Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with europe and travel

Warmish places to go in Europe?

walla — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:44:37 -0800

Where in Southern Europe should we go for a few winter months? We work remotely and are considering spending January through March in Europe. We've done this before in Northern Europe (Germany, northern France & Italy), but because of the season we're thinking about going south. Ideally we'd rent an apartment for a month in each of 2 or 3 places.

We love smallish, walkable, affordable cities - Freiburg, Germany was one of our favorites - but we're flexible. It's great if there are day trips nearby, as we won't have to start working until 3 PM.

Thanks for any ideas!

Where can we go before we go to Birmingham?

k8t — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:58:33 -0800

VacationFilter. I have a conference in late March in Birmingham, UK. My travel is covered and it is the day after my spring break from university ends. So I figure why not leave a week earlier and have a vacation? But where to go? Issue 1: We (will) have a 16-month-old baby. Issue 2: We want to be somewhere warmish, especially so we don't have to bring a bunch of winter gear. Issue 3: I need to keep it pretty cheap. Issue 4: We've done Paris, Brussels, Rome and Majorca lately and I recently lived in London, so those are all out.

We like: culture and beaches and stuff that baby likes. Greece, Italy and Spain seem attractive.

Any suggestions for a place in Europe that we can fly to (cheaply) from LAX, stay for a week, and then hop into Birmingham (or Manchester?) cheaply?

Propitious places to move to & unusual living situations for having 3 or 4 days a week free to work on personal project

cotesdurhone — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:39:38 -0800

I'm working on a project that requires at least 3 or 4 full days attention each week. What are some places in the US or world I could move to, &/or unusual living situations, that would give me a good chance of doing this? Other considerations:

• Part-time job terminating Jan 1, and definitely want to move elsewhere (currently live in Boston)
• Have $5000 savings. Will probably also be able to continue receiving unemployment (about $1,000 month) if I move out of state (but not country, obviously)

• Age 30. US Citizen.
• Languages: English, Russian
• Skills: Writing and editing, visual art, Russian translation (but no graduate-level degrees to show this)
• BA from Liberal Arts college + semester (2 terms) at Oxford

Any and all reasonable options considered.

• Preferred urban environment: vibrant arts scene, inspiring architecture, not overrun with college students or sports fanatics, ethnically and age-ally diverse
• 'Ideal' destinations: Montreal, France
• Hypothetical order of preference: 1. Montreal & France (tie) 2. EU, Scandinavia, & Turkey 3. Eastern Europe 4. USA & Canada 5. South America 6. Asia 7. Australia/New Zealand 8. other

• Preferred rural environment: the more (interesting) people around, the better

• "unusual living situations" = housesitting - caretaking - living in some cabin - (earnest) meditative community - collective farm - kibbutz - teaching abroad - or anything else

• If it's helpful to know— the project is of a literary nature (a novel and other writings)

Finally, what are the very best resources (books, websites, magazines, etc) that might be of help?

Yelp a Paris?

kenzi23 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:48:48 -0800

Is there a Yelp-type site for restaurants in Paris (or Europe, as a whole)? Ideally I'd like a restaurant guide for Paris that is based on user reviews, is easy to search and bookmark like Yelp to make my meals in Paris a breeze. I'll even take a blog or a list if that's all I can get. Any suggestions are welcome.

Have to fly in July, but we'll adapt to anything else!

amicamentis — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:53:46 -0800

How to find the best NYC --> Europe flight deals when both day of week and destination are flexible. Caveat: flying out July 2010. My roommate and I are planning an extended European vacation beginning around the middle of July next year. I know that this is the absolute worst time to fly out, so we need some tips about how to cut down the price.

We are flying from NYC but would be willing to travel to Newark or even Philadelphia if there were significant savings. I have used RyanAir in the past and am familiar with inter-European travel, which is why we don't care much about the city that we first land in. So far, it looks like flying into Dublin is the least expensive. We would also be fine with Paris, London, Glasgow, Amsterdam, or Geneva.

What now? I've heard that if you're flying during peak season then you should just buy tickets as early as possible because they will never lower. However, with our flexibility it seems that there may be some deal, somewhere a bit closer to our flight date. Is this wishful thinking?

