European trip
stavesacre
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My wife and I are going to be taking a vacation to Europe hopefully next year. I was hoping that some of you who might have been or live there can help us out with a few questions and maybe suggestions. Our plan is to hit England, France and Germany this trip.
- We are planning to go in December, how cold should we expect it to be? Will Everything of interest be closed down?
- How much of a language barrier will there be for english speaking folks in Germany and France?
- Should we go through a travel agent or just plan the trip ourselves? This would be our first big trip overseas (ive gone on Military buisness but thats not much of a vacation)
- We want to spend about two weeks over there, what sort of costs are we looking at for lodging and transportation (trains, taxis and such)
- And finally, what are some spots that you might suggest we check out as tourists that might get overlooked? We are open to just about anything, but the wife wants to see the countryside a bit and get out of the cities some.
Any help is appreciated, we have a year or so to plan so this just will help us lay some groundwork.
- We are planning to go in December, how cold should we expect it to be? Will Everything of interest be closed down?
- How much of a language barrier will there be for english speaking folks in Germany and France?
- Should we go through a travel agent or just plan the trip ourselves? This would be our first big trip overseas (ive gone on Military buisness but thats not much of a vacation)
- We want to spend about two weeks over there, what sort of costs are we looking at for lodging and transportation (trains, taxis and such)
- And finally, what are some spots that you might suggest we check out as tourists that might get overlooked? We are open to just about anything, but the wife wants to see the countryside a bit and get out of the cities some.
Any help is appreciated, we have a year or so to plan so this just will help us lay some groundwork.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
stavesacre on
0
Posts
Now if you want to go through some sort of tourist agency, that's a more personal choice. If you have a specific goal for this trip (history, tourist spots, shopping, etc.) then you may want to book with a tour group. The benefits are that they'll take care of everything for you, and you'll see more with them than you could ever see on your own. These are jam packed trips on efficient routes, and a good tour guide throughout can really add something. That said, they will probably double the price of your vacation. It can get very expensive, very quickly. That'd be something to talk about with a travel agent though.
Depending how much you like history, I did a day trip to Bath in England and was surprised just how interesting the Roman bathouse is. Plus the town is very nice.
We do want to see some of the main tourist sites in all three countries that we're going to but I just really want to go and experience the different culture; like he mentioned I want to see the places that aren't huge targets. So if anyone has particular places or cities to throw at us it would help a lot! We do have a little over a year before our trip and want to get all the research and such done in advance. (well I do hehe)
- in Major cities you shouldn't have too much of a language problem. Just learn basic phrases. Showing that you are trying helps.
- Transportation is quite expensive in Britain, unless you book ahead (trains).
I recommend heading over to Barnes & Noble, picking up various guides to the three countries and paging through them. Rick Steve's is especially fun because he's a pleasant writer. Through the travel books you should get a good feel for interesting things you can find all over the three countries.
Plane-ticket wise, just use something like Kayak and you'll be set. No travel agent needed there either.
My girlfriend and I have taken 3 Europe trips the past 3 summers (it's what we save our money up for). 25 day trip around Western/Southern Europe hitting 6 countries the first time, 25 day trip around Central/Northern Europe hitting 9 countries the second time, and a 18 day trip around Italy the 3rd time.
All three trips were unforgettable, amazing, and I don't think I would've done anything different. And we planned all of it by looking through various travel books.
Now you don't necessarily have to follow my advice about not getting a travel agent but, for the love of God don't go with a tour group. An obnoxious pack of fat Americans waddling around tourist attractions making absurdly stupid comments is not a pleasant sight to behold. You will get a much more authentic cultural experience going on your own. You can join tours for individual sights to learn more about them but don't join a tour group. Seriously, you'll much prefer wandering down a winding street in Paris with your wife, getting lost, asking help from some local, and awkwardly trying to reconcile the difference in language. That's the "worst case scenario" and it's fun as hell. Normally you'll find everything fine and enjoy being surrounded by the atmosphere of Europe rather than surrounded by Americans who make you wish you weren't American.
This too. My girlfriend and I saved a lot of time and money doing this (which when you're traveling 9 countries in 3.5 weeks is a lot of saved time).
On the other hand if you know roughly where you're going to be or have an itinerary, just booking tickets in advance is probably going to work out cheaper. Don't just assume that a pass will be the best option.
