Visiting Europe

[fed1983]

OK, I'm going to Europe next February, from South America.

I know it's going to be winter, and freezing cold, but that'll be fine as long as I enjoy the trip.

So, any tips as to where to go, what to visit, etc, in February??

I'll be mainly in Italy, and prob visiting UK, and maybe a few more countries.

Hope to hear some advice soon!

 

[ozguy]

Hi fed .... I'll be touring the UK and Italy later this month and also into January next year, so I'll let you know about the best things I saw & did, places visited etc when I get back. Might be of some use to you!

 

[unloadonme]

It might help fed1983 if you could give us some idea of the sort of things you're interested in. For instance cities or countryside/scenery, museums or gay bars, ancient or modern? That sort of thing.

 

[Corny]

^ yeah

You need to tell us a bit more, otherwise we can only recommend you one of the general tourist guides

 

[comeagain]

If you're cold sensitive, buy a small electric bed-warming pad, about 2' by 4', for 220V current, and a 6-foot European plug extension cord. I have traveled in northern and Eastern Europe (and in Siberia) for many years, and I always carry this as an essential. It's gotten me through many a cold night. Smaller hotels often do not give you an electrical outlet that's conveniently placed; hence the extension cord.

As far as where to visit goes, I have to agree with others: you need to express some areas of interest. I have broad interests, and a loathing of large crowds, so I often travel against the prevailing weather - Moscow in December, Cairo in July. I don't stand in endless lines, and I get to meet people more. This is also a good way to stretch your dollars. For myself, I prefer to visit a city and to get to know it well rather than rushing about peripatetically trying to see everything, an impossibility.

That said, Amsterdam is one of my favorite locations, and not just for the great gay life there. It's a charming city with many cultural attractions; it's inexpensive if you know where to say, and it's within an hour or two by train of a host of other cities that are also great destinations, such as the Hague, Leyden, Rotterdam, and a bit further out, Brussels and sites in Belgium. It's a great city to relax in as well.

If you do want to cover a lot of ground, consider substituting night train travel for hotels sometimes, but get a bed on the train. Also, remember that you can stay overnight in many gay saunas, as long as you don't mind checking most of your belongings at the rail station when you arrive, and carrying only a small day-bag. I enjoy that kind of travel, and you meet some remarkably interesting people to talk and sleep with (among other things).

 

[2pourvous]

u can alos register to the sit gayromeo . com to hook up with ppl out there

 

[fed1983]

I'm gonna write a little bit more so as to give you more ideas so that you can help me

Maybe I didn't say much because I'm generally open and easy, and I would listen to any suggestion. Some people have suggested going to mediterranean Europe since it's gonna be warmer, but I don't wanna plan only guiding myself on the weather, if I have to go to the north pole I just go.

I generally prefer cities, though I also like to see some nature, but I'll be going alone and without much equipment, so I'm not going to do any expedition to any mountain or things like that.

I'll be travelling as a backpackers, trying not to spend too much on hotels or expensive tours. I prefer to see things by myself, or meet up with people and let them take me to places, but I hate guided tours.

The countries I'm aiming to visit, apart from Italy and the UK, are the ones near Italy, such as France, Spain, and maybe Amsterdam or Germany, but if anything good comes, I'll just catch the train going anywhere.

I'd looooooove to hook up with Europeans, since they're really hot and so on, but I have a boyfriend, so that's a limitation. So unless my BF breaks up with me before the trip (which I don't think won't happen), I won't register to any site. Otherwise I'd be happy to do it. However, it'd be interesting to visit the gay scene in places where it's worth checking it out, like in Amsterdam.

BTW, I have a place where to crash in northern Italy, northern England, Madrid, and maybe Amsterdam, so I could use those spots as a base from where to travel to other towns.

Thanks for helping!

 

[BiMike]

It will not really be beach sort of weather in any parts of the Med in February so it would not really be worth it going to the south of Italy seeking that sort of thing. To get cheap long distance train travel in Europe, excluding Switzerland, you have to book tickets in advance. This does mean forward planning and the cheapest tickets are not refundable. However if you can book up to 90 days in advance the tickets are really cheap. This applies to routes like the Eurostar from London to Paris.
For some routes it may be cheaper to use budget airlines, such as Easyjet. This would probably be your best option to get to Madrid from another European citiy. You should consider where you will be flying into and returning from, these do not have to be the same but you would have compare the prices.
Best of luck with your planning if you post some ideas on your plans will provide more info.

