I may be stuck in Europe this weekend, which is a four day weekend here and probably in most places. If so, then I will likely book a “blind” flight on German Wings. Here are all of the potential locations; I can eliminate some, but want to keep an element of randomness. Pick all that you think would be interesting for a 3-4 day weekend trip.
Note that I have previously been to Barcelona, Istanbul, London, Madrid from the list above. The flight will cost about 20 Euro each way plus a 5 Euro fee for each location I eliminate, up to a limit (I think it’s five).
Also, if you have strong feelings on why I should NOT visit one of the cities on the poll list, please let me know.
I can tell you to stay away from Zagreb, we got ripped off there. We had a hotel reservation, and when we showed up we could not find the hotel, nor the street it was supposed to be on. We asked at the local information booth in the bus station and they didn’t know where it was either.
Belgrade on the other hand was a great place. The people were nice, it was cheap, in 2004, and they had good beer. There were also still bombed out buildings which was interesting.
I’ve been to some of t he places and liked them all, but I chose Lisbon. It’s a nice place with friendly people who neither rip off tourists nor lick their behinds (that’s my impression anyway).
I voted for London and Istanbul because I love both of them and there’s loads of stuff to do. The weather’s liable to be crappy in Hamburg this time of year and, while it’s a beautiful city, there’s not all that much to do there.
I selected several cities, but my first choice, from the cities on the list, is Budapest. It’s a beautiful, fascinating city that is still a little unknown for most Americans.
So, you don’t get to pick where you want to go, you just get to pay extra to eliminate some of the possibilities, right? Sound like a good deal. I’ve only been to the western European options, and would recomend any of them.
I’ve listed every city available (16, I think). Then you pick a subset like “Cultural”, “Party”, “Western Metropolis”, etc. This pares it down to about 10 options. From their I can eliminate about another 5 at 5 Euro each. After that it’s “dumb luck” or, more likely, whichever flight they have the most available seats on. I like the element of chance aspect - it will make it more exciting - as long as I don’t end up someplace I really don’t want to go to or have anything to do there. Most of them sound okay to me, some better than others. It would be nice to go to a country I’ve never been to even if the city might be new, for example I’ve been to Italy but not Rome. But the chaos may send me someplace I’ve already been depending on how I weed these out. If so I’ll make sure it’s a place I don’t mind repeating, like Istanbul or Barcelona, which I’ve only previously visited for work reasons.
I’ve been to all of those, apart from Belgrade and Istanbul. I voted for Vienna. It’s lovely in the spring, which is currently springing (as I hear from friends who are there, the bastards).
I may have let the clock wind down to far, when I tried to actually book it didn’t work anymore.
I am now looking at trying to find a cheap flight to Istanbul to visit my friend, or alternatively taking the train or driving to either Czech Republic, Austria, or both. I’m finding some nice affordable hotels in Pilzen and Prague is not much farther. Only downside is it looks like rain for Sunday/Monday.
Still might get a chance to try this later, hopefully. Do want to escape Germany, will check the cheap last minute flight kiosks as the airport this evening.
I will suggest that if you see a trip to Barcelona, make sure *which *Barcelona it is. A friend and I went to Germany back in the 90s, and he stayed for an extra 2 weeks with a Eurorail pass. He got on a train to Barcelona, went to sleep, and the next morning woke up in Barcelona, Sicily. (Yeah - they have/had trains that load onto ferries.)
