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Hello all,
If anyone read and remembers my last couple blog entries, rather recently I quit my job right before going on vacation to Cancun, Mexico.
Long story short, I still haven't been able to find a job that would make me happy and I feel like I've got somewhat of a travelers bug after coming back from Mexico. After about a month of consideration and failed job hunting, I've made plans to travel abroad in Europe for an undetermined amount of time.
I've got some money saved up that otherwise would have gone towards a down payment on a house (wasn't going to happen as I'm unemployed and can't get a mortgage) that I'm now going to travel with.
The plan, in short, is to fly to London, England, as it's by far the cheapest route to Europe for me, do whatever the fuck I want, go wherever the fuck I want, then end up in Germany towards the end of my travels to continue learning German, visit relatives, and hopefully stay a year or two while working. Of course, I have nothing concrete set, so everything after the initial flight to England is open to change. No return flight booked.
So I guess the point of this is to just say that I probably won't be active on TL after leaving at the end of next month and ask for tips/advice/recommendations/pointers from anyone who has done anything like this.
I'll most likely just be taking a big backpack with me with minimal belongings, taking the train everywhere (or any other method that is cheap and viable), and going wherever for however long I want. At this point I'll be planning to stay in hostels and potentially trying couch surfer (yay?).
My vacation to Cancun last month was pretty well the only vacation I've ever been on and first time going anywhere outside of Canada/US. My brother and his fiance spent 3 years living in China teaching English and traveling throughout Asia doing a similar thing, so they've definitely shared a lot of info with me already. But if anyone has anything to share or anything I'll be trying to prepare myself as much as possible before going!
Cheers
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On March 17 2014 05:57 Grobyc wrote:Hello all, If anyone read and remembers my last couple blog entries, rather recently I quit my job right before going on vacation to Cancun, Mexico. Long story short, I still haven't been able to find a job that would make me happy and I feel like I've got somewhat of a travelers bug after coming back from Mexico. After about a month of consideration and failed job hunting, I've made plans to travel abroad in Europe for an undetermined amount of time. I've got some money saved up that otherwise would have gone towards a down payment on a house (wasn't going to happen as I'm unemployed and can't get a mortgage) that I'm now going to travel with. The plan, in short, is to fly to London, England, as it's by far the cheapest route to Europe for me, do whatever the fuck I want, go wherever the fuck I want, then end up in Germany towards the end of my travels to continue learning German, visit relatives, and hopefully stay a year or two while working. Of course, I have nothing concrete set, so everything after the initial flight to England is open to change. No return flight booked. So I guess the point of this is to just say that I probably won't be active on TL after leaving at the end of next month and ask for tips/advice/recommendations/pointers from anyone who has done anything like this. I'll most likely just be taking a big backpack with me with minimal belongings, taking the train everywhere (or any other method that is cheap and viable), and going wherever for however long I want. At this point I'll be planning to stay in hostels and potentially trying couch surfer (yay?). My vacation to Cancun last month was pretty well the only vacation I've ever been on and first time going anywhere outside of Canada/US. My brother and his fiance spent 3 years living in China teaching English and traveling throughout Asia doing a similar thing, so they've definitely shared a lot of info with me already. But if anyone has anything to share or anything I'll be trying to prepare myself as much as possible before going! Cheers
I'm currently in Florence, Italy. Go there if you have the chance, the city is just great, no words to describe it. However, do not trust street signs, don't ever think Italians give a shit about whatever signs they put on the road, other drivers, their cars or anything a sane person expects when they hear the word "traffic". Besides that - great city, great people, great food, great sights, great everything.
If you go to Germany fuck Cologne and its beer brands. I rather suggest going to Franconia, especially Bamberg. Why? Tons of clubs, dozens of privately owned breweries with special beer brands (e.g. smoked beer), UNESCO World Heritage, somewhat friendly people around (compared to the rest of Germany), lots of options to go hiking/cycling if you enjoy this kind of stuff.
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All the best man, sounds like an adventure 
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As far as the UK is concerned - sadly we have a train network in this country which is difficult to recommend. It consists of several very greedy companies "working together" (I use the term very loosely) that have chopped the country up between them. If you can, I'd recommend using specific bus/coach routes which are cheaper and more convenient. For example, there's a very good and very affordable coach route between London and Oxford (a very nice, small, old city near where I live). I think you'll find train services are superior in other European states.
