A friend of mine is getting married next year and before he does he wants to take a vacation to Europe. Cool, I say. Sounds like fun. It looks like it will be me, my friend, and his brother. We’re all good friends and hang out constantly so it should be a great time.
Due to our deficieny in linguistic skills (one guy knows some German & I barely remember some Spanish) we want to stick to English-speaking nations. Right now we’re thinking of the UK with stops in Ireland, Scotland, & England. We haven’t any particular thing to do or places to see. We just want to go and experience some historic, foreign culture first-hand.
Does anyone have suggestions about places to go, things to do, warnings about travel, travel packages, whatever?
FYI: we’re hoping to go in February. our age range is late 20s.
Hi Frank. There have been several threads along these lines, so these might get you started until other people chip in with their most topical suggestions…
If you’re going in February, you may prefer to leave out suggestions for beach destinations because it’ll be cold everywhere. If you like skiing or snowboarding, you’ll be spoilt for choice.
My strongest advise is spend more than a week. If all you can do is a week, stay in one city and maybe take a couple of side trips. If your goal is to experience another culture first hand, you are going to need enough time to really get a little deeper than the surface, and a week isn’t long enough to do that in anymore than a city or so.
Four people is a lot of people. Consider taking a plane home a few days after your friends leave so you have some time to do your own thing. And don’t be afraid to split up the group. Coming to a consensus on what to do for the day will be pretty hard, and you’ll have more fun and risk less damage to your friendships if you occassionally set up a place to meet for dinner and then spend the day wandering around alone or in pairs doing the things that the other people in your group arn’t too excited about.
I would reconsider staying out of non-English speaking countries. I think you’d have a great time in Paris or Italy (and it is possible to do a pretty good whirlwind tour of Italy in a week- plus it’d be a lot warmer than London in February). Don’t worry about language. I spent a month in Europe speaking little more than 90% forgotten high school French. As long as you learn the words for “thank you”, “please”, “two tickets, please” and “excuse me” you’ll be fine. Europe is a multi-lingual society and they are used to people that do not speak the language of their particular country. As long as you are polite and make a very minimal attempt to say a few words in their language, they will be perfectly nice to you and will most likely switch over to English. I never once had someone be rude to me for not speaking their language. They were just glad I was there spending my money. The key is just to be a little respectful of their culture.
Honestly. Figureing out currency exchanges will be more of a challenge than not speaking the language.
I cannot reccomend Rick Steve’s books enough. He has an entire book on how (not where) to travel in Europe. I found it infinately useful and following his advice made my trip better a thousand fold.
I agree with most of what evensven said, especially the part about staying more than a week. (If you only have a week, consider ditching the multiple stops – London with a few side trips would be plenty for that amount of time.)
The first thing you should do is get to the library. In addition to the Rick Steves book, it’s a good idea to look at several general travel guides (Rough Guide, Let’s Go, Lonely Planet, etc.) so you can get a feel for which is best for you, as they’ve all got different strengths and weaknesses. You might also want to check out a nice glossy coffee-table book with lots of photos (so you can figure out what you want to see) and, of course, a copy of The Good Beer Guide, which is required reading for anybody planning a trip to the UK. The boards at www.eurotrip.com are another great resource, although you’ll get better responses there if you keep the questions very focused and specific. It’s pretty hard to answer a question along the lines of “where should we go and what should we do,” so get together with the guys and figure out what your interests are.
Unless you’re way out in the countryside, it’s not hard to find someone who speaks enough English to help out. I’ve always been able to communicate my needs somehow, and it adds to the adventure. As stated above, learn a few words. Please and Thank You go a long way, and even saying “Do you speak English” in their language is something people appreciate.
Also keep in mind there are places like Amsterdam (fun place for a bachelor party, you should consider it) where practically everyone speaks English. I’ve been to Sweden several times and never came across a non-english speaker.
I agree with the others - live dangerously. Forget the English speaking countries - just get on a train and go.
Speak English s l o w l y and avoid slang and you should be understood almost everywhere. Do try to learn please and thank you in every country.
Sorry it is only a week (and you will regret it as well) but if that is all you can do, better that then not going.
Have a great time…and I think I am safe in assuming you certainly will.
Ditto with the others; if you only have a week, try and spend more time in fewer places and really get the feel of them, instead of “8 countries in 7 days”.
since it’s just a week, i’d say english speaking is a good bet.
see 2 or more of galway, dublin, london, edinburgh.
you can’t go wrong.
if you fancy a different sort of cultural experience, you could include a trip to belfast while you’re in ireland.
it’s very safe.
really.
if this is a real “stag” sort of holiday, a slight detour to amsterdam might be a good idea, but i’ll leave that to your discretion.
marijauna and prostitutes might not be your thing.