chefzen
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Posts: 14
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Post by chefzen on Aug 18, 2005 10:51:17 GMT -5
I should be in Prague around that time too. I think I'm going to be leaving Amsterdam on the day of the 3rd and arriving in Prague on the 4th. Maybe we could all go out for a drink, or even better, some local Czech food! Woot!
ZEN!!!
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chefzen
Full Travel Member
Posts: 14
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Post by chefzen on Sept 21, 2005 10:51:21 GMT -5
So, I'm leaving for Europe next Friday and I STILL haven't booked my first two nights, which happen to be in Amsterdam. I was all set to book at Hostel Cosmos, because it seemed rather inexpensive, the pictures looked relatively clean and on a number of sites held reviews that were really quite strong (including this site). However, the other night, as I was just about to book, I came across a bunch of reviews that mentioned bed bugs. The funny thing was that it was only on that one site. With the reviews being so dated, how trustworthy are they?
I'm just really disappointed because it seemed like Hostel Cosmos seemed to have nice character and all of the amenities that I was looking for.
Does anyone have any websites that have really good, detailed, recent reviews on hostels? As of this moment, I'm looking at the International Budget Hostel and maybe even doubling my housing expenses for the night and staying at the Crown. Input anyone?
ZEN!!!
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chefzen
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Posts: 14
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Post by chefzen on Sept 7, 2005 11:57:24 GMT -5
So, I'm traveling around Europe for the month of October and I'm trying to compile a list of hostels that look good from their websites and from the reviews that I have been reading here on guideforeurope.com, BUG Europe, and hostels.com.
I can't seem to find a good number of hostels or reviewed hostels for cities like Strasbourg, Lyon, Marseille, and the Cinque Terra region. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to look for more reviews or more lists of hostels (hopefully with URLs to the actual hostels)?
In addition, have any of y'all stayed in hostels in any of these cities? Are there any particular ones you liked? If so, why?
Any information would be much appreciated.
Cheers.
ZEN!!!
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chefzen
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Posts: 14
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Post by chefzen on Aug 18, 2005 10:48:09 GMT -5
Hi,
I'm traveling around Europe for the month of October and I want to keep things relatively fast and loose. I plan on visiting Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Strasbourg, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Cinque Terra, Florence, maybe Siena or Venice for a day and Milan (just to fly out of).
Although I have my itinerary pretty planned out, I don't want to rule out wanting to spend an extra day in one city or moving on th the next city a day early. How should I be setting up my hostel reservarions?
Is it possible to just show up and find somewhere to stay or would it be recommended to set up all of my hostels before I even get on the plane?
Will there be a lot of vacancies at hostels in October because it is shoulder season?
Any help would be great.
ZEN!!!
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chefzen
Full Travel Member
Posts: 14
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Paris
Jan 27, 2006 16:10:29 GMT -5
Post by chefzen on Jan 27, 2006 16:10:29 GMT -5
I'm a big before sunrise/sunset buff and visited a bunch of locations on my monthlong trip to Europe in October. In Before Sunset, they get on a boat that only runs in the summer. I forget what it's called, but they get on the boat at Quai de la Tournelle on the west bank and off the boat at (as they say in the movie) Quai Henri IV on the east. They're both relatively easy to get to and are pretty central.
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chefzen
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Posts: 14
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Post by chefzen on Aug 24, 2005 0:37:23 GMT -5
I bet that if you fly out of Atlanta, you could probably find a better deal. It's a cheap flight to Atlanta as well (my folks live there and they're at Disney World at least three times a year). I really do think you need to hold off on your flight planning and just wait around for the sales. Also check the travel section of clarkhoward.com . He is based out of Atlanta and the quotes that he has is kind of indicitave of travel from the east coast.
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chefzen
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Post by chefzen on Aug 21, 2005 22:54:12 GMT -5
It does seem like a steep price. At least from Boston, where I am, I can find flights for a couple of hundred dollars tops. Also keep in mind that you can't buy your flight ticket too far ahead of time unless you want to be paying full fare. Keep your eye on the internet and you'll probably see sales starting either in February or March. Maybe as early as Janurary, but not now. The price you'd be getting now is the full fare.
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chefzen
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Posts: 14
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Post by chefzen on Jul 21, 2005 10:53:54 GMT -5
Eagle,
First of all, thanks for the reply. I've been looking at all of my materials and have been trying to re-evaluate my itinerary.
