About to travel around Europe

2014-04-09 09:28:19

#1

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5188|Sydney

Need some advice guys.

I won a trip through work to travel around France and a bit of Spain for tour of key wine regions, and I leave on May 4 this year.

First two weeks the rough itinerary is:

2 days Scotland (distillery tour)
4 days France (wine tour - Languedoc and Rhone)
3 days Spain (wine tour and visit Barcelona)
3 days France (wine tour - Bordeaux and Champagne)

Then we finish up in Paris. I've been able to push back my return flight till June 15 (work is still paying for it) from Heathrow.

So basically from May 17 till then I have a month to travel. The first week I've got booked: couple days in Paris, day trip to Burgundy, up to Bruges for a couple days, then to Amsterdam where I'll meet up with a mate or three.

From there I'm still planning it, and racking my brain how to make it all work and still have time to enjoy myself without travelling and rushing around. I'll likely leave Amsterdam on Sunday May 19. These are the things I want to do from there:

Day wine tour in Germany (Deidesheim)
Maybe visit Munich
Maybe visit Innsbruck
Perhaps visit Venice, definitely visit Florence (Tuscany wine tour), most likely Rome
Want to visit Athens and Santorini
Definitely Prague
London for the final couple days

My main questions are: am I trying to do too many things? And if I am, what should I leave out? And how much time minimum should I spend in each city to get a feel for it? And lastly, when travelling from Rome/Athens/Santorini/Athens/Prague, how can I do all that without costing a fortune yet making the most efficient way to travel to conserve time?

Cheers!

Last edited by Jaekus (2014-04-09 09:29:47)

2014-04-09 10:58:23

#2

KEN-JENNINGS: I am all that is MOD!; +2,973|6641|949

Munich is a must. The city is pretty fucking sweet. Berlin too. Czech Republic is a must, especially Prague, but see if you can go to some of the smaller cities too. I had a lot of fun in the Czech Repub. I recommend visiting Ireland for a few days too, maybe on the backend of your journey. I didn't have a chance to spend a lot of time in Spain the last time I was there, but I'd love to spend a few days in Madrid.

2014-04-09 13:42:04

#3

globefish23: sophisticated slacker; +334|6333|Graz, Austria

I suggest you visit Vienna if you go to Austria.
You'll really get the imperial feeling there.
Innsbruck is much smaller and quite different.

Graz would be the second best choice from a tourists point of view.
Highly recommend to visit the Styrian armory there.
It's the biggest in the world, with all the original stuff from the 16th century.
Guess someone didn't trust the Turks and never disarmed.
http://www.museum-joanneum.at/de/landes … /einblicke

Also, Styria is the most prominent wine-growing region in Austria and you'll find plenty taverns here.

2014-04-09 14:09:24

#4

bugz: Fission Mailed; +3,311|6321

Lots of helpful info in the thread I created 2 years ago http://forums.bf2s.com/viewtopic.php?id=143860

Never ended up going because I got a job and bought a house

_*cries*

Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/ebug122

2014-04-09 18:22:40

#5

RTHKI: mmmf mmmf mmmf; +1,736|6746|Oxferd Ohire

silly bugz, responsibility is for adults

2014-04-09 18:22:54

#6

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5188|Sydney

As a rule of thumb, how much time should I spend in each place? I only have a limited amount of time. My priorities are Florence/Tuscany, Prague and Santorini. Perhaps Deidesheim as well, it's got three wineries in the village (about an hour and a half SW of Frankfurt).

2014-04-09 18:41:01

#7

Adams_BJ: Russian warship, go fuck yourself; +2,053|6632|Little Bentcock

I hear there are some pretty sweet hookers in prague

2014-04-09 21:41:27

#8

Shahter: Zee Ruskie; +295|6785|Moscow, Russia

Jaekus wrote:
My main questions are: am I trying to do too many things?

"things" i dunno, but it definitely looks like you are planning to do too much drinking

if you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.