We would appreciate any website recommendations that would give fares on neighboring cities as well, or flexibility about the day of the week. I've tried Kayak and liked it - are there others?

In addition, our vacation will probably continue for several months. Will the customs agents give us any problems for having a return ticket for more than three months from the day we enter the country?

Thanks!

We need a destination!

Zaximus — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:57:38 -0800

Help us pick a destination for a two week winter getaway! So since my girlfriend and I have successfully survived the latest round of layoffs (knock on wood), it's time to blow some of those vacation hours we've been hoarding. We'd like to take a trip for about two weeks, leaving shortly after Christmas and coming back sometime in January. So far, we have been tossing around ideas about heading to Europe but we are having a hard time deciding where specifically. I've only been to Paris before so it's all new to me, but she has studied abroad for a year and has more European traveling under her belt. We are still trying to decide on a country but locations that keep coming up in conversation are Barcelona, Venice, or Prague. Seeing as how we are terribly indecisive, I turn to you, AskMe, for recommendations.

Some things to consider:

- We're in San Jose, CA so we'll probably be starting out at the San Francisco airport.
- We're not afraid of cold weather but we don't want to be stuck indoors for two weeks.
- Wherever we end up, we'll be there for New Year's! We like fun but we'd also like to avoid NYC Times Square type events.
- We don't speak any other languages, although I can struggle my way through French if needed.

That's it! We'd love to hear your recommendations on where to go, and why. Any place you've been dying to get back to? Places you've always wanted to check out? Big cities? Small towns? Let us have it.

Thanks!

Seeking tips/advice for a trip to Oktoberfest (and surrounding area) for 2010.

gummo — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:54:49 -0800

Seeking tips/advice for a trip to Oktoberfest (and surrounding area) for 2010. Myself and 3 friends (American, 2 guys, 2 girls, 25-37 yrs old) have decided to go to Oktoberfest for 2010 (the 200 yr. anniversary). Our plan is to spend approximately 2 weeks on the trip. I'm looking for tips and advice on what we should do. We're initially thinking we probably want to do 2 or 3 days at the actual festival and in Munich, and the rest of the time, either before or after or both, in surrounding areas.

Thoughts:
-We're not afraid of a big noisy party (quite the contrary)
-None of us have been to Europe at all
-We want to see as much as possible, not just the Oktoberfest tents
-I've read that we want to reserve seats at a tent. I'm not convinced of this. The idea of being stuck at one table all day does not sound appealing. But would a reserved table be a good home base? Or when we get up, does our reservation end?
-Overnight trains to some far away destination sound GREAT.
-Can I rent a car one of the days and drive on the Autobahn to get us to one of our destinations? Is a car rental a valid plan for a more extended amount of time?
-How far can we get in 2 weeks if we just spend a couple days in Munich and jump on trains a lot? Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden? Where could we/should we go? (I obviously don't want to spend the entire vacation travelling)
-Can we get trains with cabins and use those as our hotel some nights?
-We're more the type to not make reservations, just so we are open to jump in a cab or on a train and head out if we hear of something great 100 miles away. But I understand we probably want hotel rooms for at least the couple nights for the festival.
-Should we stay within walking distance of the tents for the few days in Munich, or are we better off 40 minutes down the rail or road?
-We're not afraid of hostels or roughing it (though I've never stayed in a hostel and have no idea how that works)
-We can spend money when necessary, but don't want to be frivilous, and don't need too many luxuries
-Things I've seen mentioned: Volksfest, ICE Train, Castles, U-bahn, S-bahn, Mike's Bike tour.

So, Hivemind...

What should we do? Start at Oktoberfest, end up there? If we're only going to see 2 or 3 days of the actual festival, which ones do we want? Where should be book a room for the actual festival? Where else should we go? What else should we see? Are there any other events scheduled close enough? We're thinking of this more as a mini European vacation that involves Oktoberfest. Not simply an Oktoberfest trip. Any advice, experiences, ideas, cost estimates, are greatly appreciated.

Gotta get back.

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:40:57 -0800

I need to return to Poland, but I don't know if I can. Visa issues. I moved to Poland in April, because I wanted to learn the language and I had a good friend I wanted to visit. I'm a US citizen, so I didn't need a visa.

