Travelling

[sunshinedust]

My friend should be coming out here in the late summer to look at schools that she's interested in for her PhD. I'll be joining her for some of it, hopefully doing a whistlestop tour of Boston/New York/Philadelphia/Montreal/Ottawa before Toronto and showing her my tiny town in the middle of Mennonite country. Excited to finally get to do some more travelling in the area, albeit on the megabus and greyhound.

[Heaven_Knows]

I've got two weeks off work in the middle of September and was thinking of using it to do a solo rail trip around Europe. Has anyone done this before? What sort of route would you recommend?

I'd likely be starting in either Brussels or Paris as I'd be going over on the Eurostar but from there on I can't really decide on a route as there are so many places I want to cram in.

Where are the main places you want to go?

(As mentioned before) I travelled solo from Romania to Turkey via train hassle free. I imagine it's even more efficient in the west.

I paid for a private sleeper because I didn't really know what to expect. Now I know I'd be happy to share next time, single is expensive!

It was ace though. Made friends with the guard, had sneaky cigarettes in his cabin, got drank beers with him at a station in Bulgaria and shared our musical tastes.

I'm pretty sure my Canadian neighbours only befriended me so they could drink my wine, however.

It's mostly Mid-Eastern European places I want to visit with the main ones being Krakow, Budapest and Vienna.

I was thinking of a route something along the lines of : arrive in Paris spend a few hours then get a night train onwards to Nice/Monaco then follow on with : one of Milan, Florence or Venice; Vienna; Budapest; Krakow; Berlin; Cologne/Amsterdam then to Brussels for a Eurostar back home.

I've been to Paris plenty times before so, as much as I love the city, I'm not desperate to spend much time there and I have no real interest in Brussels other than to get the train home. I think I'm probably still pushing it to fit all that into 14-16 days even if I do most of my travelling on night trains though so could maybe cut out the Italian stop.

I'm totally open to suggestions and recommendations though. This will be my first solo trip so I'm a bit nervous but really excited too. I did a train trip part of the way across the States with a few mates a couple of years back and loved it, it's such a great way to travel, not sure how I'll fare on my own though.

[Jayseph Kony]

I've only got 1 day left of my stormchasing expedition and so far I have covered 6 states (Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Nebraska). Some of the landscapes in NM and CO are truly breathtaking. I nearly stepped on a rattlesnake. That was pretty scary. A bit earlier on in the day we were visiting Model, CO (a "ghost" town) when a random lady suddenly appeared and made me pretty much jump out of my skin. She'd recently purchased the land and was just chilling there. She turned out to be lovely and let us snoop about and take some snapshots. Ironically she had told us to watch out for rattlesnakes!

Here are a few of my fave pics:







Hoping to see a tornado tomorrow. It is looking like our best chance all week for a twister!

[Robb]

Those photo are amazing! especially the last one

[Jayseph Kony]

Didn't see a tornado but did see CARHENGE. Every cloud...



This was in the same field:

[Hedges]

I don't even know if this is a good deal or anything as I haven't compared it to other places, but it might be of use to some people:
http://www.interrailnet.com/

It looks pretty good at a glance anyway

[Tash]

raildude.com is pretty useful too!

[alexandra]

I went to uni with this guy... http://www.thewrightwayeast.co.uk/#/home

His blog and photos make me wish I was brave enough to do something like this. Maybe one day

[Joffle]

City guides has become travelling? Is this thread being moved?

[jonny]

Off to Croatia tomorrow: two nights in Dubrovnik, then six on a couple of islands up the coast. Can't wait, it feels like ages since I've had a properly warm summer holiday.

[dtszine]

I've got a few days booked in Kent with the missus next week. Staying inbetween Margate and Ramsgate. We'll have a car so can drive around. Where should we go? We are into music, art, museums, castles etc. The cheaper, the better!

[Loula]

Off to Croatia tomorrow: two nights in Dubrovnik, then six on a couple of islands up the coast. Can't wait, it feels like ages since I've had a properly warm summer holiday.

ARE YOU GOING TO SEE THE PLITVICE LAKES??!?? I'm obsessed with going to see those things.

[Libby_Liz]

I've got a few days booked in Kent with the missus next week. Staying inbetween Margate and Ramsgate. We'll have a car so can drive around. Where should we go? We are into music, art, museums, castles etc. The cheaper, the better!

I have family who live in Broadstairs which is right between Margate and Ramsgate. The seafront is so old fashioned I love it, loads of traditional British seaside things there. There are loads of bays so you can walk along the seafront, it's so pretty. Culture wise I'm not sure what's there but Bleak House is the obvious choice if you are into Dickens.

If you do go make sure you go to Morellis Ice Cream and if you want food The Royal Albion has a really nice beer garden and sells amazing fish and chips. Perfect if it is sunny.

[Joffle]

I've got massive pre-travel blues at the moment. I think it is a mix of fear of the plane exploding, stress that my passport isn't back from renewal yet, my jabs are costing an arm and a leg, I'm finding spanish lessons hard and worrying that everyone in South America will attempt to mug me. Also giving up my awesome cheap room in London knowing that when I come back I am going to be paying easily double my current rent is annoying me.

I guess I need to focus on the positives and try to get inspired about my destinations, anyone else got tips to get over this stage? Last time I went on a big trip all I felt was almost uncontrollable excitement, so this is pissing me off!

