Going to Europe

[Skytrooper]

My son and I are going to Europe for 3 weeks in August. The initial plan is to fly to Glasgow and spend 5 days visiting distillery's in Scotland. Then we head to Norway on our way to visit friends in Helsinki, Finland. After that we will be going to St. Petersburg for a day then heading into Germany. We would like to go to Prague also.

Since neither of us has traveled in Europe, I was hoping that my fellow Pelicans could supply us with some insight as to the best modes of travel between the countries.Actually any insight and suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

[krichard]

For the length of time and the number of countries/cities you are planning to visit, you should consider eurail passes as a transportation option. Last year when my wife and I were in Europe for a couple weeks we did the eurail thing and it worked out great. Our counties included Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. I calculated the cost of flying between each of the cities, individual train tickets and hired cars and the eurail pass worked out to a significant savings.

Have fun on your trip!

[Hugh R]

You get the best exchange rates from ATMs, don't do the airport exchanges. Buy and bring back the airplane size bottles of different scotches. At that latitude its still light at 10PM.

[Rick Lee]

I'm in Germany at the moment and the only other place I've been on your list is Prague and that was two wks. ago. I'd definitely save Scotland for last, since you don't want to be lugging all that Scotch around the whole trip and would likely have duty to to pay in Russia or any other non-EU country you're bringing more than 1 litre per person into.

I would not do Eurorail passes. You have plenty of water to cross on this trip and St. Petersburg is probably two days on a train from Germany. I don't know how much time you have, but flying and driving are the way to go here unless you have time to burn and don't mind living on a train and hauling everything around with you. I always get a rental car because I can leave all my stuff in it and only take the clothes I need into the hotel or wherever I'm staying. My wife did some shopping, is a pack rat prima donna and it was nice to not have to haul all that sheet into a hotel each night.

I haven't been on a train in the former USSR in 20 yrs., but back then it was a looooong ordeal. Those countries use a different track gauge than the rest of Europe, which means they have to change all the wheels on all the train cars at the border. While riding from Krakow to Kiev in 1992, that ordeal took 3-4 hrs. and then my friend and I were the only people on the train who needed a visa. So the guys with dogs and rifles took us off the train, made us leave our luggage there and escorted us to what looked like an interrogation room. Anyway, that stuff is fun after it's happened, not while it's happening. If you need to keep any kind of schedule, you need to fly and drive.

[jcommin]

Google Wiskey trails in Scotland!

[Paco Anton]

Matt.

Check out the low-cost carriers like Ryanair or Easyjet. You can get very good prices on certain trips, although you must check carefully for hidden costs (luggage, credit card payment, remote airports and so on). I do not think Eurail would work since the cities you plan on visiting are too far apart.

Also several of the countries you are visiting are out of the Euro zone, so you will have to change into Pounds, Norwegian Crowns, Rubles and then get Euros for Finland, Germany and the Czech Republic.

If I were you I'd fly the first legs and then rent a car once you get out of Russia to visit Germany and the Czech Republic.

[porwolf]

How about going by car? You see a lot more and always can find a much less expensive small hotel or "Pension" outside the big cities. In my experience the cost of gas is less than train tickets for two. In the past i had very good experiences with the folks at "Nonstop Travel" (Nonstop Travel). I have no connection with them other than past experiences as a customer. They are German and English speaking people to help you and they have excellent connections in Germany. They also can help you with rail passes and rental cars there. They do have an office also in Frankfurt. And I found them to have the best prices for flights, car rentals, and travel insurance.

[daepp]

A 911 duh...

[Rick Lee]

I just drove from Nueremberg to Plzen, Prague, Ceske Budejovice and then to Vienna. CZ still uses their own currency, though most places there will take Euros. Problem is when you need coins for the parking automats. They print out a time and you place it on your dashboard. Also, we booked a lot of pensions and B&B's through Kayak, which took a credit card for the reservation. But we found out in each place that the cc had not been charged and we still had to pay upon checkout. No biggie, but one of the places only took cash and that can be dicey sometimes.

Parking in Prague is a b!tch. It's not cheap in the garages and not allowed on most streets without a residential permit. This was a HUGE problem for us, as I specifically chose a hotel whose TripAdvisor reviews said they had parking avail. They did not and it took me well over an hour and a taxi ride back to find a place on the street, to which I had to return early the next morning to feed the meter. Really, really sucked.

Short-distance trains can be tricky. I speak German almost as well as English and know my way around. And I still had some trouble today when I had to take the S-Bahn from Duesseldorf to Neuss. It's all on the honor system here, but I did get a ticket from the automat. You used to have to get the tickets time stamped when you boarded, but I didn't notice this ticket's fine print that said it was already "validated." So I "validated" it at the machine when boarding. Of course, they were doing spot checks on my train and the guy told me my ticket was no good. Because I speak like a local, he assumed I was a local and should know better. I told him I hadn't lived here in 20 yrs. and back then no tickets were printed as already validated. He let me go.

I got busted for this in Prague too about 22 yrs. ago, but the fine was so cheap, it wasn't worth the hassle of trying to figure out how to do it the right way. Now they have signs in English and German, not in 1990.

[kevin993]

For what its worth, we just got back from a 2 week tour of mostly southwestern Germany with some brief trips into France, Lux and Belgium. We rented a car and drove 2000+ miles. There are certainly times and places for trains, but I wouldn't give up the car if you're looking to cover countryside. It gave us so many options to check out so many different things, get off the beaten path, adjust our schedule, etc. Parking is generally OK, but can get steep if you use a parking garage at a larger chain hotel in a large city. We did the same thing last year in Saxony and had no problems there either. We noticed more speed cameras on this trip in some of the smaller towns which took some extra attention. If you're just looking to hit the major cities (like Berlin or Munich), you can get away without a car and just need to pack light because you'll be dragging your luggage on the train.

