You'll certainly get better quality for similar or less money booking everything yourself. I think most of us in here enjoy doing that, but if its tedious to you, a package can be an easy way to do a trip. Groupon/living social seem to have some great prices on trip packages.
I will book everything for you and plan the itinerary of a lifetime for $1K. Just PM me your credit card info, SSN, and any other pertinent info you think could prove useful.
Real talk though, I think the vacation packages are kind of a scam. Usually a very strict itinerary, limited food options, etc. Everyone here can help out a ton and basically help plan your trip for you, but need some more info. And it will almost certainly be cheaper than the package if you monitor your flights. Will this be your first time in Europe? By yourself or with a significant other? On a tight budget? Trying to party and rage 24/7 (i.e., hostel life) or relax?
It really is not that difficult to book your own trip to Europe. My trip wasn't as long as some of the other guys on this board, but I planned a 15 day trip for myself and two friends last summer. Once you get your flight to Europe booked it is just about filling in the holes. We stayed in hostels which are extremely easy to book as you can use the website hostelworld.com. Flights in between cities probably cause the biggest headaches as you want to make sure you have enough time to get to the airport and make sure you don't miss your connection, but it is definitely doable.
If you go to Rome I will look up the name of the restaurant of the the best meal I have ever eaten. It was fairly expensive ($130 euros for 2 people) but god damn was it worth it. Also I paid $150 euros for a meal in Venice that wasnt even on the same level as this place. Venice is a tourist trap and is cool for 1.5 days but then its gets to be expensive and repetitive. IMO do Florence for the amazing art, train it to the Cinque Terre (google Vernazza, its amazing) then train it to Rome and fly out of there. Tips for Italian travel: Dont be an idiot tourist. Dont stand in the street when taking pictures. Be kind. Use maps. Wear a pickpocket proof belt in touristy areas. If taxi'ing always say the face value of the bills before handing them to the driver. Try different food. Always order wine (a beer is like 9 euros, while a liter of table wine is like 6). Buy olive oil, balsamic and wine to travel back with...
First time in Europe.... Girlfriend.... No tight budget. Won't be going there to party, but to see unique art, museums, etc. We like to go out a lot, but i definitely don't won't to spend any time hungover and feeling like shit.
They are not a scam, they just cater to people who can't be bothered with minutia. My favorite meal ever was in Rome too. Looking for the card of the place
I am in Rome for one night and plan on eating one awesome meal so restaurant recommendations will be appreciated by me as well.
Dude... Underrated? I think it's up there with Paris, London, Barcelona, and Rome as places literally everyone visits when they are European travel beginners. It's a very cool city for sure, but I wouldn't say underrated. Anyway, semantics. I agree that it's cool.
The name of the place is Il Gabriello http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187791-d1066539-Reviews-Il_Gabriello-Rome_Lazio.html Great food, its def a splurge dinner (you can eat fairly cheap meals in rome if you try) so get apps, wine, pasta, split a secondi (we did a green sauce filet mignon) and dessert. Its right near the Spanish steps and you need a reservation a day in advance. I would recommend checking out places on that side of town during the day and ending the evening there.
I don't know much about Italy, but I'm sure you'll get more than enough info Not sure where you live, but I'd imagine you can get really good deals to Rome on flights from NY or DC.
Smuggy wolfpck my place is Vecchia Locanda. Some reviews online I'm reading now say the wait staff was rude, but that couldn't be further from my experience.
Our favorite dinner in Rome was at da Tonino. Hard to find, small place. Just looked on trip advisor and it's not insanely highly reviewed so not sure how we chose it but we loved it.. Soooo much table wine. I recommend Sorrento/Capri if you can. Our b&b had a patio that overlooked the water. Amazing views everywhere. And we loved venice. Touristy sure but still such a unique place with no cars. We stayed at a rental apartment in a more residential area so that helped a lot with our experience. We found a gondola later at night when it was quiet and a really awesome. During the day it looked like fucking chaos on the water. Wasnt interested at all then. Also had a couple of great outdoor dinners by the water...again in the more residential areas so we weren't price gouged for average food. And we did not spend nearly enough time in florence. There is more to do and see there than anywhere else imo. So much history and art. But we made sure to go to the leather school (holy shit wait until you touch a jacket) and seek out a small local handmade leather shop for a purse (no...not the markets). Well ok We went to the markets too to get w couple of cheap belts and gifts.
