Global Conflict

Oh, also, go to Budapest.

just for one nice route from Frankfurt :
travel from there down the rhein, up to nort, till Köln to see a bunch of castles and old river towns ( you can have a boat trip along those). Wien München Frankfurt Koblenz Köln Amsterdam London Paris... sounds intresting.
A nice area to see is Mosel River, it flushes into Rhein at Koblenz. From Köln to NL is just a stone throw, if you going to NL let me also know, I'd like to meet up there with stonie as well. I live at the area were the Rhein crosses the border to NL (Goch 47574 germany), a ryan air airport is close to my place 15- 20 km. Watch for them, mostly they are far away from the town you want to reach, like the one at my place was called Düsseldorf north and that is 80 km from here.They had cheep flights to London ( airpoort will be 50 km from London)
There is nothing special to see at my place but a place to sleep is always to get, sofa or Luftmatratze.

Soo, plans are coming along, it's starting to look like a summer excursion is more likely.

Now, I do have a quick question for all of you in regards to timing.. How much time do I need to see your city/country? Would a one week stay in each major city be enough to soak things in? Or do you recommend a bit more time?

In my city of Seattle, you could probably see the whole area in a week time. Granted, there's a lot of mountains you could hike and a lot more to see outside of the city, but in terms of seeing the city itself, about one week is plenty. Is that the same case for your city?

Secondly... What's the food situation like? How much does the average meal cost??

haruky wrote:Now, I do have a quick question for all of you in regards to timing.. How much time do I need to see your city/country? Would a one week stay in each major city be enough to soak things in? Or do you recommend a bit more time?

Secondly... What's the food situation like? How much does the average meal cost??

a week per major city? that is long, I usually plan 2 nights (2.5 days) for city trips. But ofc they are loaded with things-to-do and can be exhausting. It also depends if you like visiting museums and stuff (I dont). A week should be plenty even for a city like vienna.

For typical expenses, check out numbeo.com
E.g. Seattle vs Brno

haruky wrote:Soo, plans are coming along, it's starting to look like a summer excursion is more likely.

Now, I do have a quick question for all of you in regards to timing.. How much time do I need to see your city/country? Would a one week stay in each major city be enough to soak things in? Or do you recommend a bit more time?

In my city of Seattle, you could probably see the whole area in a week time. Granted, there's a lot of mountains you could hike and a lot more to see outside of the city, but in terms of seeing the city itself, about one week is plenty. Is that the same case for your city?

Secondly... What's the food situation like? How much does the average meal cost??

depends on what you want to see. For the general tourist stuff i could say like 2 days. but if you want some time to chill and maybe hit up a bar i would say 3-4. a full week only if you want to be super relaxed.

So, this idea was put on pause for a little bit but I think I have a perfect opportunity to finally go in September-October.. There are some cheap flights available at that time from my area to London.

I plan to stay for a month or so.

With that said, how easy is it for traveling between the countries in Europe? I don't plan on spending the entire month in Europe and would love to be able to go around to different countries in the area. I know there are some budget airlines available and the Eurail as well.. What do you guys think?

haruky wrote: Greece

O_O.

Haven't checked anything for Greece, if nobody has some information, i would love to do some research for you ^^

haruky wrote:With that said, how easy is it for traveling between the countries in Europe? I don't plan on spending the entire month in Europe and would love to be able to go around to different countries in the area. I know there are some budget airlines available and the Eurail as well.. What do you guys think?

I don't know how you define easy. Getting between Schengen countries (click for list) is easy from a visa/documents standpoint. You just need ID to cross between them (if that) and there is no border control per se (as in checks and stuff) and probably a Schengen visa (€99/$112) to get in in the first place (I don't know which countries outside the EU (if any) are exempt). The link I posted has more info on that. Just hop on a train/plane/bus and you are away. Obviously, planes will have the standard "are you evil?" checks.

It's worth noting that not all EU states are in Schengen (UK and Ireland) and some non-EU states are in Schengen (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland).

Reading that site makes it seem like I'm wrong about moving across borders for non EU/Schengen citizens. I think I'm right, but a continental European may know better than I.

Well, will the UK be still in the EU when you arrive?

I dont know what visa you need and the rules around it. Entering through UK might be more difficult.

Crossing to schengen member states is done without border control. However, you still can be stopped and be controlled occasionally. Even more so with the whole refugee situation. Always have your documents ready.
There are also limits on tax-free goods you can bring across the borders. Basically 'personal use' margins.

Finding cheaps flights can be difficult depending on the destinations. Sometimes you get 3-100 euros, sometimes you pay 150-300 euros. Trains are cheaper and very well connected throughout most europe, though it can be troublesome with delays and intercom announcements not in a language you speak. Finding [/i ]the good connections can also be tough.

bring decent amount of cash in the currency you will use. Credit cards might be refused in smaller shops.

haruky wrote:So, this idea was put on pause for a little bit but I think I have a perfect opportunity to finally go in September-October.. There are some cheap flights available at that time from my area to London.

But the August Amsterdam meet D:

Gwynzer wrote:

haruky wrote:So, this idea was put on pause for a little bit but I think I have a perfect opportunity to finally go in September-October.. There are some cheap flights available at that time from my area to London.

But the August Amsterdam meet D:

I know... but August flights are so expensive to go across seas..

@Jokerle: Good to know. I'm not strained on time so I might just take the rail everywhere instead of flying. Plus, it'd be nice to see the ground and sight see while on the train as well. (Plus i love trains.)

As for cash, that's a really good thought.. I hadn't originally planned on bringing much cash, but I hadn't quite considered that. The vast majority of shops take CC in the states and it's very rare that a shop only take cash. Even with street food.

@Sloth: I was not aware of the "Schengen countries" and will definitely do a bit of research on how that affects US Citizens. Thanks for the heads up on that!

@bloodraptor: spoke to you a bit this morning! Would love to hear info about Greece but again, I'm not entirely sure where I'd be visiting and if I'd be able to go to Greece to begin with. Would really like to visit though!

Look for offers with rails in EU - like a month for all countrys ( train + bus in citys ). Go by train to see more from the dif landscapes ( that's why my travells are always like roadmovies ). There are some bus lines between main citys for cheap ( I just don't like others on the driver seat ).
You can try to use train at night to save hotel stays.
Rent a car / bike

Fanne wrote:Look for offers with rails in EU - like a month for all countrys ( train + bus in citys ). Go by train to see more from the dif landscapes ( that's why my travells are always like roadmovies ). There are some bus lines between main citys for cheap ( I just don't like others on the driver seat ).
You can try to use train at night to save hotel stays.
Rent a car / bike

Night travel sounds like a fantastic way to save a bit of money! Thanks for that suggestion.

I'm still looking at flights, and as far as I can see, it looks like flights to London will be the cheapest at the timeframe I am looking at. Given that London isn't on the continent, how easy is it to travel to and from London? I'd be looking to stay the first few days in the UK, and then going to the continent, and then heading back for the last few days before my flight. Is it relatively simple? Or would I be better off paying the extra for a flight to the continental EU and just visiting London once and coming back?

During one of my personal tours of Spain I also took a ferry over to the Moroccan coast and spent an evening there. I would highly recommend if you can tag that on to your trip. The ferry was fairly cheap although this was 7 years ago. And I was using a rental car the whole time.