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2016 Travel Thread


Snake-Pit

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  • 2 months later...

Planning a big three week trip to Europe this summer.  

We plan on flying into Zurich, Switzerland and staying two days in the Swiss countryside (visiting Berne, Interlaken, and Lucerne.  We'll be renting a car to get around.  We then plan on driving to Munich for lunch/afternoon before ending up either in Salzburg or Hallstatt, Austria.  We then spend the next day or two in Vienna before spending a couple of days in Prague (where we leave our rental car).  We'll then fly to Copenhagen and take a 9 day Scandinavian/Baltic cruise with stops in Germany, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Finland, and Sweden.  We'll then fly from Copenhagen to Iceland, spend a few days, before returning home to Canada.

I'd be very appreciative if anyone has any suggestions or points of interest that might be worth checking out in any of these locations.  I've been to Switzerland and Munich before, but the rest will be new to me.  Been five years since my last big trip (India), so it's about time to take another one.  

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11 minutes ago, downzy said:

Planning a big three week trip to Europe this summer.  

We plan on flying into Zurich, Switzerland and staying two days in the Swiss countryside (visiting Berne, Interlaken, and Lucerne.  We'll be renting a car to get around.  We then plan on driving to Munich for lunch/afternoon before ending up either in Salzburg or Hallstatt, Austria.  We then spend the next day or two in Vienna before spending a couple of days in Prague (where we leave our rental car).  We'll then fly to Copenhagen and take a 9 day Scandinavian/Baltic cruise with stops in Germany, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Finland, and Sweden.  We'll then fly from Copenhagen to Iceland, spend a few days, before returning home to Canada.

I'd be very appreciative if anyone has any suggestions or points of interest that might be worth checking out in any of these locations.  I've been to Switzerland and Munich before, but the rest will be new to me.  Been five years since my last big trip (India), so it's about time to take another one.  

Rheinfall near Schaffhausen, North-East of Zurich

Lauterbrunnenfall South of Interlaken

Pretty much any drive through the alps is amazing, but particularly in the South East, around the Davos-St Moritz-Thusis-Chur area. But realistically you won't have the time if you're only spending two days there including city trips.

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Just now, GivenToFly said:

Rheinfall near Schaffhausen, North-East of Zurich

Lauterbrunnenfall South of Interlaken

Pretty much any drive through the alps is amazing, but particularly in the South East, around the Davos-St Moritz-Thusis-Chur area. But realistically you won't have the time if you're only spending two days there including city trips.

Thanks for the advise in Switzerland.  

Yeah, we don't have a lot of time as we only have three weeks and we're kind of opting for quantity of locations versus quality of time (my wife has only visited France and Italy prior to this trip, so we're trying to see as much as possible).

I looked at Lauterbrunnenfall.  It all depends if we do some adventure stuff in Interlaken (bungie jumping/canyoning).  We're staying over in Berne for Saturday night and want to be in Lucerne for Sunday night, so that doesn't leave a lot of time for places in between.  That said, taking the cable car up to Birg Summit from Murren looks like a worth the trip and then driving to Lucerne from Lauterbrunnenfall looks amazing (though I'm a tad nervous about getting lost on our way to Lucerne).    

Again, thanks for the advise.  

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18 minutes ago, Wagszilla said:

I need a vacation.

And/or to move.

Somewhere warm and where all the young ladies are bi-curious and have a penchant for gingers.

Yeah, who wouldn't like that.

I just almost got hit by a golf ball. One of the drawbacks of staying at a golf resort and sipping a drink at the patio, I suppose. I heard a wierd noise in the tree next to me, rattling sound, leaf rustling and all. Went to investigate and a golf cart came by, "I didn't hit you there, buddy?". Saw the golf ball by the trunk then. Aren't they supposed to yell out "fore!" or something?

Btw, my room has 8 beds. Ridiculous. I am not even going to stay here long enough to sleep in them all.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/20/2016 at 8:56 PM, Gracii Guns said:

Please can anyone recommend what to do regarding phones when travelling Europe? We're PAYG. 

I'm on O2 PAYG...

 

I use a bundle package, £15 I use a month, could be £5, £10, £15, £20 etc... I found £10 per month saw me running out of my data allowance before the month was out, so I upped it to topping up £15 per month when reloading my bundle... Nice surprise I didn't expect when I went to Amsterdam was that my phone worked, I went by road from Vauxhall in London... As soon as I got to Calais, France, I got a text saying...

(I even saved it as a memento from France);

11986399_10207772007528763_9009295041895

I didn't get texts but, when I went into Belgium and then the NL, my operator automatically updated... Everything updated; network/clock 'different timezone and all'...

So I guess I rolled off the ferry @ 6:23am local time which sounds about right, I boarded the coach in Vauxhall at midnight 'UK time'/so it took me just over 5 hours to get to France...

This screenshot of my text from France was taken when I was already on my trip in the NL.

I had calls and texts but no data so I had to rely on wifi at the hostel I stayed at.

I have an old iPhone 4... Worked fine, and it's PAYG, worked fine when I got back to the UK too, calls I made and received in Amsterdam on my phone and that 1 call I got in France when returning back to the border didn't rinse out my bundle or anything, was great. :D 

 

 

My family from Australia came to London in 2014 and had smart phones that worked here, so I figure mine'd work there too, and also, my sister, now American and living in New Jersey, brought her new Samsung smartphone here when she came last February. American phone... Working here too, same room as the Australian phone did; and my phone, PAYG, I've already used it traveling around Europe.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This arrived last week/the other week but I opened it today

Itinerary.png

I love being in Europe since I don't get to be American in the USA, having Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Madrid & Dublin close by make up for no Detroit, Chicago or Philadelphia to drive to, New York City/Los Angeles too, all seem great but, can't really drive to them from London unlike Europe (nothing to do with the EU); but Europe; The place.