Open Baladin is a brewery in Rome that's really solid. Huge selection of microbrews from all over the country, plus they have about 10 of their own on tap. Order the homemade potato chips. They come in 4 different flavors. Tried all 4, the parm cheese were my favorite.
When in Cancun one night we all got separated. One of my buddies had to take a cab by himself. The driver brought him into the dessert where they met a cop. The cop made him give them $300 each to let him go. It was such a crazy story that we didn't believe him, but he showed us his bank account where he made the withdrawals, and he was crazy shook up about the whole ordeal.
If anyone wants to go to Iceland in the next 2 months flights are like <$300 RT from Boston on WOWair.
You can't go wrong in Florence. We spent 5 days there on our honeymoon and could have easily done more. We did spend two of those days doing day trips to Cinque Terre and into Tuscany. We used walkaboutflorence who I highly recommend. I think someone in the old thread used them as well, can't remember who or if they gave a report on how it went. We also did Rome and Venice. Venice was ok, basically what everyone else said, a lot of tourist traps. Rome is bad ass but everyone knows that, can be a little overwhelming. Florence just hits the sweet spot of all those things. Can give some more advice on any of those if you want.
So if you could go anywhere for 7-10 days in October where would it be? Wife and I are looking to do a trip in October and from looking at flight prices everywhere seems to be in our budget except for New Zealand/Australia. Wife really wants to do a UK trip and drive all around Scotland while I'm leaning more to either Italy or Israel/Petra/Egypt.
Just got back from a 10 day trip to Thailand / Cambodia, and it definitely isnt enough time. I can definitely see why bamanug loves Siem Reap so much. My group and I were lucky to be visiting for both the Thai and Khmer new year.
Given that info I would pick Italy. A big reason for that is the weather should be much nicer in Italy in October. Never been to the UK but I understand it starts to get pretty chilly in October. You can fly into Rome for damn cheap right now, round trips are in the $700 price range from JFK. Given 10 days I would do a round trip into Rome, spend 3-4 days there, short train to Florence with 3-4 days there, short train to Venice with 2 days there. Then you can fly back to Rome on the cheap or just train back and fly back home. That would be a very nice trip.
Italy...easy. It's just such a much see/experience place, tourists and all. Sooooo much to see and do. We did like 10 days and hit Sorrento, Rome, Venice, Florence. In hindsight that was a bit too much but we really wanted to see as many places as we could. God i loved Italy.
give us a brief report broham. How was Angkor Wat? What parts of Thailand? Any trouble with the detour to Siem Reap?
I loved Thailand although that humidity game ridiculous. Coolest thing we did was the John Gray Sea Canoe. Cannot recommend it enough for those that are planning to go. Was incredible. Bangkok you definitely don't need more than two days. Enjoyed Phuket a lot. We did the elephant trek too which was pretty cool.
Any interest in Oktoberfest? If so, obviously you could incorporate that into your trip. If you're wanting to see places like Petra/Israel but also Italy... Have you considered doing Spain/Morocco? Seville/Malaga --> Gibraltar (1 day) --> Ferry to Tangier --> Fes (Although, I've heard Marrakesh is the coolest, Fes is closer to Tangier)... You'd get the best of both worlds between Europe and the Middle East. Also, Israel/Petra/Egypt would be the shit. I did Israel at the beginning of March and it was great weather wise. We followed up with a trip to Istanbul which wasn't quite as great from a weather standpoint, but Istanbul is badass... Like I mentioned it's great for getting a good mix of cultures. I actually wanted to do Egypt first, but it was 2012, so they had all those student riots going on and opted on Istanbul instead. Petra would be great to say you've seen, but I'm not sure there is a ton to do beyond that. Italy is cool... Good weather. Another option could be like: Lucerne --> Milan --> Venice
No interest in Oktoberfest really, neither of us are big drinkers or party people for that matter. Really looking for a mix of nature and history which is why Italy appeals to me so much. Fly into Milan, spend a day or so there. Drive over to the Dolomites and spend a day there hiking. And then do two-three days in Venice, Florence, and Rome each and then fly out of Rome. We have talked about Morocco but we weren't sure if there was enough there for a whole week and if it's really worth the trip. With the Israel/Petra/Egypt trip going to Petra would just be a one day thing. It sits right across the border from Israel and from what I've read if you stay in Eilat the night before you can get across, see it, and be back in less than a day.
