Vacation- Tell me where to go

I would go somehwere in Europe for sure. I want to go to Germany really bad. Itally would be another good choice. If you go anywhere in Europe then you can take the train to another part and end up visiting everywhere you want to go on the continent. That is my suggestion.

EnvYuS

Seychelles.

From my limited experience in Europe last year, where we staid in 4 star places but went for cheaper meals - places that didn't have tablecloths (since we knew my relatives would try fatten us up later).

Â* Â* Rome - you can spend months going through that place and barely scratch the surface. It is just so mind numbingly old, the things you can see, Relatively inexpensive compared to London and Paris. Not impressed with the food, but found a great Chinese restaurant. Quite a few McDonald's around (at least where I was, near Termini Station). If you go to Italy - don't buy duty free alcohol at the airport. The prices in the local supermarkets are heaps cheaper than in any duty free place I saw.

Paris - no where near as old as Rome, food is relatively inexpensive and enjoyable - but price of a glass of coke with a sit down meal is horrendous (it was costing me 7 or 8 euros for two glasses of coke where ever we went). I can't remember seeing a McDonald's there. Search for places that sell cold cans of soft drink inexpensively. Champs Elysee is a good place to wander around and shop - a nice blend of expensive designer with relatively inexpensive stuff. And of course - there are the perfume places to visit! We didn't speak a word of French (though I soon learned "Merci&quot, but got by very well there.

London - probably the place you'd feel most at home at (in a different sort of way). The only problem is that it is hideously expensive compared to anywhere else we went (other than Venice). We were extremely unimpressed with the quality of the quick "cheap" sit down meals there (with the exception of one pub). Food was edible, but nothing great given the ridiculous prices paid for it. Fortunately, there were heaps of Burger Kings and McDonalds around to enable us to eat the meat we required at a reasonable price. We went in July when the place was packed out - that was the nuisance part. The good part was the sales - if you are a shop-a-holic as we were, the sales at places like Harrods were much better value Â*than in the other countries we visited.

Â* What struck us as weird about all the above places was their lack of quick, hot, takeaway food like we're used to in Australia. Other than for McDonald's and Burger King, we were generally pretty well limited to cold sandwiches - which were good - but just not what we were used to back home, where we have a ridiculous amount of choice compared to that in the three cities above.
Renato

P.S. Â*No point coming to Australia this time of year (unless you go to the northern tropical part) the rest of the place is going into winter, which isn't anywhere near as good as during our summer - but then again, we do get good sunny days here during our winter. I didn't get one sunny day in London or Paris! But got way too much sun in Rome.

P.P.S Plenty of cheap internet cafes in London and Rome. But I couldn't find any in Paris - there were plenty of those public phone/internet terminals around, but I just spent a lot of money trying to get one to work, given their different keyboard layout.

UK & Ireland, France, Italy - Great choices

Have you thought of going to Central and Eastern Europe i.e Czech & Slovak republics, Hungary, Latvia, etc?

These countries have some very beautiful cities and countryside and can be a lot less expensive and 'touristy' than their Western European counterparts. I had a great time when I visited a couple of years ago. I can't wait to get back there.


best of luck,

Go on a cruise. Fun in the sun!

I'd like to suggest you Italy. There's a lot of interesting places to visit: mountains, cities or sea are wonderful! Here are some suggestions

Cities: Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, Bologna, Turin, Milan, Siena, Perugia, etc...
Mountains: Dolomites, etc...
Sea: Sicily, Sardegna, Liguria, Campania


I was really disappointed in reading that you, Renato, found no good food, but a Chinese restaurant in Rome!
Italian dishes are so famous and appreciated around the world and Rome (I've recently been there for a weekend) is plenty of good restaurants! But I guess you hadn't a good guide to discover 'em, that's why the best thing you've found was a Chinese restaurant!!!

