The Travelling Thread

Hey all,

I'm loosely planning a trip to the UK/Ireland/Europe for year summer/fall. Is it doable to travel to one city and then stay for a few days, jump to another easily with flights/accommodations/costs? Has anyone done this before? I'm looking at maybe Dublin/Glasgow. Other countries are a possibility, obvious knowing only English my locations are entirely limited but I'd rather not stress about the language. I wouldn't want to do more than 2 or 3 cities at the most over 2 weeks~

Also would there be a need for a rental car anywhere or is public transport/trains/taxis good enough in most cases?
 
wokeupnew said:
Hey all,

I'm loosely planning a trip to the UK/Ireland/Europe for year summer/fall. Is it doable to travel to one city and then stay for a few days, jump to another easily with flights/accommodations/costs? Has anyone done this before? I'm looking at maybe Dublin/Glasgow. Other countries are a possibility, obvious knowing only English my locations are entirely limited but I'd rather not stress about the language. I wouldn't want to do more than 2 or 3 cities at the most over 2 weeks~

Also would there be a need for a rental car anywhere or is public transport/trains/taxis good enough in most cases?
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Not sure about smaller towns but last year my partner and I flew to London, took the train to Oxford for a day trip and back, and then took the train again from London to Edinburgh and Edinburgh to Glasgow very easily. And the train trips were also a lot of fun!
 
BjorgenFjorgen said:
Not sure about smaller towns but last year my partner and I flew to London, took the train to Oxford for a day trip and back, and then took the train again from London to Edinburgh and Edinburgh to Glasgow very easily. And the train trips were also a lot of fun!
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ooooh yes, I'd definitely take advantage of the trains as well. I'm not against going to London, but it seems like a cliche first European trip for an American IMO. Plus I'd really love to explore the other two countries. London is significantly cheaper for flights from Boston. like $300 round trip compared to $500~ for Glasgow/Dublin and non-stop as well.
 
wokeupnew said:
ooooh yes, I'd definitely take advantage of the trains as well. I'm not against going to London, but it seems like a cliche first European trip for an American IMO. Plus I'd really love to explore the other two countries. London is significantly cheaper for flights from Boston. like $300 round trip compared to $500~ for Glasgow/Dublin and non-stop as well.
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Eh, I suppose. I absolutely loved London, though, and would highly recommend it to anyone. We spent about a week there and I would definitely go back to see more of it as we didn't have a chance to see anything at the Globe, for example (though the tour was excellent), and I could spend several more days in the British Museum, among several other things.
 
wokeupnew said:
Hey all,

I'm loosely planning a trip to the UK/Ireland/Europe for year summer/fall. Is it doable to travel to one city and then stay for a few days, jump to another easily with flights/accommodations/costs? Has anyone done this before? I'm looking at maybe Dublin/Glasgow. Other countries are a possibility, obvious knowing only English my locations are entirely limited but I'd rather not stress about the language. I wouldn't want to do more than 2 or 3 cities at the most over 2 weeks~

Also would there be a need for a rental car anywhere or is public transport/trains/taxis good enough in most cases?
Click to expand...
I've been on separate trips to London, Scotland, and Ireland or some combo thereof. As people have mentioned, it's not difficult to travel between cities using multiple options. Really puts into context how big the US is as well as how poor our public transit is. For example, we drove from Dublin to Galway (which is coast to coast) in a matter of hours (or at least it felt like it).

You're probably going to have to make a hard decision on what to cut out. I'm always guilty of trying to see too many things and usually regret it. Every city that has been brought up is worth visiting - Dublin, London (includes plenty of day trip options), Glasgow, Edinburgh. You seem iffy on London but personally, I love it. One thing to consider if you're thinking of Glasgow/Edinburgh is going a little further to explore the highlands. It's probably my favorite area of all the places around where you're considering.

Re: driving, I found driving outside of cities wasn't that bad although I'm a fairly good driver. However, I let someone else briefly drive and immediately took back over. I didn't dare try driving inside of the cities other than going straight to the airport to drop off the rental. If you're just staying inside the cities it may be irrelevant anyways.

I'm happy to answer any specific questions although I know we have members that actually live in these areas that may be more helpful.
 
Badams said:
I've been on separate trips to London, Scotland, and Ireland or some combo thereof. As people have mentioned, it's not difficult to travel between cities using multiple options. Really puts into context how big the US is as well as how poor our public transit is. For example, we drove from Dublin to Galway (which is coast to coast) in a matter of hours (or at least it felt like it).

