Special K Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Pfft ... where's your sense of adventure? We ended up in Rimini/San Marino on my trip because the hostel in Rome was overcapacity and kicked us out at midnight as we were the last arrivals. Our only option for an indoor place to rest for the night was the slow overnight train across the country from Rome to Rimini. That's hilarious. I don't mind being flexible with travel, I mean my last trip to eastern Europe was booked 2 days before I left and my friend and I only had a reservation just for the first night. Luckily it was in January so we could basically walk into any hotel recommended by Rick Steves, haha. By the way, most fun trip with my bestie, EVER, lol! But crap, I would have been pissed being kicked out at midnight from a place and having to wander around (very likely a bit inebriated, lol) with my backpack. Booooo! True about being cheaper, but did you ever have to worry about other tourists stealing your items in the middle of the night or when you're off to shower? Thanks for the warning! No, I remember the hostels having lockers we'd keep anything of value in. I wouldn't recommend taking much of high value. I basically just had my camera, passport & money that I kept on me at all times. Also, if you want to hop off a train at a certain place because you want to explore for a few hours, most train stations have lockers as well. We'd put our packs in those lockers, run around the town for a few hours then grab our packs and hop back on the next train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinC Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 That place looks really nice. Debating whether to visit that lake district or go to southern france and visit Sainte-Croix Lake although it's an 8 hour drive from Paris. How long do you think I should stay in England altogether since I'll only be in Europe for 2 weeks? Seems like so much to do in such little time especially if I want to go visit France. 2 weeks is an incredibly tight timetable to visit both France and England and do either any kind of justice. If that is the most you can budget in time and cost though I suppose logically if I was you I'd try to split pretty evenly. I assume you are flying into London so I'd have a couple of days in London then head for the Lake District and spend 2 days there. It's about 2 hours to Edinburgh from Penrith, do a day in Edinburgh and then stick a pin in a map and spend a day somewhere in the Highlands. Head to Manchester Airport and you can get a direct flight to Paris from Manchester with FlyBe - it's not much more than a 1 hour flight. I will leave France to others :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corcaigh Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 That's hilarious. I don't mind being flexible with travel, Yeah ... nowadays I have pretty much everything planned out. Back then, it was just fine to arrive at a port in northern France with a backpack, a stack of Amex travelers checks, a one-month unlimited railway pass and the Thomas Cook Railway Timetables, so we could plan the most ridiculously precise but random trips. Every day was like this over breakfast ... "The train we're thinking of taking from Lucerne (Switzerland) arrives at Vaduz (Lichtestein) at 3:11pm on Platform 4. There's an express train to Munich leaving Vaduz 3:14pm from Platform 11. How about a couple of days at Oktoberfest?". "Awesome! Sounds like a plan". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC9 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I saw "backpacking" and then later I saw "transportation" and "money for food" and I just decided that the OP and I grew up with different definitions of "backpacking". What's the matter with Manchester? Just curious since I don't really know much about that city. We'll start here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Is this where I start telling some pretty darn funny tales of footie trips over to the Continent? Not back-packing pre-se, but when it comes to jibbing ferries, buses and trains for 'free' or, uhmmmm, 'relieving' a foreign store of it's contents I'm (allegedly) yer man. LEAVE IT MARTIN! Every little helps as you'll find out on your travels. Hail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Yeah ... nowadays I have pretty much everything planned out. Back then, it was just fine to arrive at a port in northern France with a backpack, a stack of Amex travelers checks, a one-month unlimited railway pass and the Thomas Cook Railway Timetables, so we could plan the most ridiculously precise but random trips. Every day was like this over breakfast ... "The train we're thinking of taking from Lucerne (Switzerland) arrives at Vaduz (Lichtestein) at 3:11pm on Platform 4. There's an express train to Munich leaving Vaduz 3:14pm from Platform 11. How about a couple of days at Oktoberfest?". "Awesome! Sounds like a plan". That, my friend, is excellent! That sounds eerily similar to my last trip to eastern Europe a few years ago. The fact that the trip originated over a late night, wine drinking phone call from my best friend telling me she was being laid off whereupon I promptly suggested we should go to Europe since she now had free time and I was on a school break, didn't bode well for being highly organized. I think I remember saying something about "fate" with our schedules meshing so well; clearly the Lord intended us to go to Europe together...instead of you know, encouraging her to save her severance. We got on the internet, purchased tix to Hungary right then and were there 3 days later, lol. Our planning/accommodation discussions over there occurred in the evening usually over beer and a Rick Steve's book in whatever country or city we were in that day. That was the the trip where we couldn't understand anything in Slovenia, got on the wrong train, realized it just as the whistle blew and had to jump off the train onto the platform as it started moving, lol. Most crazy, hilarious and fun trip ever. Unfortunately, she's married now and her husband won't let me coax her into involvement with any more of my "brilliant" ideas. Just kidding, I love him. I kinda miss my totally crazy and irresponsible 20's though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baegopa Posted February 5, 2014 Author Share Posted February 5, 2014 No, I remember the hostels having lockers we'd keep anything of value in. I wouldn't recommend taking much of high value. I basically just had my camera, passport & money that I kept on me at all times. Also, if you want to hop off a train at a certain place because you want to explore for a few hours, most train stations have lockers as well. We'd put our packs in those lockers, run around the town for a few hours then grab our packs and hop back on the next train. For the lockers, do you use your own or is it a locker where you pay to use? Kind of like from the movie, Bourne Identity, when he's at the train station and puts his bag in the locker. 