Have about 100k in AA frequent flier miles. What are the chances I will actually been able to redeem for 2 RT tix to Europe next may (2016)? How far out should I start trying to book?
I think it's 30k/person way to Europe in peak season. Doesn't really matter how far out you book that's usually a set rate with American Airlines
Anyone been to Salzburg Austria? Don't really remember reading anyone talking about it in the old thread. Already in the early stages of planning a two week trip for next May. Thinking Copenhagen - Berlin - Prague - Krakow - Budapest. Could switch Copenhagen for Salzburg pretty easily though. Any thoughts?
Best friends family went last year. He said he had a really good time in salzburg and all the bars were just jamming 90s American music and everyone loves it. Pictures looked pretty cool too. I can ask for some specifics if no one else has any Jean-Ralphio can tell you pretty much everything you need to know about Copenhagen
I kind of agree on Morocco for a week straight, which is why I think it would be awesome to start in Spain and then head to Morocco from there. Like I have in the spoiler below: Spoiler However, I personally haven't been to Morocco, but sis went with her husband and really loved it. She's about as well-traveled as I am, so I take her word for it. In fact, I have actually been told by multiple people that it's an amazing place to go with a significant other. Israel is really cool as well... The country is the size of New Jersey, so it's pretty easy to get around and see basically all of it. I'm not sure if you're Jewish but mimic a birthright in many of the places they see (Masada, Bedouins, Dead Sea, etc) regardless of your religious affiliation on those spots. While the shawarma and falafel is amazing, of the places you seem to be considering, the food is probably the worst in Israel because all of the restaurants have kosher menus (aka that typically means not enough meat options and never meat and dairy together... Or something like that). All of that said, it sounds to me like you've got your mind made up on Italy which is also a great choice. I think Venice sucks, but as we've discussed a lot lately itt, Florence and Rome are very cool. Rome especially if you're into history, because remnants of the Roman empire are everywhere.
Stick with Copenhagen imo. It'll mix up the cultures a bit more as you'll get Scandinavian along with the Eastern European side of things.
Think it just really depends on if you can manage to catch the lowest fare dates. The lowest I've managed to get on Delta was 55-60k.
Going to a family reunion outside of Salzberg in August (my grandmother fled Austria during WWII). I'm only going to be able to get a week off of work so I think I'm going to take the other half of the week to head to the Italian lakes. I've been to Europe about a half a dozen times but this will be the first time I'm not rushing around trying to see as much as I can. Pretty excited to just settle in in a couple of places and not do as much actual traveling.
I was just in Italy with my girlfriend 2 months ago, I'll post recommendations later (had typed them out last night but internet decided to die right before I clicked submit)
This Photographer Spent 1,021 Days Traveling the World. Here’s What He Saw http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2...foto_care_gallery.html?wpsrc=sh_all_tab_tw_ru
What's everyone's opinion on night trains? Looking at doing it between Prague - Krakow and Krakow - Budapest. Seems like a good way to save money and time. Basically save half a day of traveling since your doing it at night while sleeping, and also the cost of the trip saves you from paying for a night wherever you were staying.
Took a night train from Munich to Venice and it was the worst. No AC (it was 100degrees in munich when we left at 9 pm), shit seats, over crowded etc. Def book in advance and get a sleeping/bed cab, you will save yourself a huge headache.