I stayed in Poland for four months. At the time, someone had told me if I leave Schengen before three months I could return and stay another three months. (I now understand this to be incorrect.) So I went to the Ukraine for a weekend and came back.

I flew back to the States last week to spend three weeks with my family. When I went through passport control in Zurich, the agent was furious, and said I had stayed too long. I told her I went to the Ukraine. She said I had no stamps of my time there - it was true.

It turns out that the border guards in the Ukraine neglected to stamp my passport, although I did have the exist and entry stamps from the Polish side of the border from that visit. The agent in Zurich called a higher-up and decided to let me continue on my journey, and said next time to make sure I've been stamped. I don't know if this has a permanent effect on my ability to enter Schengen again, or not.

Two months ago I bought a ticket to return to Poland from the States. I arrive on September 5th and fly out on December 15th, which is 101 days.

Only now have I realized that this is illegal, even if I hop over to Russia in November. I'm in a bit of a panic now, because I have a life in Poland - I have a girlfriend, close friends, and an apartment. When I arrive in Zurich again (I'm flying through the same airport again!) I worry that they will deport me, fine me, and maybe ban me from the Schengen zone.

I realize now that I should have gone for a visa while I was there; a residency, student, or some sort of visa. I am studying Polish, so it's possible I could attempt some kind of student visa.

Is there anything I can do? Is there an additional visa I can pay for? I want to be back there legally. I could wait a couple more months but I need to be back there as soon as possible, as my life is there. Do I have any options besides waiting?

I'm trying to contact the embassy but I thought I would ask the hivemind as well, since I'm starting to really get worried.

30 days in Europe, what to see?

thewalrus — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:57:43 -0800

One month in Europe on a budget, what should we not miss? Landing in Frankfurt tomorrow! My wife and I will be landing in Frankfurt tomorrow. We plan to see Germany first and then either go via Austria to Italy, or the other way around via Hamburg to Amsterdam, then south from the Netherlands to Belgium, France, eastward.

Aside from the obvious things that can be found in guidebooks and the various good city-guide applications I've already put on my iPhone, what should we not miss? I'm looking for suggestions from metafilter on those hidden gems and out of the way places you've personally encountered on your travels. We have exactly 30 days and will be traveling on a moderate budget, staying in hostels that have private rooms for couples or budget pensions, riding 2nd class trains (generally not TGV, ICE, AVE if we can avoid it or there's a special ticket price).

I'm going to try doing GLASTONBURY 2010. Difficulty: Never been to Europe, have no idea where to begin, kind of dumb. Help me make this beautiful dream a reality.

Senor Cardgage — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:35:05 -0800

I'm going to try doing GLASTONBURY 2010. Difficulty: Never been to Europe, have no idea where to begin, kind of dumb. Help me make this beautiful dream a reality. I am a hardcore US music festival junkie. I try to hit up most of the major ones (and quite a few of the minor ones) every year. As next year is the 40th Glasto, I have decided to make a run at it.

This is a daunting prospect for me as I:

• Am 35 and have never been to Europe at all
• Havent yet got a passport
• Am sure there are a million details I have no idea about that I dont want to get dogpiled with when I'm two weeks from the festival

So, basically, where would one begin with trying to get their head around this kind of undertaking?

Further, how much time/expense/difficulty would it be for me to decide to hop on to the main continent for a few days and rail around a bit?

I am also looking for people with GLASTO-SPECIFIC knowledge and not just general Euro-Trip info.

Anyhoo, forgive my ignorance on this topic. I know I set the goalposts a bit broad, but all I can think to do to start is to throw myself blindly in to the water and learnt to swim from there.

Thanks!

P.S. I should mention that I travel pretty spartan and am not reliant on posh accommodations. A backpack and a hostel seem like they would be fine, but again, Ive never had that experience either.

Help? :)

A good quad-band phone for Europe?

ninotchka — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:22:58 -0800

What's a good quad-band, GSM, UMTS-compatible, QWERTY-keyboard phone to take to Europe? I'm going to the Netherlands soon for nine months, and am keen to find a good phone (or rather, a shell) to take with me. The plan is to buy a Dutch Sim card upon arrival and recharge with gusto, yielding an affordable telephone solution. The basics of what I want (or at least what I, in my admitted uninformitude, *think* that I want!):

1. GSM: As you can imagine!

2. Quad band: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 mHZ bands. I'll be doing a great deal of traveling, and having all four bands would save a lot of headache later, for instance, when I come back to the States.

