First Time Backpack - May/June 07!

[ksteele]

I've been looking around these boards for a long while, and noticed how great everyone is at giving trip planning feedback! So, I thought I'd give it at try too!

My girlfriend and I are planning a trip after graduation this summer to Europe. We're both rookie travellers so we're not sure of well, anything haha. Any advice would be appreciated.

April 30 - Fly into London
May 1 - May 4 - London
May 5-6 - Belfast
May 7-10 - Dublin
May 11 - Cork (to kiss the Blarney stone!)
Back through London to Paris... takes a day I guess??
May 12-16 - Paris
May 17-18 - Nice
May 19-20 - Florence
May 21-24 - Rome
May 25-27 - Venice
May 28-29 - Vienna
May 30-31 - Munich
June 1-3 - Berlin
June 4-5 - Amsterdam
June 6-7 - Brussels
June 8 - Fly home out of London

So, the biggest question is - is it doable? Also, a few friends have said that it would be a travesty to miss out on Greece, but I'm not sure what to take out in order to get it?

We already have our tickets, so an open-jaw flight is n/a.

Thanks in advance Happy Travels!

[me]

yer kiddin about the Blarney stone, i hope. i've heard that locals think it's great fun to get drunk & urinate onto that stone, knowing so many kiss it.

they try to clean it up, but ewww!

why go from Cork to London in order to get to Paris? Aer Lingus has cheap direct flights.

the only time i visited there, i didn't find the people in Nice to all that nice! the rocky beaches there certainly weren't very nice. i'd suggest Cinque Terra, a ways across the Italian border, were the beaches are still rocky, but the people are nicer to tourists.

if you skip Nice, you could take an easyJet flight from Paris to Pisa & head North to CT. then back Southeast to Florence.

also, after Venice, i'd suggest taking a night train to Munich unless you decide to also visit Innsbruck area. [Tyrolean alps are a favorite of mine]

between Munich & Vienna is another nice place, Salzburg. between Vienna & Berlin, Prague, is anpther favorite.

sometimes it makes sense to make a stop in another country en route.

[herrbert]

I agree with David, on getting to Munich from Venice, instead of getting to Vienna first. Only advice would be to get a ticket from www.hlx.com, they will fly you to Munich on the 27th of May for 32,17 euros.

Airlingus also have flights from Cork to Nice, this way you could get to Nice, very comfortable, and but Paris as the city place on your tour. They have flight the 10th and the 12th of May. www.flyaerlingus.com

I also agrees with David on the other tonws and cities, but if this is all the time you have, then don't put any more place on the list, because at this point, it seems to me, that you are already have the risk of having to little time in Italy, Berlin and Vienna. Especially because you need time to travel between these cities. I would skip Brussels, and devide these 2 days to Rome, and Vienna, and I would swap one day in Venice, with one day in Florence. (or one day less in Paris or Dublin, would do fine).

[madamtrashheap]

me said:

yer kiddin about the Blarney stone, i hope. i've heard that locals think it's great fun to get drunk & urinate onto that stone, knowing so many kiss it.

This story has been around for ages, one of those urban myths I think. The Blarney Stone is in Blarney Castle, on the top floor. As you can't access the inside of the castle once the gate is shut (unless you want to pretend you're in medieval times and scale a 3 storey stone wall!), it's highly unlikely that locals manage to "christen" the stone. The thing that's probably more interesting (in an X-Files kind of way) is that once you've laid down, bend over backwards and kissed the stone, the guy holding you wipes the stone off with a cloth and the next person kisses it...better to kiss away from the centre part! Eeeww, now I'm grossing myself out!

As for the other points, I concur with the guys about not adding any more cities and switching a few days/destination around. Will cut down travel time and make the most of each city.

Happy travels (and kissing!)!

[Eagle]

A few more comments regarding your proposed Itinerary....

Your plan looks reasonably well organized, however I would perhaps change a few things. Would this work:

> April 30 - Fly into London (you'll probably arrive the following day, but that will depend to some extent on your departure time. I believe flight time from Ottawa is about 9 hours?)
> May 1-4 - London
> May 5-6 - Belfast (how were you planning to get from London to Belfast?)
> May 7-10 - Dublin
> May 11 - Cork (to kiss the Blarney stone!) (some interesting comments regarding the Blarney Stone - as MTH pointed out the Castle is locked up in the off-hours and I can't imagine anyone "christening" the stone when there are other visitors present. I think I'd pass on that, but of course it's your choice.)
> Back through London to Paris... takes a day I guess?? (this is a waste of time and money - I completely agree with the others on this in that it would be better to fly directly from Ireland to Paris)
> May 12-16 - Paris
> May 17-18 - Nice (my preference would be to delete this, in order to allow a bit more "breathing room" for your stops in Italy. Again, your choice).
> May 19-20 - Florence (only two days in bella Firenze???)
> May 21-24 - Rome (four days is a bare minimum for Rome! Make sure you have your touring well planned, as there's lots to see. You might add at least a day here?)
> May 25-27 - Venice
> May 28-29 - Vienna
> May 30-31 - Munich
> June 1-3 - Berlin
> June 6-7 - Brussels (most here feel that Brugges is a much nicer stop in Belgium. Is there a particular reason you want to visit Brussels?)
> June 4-5 - Amsterdam (I'd suggest talking to a travel agent regarding your flights, and fly home from Amsterdam. Schiipol is a major hub and you should easily be able to get flights from there. Not having to return to London will give you a few more days to spend in Europe! Returning to London is again a waste of time and money. It's unfortunate that you've already bought your air tickets - is there any way you can change these, perhaps by paying a small penalty???)
> June 8 - Fly home out of London (see above)

I agree with David that a visit to the Cinque Terre would be a great stop to add! You could fit that in either before Florence, or in between Rome and Venice (it's about a 4-5 hour train ride from Rome, from what I recall, depending on which train you choose). Once you've finalized your Itinerary, check www.bahn.de for times and schedules for the various trains you'll be taking.

