I have a friend who travels all over the world . . . often by herself (!) and her dream is to go down to the Miami airport one day and just pick a place to go based on the fares that are available.
I love to travel but I’m not that brave or flexible LOL.
Thank you again guys! I was actually serious about getting from the airport to the hotel. From what I understand, the most practical way to travel between countries in Europe is pretty much by train, right?
Yes, the trains in Europe are a marvel of engineering, and an example of what could be done with train travel if the will is there to make it work.
Trains are great…just chose your luggage wisely. Working your way up/down escalators through the station and down the aisles of train can be a nightmare with too much or unwieldily luggage. Keep in mind that there may be times when your luggage might stay by the exit door and you will not!
I got scammed by a taxi at the Rome airport. Now I take an online pic of my destination’s official taxi logo and keep it on my phone. Hotels and restaurants are quite willing to order you a taxi during your stay. Enjoy!
It depends on your starting point, where you plan to go and how much time you have.
For example, I am going back to Stuttgart for a month for work. The express train from Stuttgart to Paris takes 3 1/2 hours and a round trip ticket can be had for $88. A plane take 1 1/2 hours but cost $225. As the train puts me in the center of town, the train is the better option.
However, change the destination to Florence. Train cost is $175 but takes 9 1/2 hours. A plane ticket cost $300 and takes 3 hours.
There are cheap flights within Europe which I would consider if planning to travel very far distances, i.e. Paris to Greece.
Another transportation question: does anyone have any suggestions for arranging for a car service from Milan to Piemonte (and back)? Should I try to arrange for this before I leave the states or when I get there (through the concierge at my hotel). Trains won’t work, and I don’t want to rent a car, so I’ll need a driver.
nottelling, You might email the hotel and let them know that you are needing a driver. If your trip is several days after your check-in, they might tell you to remind them at check-in to call for a driver. If you go to Piemonte within a day or two of checking in, or if a driver needs more lead time, they may give you the name of a company with their email reply.
Emily, I’ve found the travel forums and sites like trip advisor, Fodors’ forums and SlowTalk and SlowTravel to be very, very helpful and full of advice about traveling on your own without a tour or guides.
We try to stay in one place for at least a few days, preferably a week, and sign up for day tours once there. I also have looked at descriptions of day tours and planned my own tour based on it, and advice from travel forums.
I find hotels either though booking.com or trip advisor. Lately, I’ll go to booking.com first, then read the reviews on TA (read the reviews on booking.com too). And sometimes I’ll go ahead and book directly through the hotel.
I find Rick Steves’ guide books particularly helpful and very descriptive regarding getting around by train and bus, and how to take a taxi/bus/trian from the airport. He goes so far as to describe the route at the airport, which doors to go to, where the taxes line will be, etc.
I personally think his suggested tour itineraries are too fast-paced for me, but I value the transportation and other “logistics” info he gives in his books.
Finally, for ideas on where to go, I pursue the forums, again, and see what other people are saying and read trip reports.
Btw, my husband did have to have a small incision with his recent surgery, but recovered quickly and is back at work. He only spent one night in the hospital, and had very little pain with the incision. I was so relieved for him!
We postponed our Italy trip to April, changed the dates of the flights, and re-booking hotels currently. We also decided to stay an extra week in April, so that’ll be very nice!
We take a big trip or two every year. Lucky for me, amacdad likes to plan these. He uses Foders, Frommers & Trip Advisor to build the framework. Our challenge is that he wants to do absolutely everything and will get up before dawn and still be going strong until the wee hours of the next day. I can’t keep up with that! After 35+ years together, we’ve decided we don’t need to be joined at the hip for everything. I usually plan some downtime mid-afternoon.
Our last trip was Croatia. Zagreb, Plitvice, Split, Hvar & Dubrovnik. Wow! Especially Plitvice. @jaylynn we chatted up a fun guy in Game of Thrones garb who was giving private tours in Dubrovnik. I wonder if he was your tour guide.
As mentioned upthread, when DD was studying in England she found Rick Steve’s book very helpful for her weekend travels.
Get Global Entry or Mobile Passport, which is a phone app. Customs is now photographing returning Americans (but not non-citizens) and quickly running them through a bad facial recognition program. If you or anyone in your party gets an X from this, you go wait on the hideous line from Hades so a customs official with a computer can further scrutinize you against whoever it is in their database that is flagged. 2/3 to 3/4 of returning Americans get sent to this line, as I did, yesterday because of H’s resemblance to someone on their list.