From what I know the couch surfing opportunities in London are pretty good, you naturally may struggle a bit more with that outside the capital. I don't know Germany well but I love Berlin, the one thing I wasn't so keen on was trying to get the attention of staff in bars! But then, we British aren't known for being good at that kind of thing...
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Buy a nice camera and a blank journal.
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Awesome plan. Italy and Spain were my favorite places imo. I really wanted to go to Germany as well, but time and $$ limitations put the kibosh on that. Prague is supposed to be great too.
Europass or whatever the hell it is called for the rail between countries is good. Just do your homework on it. Also, check flight prices too. Again, personal opinion, but paying extra for a flight beats the hell out of a long overnight trainride crammed in a car with 5 other people.
A nice camera is cool. I def regret bringing one. However, that's pretty much begging to get lifted if you're going solo and staying in hostels.
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Canada7170 Posts
On March 17 2014 05:57 Grobyc wrote:
So I guess the point of this is to just say that I probably won't be active on TL after leaving at the end of next month and ask for tips/advice/recommendations/pointers from anyone who has done anything like this.
You may want to log in here and there and see if people want to meet up.
Personal experience- met up with Empyrean in Shanghai when I was traveling with my friends and met at TLHQ with Hot_Bid/R1CH in NYC. Always fun to see people that you know their personality but haven't met face-to-face.
And don't forget about that guy from TL that got lost in Europe and eventually got back to Canada thanks to TL (user11 or something).
Happy adventuring! And good luck on job search hell when you inevitably start looking again.
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On March 17 2014 06:30 RookUK wrote:
As far as the UK is concerned - sadly we have a train network in this country which is difficult to recommend. It consists of several very greedy companies "working together" (I use the term very loosely) that have chopped the country up between them. If you can, I'd recommend using specific bus/coach routes which are cheaper and more convenient. For example, there's a very good and very affordable coach route between London and Oxford (a very nice, small, old city near where I live). I think you'll find train services are superior in other European states.
From what I know the couch surfing opportunities in London are pretty good, you naturally may struggle a bit more with that outside the capital. I don't know Germany well but I love Berlin, the one thing I wasn't so keen on was trying to get the attention of staff in bars! But then, we British aren't known for being good at that kind of thing...
Ah I see, good to hear about the status of the train network for the UK in advance. Are there any specific websites to recommend for cheap deals on bus tickets?
I've also heard that you need to be pretty direct and show initiative with restaurants/bars in Germany to get service otherwise they leave you alone.
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On March 17 2014 06:53 hp.Shell wrote:
Buy a nice camera and a blank journal.
The journal definitely came to mind. Been wondering if it's worth investing in a new camera as right now all I would be taking pictures/videos with is my Galaxy S III. In some settings it can take great pictures/video, but a proper camera is probably still worth it?
On March 17 2014 07:58 QuanticHawk wrote:
Awesome plan. Italy and Spain were my favorite places imo. I really wanted to go to Germany as well, but time and $$ limitations put the kibosh on that. Prague is supposed to be great too.
Europass or whatever the hell it is called for the rail between countries is good. Just do your homework on it. Also, check flight prices too. Again, personal opinion, but paying extra for a flight beats the hell out of a long overnight trainride crammed in a car with 5 other people.
A nice camera is cool. I def regret bringing one. However, that's pretty much begging to get lifted if you're going solo and staying in hostels.
I've already checked around for flight prices and got a flight from Vancouver to London for $583 CAD which is by far cheaper than any other airline I could find to anywhere else in Europe.
Originally I was planning on maybe leaving Spain out as it seems like a bit of a detour from everywhere else, but I've had a lot of people recommend it now so I'm intrigued.
If I do get a new camera, is just necessary to like sleep with it (or put it in a locker if one's available) to prevent it from being stolen? I've had quite a bit of worries about that.
On March 17 2014 08:29 mikeymoo wrote:Show nested quote +On March 17 2014 05:57 Grobyc wrote:
So I guess the point of this is to just say that I probably won't be active on TL after leaving at the end of next month and ask for tips/advice/recommendations/pointers from anyone who has done anything like this.
