.

I would be inclined to avoid the Heathrow Express (fast train) from Heathrow to London Paddington: it's hellish expensive, and by the time you've faffed about getting from Paddington to Victoria there'll be no significant time saving.

The quick and easy Heathrow to Gatwick solution is simply to take a taxi all the way. Assuming it isn't the rush hour, this should only take 30-40 minutes, but it'll cost you £50-70 depending on the traffic. Don't count on taxis being available on 26 December, though.

This is because, unlike in the US, 26 December is a public holiday, called Boxing Day, in Britain. There will be no public transport at all - 99.9% of the country's infrastructure remains closed throughout Christmas Day and into Boxing Day. Incidentally, a lot of Britain quite simply closes for the entire period between Christmas and the New Year (the university where I work is locked down from 22 December to 2 January, for example), and many British workers take that whole week as leave. Frankly, I'm afraid this probably isn't the easiest time to be visiting us. International airports are one of the few things that stay open for business as (very nearly) usual throughout.

If you know for sure that your National Express coach is operating on Boxing Day, I'd be inclined to take that in spite of the cost. They'll be absolutely no traffic on Boxing Day (you will be seeing the M25 - the outer beltway around London - in a very untypical state - it's normally known as Europe's biggest car park!), so once you're on it, you should be fine. If that coach isn't operating, I'm pretty sure that the only way you'll be able to get from Heathrow to Gatwick is to hire a car and drive round the M25. Demand is likely to be very high, and so I'd strongly advise trying to arrange this from the US before setting out.

On Boxing Day there will be pretty much no tourist attractions of any sort open. Some of the out-of-town shopping centres (malls) have started opening in recent years, but if I were you I'd be inclined to just get to Gatwick as quickly as possible, where, being a major international airport, there are likely to be restaurants and things operating. From the last time I transferred through there, I seem to remember that there's quite a good range of shops and restaurants in the departure area, though they might not all be open.
 

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 11-25-2006, 01:09 PM:
 
www.nationalexpress.com shows a frequent direct service between the airports on that day; I think this would be my chosen option.

The Heathrow Express train is not only expensive, but goes to Paddington station, which is not very convienient for most people. It was built where it is simple to be next to a very large canal basin, which was important at the time. There's a cheaper stopping train, but that also goes to Paddington. The Picadilly Line of the Underground takes ages, gets very crowded and does not have enough luggage space for an airport service. These are 'tube', i.e. deep-level bored tunnel, trains, and the tunnels are only 12 feet in diameter, so the trains are much smaller than main line ones.

There is another possibility, there is a bus, it used to be the 726, I think it's now the X26, which will take you from Heathrow to Croydon. It's very cheap, and stops at East Croydon station, from where it's probably about 15-20 minutes by train to Gawick.

As for the Boxing day problem, there's more transport running than there used to be, and routes to airports do tend to be those served.

For specific information about train services on that day, contact National Rail Enquiries, http://www.nationalrail.co.uk for rail services. Their telephone number is +44(0)20 7278 5240 if calling from outside the UK. From inside the UK it's: 08457 48 49 50

For information about just about any form of public transport in London, including taxis, call +44(0)20 7222 1234, or go to the Transport for London website at: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl

You seem to have found the information for National Express coaches, but just in case, their website is at: http://www.nationalexpress.com. Their main telephone number is a special one, which I don't think will be accessible from outside the UK, which seems rather stupid. There are two ordinary numbers, one is for disabled passengers, and the other is a 24 hour number to 'contact us in an emergency'. I would suggest that not being provided with any other suitable number would be reasonable grounds for calling this one; it's +44(0)121 625 3278 The number from inside the UK is: 08705 808080
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-25-2006, 04:46 PM:
 

quote: Stephen Furley

---

The Heathrow Express train is not only expensive, but goes to Paddington station, which is not very convienient for most people. It was built where it is simple to be next to a very large canal basin, which was important at the time.

---

quote: Stephen Furley

---

The Picadilly Line of the Underground takes ages, gets very crowded and does not have enough luggage space for an airport service.

---

quote: Leo Enticknap

---

I wondered why they built that rail link right into about the one London main line station from which it's a long walk or a tube ride to pretty much anywhere in the city centre.

---

quote: Leo Enticknap

---

It takes a long time, but I've yet to find a quicker alternative; and that, IMHO, is yet another one of the reasons why I'd avoid Heathrow unless I had no other choice.