3. Unlocked: I'd like to be able to swap up Sim cards when I get there, as you can imagine.

4. Euro Power! Comes with a 220v/European/Eurocompatible charger: don't want to have to buy one separately.

5. No Camera: I really don't want or need a camera in my phone. If it made no real difference in price, I suppose I wouldn't care, but beyond that, a camera is not a plus for me.

6. Keyboard: It might be nice to have a small QWERTY keyboard and texting capabilities. I always prefer sending something text to calling someone, since I'm an incorrigible, irascible hermit!

7. Shape/Durability: Durability definitely matters, so nothing peculiarly fragile, but beyond that I'm not picky. As far as shape I do think I might like a 'slider' shape, but either slider or clamshell is fine. 'Bar' shaped phones are a no-go.

8. UMTS-Compatibility: Ideally, I'd like to be able to link into UMTS (3G) in Europe. However, I don't know much about whether a card that is running a bought Sim card can, well, fully access UMTS/3G (would I need to buy a special Sim?).

9. Portability Not an Issue: Weight, size and shape aren't terribly important factors to me. I currently carry a i560, which is a rubber-encased, bright yellow hockey puck (that I adore), so I'm not wedded to any particular aesthetic.

Any advice that any of you can give as to what to buy - or positive/negative experiences in Europe with phones like the one I'm hinting at above - would be great. Thanks, all!

Are there any affordable one-way tickets to Europe?

msbrauer — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:23:25 -0800

Are there inexpensive one-way tickets from the US to Europe? I'll be in NYC and want to get from there to Europe inexpensively around Sept. 1. My final destination is Paris, but anywhere in Europe served by the cheap airlines (RyanAir, et al) will work in a pinch. I only need a one-way ticket, and any return ticket will be useless to me. There are plenty of deals to Europe at the moment, but as always, they seem to be for roundtrip flights. Is there anything to be done?

How do I get from Paris to Innsbruck?

iguanapolitico — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:54:58 -0800

How do I get from Paris to Innsbruck? Traveling to France and Austria later this month. We need to get from Paris to Innsbruck on a Thursday. My traveling companion and I are having trouble finding airfare that even approaches "reasonably priced" ($1100 one-way, $450 round-trip). She has made this trip before and didn't pay those kinds of fares, but the dollar *is* in the toilet.

So we're looking at rail. We're kind of having trouble finding a definitive answer on whether we need to book this now or if we can get a ticket on our day of travel. Some MeFites must be familiar with European rail travel, hopefully specifically from Paris to Innsbruck. Any specific advice you can offer? Thanks.

European Leisure Travel Statistics / Effect of economic downturn

cheez-it — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:00:52 -0800

How badly has the economy affected leisure travel to Europe over the summer of 2009? How are the major tourism destinations in Europe weathering the current economic conditions?

Any ideas on where I could find multi-year travel statistics?

Any personal feedback from those who are living in or who may have traveled through Europe would be appreciated.

Gifts to bring to an office in Ukraine from the US?

phoenixy — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:38:32 -0800

Gifts to bring to an office in Ukraine from the US? I am going on a business trip from Boston to Lviv and would like to bring some appropriate gifts--ideally, something American, not too too expensive, and that is hard to get over there. The best would be something that could be enjoyed by everyone in the office, although there is a core group of three people I could just get things for.

What should I bring?

Cheap, but fun Europe!

lattiboy — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:19:10 -0800

Help me plan an October European vacation (starting/ending in Madrid) on the cheap! Since AskMe was SO helpful last time, I thought I'd try a bigger project:

I picked up a pair of airline tickets to Madrid for an incredible price about a month ago and now I'm freaking out about 10 days in Europe and the costs associated with that. I'll be traveling with my fiance and we're open to just about anything (we would like to avoid non-private hostel rooms). The travel dates are from October 1st until the 10th.

