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Australia3818 Posts
So I'm going to Europe.
I'll be departing from Australia on the 20th May and arriving at Heathrow airport in London on the 21st of May at about 6:25 AM local time, flying directly there. The flight will take approximately 23 hours...as soon as I land I will be staying in the UK + Western Europe for just over 6 months, if all goes to plan.
I'll have a decent amount of money to start me off with, but I plan to find work here and there to further fund me around the place.
My entire family minus the 3 members of my immediate family live over in England + Scotland. So I'll be visiting them and cutting down on my travel costs for a while and hopefully getting a bit of a run around.
I'm also hopefully going to visit Anal_Ripper from TL.net (haha nothing to do with the name) in London.
My basic plan is...stay with my Grandpa in England, he lives really close to my Uncle, do that for a couple of weeks to a month.
Then go and visit some family friends...two girls of roughly my age, who I haven't seen since I was about 3 years old...but have kept in contact with through the internet. After spending some time there I'll move on then I'll catch a bus up to Scotland, visit the biggest side of my family...all of my older cousins. I'll check out clubs and such with them in Scotland. Try to get some employment where I can.
Ugh, my friend was meant to be coming along with me, he's pulled out of it just earlier today.
Anyhow, for the next stage of my journey, I'll go down to England and cross over to France, purchase a Eurail pass and then be able to go to 5 countries that border each other via train. Hoping to go to in total: France, Germany, (maybe Spain), Amsterdam, Poland and perhaps Czechoslovakia.
Well apart from telling you guys shit you probably don't care about.  What I really wanted to get out of this was some information about these various countries if anyone knows something on the subject.
So various things like:
*Cost of living
*Best places to stay on limited budget
*Is work easy to get casually?
*Nightclubs + Bars to visit
*Breweries + Beer to drink. 
*Places to go to meet people who may want to accompany me travelling.
*If any of you want to meet up for an SC game haha.
Or anything else you can think of...
I'm turning 19 on May 17th, so 3 days before a leave...and about 9-10 days from now. So that's my age and travel situation.
Thanks in advance.
- Graeme (Smurg y0)
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You have to visit Prague in Czechoslovakia, nice red light districts there, also very good party and cheap. Amsterdam is nice as well.
Sorry, not much time
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Don't go to Slovakia.
You'll end up being chopped up by some psycho who wants to see what your insides look like. 
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Prague is surely a great place to visit. It's nice and beautiful city, cheap housing/food/beer etc. I would totally recommend going there.
As for german cities, I think Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne are the biggest/best, but expensive as well. Especially Berlin has some nice sights, Munich is more popular for it's beer.
Oh and I'd recommend going to a scandinavian country such as sweden, you'd miss an important (and also beautiful) part of Europe if you don't.
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Australia3818 Posts
On May 08 2006 07:57 RowdierBob wrote:Don't go to Slovakia. You'll end up being chopped up by some psycho who wants to see what your insides look like.
Haha, I was actually considering adding on the end: "No Hostel references please."
And yeah polarwolf, I planned on going to Prague... Amsterdam too, I'm sure my visit would be purely for 'pleasure'.
^_^
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not going to sweden? D=
sweden is good for camping beside lakes and stuff, catching fish and BBQ's, oh well. swedish hot dogs are teh sht! with crisp fried onions and a big dallop of mustard.
anyway Amsterdam is -the- nightclub city. hope u have fun =D
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Australia3818 Posts
On May 08 2006 08:02 Yizuo wrote:
Prague is surely a great place to visit. It's nice and beautiful city, cheap housing/food/beer etc. I would totally recommend going there.
As for german cities, I think Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne are the biggest/best, but expensive as well. Especially Berlin has some nice sights, Munich is more popular for it's beer.
Oh and I'd recommend going to a scandinavian country such as sweden, you'd miss an important (and also beautiful) part of Europe if you don't.
Thanks man, yeah...problem with Sweden is it'd be another expense, but I'm sure I can check out some travel options when I'm actually overseas. I'll have to visit Eri, ToKoreaWithLove in Norway too. Haha and don't forget FA in Sweden. :D
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Norway is fucking expensive. It will cost you half your money. I'm serious.
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Boss' daughter went to london for a few months, she said she got a job bartending instantly, but she is pretty hot so.. I suppose if you wear a wig and some lipstick? But it depends if you have British or Australian citizenship, because they are cracking down on Australian back packers a bit, I don't know the details, but it seems to be harder to find work then it use to be.