[Jim Bremner]

Good news is that it will be cheaper to buy stuff there right now. the Euro is slipping vs the usd $1.236 to buy one euro

[jannek]

Train is definitely the easiest and fastest way to get from Helsinki to St. Petersburg. Only 3.5h (Allegro) from center to center and you can sit and relax during border formalities. Customs and passport check is done in the train. Remember to get your Visa for Russia beforehand.

[imcarthur]

If you do drive, don't forget to buy the vignettes (essentially pre-purchased flat-rate toll charges) for the highways in the various countries. Austria & the Czech Republic require them & some others.

Ian

[Neilk]

Rick,

Will probably be pinging you for some suggestions in Southern Germany/ Czech Republic. I am picking up a BMW in Munich in late July and will be driving it to Nice, France. I'll have 10 days to play with so looking for ideas as well.

Neil

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Neilk

Rick,

Will probably be pinging you for some suggestions in Southern Germany/ Czech Republic. I am picking up a BMW in Munich in late July and will be driving it to Nice, France. I'll have 10 days to play with so looking for ideas as well.

Neil

Well, the Porsche Museum in Gmuend, Austria is right off the hwy., about two hrs. south of Munich. Austria's vignette is 8 Euros for 10 days. Czech Republic's is 16 Euros and Slovenia's is 15 Euros. Slovenia really checks them too. BMW Welt, where you pick the car up, is awesome! You'll love it.

I have to say, though, driving here gets worse every time I come. My friends here sort of laugh when I tell them my rental car is a Hyundai. But I spent the majority of this trip in other countries where the max. speed limit is 130 km/h. There are a few good spots in Germany where you can really let loose. But the traffic here SUCKS. You really need to be off the beaten path to be able to drive fast here. On the first day, driving from Munich to Nueremberg, I was doing 160 km/h in the right lane and got passed by a 997TT like I was standing still. The wind almost blew me off the road. But that's getting rare. Besides, can you really hammer a brand new BMW during the break-in period? Have fun with the gas prices. It's about 1.60 Euros per litre or $7.34 per gallon. And Germany is a relative bargain.

[svandamme]

I was in Prague 2 weeks ago as well, stayed in attic Hotel, easy to park there..

It has nice modern clean rooms, cheap , it's in the outskirts of town, but 2 minutes walk from the metro station. Good breakfast, and a decent Chinese restaurant nearby.


I can recommend it if you are traveling by car to Prague..

The girl that does the night reception, cute as hell.. You can mention her you know Vandamme who was there 2 weeks ago , she was so surprised to hear that name, thinking i was Jean Claude's les then athletic cousin or something

Hotel Praha 4 Michle, Pankrac, Brumlovka

Food in Prague.. it's all great there..

We had great steak in Kobe restaurant.(great, but rather small)

Kobe: Steak, Grill, Sushi

[motion]

Originally Posted by Skytrooper

My son and I are going to Europe for 3 weeks in August. The initial plan is to fly to Glasgow and spend 5 days visiting distillery's in Scotland. Then we head to Norway on our way to visit friends in Helsinki, Finland. After that we will be going to St. Petersburg for a day then heading into Germany. We would like to go to Prague also.

Since neither of us has traveled in Europe, I was hoping that my fellow Pelicans could supply us with some insight as to the best modes of travel between the countries.Actually any insight and suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Make sure you check out the Hermitage and Nevsky Prospekt. Beautiful!

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Well, the Porsche Museum in Gmuend, Austria is right off the hwy., about two hrs. south of Munich. Austria's vignette is 8 Euros for 10 days. Czech Republic's is 16 Euros and Slovenia's is 15 Euros. Slovenia really checks them too. BMW Welt, where you pick the car up, is awesome! You'll love it.

I have to say, though, driving here gets worse every time I come. My friends here sort of laugh when I tell them my rental car is a Hyundai. But I spent the majority of this trip in other countries where the max. speed limit is 130 km/h. There are a few good spots in Germany where you can really let loose. But the traffic here SUCKS. You really need to be off the beaten path to be able to drive fast here. On the first day, driving from Munich to Nueremberg, I was doing 160 km/h in the right lane and got passed by a 997TT like I was standing still. The wind almost blew me off the road. But that's getting rare. Besides, can you really hammer a brand new BMW during the break-in period? Have fun with the gas prices. It's about 1.60 Euros per litre or $7.34 per gallon. And Germany is a relative bargain.

I remember following a convoy of Audis in my Golf GTI from Nuremberg to Munich at about 190 kmh for about 45 minutes back in '93. Every time I looked at the gas gauge, it had moved to closer and closer to empty, not many MPG at speed. Not looking forward to paying for gas at that price plus the break in period probably means keeping it under 160kmh. We need to come up with a basic itinerary and I'll be back looking for advice on hotels, restaurants etc. Looking forward to my trip!

Thanks,
Neil

[porwolf]

Well worth a side trip is Regensburg and a wonderful hotel in the restored medieval city center is:

Hotel Orphee: Großes Haus

If you book a room, insist on the "Grosses Haus" in city center location, they have two other places. I suggest the top floor under the beautiful old roof with the 500 year exposed beams.

[Joeaksa]

Remember to make sure your phone is GSM standard and get it unlocked for overseas use.