You may want to log in here and there and see if people want to meet up. Personal experience- met up with Empyrean in Shanghai when I was traveling with my friends and met at TLHQ with Hot_Bid/R1CH in NYC. Always fun to see people that you know their personality but haven't met face-to-face. And don't forget about that guy from TL that got lost in Europe and eventually got back to Canada thanks to TL (user11 or something). Happy adventuring! And good luck on job search hell when you inevitably start looking again.
Yeah TLHQ is one of the places I'm wanting to check out as I'll be heading through the Netherlands regardless. I'm sure there's a couple other people I wouldn't mind meeting too.
Also, I remember that story 
Thanks all ^^
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Netherlands45349 Posts
Visit TLHQ so I can meet you too!
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That's one of the few stops that I'm going to have pre-planned
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On March 17 2014 12:21 Grobyc wrote:
I've already checked around for flight prices and got a flight from Vancouver to London for $583 CAD which is by far cheaper than any other airline I could find to anywhere else in Europe.
Originally I was planning on maybe leaving Spain out as it seems like a bit of a detour from everywhere else, but I've had a lot of people recommend it now so I'm intrigued.
If I do get a new camera, is just necessary to like sleep with it (or put it in a locker if one's available) to prevent it from being stolen? I've had quite a bit of worries about that.
Some hostels have lockers that you can slap a pad lock on, some don't. So for storage, that would be your issue. Outside of that, it does make you a big mark if you're out by yourself and taking pics. I don't think it is necessarily a bad idea, and I've known people who have done it fine. I also know people who have been pick pocketed or robbed while abroad too. Most likely, you would be fine. To me, it would just be another thing to worry about.
I don't know CAN-Freedom Bills conversion exactly, but that sounds pretty good.
Span has great partying, fantastic food, awesome history and things to see, pretty women nice beaches if you go to the coast. It's a good time. Italy was my fav (I was in Rome and Palermo). Spain was probably my second (I was in Madrid and Pamplona)
London is nice, but it felt way too much like going to any random city in NA. As I mentioned, I really regretted not going to Germany and Prague specifically. I heard lots of awesome things about there.
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Yeah I'm thinking I'll probably take a pad lock around with me for the places that have lockers.
I've always wondered if London would come across as just another big city that you would see in North America. Mainly because of the same language I guess I wouldn't expect to feel as foreign. I'm thinking I'll probably stay at a hostel for 5ish days in London so I have some time to get over the jet lag and plan my next destination and method of travel while leaving myself a few days to check out the city.
As for the UK, I wasn't sure if I wanted to head straight to the mainland (France) after London or circle around the UK checking out the other parts of the state. Any opinions on that?
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Italy12247 Posts
If you visit Milan let me know!
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I've also heard that you need to be pretty direct and show initiative with restaurants/bars in Germany to get service otherwise they leave you alone.
no, any decent restaurant will greet you, get you a card and then come back several times for your orders.
In a lot of bars however they only have people at the actual bar counter thingy, so you will need to go there and get your drinks.
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On March 17 2014 15:51 Grobyc wrote:
Yeah I'm thinking I'll probably take a pad lock around with me for the places that have lockers.
I've always wondered if London would come across as just another big city that you would see in North America. Mainly because of the same language I guess I wouldn't expect to feel as foreign. I'm thinking I'll probably stay at a hostel for 5ish days in London so I have some time to get over the jet lag and plan my next destination and method of travel while leaving myself a few days to check out the city.
As for the UK, I wasn't sure if I wanted to head straight to the mainland (France) after London or circle around the UK checking out the other parts of the state. Any opinions on that?
Yeah I had a padlock for when I did it. Just review hostel reviews thoroughly before you book. I had some places that I trusted. Others, it seemed like you could give the door a good whack and the whole fucking thing would fall off. I think I used hostels.com.
I pretty much planned mine out ahead of time, but if you're gonna do the seat of your pants thing (which is cool btw) I would probably plan out 1-2 destinations first until you get used to booking stuff there.
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Have fun Grobyc! I went there when I was 18 for about a month, and went from Madrid to Grenada, Grenada to Barcelona to Montpellier then to a small town called Angles in France, onto Florence and Rome. I think my favorite city was Grenada. It was a nice break after dealing with jet lag and the hustle and bustle of Madrid, not to mention the Alhambra is there which is amazing.