2014-04-09 22:15:13

#9

RTHKI: mmmf mmmf mmmf; +1,736|6746|Oxferd Ohire

try to act american when you go

2014-04-10 01:36:41

#10

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5188|Sydney

Shahter wrote:
Jaekus wrote:
My main questions are: am I trying to do too many things?
"things" i dunno, but it definitely looks like you are planning to do too much drinking

lol, never "too much"... A lot, yes

I guess I'm asking if I'm trying to get to too many places in the time available?

2014-04-10 01:53:18

#11

globefish23: sophisticated slacker; +334|6333|Graz, Austria

Hehe!

The tri-border region of Bavaria, Austria and Czech Republic is leading the ranking of annual per capita alcohol consumption.
You can probably go in circles here and discover a new brand of beer, wine or schnaps every day - for the rest of your life.

This European core region is a happy union of alcoholics.

2014-04-10 02:41:04

#12

Dilbert_X: The X stands for; +1,810|6115|eXtreme to the maX

I would pretend to be from NZ, people will leave you alone then.

Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!

2014-04-11 14:50:09

#13

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5188|Sydney

Well after winning this in January and meant to have been leaving in three weeks, I was informed late yesterday arvo that the whole thing has been cancelled. Apparently I'll get $6k in vouchers/credits with Flight Centre and $1k worth of wine as recompense. I'm still gutted though.

2014-04-11 15:04:10

#14

Steve-0: Karma limited. Contact Admin to Be Promoted.; +214|3969|SL,UT

tell them you want 7k in wine and a free bus pass.

wino4lyfe

2014-04-11 16:46:37

#15

Adams_BJ: Russian warship, go fuck yourself; +2,053|6632|Little Bentcock

Or just cash. Cash is good.

2014-04-12 08:18:57

#16

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5188|Sydney

My bro is getting married in Thailand in October. That'll more than cover it. I'm also thinking about heading over to EU in July and seeing Faith No More on the 4th of July, and travel from there. Going by last year my work is dead for the first three weeks in July after we have completely smashed the EOFY sales.

2014-04-28 07:32:57

#17

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|5798|Catherine Black

Jaekus wrote:
2 days Scotland (distillery tour)

And how much time minimum should I spend in each city to get a feel for it?

Dundee would take 10 minutes, just turn up at 2am on a Friday/Saturday.

Last edited by Finray (2014-04-28 07:33:05)

2014-04-29 04:26:08

#18

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5188|Sydney

The whole thing got cancelled. Long story short, they gave me $6k worth of travel gift cards and apparently are sending me $1k worth of wine as a means of recompense.

2014-04-29 06:31:39

#19

Finray: Hup! Dos, Tres, Cuatro; +2,629|5798|Catherine Black

Aww

2014-04-29 07:07:28

#20

Cybargs: Moderated; +2,285|6725

Jaekus wrote:
The whole thing got cancelled. Long story short, they gave me $6k worth of travel gift cards and apparently are sending me $1k worth of wine as a means of recompense.

send some wine over m8?

https://cache.www.gametracker.com/server_info/203.46.105.23:21300/b_350_20_692108_381007_FFFFFF_000000.png

2014-04-29 08:41:09

#21

pirana6: Go Cougs!; +682|6300|Washington St.

Jaekus wrote:
$6k worth of travel gift cards

That's enough to get a LONG way. Assuming you did a ton of planning yourself for this trip, I don't see why you couldn't just go rogue and do a solo adventure. I've planned a few out in my day that only fell through because of money. You may have to pay some dollarydoo's for a plan ticket yourself but that will be dwarfed by the $6k you have free.

Last edited by pirana6 (2014-04-29 08:41:19)

2014-04-29 11:43:29

#22

Jaekus: I'm the matchstick that you'll never lose; +957|5188|Sydney

The $6k is for Flight Centre and covers anything the sell - plane tickets, accommodation, car hire, tours, etc.

I know someone who works there who can get me really good rates at non-peak times, like return airfares to Europe through Emirates for $1,800.

It lasts for 12 months (the gift cards) and apparently I can call before they expire and extend them a further 12 months.

At the moment I'm going to focus on my new promotion at work and take it from there.

2014-04-29 12:42:31