We'd like to see as much as possible (Paris and London especially) for as little as possible.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

PS The conversion rate being what it is, if EASTERN EUROPE is realistic, I'm all over that!

Farewell gift for a traveler?

pixxie — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 03:45:21 -0800

I have a 20-something friend who's leaving on the 22nd of this month, he plans on traveling for a whole year throughout Europe and South America. I want to get him something that is useful/meaningful for the journey, any ideas? For example: A watch? A Compass? (good or bad?)

I want to go somewhere between Cairo and Dublin.

ananda gale — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:14:53 -0800

Where should I spend my final week, after a summer of study abroad? I am open to almost anything, only limited by my pocketbook. I am a 20-year-old female who has been studying, traveling, and volunteering in Europe and Egypt all summer.

I love exploring new places, with a penchant for the odd or beautiful, and have less interest in partying or otherwise engaging in activities that could be done back in the U.S.

Where have I already been? A day or two in Dublin, Barcelona, Padova, Venice, Berlin, and their surrounds. Two weeks in Prague, one in Krakow, and am presently partway through five weeks in and around Cairo.

The free week is August 1-7.

I would prefer to stay in one area, so that I have the freedom to relax and explore it fully. I'm on a tight budget, and intend to couchsurf/stay at hostels.

I'd love to hear about some of your favorite experiences, and welcome completely random recommendations. I'll be sure to update when I decide! ^-^

A few possibilities:
-Jordan (but I'll have to return to Egypt as plane tickets are prohibitively expensive out of Jordan, which adds considerable travel time)
-other parts of the Middle East (kind of worried about traveling alone as a female, though)
-Greece (relaxing on an island sounds rather inviting)
-Budapest (highly recommended by several different travelers I met in Eastern Europe)
-Istanbul (MeFites seem to be big fans)

What do you recommend?

BER --> NYC Any Which Way

foxy_hedgehog — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:19:42 -0800

Please help me find the cheapest way to return to New York from Europe. I need to get back to New York in the last week of July from Berlin. Despite the recession, this is naturally the peak time for travel between Europe and the US, and the cheapest ticket I can find on Kayak (the most comprehensive search engine I know of) is a whopping 600 Euros.

I'm out of work and out of money (which, in fact, is why I'm leaving Berlin) and it would make a huge difference for me to find a cheaper ticket. Unfortunately I can't wait it out until tickets get cheaper again in the fall.

I tried to save money by only booking a one-way flight, but discovered that this seems to cost even more than a round-trip ticket.

I've checked all the travel-related threads on MeFi and read over a bunch of articles on frugal travel from the NYT and others. I've tried to find charter flights or flights with consolidators through Google, but can't seem to find anything less than what I'm finding on standard search engines like Kayak (and when I do, it turns out to be a phantom flight that isn't really for sale at that price).

I looked into buying frequent flier miles or having a friend transfer them to me, but as soon as you are dealing with large quantities of miles it's hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

I thought that perhaps I could make it cheaper by taking a transatlantic flight from another European city and taking a Ryan Air or other discount airline flight from Berlin to my departure city. Thus far, the cheapest route I've found is to take a Germanwings flight from Berlin to Warsaw for 69 Euro, and then take an Air France flight from Warsaw to NYC that night for 349 Euro round trip. Is there another city that might have a cheaper flight? I've already tried Frankfurt, Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Zurich, Geneva, and Zagreb.

Finally, is there any chance that tickets will get cheaper if I wait longer? One can hope...

I am very grateful for any suggestions you might have- whether they are tricks of the trade, ideas on how to string flights together, or helpful websites.

Books about Europe?

Dilemma — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:36:03 -0800

What are some books I can read before my trip to Europe that will help me get in the mood? I'm going on my first ever trip to Europe in September. I am already very excited, but I'd like to read some books related to the places I am visiting that will help me get even more excited or in the mood. Novels, historical fiction, history, nonfiction; anything is fair game. I'm going to Paris, Rome, some of the smaller towns in central Italy, and Venice. What are your favorite books about/set in/remotely related to these places? (I'm not looking for guide books, I already have that well-covered.)