The city is super calm, and really laid back just don't let any gypsies put herbs in your hand and tell your fortune. They expect cash, and I suspect I was cursed.
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On March 17 2014 06:11 GeckoXp wrote:Show nested quote +On March 17 2014 05:57 Grobyc wrote:Hello all, If anyone read and remembers my last couple blog entries, rather recently I quit my job right before going on vacation to Cancun, Mexico. Long story short, I still haven't been able to find a job that would make me happy and I feel like I've got somewhat of a travelers bug after coming back from Mexico. After about a month of consideration and failed job hunting, I've made plans to travel abroad in Europe for an undetermined amount of time. I've got some money saved up that otherwise would have gone towards a down payment on a house (wasn't going to happen as I'm unemployed and can't get a mortgage) that I'm now going to travel with. The plan, in short, is to fly to London, England, as it's by far the cheapest route to Europe for me, do whatever the fuck I want, go wherever the fuck I want, then end up in Germany towards the end of my travels to continue learning German, visit relatives, and hopefully stay a year or two while working. Of course, I have nothing concrete set, so everything after the initial flight to England is open to change. No return flight booked. So I guess the point of this is to just say that I probably won't be active on TL after leaving at the end of next month and ask for tips/advice/recommendations/pointers from anyone who has done anything like this. I'll most likely just be taking a big backpack with me with minimal belongings, taking the train everywhere (or any other method that is cheap and viable), and going wherever for however long I want. At this point I'll be planning to stay in hostels and potentially trying couch surfer (yay?). My vacation to Cancun last month was pretty well the only vacation I've ever been on and first time going anywhere outside of Canada/US. My brother and his fiance spent 3 years living in China teaching English and traveling throughout Asia doing a similar thing, so they've definitely shared a lot of info with me already. But if anyone has anything to share or anything I'll be trying to prepare myself as much as possible before going! Cheers If you go to Germany fuck Cologne and its beer brands. I rather suggest going to Franconia, especially Bamberg. Why? Tons of clubs, dozens of privately owned breweries with special beer brands (e.g. smoked beer), UNESCO World Heritage, somewhat friendly people around (compared to the rest of Germany), lots of options to go hiking/cycling if you enjoy this kind of stuff.
I've been living in Bamberg for the past year or so. It rocks
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On March 17 2014 17:59 Pandemona wrote:Probably best you don't do anything that costs money in London as it is by far the most expensive place in England. Prices are inflated due to their own world they live in in London. Best bet is if you want to see the sites do that, then get out of it when your done. Staying outside of London in places like Watford and such you will find the hotels and places to sleep about a 1/3 of the cost just because it is not London. Plus London is to busy, seeing the sites you can see on postcards with 1000s of people going by is not all that, come out of London and go laugh at all our stupid accents
One of the only things I want to do in London is see if I can rent a bike for a day and just bike around town a bit and see the place.
Any specific places in England worth seeing outside London that would have cheap hostel rates? Watford worth it? I've got a friend in Bristol that I'm trying to get a hold of to meet up with, so I might be heading there.
On March 17 2014 17:59 Teoita wrote:If you visit Milan let me know!
Will do, even if I'm just passing through
On March 17 2014 19:47 LaNague wrote:Show nested quote +I've also heard that you need to be pretty direct and show initiative with restaurants/bars in Germany to get service otherwise they leave you alone. no, any decent restaurant will greet you, get you a card and then come back several times for your orders. In a lot of bars however they only have people at the actual bar counter thingy, so you will need to go there and get your drinks.
Ahh, back in high school in my German classes it made it sound like you have to call the waitress over for basically any request. From what you said, that sounds more or less like some of the bars here too. I guess I would classify a bar like that and a pub where there's more food orders and more waitress activity.
On March 17 2014 23:46 QuanticHawk wrote:Show nested quote +On March 17 2014 15:51 Grobyc wrote:
Yeah I'm thinking I'll probably take a pad lock around with me for the places that have lockers.
I've always wondered if London would come across as just another big city that you would see in North America. Mainly because of the same language I guess I wouldn't expect to feel as foreign. I'm thinking I'll probably stay at a hostel for 5ish days in London so I have some time to get over the jet lag and plan my next destination and method of travel while leaving myself a few days to check out the city.