I am jealous of the cheap flight ticket prices. Because of our kids in school we usually have to visit family in Germany during summer when those prices are highest. Last time we drove 6 hrs to Newark because it was $500 per person cheaper and a nonstop flight, versus flying from Pittsburgh.
Because it is so expensive for us all to go we usually are only able to go every couple of years and then like to stay for several weeks.
Trains are great, inexpensive. A family ticket cost us only Euro 14 for the day.
When I was growing up, everyone had to learn English from 5th grade on. But we were learning Oxford Standard English. So the younger people should be able to speak some English, older people less so.
Thanks again everyone! Will definitely check out all the sites you mentioned and will be getting Rick Steve’s guide books.
@aMacMom – I don’t think that guy was our guide. I would have been embarrassed to have a guy dressed up. He did carry a Lannister banner so we could find him by the big fountain. But thank goodness it went into his backpack afterwards 
Yes yes yes re Global Entry. So worth it.
Just got back from 5 days in Stockholm, 5 days in Berlin and 5 days in Copenhagen and thought I’d share some random thoughts.
First some general recommendations:
Lastly, my husband and I have begun to stay at more “boutique” hotels. We have enjoyed them immensely. I thought I’d just throw that out as an alternative for those looking for a different experience.
Now some country specific experiences:
**Stockholm:** The Nobel Museum is small, but we really enjoyed it. It was neat to be there during the week when they were announcing winners. The "in English" tour was interesting and informative. The Rick Steve's walking tour was great. The Vasa Museum was impressive, while the ABBA Museum was fun. We also enjoyed the informative Swedish Parliament House tour. My favorite meal was probably the Swedish meatballs at a restaurant frequented by locals. Perhaps it's because of where we lodged, but Stockholm seemed the most expensive of the 3 cities. On the bright side, we were introduced to the "fika"…an afternoon snack of cappuccino and a sweet.
**Berlin:** Berlin is much larger than Stockholm and as such, required more walking and the use of public transportation. I won't list all the highlights since there are too many to list. As someone upthread said, a lay of the land is beneficial. We took the walking tour recommended by Rick Steves and it was lovely. We were able to identify sights we wanted to explore later at our leisure. It also gave us the opportunity to ask a lot of questions of our guide. Something we thought was very memorable was going to a Berlin Philharmonic concert. It was outstanding!
Also, if you are considering a day trip, Dresden was wonderful. We were considering taking the train there on our own, but found a bus/walking tour in English, that was cheaper than taking the train. It was a long day, but I would recommend it.
**Copenhagen:** Copenhagen was a very walkable city, though there was a good deal of construction. We chose a central location on a useful bus line, which was helpful when we took 2 day trips. The 3 day Copenhagen pass was well worth it. It was accepted on both the buses and trains....and it paid for admission (or a discount) into most of the attractions we visited. Frederiksborg Castle was worth the 50 minute trip. (Note: a lot of attractions are normally closed on Mondays but we were lucky it was a weeklong school holiday so they were open with extra activities planned.)
Language was not a problem in any of the cities. It seemed everyone spoke some English. Lastly, the airport and taxi experiences were fine...though Berlin's airport was old and crowded, where we had to walk outside to get on and off the plane and seating at the gate was inadequate....and Heathrow (we connected through there on the way home) is HUGE....not a bad thing to stretch your legs out before a trans-Atlantic flight...not good, if you are cutting it close for an international connection.I am posting from Nice. Our trip started in London where S attends school we flew here on Friday. We had booked a lovely apartment in old town Nice through airbnb. But S flew back to London this afternoon and rather than stay in the airbnb, H and I relocated to the Hyatt. Despite being a very nice place, good host, neat location we were out of our comfort zone without S. Unlike us, S is fluent in French and very experienced in solo international travel.
My lesson: while many people love Airbnb and it can be more economical, it is not for everyone. We are simply more comfortable staying at hotels.
FallGirl, I prefer hotels also, unless with 3 or more or longer stays. How was Airbnb’s refund policy?
Do you guys use much of the hotel amenities? I really don’t so I prefer to rent nice apartments and homes. I like the extra space, having kitchen access, have the ability to use a washer and dryer, more than one bathroom, etc.
We did not ask for any refund as we felt it was our decision, we should just eat the cost.
As to amenities, we really don’t use the kitchen or laundry facilities. At hotels we like having a concierge for assistance, use fitness facilities. We have been known to order room service.
Now it is just me or with D2, I do prefer hotels, because I could be certain amenities I would be getting. I am with FallGirl.