 

[Ganoderma]

hi Fed1983,

Welcome to Europe and I hope you will enjoy yourself over here (I am living in The Netherlands). This will be the first time for you to visit Europe? And for how long (how many days)?

You are aware of the various branches about Europe at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/index.jspa, see also http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forum.jspa?forumID=53 ? Loaded with info about Europe and written by backpackers like you. You can easily spend several days browsing through this forum.

How about couchsurfing? I have no experience with it, but seems to be a very nice and easy and cheap way to travel around and to make alot of new friends?

Be aware that February can be cold (including with alot of snow and ice) in various parts of Europe. Be also aware that the period of daylight is not too long in February (especially more to the north).

Feel free to ask additional questions. Definately, take with you enough warm clothes.

I tend to think that February is not a period with alot of fellow backpackers (so travel mates and so on).

Good luck with your preparations.

 

[unloadonme]

You say you have a place to crash in northern England, so I'll concentrate on that. As others have said, the weather in the UK in February can be cold and there could still be snow and ice. Also, the days are relatively short. It's not like June when it's light until 10 o'clock.

Rail travel is generally pretty expensive, but you will save a lot of money if you book online and book early. If you're prepared to travel at less busy times of the day, it'll be cheaper too. Details here:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

You may find it cheaper to try coach travel rather than rail. This is probably the company with the most routes:

http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/index.cfm

and this is one of the cheapest:

http://uk.megabus.com/default.aspx

Within northern England the three largest modern commercial cities are probably Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle upon Tyne. They all have a good selection of bars, shops, museums and whatever else you might expect. Manchester has the best gay quarter (called Canal Street).

If you want to visit historic cities, the two most obvious are York and Durham. I'm required to be a little partial at this point, so have a look at this:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIwpc-yW5_0[/ame]

Further afield you could go up to Edinburgh which is 200 miles north of York. All of these cities are on Google.

In terms of scenery, there are three National Parks in the north, The Yorkshire Dales, The North York Moors and The Lake District. Again, all on Google. Be aware that public transport to and around these places is limited and unless you have a hire car or someone who can drive you, getting around will need careful planning.

I'd be happy to go into more detail if you have any questions.

 

[fed1983]

Thanks for the info! It's good to know that I can save some money by booking and planning in advance.

I'll have a look at all the links later, when I have more time.

@unloadonme, I wouldn't have thought of York as a tourist destination, but I'll have a look at your link and might even consider it Thanks for the tips!

Nobody mentioned Liverpool here, but it's a city I'd like to visit. I'm a Beatles fan, and a Luis Suarez fan too

 

[BiMike]

I note that you will be travelling from South America. If that is the case you will probably fly to Madrid since that is the European hub for most flights. You could therefore make Madrid your first port of call. From there it would be best to find a cheap budget flight to Milan or thereabouts. Not an easy train route.
From there another budget flight to Amsterdam would probably be the cheapest route. It would not really be practical to fit Germany into your plans except as a possble day trip from Amsterdam. If London is youir next objective you would have the option of going via Paris on a high speed train for a few days and then train onto London using Eurostar.
To get to the North as mentioned by 'unloadonme' coach travel would be your cheapest option.
On your return trip you could get a budget flight from one of the Northern airports to Madrid to pick up your flight home.

 

[fed1983]

It's true that I'm going from South America, but I got flights to/from Milan, since my brother is in the north of Italy, so that'll be my base from where to move to the other countries. It's true that most flights go to Madrid, but I'm flying to Sao Paulo first, another hub from where I can fly almost anywhere to.

Anyway, your advice is good in many ways, and I'll have to make Milan-Madrid at some point. I think Milan-England (Manchester or London) is easier by budget airline, right? I started to have a look yesterday at EasyJet, and I could get a 50 euro return ticket. I couldn't book yet cos first I need to confirm the dates with the people I'll be staying with.

