Traveling Europe

[KarmaPolice]

After my internship this summer I will have extra cash and only 1 online class to take before I graduate. This online class, can naturually be taken anywhere so why should I sit at my campus paying rent and twiddling my thumbs? I don't plan to.

I would love to travel europe for a month or however long I can on funds. Anyone do this before in the recent years? My mom did it when she was a kid but it was a lot cheaper back then. I dunno how much I can save but I imagine at least with what I have now I could have 4k. I obviously don't want to spend that much, the cheaper the better, just given an idea.

Really I've seen a lot of asia and have only been to England and Greece. I would like to stop by Italy, Amsterdam, Germany, France, and perhaps England one more time.

Thoughts, expereinces?

 

[Severian]

The exchange rate is a bear, and has been for a few years now, making doing Europe on the cheap difficult. The euro is running around $1.36 to $1.38, but that's still better than the pound, which is close to $2.

I've been to Europe twice in the last three years, although this was for family vacations where I took my wife and three kids. There was nothing really cheap about it, so I don't really have much useful advice for you on that front. If you have any active duty, retired, or reserve military members of your family, you can actually get very (comparatively) inexpensive accomodations at some military resorts, such as Edelweiss in Garmisch-Parenkirchen in southern Bavaria (Germany).

I can vouch that Rome, Vienna, Munich, Innsbruck, and Paris are absolute must-see destinations. I haven't been to the low countries yet but someday...

 

[mrrman]

My aunt is down here from Italy and she says that since they have the Euro in place, everything has gotten quite expensive

 

[KarmaPolice]

If 4k or less is not enough maybe I go somewhere else?

 

[Rage187]

Fly to Manchester. Drive across the english country side to Hull on the east coast.

Catch the P&O ferry from Hull-Rotterdam. It's an overnight trip on a luxuries boat. Go during the middle of the week and it's under $100 round trip.

After you get off the ferry, buses will be waiting on the ferry passengers to take you to Rotterdam Centrum. Catch the train here to Amsterdam which is about a 25min trip. You could skip the train ride altogether as when you book your trip on the P&O ferry, you can specifiy you want the bus to take you directly to Amsterdam. But man that train trip is magic. As soon as you arrive in Amsterdam, walk across teh street and check out the "Grow Station" very educational

Once it Amsterdam, do all your site seeing first. Anne Frank house, a museum, whatever. Get those out of the way first, then go hit the bars. My recommendation is the "Blue Velvet" on Haarlemmerstraat, number 64. It's a local's bar and I preffered it over the bigger bars that specifically cater to tourist. I won't make recommendations on what to have although their hashish is awesome. After I hit this place up all my pictures were tilted to the side.

The Blue Velvet also has a room above the bar they rent out fairly cheaply. I would stay here in a heart beat as it is well located.

Don't forget to hit the red light district!

 

[Severian]

I would also say this would be an excellent excuse to learn some conversational Italian, German, French, and Dutch. If you know you're going, and have a little time, there's no better reason in the world to give it a try. I've always found that although English is pretty much understood everywhere in western Europe, the fact that you at least attempt to communicate in the local dialect is very much appreciated. It really helps put the lie to the "ugly American" stereotype.

I've always liked the Pimsleur series for this, as well.

 

[Rage187]

Originally posted by: Severian
I would also say this would be an excellent excuse to learn some conversational Italian, German, French, and Dutch. If you know you're going, and have a little time, there's no better reason in the world to give it a try. I've always found that although English is pretty much understood everywhere in western Europe, the fact that you at least attempt to communicate in the local dialect is very much appreciated. It really helps put the lie to the "ugly American" stereotype.

I've always liked the Pimsleur series for this, as well.

All the Dutch I ran into really liked speaking American English. All their music, TV, radio is American English. The only dutch I saw/heard was spoken between themselves or in the newspaper.

I would definalty pick up some French however.

 

[Ricemarine]

Originally posted by: mrrman
My aunt is down here from Italy and she says that since they have the Euro in place, everything has gotten quite expensive

That's what my sister told me, and she is currently travelling around Europe too... Since the pound is worth twice as much as the dollar, she is travelling to other countries where they use the euro instead to buy merchandise.

 

[KarmaPolice]

wtf...i just checked flights to amsterdam from baltimore...400 bucks!? thats cheap as hell.

 

[xanis]

You can do a Europe trip somewhat cheaply if you play it smart. Stay in hostels and make some of your own meals from ingredients bought from local markets. Those two things can save you quite a lot of money. Just a fair warning though, you're going to take a nasty hit on the exchange rate from USD to Euro.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Originally posted by: Xanis
You can do a Europe trip somewhat cheaply if you play it smart. Stay in hostels and make some of your own meals from ingredients bought from local markets. Those two things can save you quite a lot of money. Just a fair warning though, you're going to take a nasty hit on the exchange rate from USD to Euro.

yeah i know it sucks...damn USD...

I am looking on sights for travel ideas..i really just want to go anywhere, and i would love to do it for a while. I have no debt so if i i could work somewhere that would be the best. Looking at Australia there is this program where you can go there for a few months and they will find you a temp job while you are traveling to let you stay there better......not available to US citizens :/

 

[HombrePequeno]

Originally posted by: KarmaPolice
wtf...i just checked flights to amsterdam from baltimore...400 bucks!? thats cheap as hell.

You might want to fly into Dublin. Going from Seattle to Amsterdam for me would have been a little over $1000 but flying into Dublin only cost $700. I plan on staying in Dublin for a night or two and then getting a cheap flight (~$50) into Amsterdam.

 

[flexy]

Originally posted by: Xanis
You can do a Europe trip somewhat cheaply if you play it smart. Stay in hostels and make some of your own meals from ingredients bought from local markets. Those two things can save you quite a lot of money. Just a fair warning though, you're going to take a nasty hit on the exchange rate from USD to Euro.

also..make sure you watch the movie "hostel" before you go

lol

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: Rage187
All the Dutch I ran into really liked speaking American English. All their music, TV, radio is American English.

How can you tell if it's American English or English English?

 

[flexy]

in january i flew on DELTA (!) for $350 (!), thats everything included incl. tax from nashville to munich.

Now the cheapest is $650, blame oil prices.

 

[Rage187]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: Rage187
All the Dutch I ran into really liked speaking American English. All their music, TV, radio is American English.

How can you tell if it's American English or English English?

it won't have an English accent when spoken.

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: Rage187

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: Rage187
All the Dutch I ran into really liked speaking American English. All their music, TV, radio is American English.

How can you tell if it's American English or English English?

it won't have an English accent when spoken.

Surely the dutch speak English with a Dutch accent?

 

[Rage187]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: Rage187

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: Rage187
All the Dutch I ran into really liked speaking American English. All their music, TV, radio is American English.

How can you tell if it's American English or English English?

it won't have an English accent when spoken.

Surely the dutch speak English with a Dutch accent?

nope, sounds just like American English. They learned it from our music and movies.

 

[Sheep]

Originally posted by: Atheus
Surely the dutch speak English with a Dutch accent?

The Dutch definitely have a unique accent, as evidenced by my company's current CEO and my former graduate advisor having the same accent, with the only other thing they have in common is both being Dutch-born.

The Dutch in the Netherlands spoke the best English that I encountered in my Europe travels last year.

 

[cHeeZeFacTory]

where are you guys finding these sub 1000 prices? I'm currently planning a trip to europe, from LAX. Most sites I've searched, expedia, orbitz, sidestep, etc are giving me something in the 1100 to 1300 range for traveling around late July, early august.

 

[compuwiz1]

This guy seems to be an authority on European travel

 

[KarmaPolice]

anyone else?