---

I agree, Heathrow is well worth avioding. Little consolation to you Jeremy; London really should be offering you better than this. Enjoy your trip; are you going anywhere else besides Vilnius?
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-26-2006, 08:17 AM:
 
Agreed entirely that all of London's airports have a big problem with public transport to the city centre. When I visited Berlin for the first time in January '05, I did the usual Internet research and read an article which stated that the cheap flights went to Schönefeld because the public transport from there to the city centre was significantly worse than that from Tegel. But, given that there was a £300 difference in the cost of flights, I decided to give Schönefeld a go. By 'significant diference' I discovered that the (German) author of that article meant 20 minutes as distinct from 15! Even though I arrived at about 1730 on a weekday evening, the trains were frequent, not at all overcrowded and the transfer only cost 1.90 euros. And this was at an Easyjet-served airport!

I suppose I might have been massively subsidised by the German taxpayer for that journey, but I can't help thinking that we really should be able to do something about the situation whereby it effectively takes at least an hour to get from any of London's airports into the city centre. Agreed too that of the whole crop, Gatwick is probably the easiest. BMI Baby used to do a daily flight from Teesside to Gatwick, which was very reasonably priced and always pretty full, but stopped it at the end of October. Furthermore, the return flight didn't leave until 9pm, so it was possible to get a full day in London and still have a drink with someone after the work day before heading home. It was a much shorter walk from the plane to the train at Gatwick, there was never any queue to buy a train ticket, and you got into town very quickly and painlessly. Now that's gone, and we're left with BMI mainline to Heathrow which costs more and leaves you to do battle with the Picadilly Line at the other end. Sigh.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 11-27-2006, 05:31 AM:
 
Thank you both for your replies Leo & Stephen!

1) Return journey is no problem, I fly into & out of Copenhagen, no airport switching.

2) When I was in London (for about 5 days) in June, my hotel was a few minutes walk from Paddington station, so it was very convenient for me. I guess I got lucky.

3) I've heard of Boxing Day, I guess I vaguely realized that it was the 26th, but what I didn't realize was that it was a public holiday. I'll most likely go with the National Express and just spend any spare time in Gatwick as Leo suggested.

quote: Stephen Furley

---

Enjoy your trip; are you going anywhere else besides Vilnius?

---

I'll be staying in Kaunas, but beyond Kaunas and Vilnius, I don't know ... no plans yet. I'm pretty sure I'll get around to the main points of Lithuania, I wouldn't mind visiting some other countries too, we'll see.
 

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Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 12-23-2006, 08:05 AM:
 
You seemed to have timed your trip nicely. There has been a lot of disruption due to fog in the South of The UK with many flights delayed or canceled.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 08-31-2007, 09:58 PM:
 
I guess I'll bump up my old thread, because the subject of "thoughts and suggestions about Europe" is relevant to me once again.

In the end of September I head off to Poland. This time my reason for going to Europe is a bit different, I'll be earning my master's degree at Jagiellonian University in Krakow.

So, I'll be living in Krakow until about the 2008/2009 New Year, and hopefully will get a chance to travel during breaks, depending on if I find a source of income or not.

=====

If anybody cares, UJ was founded in 1364 and was attended by the likes of John Paul II and [ahem] Copernicus. The master's program I'm in is an MA in Transatlantic Studies which is taught in English (thankfully, as I seriously doubt my 5 semesters of Polish language study puts me at a level to follow a lecture).
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-01-2007, 06:00 AM:
 
There has been large-scale immigration from Poland to the UK following Poland's entry into the European Union a couple of years ago, with the result that all the major budget airlines in Europe link the two countries very cheaply. I've been for a weekend in Krakow from Leeds/Bradford myself, and the return flight only cost £60 (around $100).

Zwyiwec (sp? - it's a type of beer, anyway) ... yum!
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 09-02-2007, 03:44 AM:
 


Yes, agreed on the Żywiec. On the train from Zakopane to Krakow, I noticed one of the signs at a stop was for Żywiec, as I had a coaster handy, I snapped a pic.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-02-2007, 04:15 AM:
 
Pity you couldn't get off and do a brewery tour (with lots of 'educational sampling', of course)!

You can get it in many English supermarkets now, plus two or three other Polish beers.
 

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Posted by Dominik Dobrzynski (Member # 3452) on 09-02-2007, 05:23 AM:
 
Hello

this actually is my first post on this amazing forum, which I've been reading for about 3 years now.
I can only agree that Zywiec is probably the best of polish beers. Nothing beats czech beer Pilsner Urquell, though.

Anyway, Jeremy I am sure you'll have a great time living in Krakow. If you have any questions about Poland or need some help from someone living in Poland go ahead and send me a message.

I live in Szczecin (northwestern part of Poland, 100km from the sea and 150 km from Berlin), so if you ever decide to visit this area I'll be happy to meet you and drink some Zywiec with you.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 09-05-2007, 04:21 PM:
 
Dominik:

Dziękuję! I hope to get around to as much of Poland as possible, and Szczecin is certainly one of the places I'll try to see, so don't be surprised if I do indeed take you up on that offer.
 

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