Frankfurt’s a palace compared to the airport in Cairo.
Come to think of it, the airport in Columbia, SC, is a palace compared to the airport in Cairo. Someone there clearly decided that airplane = bus with wings and designed the airport accordingly.
In that case, don’t forget Indira Ghandi airport. Though I don’t have too many clear memories of it.
I like the Albany airport. No one ever goes there, and we alwaysget parking.
I’ve been to paradise but I’ve never been to me.
Oh, Charlene, you’ve taught us all so much…
Also, never been to Europe, but I did promise auntie em we could invade Italy in the next few years. Afterward, I really want to go to Wales.
I’m about a month shy of 31 years old and I only just experienced a visit to Europe four months ago (as of yesterday). I visited England and France for 10 days. For several reasons, I count my decision to take this trip as among the best decisions I’ve ever made, period. It was one of the best, most fun experiences of my entire life and I was struck that, aside from the financial aspect of it, it was actually somewhat easy to go there. I always thought of it as some sort of huge ordeal, but it turned out not to be as hard as I would have expected.
For those of you with the money, I highly recommend just taking the plunge. I decided at the beginning of this year that if I continued to wait until I felt I had both the money and the time, I’d never do it. So I just did it and I’ve never regretted it for a second.
Not only that, but our native species of bluebell is being crowded out by the invasive Spanish variety. It’s the red/grey squirrel scenario all over again.
The only place in Europe that I’ve been is Iceland, which is not exactly close to the mainland, and I didn’t do a lot of the touristy things beyond the first summerlong trip. If I could afford it, I’d love to take a long vacation and traipse across mainland Europe and take in all the sights and history and food. I’d definitely want to see the UK, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greece and Finland. That’s going to take a lot of money, and it doesn’t include the other areas of the world I’d like to visit.
I have time still, but I want to go to England and Ireland and Germany. Maybe France. More than Europe, I want to go to Japan.
The truly unfair part? My parents have gone to Italy TWICE, and didn’t take me. In fact, the second time my mom made me work and tear down one of her craft shows in the pouring rain (well, okay it was inside, but it was pouring rain when I was tearing down. It was HORRIBLE. I was the last one out.)
I’ve never even left the country, unless you count in-utero. Which I don’t. I couldn’t see anything.
A couple of comments.
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Tahiti. Why?? It’s dirty, overdeveloped, ruinously expensive and full of French people. Sure, the name is exotic, but I guarantee you will be disappointed. There are so many more beautiful Pacific Islands. Go to the Cook Islands instead.
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The naked city in France. Huh? What’s that?
The rest of your choices I fully concur with 
I’ve only visited England x 2, Scotland x 4, Ireland (live here), France x 1, Germany x 3, Italy x 1, Spain x 1, Malta x 1, Canada x 1, United States x 6.
I’m in Berlin now, but this is only my second time here (I am staying for 2 months this time, though.) The first time, I went to Potsdam for 10 days. I spent one of those days on a short trip to Berlin, to see the Museum Haus Am Checkpoint Charlie, which I highly recommend.
But I haven’t been anywhere in Europe other than the greater Berlin area. I’d like to go to other places, too. If I get to live here for a bit, I’ll make sure that happens.
Ditto! (How many people can say they live in a country once ruled by the English? Well over 1.5 billion anyway. Must admit India got it worse and a lot more recently than we did of course.)
Not really. She may have been undressed by kings and moved like Harlow, but the ditzy whore thinks Greece is an “Isle” (singular).
That’s OK. Most of the time anyway I will admit that the English did a ton of good stuff for us as well. I think some of it we would have come to on our own…but Indians are laid-back people, generally, so it might have taken longer.
Besides, India is progressing by leaps and bounds.
As evidenced whenever I call a “help desk”. Off-topic, but I’ve wondered if the Indian men and women resent having to say “Hello this is Mike” (or Bob or Joe or Betty) when I can be pretty sure “no it isn’t”. (I assume the logic ias that “this is Rajagatopol” is considered too offputting to some Americans, but if I’m just trying to figure out why my modem’s out I don’t really care if they’re Mike, Muhammad, or Countess Bathory.)
Hee.
Obviously it depends on the person, but generally, lots of Indians have “American” names. My dad’s name is Inder, he went by Andy most of his life. Mom? Went from “Kamla” to “Kam”.
Some of them wish they could just take their name’s shortening. I mean “Rajagatopol” can be shortened to Raj. But there are so many people out there that don’t even accept my name, which is two syllables and very easy, so I guess people just don’t like furriners.
I think the way to assure good relations and true love between the Americans and the Indian people will be for Sendhil Ramamurthy to do nude scenes. As a lifetime devotee of good international relations, I will gladly do all in my power for this to come about.
Uh…I’m in. Damn. And I rarely say that about Indian guys.
Me too (to both those statements).
Wanna be knocked out? Try roofies! [joking] The long flights are much easier than US domestic ones. They feed you and you’re on the plane long enough that you have time to relax and sleep. And once you’re over the water, turbulence typically subsidies dramatically. If you can afford it, try flying Air France or another non-US airline. Usually the service is better than Delta, American, and the others. Once you’re here you can take trains almost everywhere. If you time them right, you can take overnight trains and eliminate some of the hotel room costs.
Please make the trip. You probably won’t regret it!
I just got back from my first visit there about 2 weeks ago. Even though the trip was pretty whirlwind (I was in Italy and Greece for a total of 11 days), it was unforgettable. Heading there with a bunch of friends from school and a girlfriend across the hall removed any semblance of uncertainty or homesickness.
Like **Shagnasty** said, the vast majority of the people you'll come across in Europe already know English. But try to learn as much of the language as you can before going, it's well worth it! In Athens, I got so many compliments for just attempting to greet people in Greek (I knew maybe 15 words, tops).