[ATSV]

I think it's because it's a little way off - I get similar waves of "woaaah" when I think about my plans.

1) The plane won't explode.
2) Your passport will come back
3) you will basically be superman when the jabs are done (and won't get some kind of horrific virus)
4) Everyone finds learning a new language hard, try treating it like less of a "finishing school" and more of a "preparatory school" that will facilitate you learning much quicker when you reach the countries you're visiting
5) People will try to mug you in London.
6) You're giving up a room you've had for some time to visit somewhere you've never been, see things that many people never will and have an experience that you might not repeat for the rest of your life. Do not sit and worry about it "giving up" a house when you're going to experience something else. That's like "giving up" on your comfy chair, when you could go and see an awesome band.

Go look at some pictures of the places you want to visit.

[Joffle]

Yeah you're right, I need to start reading up more about the places I am visiting and looking at videos etc. I've been so busy recently that I've had very little time to do any research, which is creating a feeling of leaving for the unknown.

You are spot on in all your points really. I just need to stop being an emo knob and look forward to it!

[Joffle]

Passport was waiting for me when I get home. You are like an oracle man!

[Matthew A]

I'm going to have some money saved by the time my contract ends in September. I was planning a holiday in the Canaries; cheap cost and waves. Then I thought about Morroco, but I've been to both before. Then I thought a flight to South America can't be that much, and the cost of accomodation & living will probably even things out over a few weeks. Now I'm thinking fuck it, take all the money I've saved, go travelling for 6 months and avoid winter.

I'd love to hit Sri Lanka, Indo & Aus, but I fear the flight costs will be too high for the amount I'm likely to have. Where can I travel & surf for 6 months with minimal costs?

[Danph]

a few years ago someone posted a link to a website where people post about cars/RVs that need moving around america/australia and you pay a minimal fee to drive them, but it's basically like car hire. does anyone remember that link at all please?

[jonny]

Something like http://www.standbyrelocs.com ? Can't remember if that was the exact one, there's a few of them I think.

Off to Croatia tomorrow: two nights in Dubrovnik, then six on a couple of islands up the coast. Can't wait, it feels like ages since I've had a properly warm summer holiday.

ARE YOU GOING TO SEE THE PLITVICE LAKES??!?? I'm obsessed with going to see those things.

No, disgracefully I've now been to Croatia three times and have still not been to Plitvice. Next time. Still, holiday was brilliant. Weather was perfect and Mljet is an absolutely beautiful island, would very highly recommend anyone going to Dubrovnik to spend at least a couple of nights there. Once I've put some photos on facebook I'll chuck some in here too.

[Danph]

that's the one, cheers.

[Mos_Eisley_83]

a few years ago someone posted a link to a website where people post about cars/RVs that need moving around america/australia and you pay a minimal fee to drive them, but it's basically like car hire. does anyone remember that link at all please?

I used www.standbycars.com which is the same thing probably, to get around the whole of Australia. Cheap as chips (as long as you have $1000 on a card you can put down as a deposit) as they pay a lot of your fuel costs. My only regret with it was I was restricted with time in some places and would have loved to see them a bit more, but don't think I can justify another trip out there just to see some mining village.

[Joffle]

So I fly a month today. Finally getting excited now most things are sorted out. Starting to think about things to pack, anyone got any handy must take items for a 6 month trip?

[dtszine]

So I fly a month today. Finally getting excited now most things are sorted out. Starting to think about things to pack, anyone got any handy must take items for a 6 month trip?

I found it useful to photocopy my passport, flight documents. I kept on copy in my travelling bag (the one that went on flights/under buses etc) and kept another with me in my rucksack. I also e-mailed myself passwords and things like that in case I ever needed them.

A padlock (and spare key) was handy in hostel rooms. Same with a torch.

I used to keep all of my clean clothes in separate carrier bags when they were in my travelling bag (one bag for t-shirts, one for pants, one for socks etc). That made it much easier to find specific clothing as I didn't have to unpack the whole bag or trawl through a load of mixed up clothing when I wanted something. Try it,it was seriously handy for me!

I travelled before Iphones and readily available wi-fi though, so if you are going to somewhere like USA, Australia, Europe then I bet it is much easier nowadays! I was always a mega-organised traveller!

[Joffle]

So I fly a month today. Finally getting excited now most things are sorted out. Starting to think about things to pack, anyone got any handy must take items for a 6 month trip?

I found it useful to photocopy my passport, flight documents. I kept on copy in my travelling bag (the one that went on flights/under buses etc) and kept another with me in my rucksack. I also e-mailed myself passwords and things like that in case I ever needed them.

A padlock (and spare key) was handy in hostel rooms. Same with a torch.

I used to keep all of my clean clothes in separate carrier bags when they were in my travelling bag (one bag for t-shirts, one for pants, one for socks etc). That made it much easier to find specific clothing as I didn't have to unpack the whole bag or trawl through a load of mixed up clothing when I wanted something. Try it,it was seriously handy for me!

I travelled before Iphones and readily available wi-fi though, so if you are going to somewhere like USA, Australia, Europe then I bet it is much easier nowadays! I was always a mega-organised traveller!

Cheers for this, some good ideas there. I was going to go one step further than carrier bags and go for packing cubes. I am so unorganised usually I think they will be worth it.

Work is seriously dragging now. 11 days left sitting at this desk, thank fuck for that.