Anyway, the flight you are taking is going to take the life out of you, just hope for singapore/british airlines or qantas, they all have the new Q systems, so you have a TV in your seat and you can watch movies half the way and sleep for the other half. But I suggest you just drink your self retarded.
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In Amsterdam you can get stoned LEGALLY, but you probably already know that. If you don't do too often, it's ok.
To all kiddies < 18 out there: DON'T DO DRUGS!!!!!!
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And you have to watch the movie "Eurotrip" before!
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Australia3818 Posts
On May 08 2006 08:08 doedrikthe2nd wrote:
Norway is fucking expensive. It will cost you half your money. I'm serious.
Yeah, I've heard that...that's why it's a bit of a longshot. Unless I win the lottery when I'm over there too eh?
On May 08 2006 08:09 Energies wrote:
Boss' daughter went to london for a few months, she said she got a job bartending instantly, but she is pretty hot so.. I suppose if you wear a wig and some lipstick? But it depends if you have British or Australian citizenship, because they are cracking down on Australian back packers a bit, I don't know the details, but it seems to be harder to find work then it use to be.
Anyway, the flight you are taking is going to take the life out of you, just hope for singapore/british airlines or qantas, they all have the new Q systems, so you have a TV in your seat and you can watch movies half the way and sleep for the other half. But I suggest you just drink your self retarded.
Ah, I forgot to mention I am a British and Australian citizen, so I could live there if I wanted and carry out life like any other Brit...just the fact I don't have any permanent lodgings and a steady job.
Thanks for that, I might need an RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) or equivalent for the bartending thing though, I'll see how it goes eh?
I'm going on British Airways, should be pretty sexy...and MAN do I hope I get to sit next to a hot girl on the way there and not some old guy with hair in his ears. 
*crosses fingers*
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I was lucky in my flight, I sat next to this really hot chick, so I was like "Score" but there were lots of seats opens when the plane too off and she moved to the middle section removed all arm rests and layed down, so I had both seats to my self, I was like "SCORE... AGAIN!" yeah.. I rather be comfortable than go through a 30 year relationship with someone over the period of a day.
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in germany every bigger town (100.000)citz. has some nice clubs and bars, just ask some locals.
for beer and other booze just go to a bigger pub and try, germany has one of the best beers in world and like 32472734 sorts of it. where in germany are you planning to stay and where in netherlands ?
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Australia3818 Posts
On May 08 2006 08:20 HiTexas wrote:
in germany every bigger town (100.000)citz. has some nice clubs and bars, just ask some locals.
for beer and other booze just go to a bigger pub and try, germany has one of the best beers in world and like 32472734 sorts of it. where in germany are you planning to stay and where in netherlands ?
Well Germany is more of a certainty than the Netherlands, probably Berlin, Munich & Hamburg would be my choices in that order of preference.
Ahh, I am in need of some good fresh foreign beer.
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Norway28796 Posts
some advantages with benelux and scandinavian countries is they speak much much better english than other places
norway is fucking expensive though, sweden and denmark are also fucking expensive by european standards, but norway is fucking expensive by swedish and danish standards. it also has the most beautiful nature in europe though, but I dunno if you care about that.
if you go to germany or prague or poland or italy or spain or france you risk running into people who can't speak any english although in most of those places it won't be like a real problem, I mean you'll always be able to buy food and beer and that kind of stuff, but well, you probably won't find many people to indulge in meaningful conversations with there, at least you won't randomly run into them.
people are really friendly towards people who are on vacation though, in berlin I got my all my beer paid for by some 50 year old guy after talking to him for 30 minutes, and he left me with the parting words "you are ze coolest guy in berlin"
which was awesome
also possible to stay at hostels for like €10 every night in berlin, although I avoided sleeping while I was there and just rested near some canal next to the zoo until my train left
and in amsterdam I got a free chillum by some guy in a souvernir shop, which was also awesome. actually just talk to people and everything works out great.
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I would put Munich and Hamburg above Berlin myself.
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come to dublin man you will have a really good time trust me
especially if ur gonna be in england anyway,gotta come across.it would be a crime not to.
and stop in amsterdam,i really liked the place when i was there,cept for all the bloody cyclists.
edit:your gonna have an amazing time,lucky
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If you're coming to Edinburgh I'd be happy to meet up and drink/smoke/play some bw or w/e
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EPT