I wanted to include Germany and many other places in my itinerary, but as you say BiMike, it's really hard to fit everything in. So for now I'll stick to Italy first, then UK, then back to Italy, and then Spain before finally returning to Milan. Maybe I could make Amsterdam from/to the UK, or France from/to Spain or even the UK

 

[BiMike]

Good to hear your plans. EasyJet is really the cheapest way to get around Europe now if you have flexibility on time and dates. You can get almost anywhere for €50! The only problem is that often they use airports which are not the main airport and may be some distance from the main city.
This applies in the case of London where they mainly use Stansted and Luton. If you are going to stay more days up North than in London it might be best to fly from Milan to Manchester and then go to London by coach. You could fly EasyJet from Manchester to Amsterdam. Altho Eurostar is the way to get to Paris by train now it is not so convenient to get to Amstrerdam since you have to change in Brussels. You could of course do a day trip to Paris from London by Eurostar but you would have to book early to get the cheapest tickets.
PM me when your plans are firmer and I will offer you my advice on what may be youir cheapest option. When I did my travelling in Europe it was by bike using hostels! Great experience.

 

[fed1983]

My brother suggested using RyanAir as a budget airline. Is it better than EasyJet? I looked on the website and fares for Milan-Manchester return cost 30 euros! On EasyJet it was 50. But how reliable is it? There are companies that charge you a lot after the initial price.

Besides, the cheap price on RyanAir is only with hand-luggage. What about EasyJet? Do they let you carry any checked baggage for the same price? Anyway, I'm planning to travel very light since it's easier then to move around (I don't know how I'm gonna carry all my warm clothes thou, LOL)

Mike, I'm fascinated by your experience of travelling around Europe by bike! I'd love to do the same, but not now that it's winter of course. And not in northern Italy with all the mountain ranges! But travelling around the Netherlands by bike must be wonderful (and not so tough!)

 

[BiMike]

RyanAir are probably the cheapest of the European budget airlines but have become masters at making 'normal' things extra , like hold luggage, limits on hand luggage, booking on fee at airports etc , so you have got to check their extras which are often in the small print!
That said they are a reliable airline and flys to most the places EasyJet does.
It has even been suggested that in the future they will charge you to use the on plane toilet!

 

[ozguy]

My brother suggested using RyanAir as a budget airline. Is it better than EasyJet? I looked on the website and fares for Milan-Manchester return cost 30 euros! On EasyJet it was 50. But how reliable is it? There are companies that charge you a lot after the initial price.

Besides, the cheap price on RyanAir is only with hand-luggage. What about EasyJet? Do they let you carry any checked baggage for the same price?

We're flying EasyJet from London (Gatwick) to Rome (Leonardo da Vinci Airport) in early January and the fare cost us $AUS161.00 (for 2 people, and included 2 x 20kgs luggage).

 

[fed1983]

Hello again! Since so many of you guys helped me shape up my trip, and now that I have more or less definite plans, I'm going to let you know what those plans are

I arrive in Italy, and 3 days later I go to the UK. I arrive in Liverpool and I'll stay there for a couple of days, since I want to get to know the city of the Beatles and of Liverpool FC.

Then I'm heading to Lancaster to visit my relatives there, and then I have a few more days to visit, probably Edinburgh, London, and maybe a few cities in between these too. Maybe York (following unloadonme's suggention), or Cambridge, or Bath for instance.

Then on the 14th Feb, I leave for Amsterdam (BiMike, you convinced me of this one). After 3 days there, I'm going back to Italy, and from there immediately to Malta with my brother for 3 days. This will be the exotic mediterranean not-so-chilly kind of trip

Then, the rest of Feb will be for visiting Italy. Prob I'll visit the cities in the North, like Venice, Florence, etc, for a day or two.

I really wanted to go to Spain too, but the Malta trip has meant a slight change of plans, so I won't have time to visit Spain nor France if I want to spend some more time in Italy.

It's a shame, cos that means I'll have to make a second trip sometime in the future.....?

 

[BiMike]

Thanks for updating us on your plans. Should be a great trip for you, weather is improving here with longer days and some sunshine. Malta is likely to be one of the sunniest spots around in Feb just keep your fingers crossed. Pics from the diaster in Italy show how the weather is just now with some really sunny days.
No doubt your relatives in the UK will be able to advise you regarding the best way to get around the UK since there is a very big difference now in the price of various train and coach tickets. If you can book ahead and choice the right day or time there are some great brgains but if you just arrive at a station on the day you can get a shock ! Best of luck with your trip , would be interested to hear how it goes.

 

[albaboy]

Welcome