If you've read any of the other posts, you'll no doubt be aware of the "limitations" of the budget airlines. Pack carefully and allow for the time and expense to get to out of the way airports.

Good luck and happy planning!

[pointofnoreturn]

It takes about 5-6 hours to fly to London, 7 hours if there's a stopover in Montreal <--- for Eagle.

Most of the time, you will around 6-7:30 AM.

[ksteele]

Yeah, we'll be getting into London at about 7:30am London time.

As for Cork, I really wanted to see the Blarney stone, but it sounds like people here don't think much of it?

The rest of the itinerary is pretty much open as we know some places to go, but are pretty lost when it comes to others. Here's a question for you: can anyone list all, or some, of the cheap airlines to fly? I'm thinking we might fly from Belfast to Paris to save some time.

[herrbert]

There is already a list on the website, with a lot of the budget airlines, but sometimes it's hard to keep track. It seems there is a new airline almost everyday, so posting them all is a little bit hard to do. Also a lot of the 'normal' airlines of lower prices these days, or have a second budget airlines. (e.g. BlueOne is owned by SAS, which is also in the StarAlliance) If you can't find an airline for a certain leg of the trip, just post it.
www.guideforeurope.com/budget_airline_in_europe.html*

Belfast - Paris: there is a flight by easyjet: www.easyjet.com





* note for Kim, or one of the admins: the link of BasiqAir gives me a strange website. (there are only squares, and strange signs)

[Eagle]

ksteele, if you really want to see the Blarney Stone, go for it! I would probably go to see the Blarney Stone, but not to kiss it. It's a matter of personal choice, but I think it's good that some of our members have pointed out some of the "other" aspects of this; that way, one can make an informed choice.

herrbert, the "squares and strange signs" you noticed on Basiq Air.com is Japanese language symbols. I'd have to do a bit of searching on the Net, but I believe Transavia.com is the correct link. I found one reference that mentioned "Transavia.com, formerly Basiq Air".

Cheers!!!

[me]

the list Herrbert cites is just that, a list of budget airlines. i find www.Whichbudget.com/ to be more useful, as it tells which airlines fly where. BUT, the site doesn't cover *all* airlines. some don't want to be listed. [one of the big ones, i forget which, doesn't let itself be listed.] it isn't perfect, but i know of none that give more useful & easy to use listings.

one thing that makes me a little wary of Whichbudget is a glaring error about my hometown. it sez Southwest flys from DFW <Dallas area's biggest airport. it's the size of Manhattan!> as well as DAL <the older, smaller, close-in airport>. Southwest has never had flights from DFW. [Southwest's CEO, a lawyer, sued & took the case all the way to the US supreme court, to be able to fly from DAL. even so the feds put severe restraints on where they could fly from Dallas, the Wright Amendment, which is now scheduled to be removed in 2014.>

i emailed Whichbudget about this error. no reply.

ksteele said:

Here's a question for you: can anyone list all, or some, of the cheap airlines to fly? I'm thinking we might fly from Belfast to Paris to save some time.

[WillTravel]

Another list that's good, but not perfect, is Skyscanner.net .

[herrbert]

Up till now I prefered to use www.vliegtickets.nl (in dutch), but for some reasons, it isn't working that well since a week or two. I am now looking at this one: www.amadeus.net/home/index.htm (but they also don't mention easyjet)

@ Eagle: You are correct, basiq air is renamed Transavia.com

[me]

that airline name still makes me think of Dracula. Transavia somehow becomes Transylvania in my mind.

herrbert said:

@ Eagle: You are correct, basiq air is renamed Transavia.com

[madamtrashheap]

ksteele said:

As for Cork, I really wanted to see the Blarney stone, but it sounds like people here don't think much of it?

ksteel, sorry gave the wrong impression about the Blarney Stone - I kissed it many years ago...haven't stopped talking since! I enjoyed the castle visit as well as the stone, so I agree with Eagle, definitely go if you want to see it. I could give you a list of urban myths about places around Europe as long as two arms, but it always boils down to going where you want and seeing for yourself. Eg: I'm not a fan of Pisa, but still think it should be seen at least once (and the obligatory cheesey photo "holding the tower up" has to be in everyone's photo album). Blarney Castle is interesting and there's a Woollen Mills just across the bridge if you feel the need to buy cable-knit woollens (or just have a cup of tea before continuing on your way) and Blarney Village is quite pretty too. Cork city has good nightlife/pubs and is small enough to wander through the main area/harbour for a bit. And there's the fact that you'll see the rather gorgeous country side on the trip from Dublin to Cork - bonus! Here's a site I've used for info before that might assist: www.cork-guide.ie/town.htm

The fact that you can find cheap flights from Cork (look at www.aerlingus.com, for around Euro45 you can get to Paris CDG Airport) is also a bonus in that you don't have to backtrack or make unecessary stopovers on the way to Paris, so I say go for your life!