Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with belgrade

Help me get from Santiago to Serbia.

acidic — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:03:06 -0800

What's the cheapest or best way to get from Santiago de Compostela, Spain, to Croatia/Serbia/Slovenia? Optional: a detour through the Netherlands. I'm backpacking through Spain this summer and ending up in Santiago de Compostela or thereabouts. From there I have the option to go to the Netherlands for a month and then Croatia/Serbia/Slovenia etc for a little less than a month, then flying out of Prague, or going straight to central/eastern Europe and spending a bit more time there. Wherever I go I'll be WWOOFing for part of the time but also camping and couchsurfing in larger cities. I'm interested in:
- The best way to get out of Santiago, and
- Thoughts on spending a month in the Netherlands-- how expensive is it? For a young female traveling solo how does it compare to central/eastern Europe? Would it be worth it to skip the Netherlands and spend almost 2 months in Croatia/Serbia/Slovenia and other surrounding countries? Eventually I need to end up in Prague, although I don't plan to spend much time there at all.

Any additional advice regarding any of my destinations would be appreciated as well, of course! Previous threads about Dubrovnik and Ljubljana are what convinced me to head to that part of the world in the first place.

A month in Serbia - what should two Americans know?

The World Famous — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:17:44 -0800

What should a couple of Americans know who are about to go to Serbia for about a month? My parents are going to Belgrade for about a month, and I'm asking for them. They have been to Belgrade before for extended periods of time, and they really love it, but it has been a few years since they were there last.

I understand there is no current State Department advisory against going to Belgrade or Serbia in general at the moment, but I'm wondering if anyone here might have more specific information about the current state of things and what a couple of Americans might need to know about going to Belgrade for several weeks. They are into walking everywhere, being immersed in the local culture as much as possible, and they have a few Serbian friends who they will be visiting there. They speak some Serbian (or they did when they were there before, and I'm sure it will come right back). They are also wondering what the best/easiest way is there currently to exchange U.S. Dollars to Euros. Thanks!

24 hours in Belgrade

MrMerlot — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:09:45 -0800

I've got 24 hours in Belgrade. What should i do and see? I am actually enroute to Istanbul by train. I like culture, contemporary art and music and good food if its not too expensive. And would you happen to know the the local tipple and where to drink it?

For a multi-leg transatlantic flight, what can I do to minimize the likelihood of connection problems, involuntary bumping, etc.?

allterrainbrain — Wed, 30 May 2007 06:07:19 -0800

For a multi-leg transatlantic flight, what can I do to minimize the likelihood of connection problems, involuntary bumping, etc.? First leg (on US Air) is LGA to PHL to LGW, and I'm hearing a lot of anecdotal reports that both USAir and PHL are worse-than-average for connection problems. On a Friday and Saturday in August (i.e., near the height of the U.S. summer travel season), here's what I'm doing:

FRIDAY:
• midday flight LGA to PHL, on USAir (then 6-hour layover in PHL)
• overnight flight PHL to LGW, on USAir (then 4.5 hrs between LGW arrival and LHR departure)

SATURDAY:
• afternoon flight LHR to Belgrade, on JAT / Yugoslav Airlines
• evening ground travel from Belgrade to Sombor, my destination city in Serbia.

I'm scheduled to start my responsibilities in Sombor (teaching) on Monday morning, about 36 hours after my arrival. So there's not much room for error here, especially since the LGW-to-LHR transfer time is fairly tight and there's only one London-to-Belgrade flight a day on JAT.

Beyond hearing that PHL is especially bad for delays and connection problems, today I saw the NY Times story titled "Overbooking, Bumped Fliers and No Plan B" (saying this summer is expected to have a high percentage of involuntarily bumped passengers with little recourse since all flights will be fuller than usual).

So, solutions:
• I'll be getting to LGA plenty early;
• I'll be bringing only carry-on luggage;
• I have no special travel or security issues and I'm an experienced flier & transatlantic traveler.

What else, if anything, should I be doing? Is there any way, other than being early, to make oneself less likely to get bumped from an overbooked flight?

This teaching is something I am co-organizing and basically volunteering for (i.e., there's no deep-pocketed org that could step in with any extraordinary measures if something went really wrong with the travel). My co-organizers can adapt if I'm delayed, but obviously I want to do everything I can to make this work as planned.