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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Where to go in Europe???
DH and I are planning a trip to Europe in early 2010. He and I have both been to London and Paris (we spent 1 day in London and 5 days in France - and we feel like we saw everything we wanted to see there), and he went to Italy (although that was years ago when he was still in high school).
we will probably have 10 days total with two of those days being reserved for travel. So where should we go if we have 7-8 days to spend in Europe? I would personally love to see at least some of Italy while we are there since i've never been.
we are also debating between doing Europe by land, or taking a Mediterranian cruise (barcelona, rome, athens, possibly egypt and croatia) but that could end up being a little more pricey.....
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Re: Where to go in Europe???
We went backpacking in Europe for a few months, and I have some pictures in my bio that might give you some ideas of places to visit. With only 7-8 days of sightseeing time, the most you could see (without completely wearing yourself out) is two cities, maybe three but that would be pushing it. I'd definitely stick to one country or at the very least, choose locations that are close to each other. One important thing we learned is not to underestimate how long it takes to travel between each place. Something might look relatively close on a map but it can be deceiving (i.e., it took us 12 hours to get from Salzburg to Rome... as much as I love train travel, I almost ripped my hair out after that one lol). Sometimes you can use low budget airlines like RyanAir to quickly travel from one location to another, but they have very strict luggage requirements. Unless you're planning to backpack it (which is what I would recommend anyway because it's much easier when you pack light), I'd avoid them.
As far as whether a cruise or land vacation is cheaper, that all depends on what you want to see. With a cruise, you could obviously stop at more cities, but you would only get a few hours at each port which is ridiculous. That wouldn't be enough time to do anything. Some people don't care though... they just want to get there, cross a town off their list, and that's it. However, if you're like me and you actually want to experience the local culture, you'll need at least 2-3 days in each city (trust me on that). Rick Steves' books and videos are a great resource for planning. We also heavily depended on the Let's Go series of guidebooks.
I've been to Italy twice, and it's probably my favorite country. Each region and city there is unique and offers something different (mountains, beaches, wineries, countryside, the big city, etc.). My favorite area in general is the northwestern lake district near the Aosta Valley (I stayed in a small town called Stresa, and it was gorgeous... not many tourists at all). I think Rome is the best city though. You can't beat the sites there. Other favorite places in Europe: Interlaken, Switzerland and Jungfraujoch observatory (the ice palace was awesome- PIB); Wales; the fjords in Norway; the Scottish highlands; the French countryside (at least the little bit I got to see from the train lol); Bruges, Belgium; and Salzburg, Austria. Again, Rick Steves has some great itinerary suggestions on his website so I'd recommend checking that out for ideas.
01.03.09 {MARRIED BIO}
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Um, ok. Total vacation envy!!! Those trips sound awesome!!!
I've only ever been to Israel. Jerusalem and the Dead Sea are unbelievable!
Get thee to Italy. You'll love it. Rome, Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre
I've been to Europe a few times and stayed over a month after college backpacking around. you can have tons of fun in Italy for that time frame and not have to spend much time traveling about.
Melissa,
I've been to Israel twice. Once on birthright and saw most of the country, and again for two weeks (i stayed mostly in tzvat and did a lot of hiking). can't say enough great things about it!
I went to Israel on birthright in May! That is my favorite place I've been to, by far. So much history.
In regards to your question...I'm sure it's not realistic but I LOVED Iceland. It's so unique. The only other European places I've been are London and France (Paris and Lyon). Let us know what you decide. I'm dying to travel more! I want to go to Germany.
Scheduled IVF for April 2013--SURPRISE, don't need it! EDD 9/6/13
I thought for sure I'd be the only one to mention Iceland!! I've wanted to go there for the longest time
Now that we have our exchange student, I'm sure we'll be visiting Germany in the next few years! We have someone to stay with!!
We stayed in Tel Aviv in his grandmother's apartment and traveled about from there. I loved it... especially Yad Vashem.... so touching.
I have been to Europe several times, and to compare the vacation on land vs. sea is very difficult.
Personally Greece was my favorite as well as the Czech Republic as well as Budapest!
I highly recommend a cruise if you want a little taste of several places. It does however depend upon if you want to be more regimented or not. But you certainly don't have to do a ton of planning about how to get to point a from point b, etc. It's not any more expensive than going on a Caribbean cruise for the same amount of time.
DH and I went to Ireland in 2006. We loved it. Flew into Shannon, stayed one night in Galway, then drove to Dublin, stayed 2 nights, then drove along the coast until we got back to Shannon. Stayed in Waterford, Cork, Ring of Kerry, just to name a few. We stayed at B&Bs in all cities, except for Dublin (stayed at a hotel in the city).
I've also been to Germany, Bavaria, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Lictenschtein (sp?). All in the same 2 week trip. (in college). Germany is BEAUTIFUL!!!
I'm very excited for you.... AND jealous! I'm sure you are going to love wherever you go!
I went to Lugano, Switzerland on a band trip in December 2001 and loved it. The weather was crisp, the people were friendly and the scenery was gorgeous. If Lugano is any indication of the rest of Switzerland, than I definitely recommend it!
I've heard wonderful things about Italy froma cousin who studied there for a few years (and he studied food! says it's amazing. You'll never want to eat at Olive Garden again). He especially recommended northern Italy.
If you go the cruise route, definitely do some research on the amount of land you'll actually be seeing. Some coworkers recently went on one and said though they enjoyed themselves, they wished they'd seen more of teh actual continent. They said a lot of the excursions took so long to get to that they hardly were able to spend time there before having to make the return trip. But that's just one opinion.
Wherever you go, I'm sure you'll have a spectacular time. Sqirming with jealousy.
My heart is as open as the sky.
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2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.