2 weeks is an incredibly tight timetable to visit both France and England and do either any kind of justice. If that is the most you can budget in time and cost though I suppose logically if I was you I'd try to split pretty evenly. I assume you are flying into London so I'd have a couple of days in London then head for the Lake District and spend 2 days there. It's about 2 hours to Edinburgh from Penrith, do a day in Edinburgh and then stick a pin in a map and spend a day somewhere in the Highlands. Head to Manchester Airport and you can get a direct flight to Paris from Manchester with FlyBe - it's not much more than a 1 hour flight. I will leave France to others :-) Yeah 2 weeks is very tight so I've definitely got to make the most out of it. If it were up to me, I would probably try to stay 3 weeks - 1 month, but since I'm going with someone as well, she can't take an extended vacation from work. Yes I will be flying into London since at the moment tickets are at 973$, but maybe it'll be a lot cheaper if I book it near "last minute" like a month from the trip? I've read it's cheaper to book it later than earlier. Hmm that's a pretty good itinerary set up to visit all those gorgeous places. Thanks, I'll definitely consider that into my planning. I was looking up prices for the flights from Manchester to Paris and it'll cost around 100$, which isn't bad, but isn't the Highlands/Edinburgh far from Manchester? Is this where I start telling some pretty darn funny tales of footie trips over to the Continent? Not back-packing pre-se, but when it comes to jibbing ferries, buses and trains for 'free' or, uhmmmm, 'relieving' a foreign store of it's contents I'm (allegedly) yer man. LEAVE IT MARTIN! Every little helps as you'll find out on your travels. Hail. Please do share stories GHH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinC Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Yeah 2 weeks is very tight so I've definitely got to make the most out of it. If it were up to me, I would probably try to stay 3 weeks - 1 month, but since I'm going with someone as well, she can't take an extended vacation from work. Yes I will be flying into London since at the moment tickets are at 973$, but maybe it'll be a lot cheaper if I book it near "last minute" like a month from the trip? I've read it's cheaper to book it later than earlier. Hmm that's a pretty good itinerary set up to visit all those gorgeous places. Thanks, I'll definitely consider that into my planning. I was looking up prices for the flights from Manchester to Paris and it'll cost around 100$, which isn't bad, but isn't the Highlands/Edinburgh far from Manchester? P Typically flight costs into London get HIGHER the closer you get to departure date - you can get lucky though if flights are under booked but that's rare. It's about a 3 hour train from Edinburgh to Manchester - how long it take you to get to Edinburgh from where you end up in the Highlands is the question. Manchester is in the North West of England about 350 miles North of London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baegopa Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 Typically flight costs into London get HIGHER the closer you get to departure date - you can get lucky though if flights are under booked but that's rare. It's about a 3 hour train from Edinburgh to Manchester - how long it take you to get to Edinburgh from where you end up in the Highlands is the question. Manchester is in the North West of England about 350 miles North of London. Oh really? Then I think I'll book my flight soon since they're at $973. I would hate to see it go higher than that, and I suppose the cost for Feb to London is only at 800 due to it being non peak traveling season. Man, now I wish I went alone so I can at least spend a month. There's really so much to see and do that the time spent on travel alone is killing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar78 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Also, if you want to hop off a train at a certain place because you want to explore for a few hours, most train stations have lockers as well. We'd put our packs in those lockers, run around the town for a few hours then grab our packs and hop back on the next train. Yeah, forgot to mention this you can have your massive hiking pack but consider a day pack as well. Stash your hiking pack in a train station locker and just carry around a small pack for what you need that day. Or just have pants with lots of pockets. You'll probably only need your phone, camera, wallet during the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baegopa Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 Yeah, forgot to mention this you can have your massive hiking pack but consider a day pack as well. Stash your hiking pack in a train station locker and just carry around a small pack for what you need that day. Or just have pants with lots of pockets. You'll probably only need your phone, camera, wallet during the day. Do you pay to pay the locker or do you just bring your own lock? That's not a bad idea at all so I wouldn't have to carry a giant backpack around all day. Thanks for the tip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Do you pay to pay the locker or do you just bring your own lock? That's not a bad idea at all so I wouldn't have to carry a giant backpack around all day. Thanks for the tip! Most British/ European train stations/ airports have a left luggage room where you can in effect 'check in' your bags for a small fee for a certain duration. Hail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGoodBits Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I saw this on Buzzfeed yesterday: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariannarebolini/astounding-backpacking-trips Gotta say, the Tour du Mont Blanc looks freaking incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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