The Amalfi Coast

I have. The landscape is fantastic (volcanoes, glaciers, etc) , the people are hip and very friendly, the culture is cozy and hospitable and drinking-oriented (if thats your bag), the weather is, well, on par with Duluth. Everything is EXCESSIVELY expensive though. Im really serious, blindingly expensive, although it will be this way in all nordic countries. I really really recommend Iceland. Snazzy Airport (great duty-free frag selection, I tested Gaultier 2 there a year ago, still awful prices though). Also, they speak better english than you or I.

I also very heartily recommend Iceland, as well as Keflavik Airport. They have a chocolate milk there, SjokoMelk, that I have drank my whole life, the same box with the same happy cow, everytime I've had a changeover on my way to my father's family in Norway. Best chocolate milk in the world. The rest of the country is splendid too.

Nefertem's right, though, about nordic countries being tough on the wallet. If you think us american Basenoters have expensive ahabits, you don't even want to imagine the credit card bills of Concord, shifts, MMM, Musse, Keeg, viktorv and the rest of Bnotes' viking contingent.

I have to add something to envyus' post though: nowadays, just like in the US with JetBlue vs. Amtrak, its much cheaper to fly around Europe on one of the discount easy-airlines than to buy a EuroRail ticket. Though you do loose the romance of hopping on a train in Munich, watching the scenery roll by, catching a snooze, and waking up in Naples.

I was really disappointed in reading that you, Renato, found no good food, but a Chinese restaurant in Rome! Â*
Italian dishes are so famous and appreciated around the world and Rome (I've recently been there for a weekend) is plenty of good restaurants! But I guess you hadn't a good guide to discover 'em, that's why the best thing you've found was a Chinese restaurant!!![/quote]
We were only there for six nights, ate at little restaurants on three, and ate at the Chinese place the other three. Maybe we were just unlucky, but for the price the three Roman ones weren't as good as the ones in Paris (by good I mean meaty, filling and tasty), and all were dearer but not as good as what was at the Chinese place.

I'm sure we could have found better places, but they would have cost more. It was really annoying the way they charged for each item separately. If you ordered some dish, then each extra vegetable and each piece of bread was an additional extra added to the price. And while eating, I kept having to tell the very persistant flower sellers to get lost - what did I care about their story that they were hungry and would starve if I didn't buy roses for my lady? We got better value meals for the same price when we were in Veneto.

But what we remember most about Rome was that unlike the other hotels - London (7pounds for two slices of toast) and Â*Paris (19 Euro each for the hotel breakfast) - in Rome the absolutely magnificent, meaty breakfast was included in the price of the room. So we certainly didn't go hungry, or have to go find some place reasonable to eat, as we had had to in the other two cities.

By way of contrast, we later stayed at a hotel in Vipitemo (on the Italian side of the Brenner Pass) for 51 Euro each a night. Talk about being surprised. It turned out that the price included breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food was cooked by a fabulous chef. And it was like they were slaughtering cows just for us - I have never seen so much good, well cooked meat thrown in front of me in my life. We'd order the entree and have difficulty getting through it because there was too much to eat, and then a monster cooked meat tray would arrive. And as we attempted to eat that, the waiter would come along and throw more plates of roast potatoes or chips on our table. We checked the menus. It cost more to go there and buy an evening dinner, than it did to check in there, and get all of the three meals included in the price. It didn't make any sense.
Renato

I, too, have found the Roman beggars and panhandlers to be Europe's most audacious.

Go to Italy!!!!

And what about touring the islands of Greece??

Turkey would be fun too while you're in the area. 8-)

Why not a tour through Europe with a bus tour operator that caters to a younger crowd (under 30s or under 35s)?

I remember seeing my brother's photos of his Kon Tiki tour around Europe - about 40 girls, 4 married couples (including my brother), 3 happy single guys (including the bus driver).
The accomodation is not generally as good as with tours catering for a more mature crowd (like the Trafalgar tours). But need I point out from the ratios - there are other benefits.
Renato

They're supposed to be the happiest people in the world.

Go to the Antarctica instead, it's amazing! if you can't go that down, then go to the south of chile, equally breathtaking!.
that'll be different!.