You're probably going to have to make a hard decision on what to cut out. I'm always guilty of trying to see too many things and usually regret it. Every city that has been brought up is worth visiting - Dublin, London (includes plenty of day trip options), Glasgow, Edinburgh. You seem iffy on London but personally, I love it. One thing to consider if you're thinking of Glasgow/Edinburgh is going a little further to explore the highlands. It's probably my favorite area of all the places around where you're considering.

Re: driving, I found driving outside of cities wasn't that bad although I'm a fairly good driver. However, I let someone else briefly drive and immediately took back over. I didn't dare try driving inside of the cities other than going straight to the airport to drop off the rental. If you're just staying inside the cities it may be irrelevant anyways.

I'm happy to answer any specific questions although I know we have members that actually live in these areas that may be more helpful.
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Oh yes, one of the main reasons for going to Scotland is to explore the highlands. Inverness most likely which can be a jumping off point for other places
 
wokeupnew said:
Oh yes, one of the main reasons for going to Scotland is to explore the highlands. Inverness most likely which can be a jumping off point for other places
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Yes! We spent a night in Inverness because of its location and it ended up being one of the best nights out of the whole trip. Also the Glencoe area (between Glasgow and Fort William) is stunning. If you've seen Skyfall, it's where the Scottish portion was shot.
 
wokeupnew said:
Hey all,

I'm loosely planning a trip to the UK/Ireland/Europe for year summer/fall. Is it doable to travel to one city and then stay for a few days, jump to another easily with flights/accommodations/costs? Has anyone done this before? I'm looking at maybe Dublin/Glasgow. Other countries are a possibility, obvious knowing only English my locations are entirely limited but I'd rather not stress about the language. I wouldn't want to do more than 2 or 3 cities at the most over 2 weeks~

Also would there be a need for a rental car anywhere or is public transport/trains/taxis good enough in most cases?
Click to expand...
If you need any tips for Scotland let me know. You can see loads using public transport from the Central Belt, so there are loads of options. If you are only ever going to be in Scotland once then definitely go to Edinburgh, but if you have loads of time seriously consider Glasgow - it's a huge music city, so there are lots of good gigs rolling through.
 
wokeupnew said:
Hey all,

I'm loosely planning a trip to the UK/Ireland/Europe for year summer/fall. Is it doable to travel to one city and then stay for a few days, jump to another easily with flights/accommodations/costs? Has anyone done this before? I'm looking at maybe Dublin/Glasgow. Other countries are a possibility, obvious knowing only English my locations are entirely limited but I'd rather not stress about the language. I wouldn't want to do more than 2 or 3 cities at the most over 2 weeks~

Also would there be a need for a rental car anywhere or is public transport/trains/taxis good enough in most cases?
Click to expand...
Thackeraye said:
If you need any tips for Scotland let me know. You can see loads using public transport from the Central Belt, so there are loads of options. If you are only ever going to be in Scotland once then definitely go to Edinburgh, but if you have loads of time seriously consider Glasgow - it's a huge music city, so there are lots of good gigs rolling through.
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This is happening!!

Looking to visit Glasgow for about 3 days in the middle of September and then take the train up to Inverness for another 4 days and then back down to Glasgow to fly home.

@Thackeraye would you say mid-September is an alright time to visit?

I've seen some blogs/travel guides say that it's very rainy. Also looking at August as well as an alternative if it's too cold. I'm not afraid of the cold because I'm coming from a 4 season climate that gets colder than anywhere in Scotland in the winter, but I also don't want it to be rainy/frigid for the majority of the trip. I'm also thinking of catching a match when over there, which is why I'm also thinking about September since it'll be middle of the season. I'm leaning towards Rangers over Celtic because of Defoe. Is it relatively easy to get seats? I've checked out both websites for upcoming games there's some available for general sale, so I assume it'll be the same in September/August.

While in Inverness I may rent a car for a day or two to drive around up there, visit Loch Ness and whatnot. I'm also looking at day trips to either Isle of Skye or the Orkney Islands. Do you have an opinion on any of those to visit? Or any other places worth visiting? I'm normally against guided tours, but I wouldn't know where to begin to visit any of those places and it's a whole day's travel provided for only about $100/person which is not bad for a long journey.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
We're booked to fly to Paris in March. We'll be leaving Paris immediately and heading to Strasbourg to meet up with my stepdaughter's dad. We're gonna spend a couple of days in Strasbourg/Germany (kiddo's grandparents live just over the German border), and then split up so that she gets a couple of weeks with her dad while we do a little tour. From Strasbourg, we're thinking we'll stick to the trains and head to Luxembourg, then maybe to Bruges, double back to Brussels, and then end with a few days in Paris before meeting back up and flying home.