Honestly, if it's anything like last time... Not a lot to see in Belgium, grass, cows, horizon, Pizza Hut sign, grass, cows, horizon... But yeah. Road Trip! Chartered Party Bus/Road Trip/ woot.

Amsterdam_Front_2016.jpg They feed you booze

all night before the ferry.

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On May 1, 2016 at 10:59 AM, downzy said:

Planning a big three week trip to Europe this summer.  

We plan on flying into Zurich, Switzerland and staying two days in the Swiss countryside (visiting Berne, Interlaken, and Lucerne.  We'll be renting a car to get around.  We then plan on driving to Munich for lunch/afternoon before ending up either in Salzburg or Hallstatt, Austria.  We then spend the next day or two in Vienna before spending a couple of days in Prague (where we leave our rental car).  We'll then fly to Copenhagen and take a 9 day Scandinavian/Baltic cruise with stops in Germany, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Finland, and Sweden.  We'll then fly from Copenhagen to Iceland, spend a few days, before returning home to Canada.

I'd be very appreciative if anyone has any suggestions or points of interest that might be worth checking out in any of these locations.  I've been to Switzerland and Munich before, but the rest will be new to me.  Been five years since my last big trip (India), so it's about time to take another one.  

Where is your stop(s) in Sweden? I'm assuming Stockholm is one of them? If so, make the Vasa Museum your top priority. It's a museum housing one of the largest and most intact sunken warships, sunk around 1620 IIRC. Really quite amazing to see. 

 

St. Petersburg will be tricky on a tight schedule - I had two full days of sightseeing there and it wasn't nearly enough time to cover everything. A good chunk of the top priority stuff is really concentrated, roughly within a triangle formed by Neksky Prospekt, the embankment, and the Summer Gardens. If you're really diligent, you can cover Kazan Cathedral, St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Bronze Horseman, Admiralty Building, Palace Square, the Hermitage/Winter Palace, Summer Gardens, Church Of The Savior On The Spilled Blood, and possibly Peter & Paul Fortress in a day. The Church Of The Savior is my top recommendation if you need to pick and choose - much more ornate and, in my opinion, beautiful than St. Basil's as far as Russian Orthodox churches go.

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18 minutes ago, Powerage5 said:

Where is your stop(s) in Sweden? I'm assuming Stockholm is one of them? If so, make the Vasa Museum your top priority. It's a museum housing one of the largest and most intact sunken warships, sunk around 1620 IIRC. Really quite amazing to see. 

 

St. Petersburg will be tricky on a tight schedule - I had two full days of sightseeing there and it wasn't nearly enough time to cover everything. A good chunk of the top priority stuff is really concentrated, roughly within a triangle formed by Neksky Prospekt, the embankment, and the Summer Gardens. If you're really diligent, you can cover Kazan Cathedral, St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Bronze Horseman, Admiralty Building, Palace Square, the Hermitage/Winter Palace, Summer Gardens, Church Of The Savior On The Spilled Blood, and possibly Peter & Paul Fortress in a day. The Church Of The Savior is my top recommendation if you need to pick and choose - much more ornate and, in my opinion, beautiful than St. Basil's as far as Russian Orthodox churches go.

We're taking a cruise to the Scandinavian countries, so the most we'll get is a day.  I'm not a big museum kind of person as I generally prefer walking around and checking out the local sights and whatnot.

We do have two full days at St. Petersburg, but because we won't have visas, we'll have to go with an established tour company when we're off the boat.  So the itinerary will be out of our hands.  But thanks for the advise, I'll at least know what to expect and what to get excited for.  

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32 minutes ago, downzy said:

We're taking a cruise to the Scandinavian countries, so the most we'll get is a day.  I'm not a big museum kind of person as I generally prefer walking around and checking out the local sights and whatnot.

We do have two full days at St. Petersburg, but because we won't have visas, we'll have to go with an established tour company when we're off the boat.  So the itinerary will be out of our hands.  But thanks for the advise, I'll at least know what to expect and what to get excited for.  

Ah, didn't know that when you were in St. Petersburg visa-free you had to do it with a tour company - I thought you still had freedom to do what you please. Regardless, I'm sure they'll take you to most of the sights I mentioned, and maybe the Petergof as well (Which I sadly missed out on :( )

 

In other news, I've booked my flight to Europe now. Only 46 days to go :D

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3 hours ago, Powerage5 said:

Where is your stop(s) in Sweden? I'm assuming Stockholm is one of them? If so, make the Vasa Museum your top priority. It's a museum housing one of the largest and most intact sunken warships, sunk around 1620 IIRC. Really quite amazing to see.

I agree, it is really great!

2 hours ago, downzy said:

We're taking a cruise to the Scandinavian countries, so the most we'll get is a day.  I'm not a big museum kind of person as I generally prefer walking around and checking out the local sights and whatnot.

Is the cruise coming to Trondheim? If so let me know, aand I will tell you where the museums are to aviod and what local sights and whatnot are to enjoy. Spoiler: Not much!

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7 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

I agree, it is really great!

Is the cruise coming to Trondheim? If so let me know, aand I will tell you where the museums are to aviod and what local sights and whatnot are to enjoy. Spoiler: Not much!

The port stops are Rostock, Germany (Berlin); Tallin, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; Stockholm, Sweden; then returning to Copenhagen, Denmark.  

It's a shame we can't spend more time in each location, but we're opting for quantity of places versus quality of time.  We'll likely go back eventually to the places we liked the most.  

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