Summer travel itinerary

[Dual]

I just booked this on Expedia:

Los Angeles (LAX) to Amsterdam (AMS) 06/20/09 5:40 pm - 1:00 pm KLM 602
Istanbul (IST) to Munich (MUC) 08/01/09 1:05 pm - 2:40 pm Lufthansa 3351
Munich (MUC) to Los Angeles (LAX) 08/01/09 3:35 pm - 6:50 pm Lufthansa 452

So I have about 40 days with no plans, I just have to get from Amsterdam to Istanbul.



Should be fun.

 

[Dark Pickle]

Sounds lile it!

Safe travels!

 

[Loktar]

^Yeah what he said.

 

[Conchaga]

Constantinople?

 

[missmanners]

I wish I could leave the country.


mm

 

[Conchaga]

Too bad they confiscated your passport after that horrible event.

 

[ctmelvital]

55 mins in Munich? That's gonna be fun.

Have you been to Europe before?

 

[Ancalagon]

Hike down the Rhine, then across the Danube, then down the Black Sea coast.

 

[Ancalagon]

Oh and:

http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Go-2009-...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232044220&sr=8-1

:techman:

Completely student researched. Based on budget traveling. Not just hostels and restaurants, but even grocery stores. Only guide that tells you where to find the best absinthe, the correct hitchhiking etiquette in each country, and how to get free drinks by knowing a few key words in the native language. :lol:

 

[Conchaga]

What ^ He said.

 

[Dual]

Constantinople?

Konstantinoupolis, Η Κονσταντινοθπολισ.

Yeah, I went to Istanbul last summer, and the Greek Dodecanese, Turkish Caria, Cappadocia, and Lycia although those are all technically Asia. This will be my first time in western/central Europe. I never got to travel very much growing up as my parents were homebodies (I've heard that they returned early from their honeymoon in New Zealand because they felt "homesick") and after I moved out of their house, I was stuck in boarding school for a few years, but now I finally have the ability to travel.

 

[Ancalagon]

Which boarding school did you go to?

 

[Dual]

Which boarding school did you go to?

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[Ancalagon]

Oh damn!

Mine was a different experience, I had to beg to go (I come from bumfuck alabama). Only way my parents would let me go was if I got a full ride.

That's where I started travelling. 20% of the boarders were international students, and since I live on the Gulf Coast pretty near my school, I'd invite my friends to come down during breaks. They in turn invited me to visit over summer. Pretty nice deal. Worked until I had enough for a plane ticket and some spending money and then I went and globe trotted basically for free.

 

[Ancalagon]

There's the route I was talking about. On the river itself you've got Amsterdam, Koln, Koblenz, Vienne, Bratislava Budapest and Belgrade. Heidelberg (well worth it! although that's where I lived so a bit biased) is a short jaunt down the Mosel. Munich and Bucharest wouldn't be major detours.

 

[Dual]

There's the route I was talking about. On the river itself you've got Amsterdam, Koln, Koblenz, Vienne, Bratislava Budapest and Belgrade. Heidelberg (well worth it! although that's where I lived so a bit biased) is a short jaunt down the Mosel. Munich and Bucharest wouldn't be major detours.

Looks like a nice path. I'm also hoping to visit the ancestral homelands of Hesse and Baden, neither of which would be major detours.

Places I intend to go to:

Amsterdam
Hesse
Bavaria
Baden
Venice
Milan
Vienna
Thessalonika
Athens
The Peloponnessus
Istanbul

Time permitting, I'd also love Budapest, Paris, Bithynia, Berlin, and so many other places.

 

[Ancalagon]

To be honest, the biggest thing about doing Europe is DON'T RUSH IT! You need to have time to sit down for lunch at a castle overlooking the Mosel valley, with views of the river, and end up drinking and socializing till dinner.

Personally I think you're doing to much to get anything more than a tourist look at the place. You do a diservice to you and Europe IMO. Save Southern Europe (Itay, Greece) for another day.

 

[Conchaga]

Be prepared to spend more time in one location than you had planned.

 

[Ancalagon]

Oh, and if you don't want to hike/hitchhike:

http://www.eurail.com
Remember, if you are thinking about getting a Eurail Pass, I'd go ahead and buy a cheap one. You can't buy them in Europe, but at least when I was there, you could modify a pass. My roommate did that. So take a cheap pass with you, and if you want to upgrade it, you can do so.


Actually, it has been a few years. You might want to check up on that.

 

[Ancalagon]

Be prepared to spend more time in one location than you had planned.

This can't be emphasized enough. Europe is a slow place. EVERYTHING IS SLOW*. If you try to rush it, you'll just piss yourself off, and miss one of the best aspects of Europe, it's culture.





*example: Waiters are paid minimum wage. Which is over $10 an hour. So instead of like the states where a server has a 3 or 4 table section, over there they have 10-15 table sections. Be prepared for a 'quick lunch' at a cafe to take 2 hours or more. And for the service to suck. Huge Sections + Good Wages = TrinkGeld (German world for Tip, literally drink money)