Help me choose an itinerary for a last-minute 8 or 9 day trip to Europe

gsteff — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:41:06 -0800

Help me choose an itinerary for a last-minute 8 or 9 day trip to Europe. I'm going to be switching jobs in early July, and have timed things to give myself roughly 9 days (including travel) to do a quickie European backpacking trip (I've already found great fares from Lufthansa). I'm a 26-year-old guy, will be traveling alone, and for all intents and purposes don't speak anything other than English. I'd like to cram in as much as I can, which requires balancing a desire to see as many cities and cultures as possible with a desire to not spend the whole trip on a train. I'd like to keep it cheap (I'll be staying in hostels whenever possible) but don't have a specific budget.

What sequence of countries/cities should I hit? Feel free to define "Europe" as loosely as you'd like. The only restriction is that I'd rather skip France, since I've been there already. Right now I'm investigating Italy/Greece/Turkey, but am open to anything.

Other relevant advice is welcome too, of course. Thanks!

Advice on my trip to Italy

Rustbeard — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:48:17 -0800

So I'm going to Italy for a class and then I'm planing on traveling around for a little while afterwords in the month of August. I'll probably stay mainly in Italy, but I would like to go to Greece and maybe visit my cousins in France. I've never done something like this so I really could use some help with my trip. Is there some guide for people for backpacking in Europe? What are just some overall recommendations on traveling like this? What type of bag and what to bring. How do I go about getting a euro pass? Or is it better to just rent a car? Should I go to hostels? If so how should I be prepared for that, I've never stayed at a hostel? what do people generally do about cell phones when traveling abroad?
How do people generally book hotels and other things if they can't speak the language?
I'll probably be bringing my netbook since my class recommends to bring a laptop, anything I should know about converters and stuff like that?
Is it better to get Euros here in the US at a bank or somewhere else?
Also I don't speak another language but will try to learn some Italian before I go.
Aslo some recommendations on where to go and what to see would be great. I'm more into nature and ruins, as well as food. Not really into clubs and touristy areas, crowds in general.
Sorry for the mass of questions. I'm a bit of an introvert and never really planned a trip like this for myself. And I will probably be doing this by myself so I'm a little nervous about it.
Just some general advice and recommendations would be really great.

Last minute advise for Europe

bajema — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:15:26 -0800

Any last minute advise for my european vacation? My wife and I are flying to Europe in 2 weeks for a 5 week tour of Greece, Italy, and France. We'll be traveling light with one carry-on sized backpack each. Any tips on things to remember to do before we leave, things to be sure and bring, things not worth bringing, etc?

Someplace warm

wordsmith — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:01:48 -0800

What warm, relaxing, beach destination (probably in Europe) do you recommend that will be easily accessible from Dublin via RyanAir (or other low-cost carrier) this coming September? Honeymooning in Ireland for a month, but we wouldn't mind jutting off to a warmer locale for a few days if the price is right. What do you suggest?

Europe Without Breaking The Bank?

Tamanna — Sat, 23 May 2009 07:29:31 -0800

Help me plan a trip to Western Europe (Paris, London, and Rome) on the cheap. More details inside. So I'm planning a trip to Paris, London, and Rome in the future (either this winter or next summer) and am completely lost as to how I should prepare. I've checked previous AskMeFi threads, but they're either really old or don't deal with the cities I want to visit. Plus I live in India and many sites are too US-centric to be of much use.

So, my questions:

1. I'd like to spend roughly 20 days in Europe (5 in each major city, plus day trips to Normandy, Brussels, Venice and a couple of others.) Is this doable on a budget of EUR 50-70 a day? I'm amenable to living in hostels and will be a student at the time, so I can probably swing some discounts with an ISIC card.

2. I have two potential windows of travel: 20 May- 10 June and 15 December- 5 January. Which would be better? I'm fluent in French and plan to become at least passable in Italian before I go, so non-English language tours aren't an issue. I don't much like cold and rain, though, or crowds.

3. Are there any sites I shouldn't miss, no matter what? Conversely, any really overrated tourist traps? I'm a museum and history geek, and don't really care for clubbing or any kind of nightlife short of sitting around and chatting or curling up with a good book.

4. Finally, any other advice for a first-time single female traveler? I'm also vegetarian (ovo-lacto) so any info y'all might have on that count would be great.

Thanks in advance!