As for the UK, I wasn't sure if I wanted to head straight to the mainland (France) after London or circle around the UK checking out the other parts of the state. Any opinions on that? Yeah I had a padlock for when I did it. Just review hostel reviews thoroughly before you book. I had some places that I trusted. Others, it seemed like you could give the door a good whack and the whole fucking thing would fall off. I think I used hostels.com. I pretty much planned mine out ahead of time, but if you're gonna do the seat of your pants thing (which is cool btw) I would probably plan out 1-2 destinations first until you get used to booking stuff there.
Yeah I've had a couple people tell me www.hostelworld.com is a good source and took a quick look there and it looks pretty nifty. Gonna plan the first week-ish then figure it out from there.
On March 18 2014 02:50 ThomasjServo wrote:
Have fun Grobyc! I went there when I was 18 for about a month, and went from Madrid to Grenada, Grenada to Barcelona to Montpellier then to a small town called Angles in France, onto Florence and Rome. I think my favorite city was Grenada. It was a nice break after dealing with jet lag and the hustle and bustle of Madrid, not to mention the Alhambra is there which is amazing.
The city is super calm, and really laid back just don't let any gypsies put herbs in your hand and tell your fortune. They expect cash, and I suspect I was cursed.
Hahaha. Thanks for the info, I don't really know much about Spain culture or geography or history so it's nice to get hear of stuff to check out. Alhambra seems worth checking out, so maybe I'll enter Spain from the north side, head to the coast, then take your route towards Italy
On March 18 2014 03:26 Silentce wrote:Show nested quote +On March 17 2014 06:11 GeckoXp wrote:On March 17 2014 05:57 Grobyc wrote:Hello all, If anyone read and remembers my last couple blog entries, rather recently I quit my job right before going on vacation to Cancun, Mexico. Long story short, I still haven't been able to find a job that would make me happy and I feel like I've got somewhat of a travelers bug after coming back from Mexico. After about a month of consideration and failed job hunting, I've made plans to travel abroad in Europe for an undetermined amount of time. I've got some money saved up that otherwise would have gone towards a down payment on a house (wasn't going to happen as I'm unemployed and can't get a mortgage) that I'm now going to travel with. The plan, in short, is to fly to London, England, as it's by far the cheapest route to Europe for me, do whatever the fuck I want, go wherever the fuck I want, then end up in Germany towards the end of my travels to continue learning German, visit relatives, and hopefully stay a year or two while working. Of course, I have nothing concrete set, so everything after the initial flight to England is open to change. No return flight booked. So I guess the point of this is to just say that I probably won't be active on TL after leaving at the end of next month and ask for tips/advice/recommendations/pointers from anyone who has done anything like this. I'll most likely just be taking a big backpack with me with minimal belongings, taking the train everywhere (or any other method that is cheap and viable), and going wherever for however long I want. At this point I'll be planning to stay in hostels and potentially trying couch surfer (yay?). My vacation to Cancun last month was pretty well the only vacation I've ever been on and first time going anywhere outside of Canada/US. My brother and his fiance spent 3 years living in China teaching English and traveling throughout Asia doing a similar thing, so they've definitely shared a lot of info with me already. But if anyone has anything to share or anything I'll be trying to prepare myself as much as possible before going! Cheers If you go to Germany fuck Cologne and its beer brands. I rather suggest going to Franconia, especially Bamberg. Why? Tons of clubs, dozens of privately owned breweries with special beer brands (e.g. smoked beer), UNESCO World Heritage, somewhat friendly people around (compared to the rest of Germany), lots of options to go hiking/cycling if you enjoy this kind of stuff. I've been living in Bamberg for the past year or so. It rocks
Nice, I'll have to look into Bamberg as well as a couple other cities in Germany especially since I'm hoping to stay in Germany for an extended period of time, so I'd like to pick as fitting of a place as possible. I'm not a huge partyer, but I'll definitely be exploring areas outside my comfort zone during the trip so I'm open to pretty well all suggestions. Any other places to recommend checking out for my extended stay in Germany? I can see myself doing a lot of hiking/cycling while I'm there, so that's definitely something I'm happy to hear.
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EPT
