Help me figure out my trip overseas!

October 27, 2007 10:17 AM

So I'm going on a trip this summer with my bf... my plan is to at least hit up Germany and Ireland, hopefully England too. I'm planning on this trip lasting for about a month, probably starting in August sometime. So my simple question is, what do you recommend? My more in-depth question is behind the link...

So, I have a friend in Germany - that portion is already taken care of as far as what to do and where to stay. We will probably go there first, then travel with my friend up to Amsterdam for a few days. From there we will go to either England or Ireland, depending on my budget/plan. My main question has a few parts. First of all, what is/are the cheapest ways to get around, both while in one of these countries and/or traveling between them? Secondly, where should I stay in Ireland or England? Since we are going to be there so long and the USD is so poor, I don't want to stay in a hotel, at least not most of the time. Thirdly (and lastly) what should we do/see? Typical and especially non-typical touristy stuff is helpful. I want to visit Ireland because of my Irish roots and to see some castles. I want to visit England because it seems like a really neat country... My budget is $4000 (how does that figure sound for this trip? Does that sound like it might also cover an additional person's expenses in part?) Soooo... Go!

posted by pontouf to travel & transportation (6 comments total)

England is slightly more expensive than Ireland because the pound is stronger than the euro. But England is easier and cheaper to get to from Amsterdam. There is plenty to see in England, with great variety between regions. You could easily see castles in England, if castles are your thing.
Ireland is a whole different headspace. Do you know where in Ireland your family roots are? If you had a specific destination in mind, you could use that as a starting point for planning an Irish trip. I also have Irish roots and found my visit there much more moving than I had expected to find it.
My advice: If you have some specific family history link to explore, then go to Ireland. If it is just a vague sense of "hey, I'm Irish," then go to England and save Ireland for another trip all to itself.
Cheapest ways to travel: bus, but it's not nearly as fast as the trains. Look into rail passes and see if they would work for you. Places to stay: B&Bs. In a friendly group you might not mind a hostel. Many websites offer tourist information - try tripadvisor or frommers.com for starters and then google. Happy trails and happy planning.
posted by egret at 11:14 AM on October 27, 2007

It will not be cheap, as you mentioned. A good way to approach a trip like this is to be absolutely clear that there is no way you can make it cheap, because your national currency is worthless. This means that whenever you say "Let's sleep on the street to save money" or "Let's go to a lame city because there is a cheap hostel there", you should reality check and say to yourself, "No, remember, we knew this was not going to be cheap. Under no circumstances was this going to be a budget trip, because our currency is worthless".

On getting around. Getting a rail pass is nice because you pay for it up front and all that, and can be spontaneous if a place sucks. However, it takes a long time to get anywhere on the train, sometimes you need to make reservations, etc. My BF and I looked at getting a rail pass and realized that on our four-week trip, we'd be spending at least 4 days on the train to get between the places we were planning to go. That is just a shockingly large percentage. We ended up making concrete plans and flying budget airlines. While that was not always a great choice (did you know that budget airlines sometimes just cancel a flight and tell you "sorry, we don't have another one until tomorrow and we may or may not be able to get you on that one"? We did not know this.) in general I was pleased with the decision. We took the train once and it was just such a long damn ride compared with the planes we usually took.

I think you should probably make at least one stop on France since it's on the way to England from Germany. Obviously if you take flights only you can skip it entirely, but if you do decide to take the train (eg through the Chunnel, totally cool) why not make a stop in Paris? Americans love to hate on the French but they are not as rude as reported and Paris is unimaginably beautiful.

I think $4000 sounds reasonable. Buy your transcontinental plane tickets early, since I think mine ended up in the $1500 range. I bought them in April for a trip at the end of June, and I bet I could have saved considerably if I had planned a little more...but sometimes that just isn't possible, y'know?
posted by crinklebat at 11:40 AM on October 27, 2007

On your budget of $4000, I think London is out, but

Comfortable cottage for a week: $800

Ford Focus rental for a week from Avis (free insurance with a gold credit card) : $225

Fuel (200 mi/day, about 8 gall X 3.77 = 30 litres X $2/li X 7 da= $420.

Food (home cooked meals!) $20 X 3 people X7 days: $420

Entrance fees (one attraction per day $30 X 3 X 7) : $700

Visiting England: Priceless

That's a total of about $2600 for three people. Transportation to and from London not included.

That particular location (Stow on the Wold) is an easy drive to Oxford, Stratford, Blenheim Palace, Leeds Castle, Bath, Stonehenge, Avebury and much more than you can possibly do in a week. Food in supermarkets in places like this aren't that much more than in the US, but restaurant meals are exhorbitant. Pack your own lunch.
posted by Neiltupper at 1:45 PM on October 27, 2007

I would fly in to England first. There are several travel bureaus located around Victoria Station, including STA where you can get very cheap rates to a lot of other European desistinations at the last minute. I used them to get a bus/ferry service to Amsterdam. Buying when you are there allows you some flexibility also. Keep in mind, however, that you are going during high season so it might not be as cheap or have the availability as if you went off season.
posted by 45moore45 at 2:13 PM on October 27, 2007

http://www.statravel.com/ Very cheap rates for students, but not bad rates for others, especially if you are under 26. There are STA offices in the US, they could give you some pointers. Most are manned by students who have done a lot of traveling themselves and they always will give you the backroads/cheaper way to go if they know about it.
posted by 45moore45 at 2:20 PM on October 27, 2007

If you don't want to stay in hotels, you could try looking for hostels. There are some great hostels all over and you can often find two beds in one for less than the price of a mid range hotel. Hostels and coaches will be great if you really want to see some cities, museums, nightlife, etc. Any moderately sized city in Ireland, England, Scotland will have a few hostels to choose from (exception from personal experience: Limerick. all listed hostels closed up, but reasonably priced b&b's to make up for it). You can even find some super cheap hostels in London (just be careful about in-city transportation costs; for me it's always either walking or bussing).

If you're more into the countryside or small villages or even smaller cities, I'd suggest bringing some camping equipment (very basic: tent, two bags, and something to put between your bags and the ground. don't bother with stove etc.) and renting a car. It's possible to find cheapish car rentals in Britain (don't know about Ireland). There are great campsites near to lots of places and, if you have a car, you can make it there and the surrounding areas quite easily. You could also manage to hit lots of sweet spots, like the Cotswolds and the Lake District and the Peaks and the Dales and maybe even the Borders. Or, if you don't have the equipment or don't want to lug it, there are often super reasonable bed and breakfasts located in the more remote places. Often no more than an extra bedroom or two in someone's house, but great for economy and fairly romantic to boot. Also, about the no cooking-equipment: camping in Europe/Britain is much different from camping in the US. There is not a lot of roughing it or hiking. You're always near to a village, hence there is always a village pub or general store nearby. All you really need is a place to sleep and bathe. The rest is easy.

I have some experience with budget traveling in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the continent using hostels, b&bs, and campsites. E-mail's in profile if you have more specific questions.
posted by mosessis at 2:47 PM on October 27, 2007