So, Strasbourg area (2-3 days) -> Luxembourg (~2 days) -> Bruges (~3 days) -> Brussels (~3 days) -> Paris (~4 days).

It's a fair amount of moving around, but in an even tighter area than the Frankfurt -> Prague -> Vienna -> Bratislava -> Budapest trip I took a couple of years ago, so that part I'm not too concerned about.

Any of our Europe friends have any thoughts about the Luxembourg/Bruges/Brussels leg? Is Luxembourg worth the stopover, or is that time better spent in Belgium? Obviously we could spend the entire time in Paris and barely scratch the surface, but we're gonna try to hold our time there to 4-5 days max. @ChristoBee @Skalap @belgiantourismexpert
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Honestly I would skip Luxembourg. I spent a week-end there and I found the city boring. I don't know how it is during the week but on the week-end there is nobody nowhere, lots of bars, shops and restaurants were closed. Bruges is beautiful and I recommend to spend 2 days there. Depending on the weather, you can have a 2 to 3 hours walk in downtown, have a boat trip, drink a beer or two at De Halve Maan and visit a couple of museums/attractions. Add a third day if you want to visit more museums or go to Lille. Lille is a city I love and where I've been a few times in the North of France. There is a nice old town to visit, another couple of museums and you'll eat a Welsh at lunch (ham + bread covered in melted cheddar and an egg on top). Then spend 3 to 4 days in Brussels; Visit the Cantillon brewery, the Belgian Comic Strip Center, Magritte and Horta museums. Follow the Comics Strip tour, it will take you to the best places downtown and make a stop at Moeder Lambic Fontainas (my favorite bar in Brussels). If you like Ramens, go to one of the Umamido restaurants and ask for The Ramen of the Chef. If you want to eat typical Belgian food, go to Resto Bières. Of course visit the Grand Place, the King's Gallery, eat French fries at Tabora and enjoy the city. It's one of my favorite in Europe.

I have to leave but will add more tips for Paris. Let me know if you are planning to do something special or if you have some interests in something special. I'll be happy to help.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
BTW, highly recommend this itinerary for any Americans looking to dip their toes into a novice-friendly tour that you can absolutely navigate on your own with virtually no preparation (I'd suggest not starting from Frankfurt though unless you have a reason for why you have to, like we did). Sounds a lot more expensive than it actually is.

Depending on what you're looking for, Bratislava is skippable, but Prague, Vienna, & Budapest were all incredible places and I'd return to any of them in a heartbeat.
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I'm always worried about the language barrier, but did have any difficulty getting around in regards to that? I would imagine that those are all massive tourist destinations and plenty of people speak English, right?
 
Indymisanthrope said:
This! is! the content I was hoping for! Thanks for this.

I've spent a little bit of time in Paris before, but my wife hasn't, so I was going to sort of let her take the wheel in deciding what interests her. But if you have anything you just *have* to share, I'm all ears.

Very hyped about that -- Magritte is a favorite of mine (and on the subject of Surrealists, tip for anybody who visits Barcelona, definitely take a day trip out to the Dali museum in Figueres -- one of the best, weirdest museums I've ever been to).
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I've been in Barcelona once but on a business trip and couldn't visit anything. On the other hand, I was luck to visit the Dali museum in St. Petersburg, FL two years ago. The museum was beautiful from the outside and very well done with a lot of informations.

Back to your European trip. If you know Paris you won't need a lot of information from me. Though, I would recommend to go eat and drink a few beers at the Paname Brewing Company. It is close from a huge park called La Villette with tons of cultural activities, shows, museums, etc... You can easily spend an afternoon there. If you want to dive in a popular Paris, go spend a morning at Le Marché d'Aligre. All communities are mixed there, you'll hear many languages, see many "colours" and enjoy what I love in Paris. You can even have a brunch at Le China, it's a few minutes walking from there. One original thing (except if you're claustrophobic) to do is to visit the Catacombes. Then, even if it's cliché, take a boat tour, it's a lovely tour and romantic if you are with Madame.

If you want to visit a few record shops, I would suggest to save your time and money to Paris. If not, I recommend Quelque Part Records in Lille, Balades Sonores & Veals and Geeks in Brussels (nice crate of Belgian jazz), nothing in Bruges (I had a look, trust me) and, finally, Balades Sonores (original shop, fantastic people works there), Superfly Records (great people again), Heart Beat (specialized in Japanese and expensive records) and Gibert Joseph VI (great shop, lot of imported records, nice selection, fair prices).
 
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