I was, in fact, thinking of trying to do my itinerary in the order in which I wrote it on my original post. Either that or going from Strasbourg to Amsterdam and following the path to Berlin, Prague, and Vienna or from Amsterdam to Prague, Vienna then Munich.
As I have heard a lot about how Naples is not the most interesting or the nicest of cities, I put that in as a base camp just because it was close to Pompeii and it would be an easy place to start from if I wanted to take a day trip there. Is there any other place that I can start from if I want to take a day trip to Pompeii? Is Rome feasible? I noted that in another thread someone was thinking about staying in Salerno or the Amalfi Coast. are those good options? I wouldn't mind axeing Naples, but I really do want to see Pompeii.
Although I had already slimmed down my proposed itinerary before I posted, I realize that my cities are a bit scattered. I think that I would be willing to give up my German cities and Prague, but I'm not really willing to give up Vienna. Unfortunately it's the city that's the farthest east. Do you think that it would be better to axe Prague and or whichever German city?
I've had issues trying to figure out where I should stop in the Provence region of France as well. I hear that there is some absolutely amazing food there, but I can't pinpoint a place to go. Nice, Cannes and St. Tropez all seem a little too geared towards the rich socialites, and I can't seem to find enough compelling info on Marseilles or Arles to REALLY make me go there. So, Perhaps I should skip Provence and go straight to Lyon. Does that sound like a better idea?
I think that another thing that makes it really difficult to figure out my trip timing is that I really want to be in Paris and Lyon for the week of 10/11-10/17. Geographically and time wise, it makes sense to me to do Italy before I go to France and then use the last two weeks to do norther and eastern Europe destinations.If only I could start or end in Paris. =P
I have checked out the Rick Steves website and have flipped through a bunch of his books, so I have seen the grafitti wall. I have to say that though they have a lot of information, it's really difficult to digest it all due to the organization.
Anyways, any more help and advice that anyone could offer would be much appreicated.
Cheers.
ZEN!!!
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chefzen
Full Travel Member
Posts: 14
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Post by chefzen on Jul 19, 2005 16:03:40 GMT -5
Hi,
I'm new to the board and have been lurking for the past month or so. The wealth of information here is absolutely amazing. As I have been planning my trip, I have found that I've been using a lot of the tips and suggestions that I have read here.
Anyways, I am planning a month long trip to Europe in October. I have worked in the financial services industry for the past 5 years but have been transitioning into the culinary arts over the past six months. The current plan is to use my 4 weeks (22 business days) of paid vacation from my day job to go to Europe to go tasting. Upon returning, I'll build a small cushion and will pursue a full time career in the culinary arts. ;D
I have been spending all of my free time at the day job cruising the net and different websites about backpacking around Europe and all of my lunch hours in Barnes & Noble's and Border's, but the volume of information out there is so great and so hard to filter that I'm having trouble putting it all together.
I'm looking for a little feedback on my current working itinerary. Nothing is set in stone yet, and airfare isn't an issue due to being bumped during the holiday season. The only firm thing for me is that I wnt to be in France from Oct 11-17th for Tasting Week in Paris and Lyon.
My objectives are as follows:
1) Eat as much local cuisine as possible on a limited budget. 2) Explore farmer's markets. 3) Meet people to explore and dine with (whether it be a picnic from a farmer's market or a nice sitdown meal at a brasserie). 4) Take a break from my hectic life and experience European life. 5) Try to get a peek into a French kitchen (I gotta network for that one).
So sightseeing isn't the highest on my priority list. If given the choice of spending time getting to know new people and going to see a museum by myself choose to get to know new people, but if I can go to a museum with new people, even better.
Another interesting bit is that there is a possibility of my mother tagging along on the Italian leg of my trip.
So here's what I'm thinking so far:
Fly into Rome ('cause it's cheaper) on the red-eye so I get there early in the morning. Train to Naples, check into a hostel, and then train to Pompeii to check out the ruins etc.
Naples: Sleep and eat in Naples 1 night if I can make it to Pompeii that same day, if not 2 nights. My Italian co-worker tells me that Naples & Florence are the two places to eat in Italy.
Rome: 2 nights
Florence: 2 nights.