In Berlin there are plenty of great galleries or museums bunched around the same area, then again, plenty of shops, bars and clubs. It isn't too hard to find English speakers, unless you head out to the 'burbs, then it isn't quite so good. The S and U Bahns (trains) are pretty good for getting around as well.
Things that I liked in addition to the museums/bars - Alexanderplatz - it is just a square, but it still has a bit of the old East Berlin about it - as it used to be the main part of that half of the capital. Then the Stasi Museum, although the latter isn't great unless you read German or are a history geek. Lastly the various memorials around the Tiergarten - the Soviet War Memorial for one.
For day trips - head out to Potsdam - that is a little west of Berlin, it is very pretty.
In London there is the usual stuff which you can find out about anywhere. If you want to see the countryside then there are a lot of choices. You could head up to Oxford or Cambridge and stare meaningfully out the window. Or perhaps do something a little less touristy and take a trip by train out along the estuary of the Thames, south side. There are plenty of very pretty little towns or villages that you could stop at, then go for a wander, then sit in a pub. All doable in a day, with an hour or so trip.
Just to be fair, have you ever actually been on a tour group yourself or just seen them? Having a good tour guide is really an amazing experience. We had one for our trip to Greece and she really made the trip. The historical and cultural information, the best places to shop, the best spots to get great pictures, keeping us entertained with facts and stories during the bus rides from one city to another. There's a reason we gave her over 100 euros as a tip.
I can't understand wanting to be on your own for a vacation and doing your own thing (you do have free time when with a tour group, but obviously it's a lot more limited than just having no schedule at all), but don't discount a tour group or a travel agent simply because you don't feel like being associated with Americans. That's not really a compelling reason on its own.
Tour groups may be appropriate for certain types of vacations. If one is interested in studying a specific topic, such as art, history, or architecture, then perhaps a tour guide is well suited for them. It will allow them to wander the country as one would wander a museum, a passive observer listening to stories about the place.
However, I do not feel that tour groups are the right idea for culturally-oriented trips, especially when it comes to adults with any sense of competence. You're right that a tour guide will likely tell you more historical facts about a cathedral than will be explained in Rick Steve's travel book. However, Rick Steve's travel book does explain a good deal, certainly enough to get by.
Let me give you an example: St. Peter's Cathedral. The book gives a map of the entire area, a description of each of the works of art within it, as well as directions to all the extra things located in the cathedral. He tells you to head out and to the left to go to the crypt where all of the previous Popes are located. However, he doesn't give detailed stories about each of the Pope's lives.
Say you wanted more information than Rick Steve's guide offers. Most places had audio tours, and walking tours. Furthermore, Rick Steve's book often recommends individual tour guides who are extra charismatic and fun to walk you through the streets of a city and show you everything.
But I'm focusing too much on the tourist traps and historical buildings. If it's is a cultural experience you're looking for then there's more you'll need to your trip. Walking through tiny low population towns is incredibly fun, and all travel books recommend many of them. You really feel immersed in the culture when everyone around you is speaking the language and you can just get caught up in it. It isn't a history lecture. There's no need for anyone to say anything, or describe anything. It's just deeply enjoyable to feel immersed in another culture. For that, a tour group would be unrecommended, and a pile of other Americans sitting right next to you would detract from the experience.
So let me summarize. If you're planning a trip that is primarily focused on historical and tourist sights and you're deeply interested in the specific details, a tour group is a possible choice. If you're looking for a cultural experience mixed with some historical sight-seeing, I recommend getting a good travel guide and using on-site tour guides and audio-tours when you feel you need it. I feel you'll get a much more authentic, and ultimately fulfilling, experience this way.
I fully agree with your notion of not scheduling your day, but don't go too far to the other extreme either and just show up in a town and go "now what?". I'd recommend reading through some guidebooks, getting a feel for what you could find interesting in a given city and about how long you figure you'd like to spend there.
It just makes life a lot easier because when you hit a city you can just open to whatever you highlighted and be like "hm, do I want to go see A, B, or C? or maybe i'm tired and just want to go back to the hotel". It made our trip a lot less stressful to have a basic list of what our options were for any given day. Again, the key being options, not scheduled commitments.