Going to Europe (1 Viewer)

[Anthony Moore]

Hi all.
Im 20 years old and a student at The University of Florida. My friends and I are going to Europe for spring break in March 2002. These are my very best friends and have known some them for as long as 10 years. There are 5 of us going. Only one of us has been over to Europe and he's only been to Rome when he was in high school.
We are flying into Amsterdam on Feb 28th and flying out of London on the 10th of March. I work at a Hilton hotel here in Gainesville so I have free Hilton hotels in Amsterdam, Rome, and London. But we only plan on being at those places one or two nights a piece. And we plan on traveling on the Eurorail the other days and stopping in some places on the way (Switzerland, Paris), and arent sure where we're gonna sleep. Maybe we'll find hostiles in the cities that are on the way. We each bought one of those 5 or 6 country Eurorail passes.
We're NOT by any means rich and none of our parents are giving us money. We all have jobs and have plenty of time to save though. And we thought it was time to do something like this. We bought our plane ticket and Railpasses already, so its a go. Any advice from some of you that have been there before? Anything at all would be appreciated.
thanks a lot
anthony
[Edited last by Anthony Moore on November 08, 2001 at 01:49 PM]

 

[Grant B]

anthony
sounds like a blast.
MAKE SURE YOU VALIDATE YOUR YOUR EURAIL BEFORE GETTING ON THE TRAIN!!!!
SOMETIMES IT'S HARD TO FIND BUT THEY WILL FINE YOU!
amsterdam...for some reason no one remembers much about it hmmmmm. i'd say 2 days. you can catch the train to paris pretty easy. couchettes are extra but worth it. if not it's sort of like a cattle care car. They search the train generally the moment it gets into belguim, so even if it is semi-legal in amsterdam IT IS NOT ANYWHERE ELSE. I've seen too many kids get ripped off the train when the German Sheperds go through
Hostels suck because they usually have some 9pm cerfew and you waste the morning doing some work for them.
Guest houses , B&B, cheap hotels etc are much better.get yourself some books , the rough guide, fudors etc and look it over before you go. the van gough is great but i would pass on the anne frank house (bare house and you walk thru, mainly the night life.
London is another great place for night life...tube stops generally when the pubs close but night clubs are open late,
They sometimes have dress codes - no jeans & sneakers..so you might want to make sure you take some other clothes ...just in case
Rome is more day sight seeing...never found much nightlife
a couple of generalities
Northern Europe more expensive, trains run like clock work
English well known
sourthern- cheap..trains ...well they get there, give yourself plenty of time...late big supper
Paris - if you look like an american/tourist/beachbum they won't give you the time of day...you are invisible. Dress nice and try to speak french and it's amazing how nice people are....shorts and sandals they will spit at you;you have insulted them
Do some reading before you go, you'll have a better cheaper time
if you have any specifics you can email me at
[email protected]
I've lived in england/scotland and have been to most non-warzone countries
sincerely
grant

 

[Trey Fletcher]

Maybe we'll find hostiles in the cities that are on the way

As Grant said, it is definitely possible to find "hostiles" in Paris.
I haven't been to most of the places you are going (only Scotland and Austria). However, my wife and I found our Fodor's guides to be absolutely indispensable in the countries we did visit. I can't imagine how lost we would have been without them. Other than that, try to familiarize yourself with some of the basic local customs (check out the tipping thread

) before going. And definitely expect the unexpected. Example: My wife and I were in a hurry one day while in Austria, and did the unthinkable and stopped at a McDonalds for lunch. After paying for and receiving our meal, I went back and asked for some ketchup. I had to pay for it! Not what I expected, but that was their way of doing things, and well, who was I to argue? I'm sure you'll experience the same, just roll with it, rather than get frustrated. I personally find the idiosyncrasies to be a lot of the fun in traveling. TF

 

[AdrianOC]

Come to Ireland.
Drink lots of Guinness.
Throw up.
Repeat.

------------------
"Want to hold up a bank in Latin?
"Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam."
(I have a catapult. Give me all the money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.)
My DVD List

 

[Anthony Moore]

Thanks for all the advice guys. If anyone else has anything, please feel free to keep posting.
Also, Im going to pick up that Fodor's book. Does anyone else have any idea's for Europe travel books?
Even if you guys have any yourselves, I'll gladly buy them from you. Paypal or whatever.
Thanks again
anthony