Chianti or Siena: 1 night. Tuscan food woot!
Cinque Terra: 2 nights. I have heard from 2 separate sets of friends that it's an amazing place, and I'm a big fan of walkin/hiking. Hopefully I'll find someone to walk with me.
Arles or Marseille: 1 or 2 nights. If I go to Marseille, it's all about the Bouillabaisse!
Lyon: 2 nights. I'll need to find a good restaurant that's participating in the Tasting week festivities.
Paris: 3 nights. I plan on trying to find some of Ernest Hemingway's old haunts as I was an English Major in college and try to find some of the sights in the movie "Before Sunset."
Strasbourg: 1-2 nights. Can someone say "fois gras"?
Vienna: 2-3 nights. I'm going to try to find some of the sights in "Before Sunrise."
Prague: 2-3 nights. I have heard from multiple people that the city is really quite amazing.
Berlin or Munich: 2-3 nights. I have had a lot of German friends, and I'm curious to check out a German electronica club. Schpaetzel and beer should be good too.
Amsterdam: 2-3 nights. I have been here before on my only other European trip a couple of years ago for an Electronic music festival, but I just want to check it out again. I loved the museumsplein and the Leidesplein. And there was an amazing fry joint on Damrak. *swoon*.
So I'm going to really try to balance a budget for this trip. I'm not going to go to Michelin rated restaurants every night I'm in Europe, but maybe one a week. I plan on picnicing for at least two of my three meals a day. Are there any markets in particular that I should be hitting or little stores that anyone knows of? Is it hard finding people to eat with as you're backpacking around if you're flying solo?
Does this sound like a doable itinerary? Are there too many cities and stops?
If Halloween is my last full night in Europe is there any one place that you think would be cool to visit on Halloween? (And Halloween is my favorite holiday second only to Thanksgiving)
Is it hard to go fast and loose around Europe in October? Should I be booking my hostels well ahead of time? Do people often start traveling by themselves and end up tagging along with other people that they meet along the way?
If I buy bottles of olive oil and wine, should I just ship it or should I hump it with me across Europe?
Do any of y'all have any special gastronomic memories of backpacking around Europe?
Anyways, I know this was a long post, but I have a lot more research to do before this all goes down. Any help, advice, questions for me to think about, it would be much appreciated.
Cheers.
ZEN!!!
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chefzen
Full Travel Member
Posts: 14
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Post by chefzen on Aug 21, 2005 22:59:22 GMT -5
I'll be leaving Boston on Sept 30th and will be arriving in Amsterdam on Oct 1st , and will be leaving Milan and will be returning back to Boston on Oct 31st. I'll probably be updating a travel journal along the way at: cooks-tour.blogspot.comI've already started to post.
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chefzen
Full Travel Member
Posts: 14
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Post by chefzen on Sept 2, 2005 0:42:28 GMT -5
Has anyone bought or used a phone from Mobal (http://www.mobal.com)? My mother saw it in Budget Travel magazine and thought it might be something good to get in case of an emergency. Do any of y'all have any experience with them?
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chefzen
Full Travel Member
Posts: 14
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Post by chefzen on Aug 31, 2005 0:58:55 GMT -5
I had these kinds of questions about the iPod as well. As I was looking on the apple website, I found this info on the AC adapter.
Power adapter 4-pin USB A connector AC input: 100V to 240V at 0.15 amp rms maximum Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz DC output: 5V at 1 amp maximum
So I guess all you would need would be a plug adapter and not a voltage converter. Am I correct?
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chefzen
Full Travel Member
Posts: 14
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Post by chefzen on Aug 16, 2005 15:26:41 GMT -5
So, I'm going to Europe for all of October, and I'm wondering about the bedding situation in Hostels. I have read in a number of places that a lot of hostels do not allow sleeping bages due to the potential for bedbugs and such pests and that they require you to have a hostel sheet. Here's what I'm wondering:
If I just bring a hostel sheet and a small fleece blanket, will I be warm enough at night in places like Amsterdam, Prague and Vienna?
Are the blankets that hostels rent out skanktified or are they actually clean and comfortable?
Do any of y'all have any recommendations on hostel sheets? Good brands/materials and such, what a good price would be? (I've been seeing them for anywhere from $20usd - $101usd.
Any help you can offer would be much appreciated.
Cheers
ZEN!!!
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