European Tours Thread 3

[d_zialcita]

thank you little_princess! i'll claim at greece airport then.

bagaholic_chewy, thank you!

i am trying to book now... can you help me?

there are a lot of train stations in pisa and rome..
which ones should i choose?

from the leaning tower of pisa... which station is nearest kaya?
also which train station in rome is nearest to Via Sinuessa 19?

hope you reply!

thanks!

[bagaholic_chewy]

^ sis, you can take the train from Pisa Centrale, that's the major stop of intercity trains and just about 15-20mins leisurely walk from the leaning tower area.

I did a quick check sa google transit, it seems the nearest stop to your hostel in Via Sinuessa would be Roma Tuscolana station, which is along the way for the train from Pisa.

Edit: di ko lang sure if all trains from Pisa would stop at Tuscolana station in Rome.

Addl edit: i found detailed transpo directions for the address you gave in hostelworld, just in case the train from Pisa that you plan to take will not stop at Roma Tuscolana.. Ito yung nandun: (quoted from hostelworld)
 
"Take the bus 360 from Termini station to Piazza Zama and get off the square in front of Tuscolo square and walk for 200 meters (The 4th street on the right is V. Sinuessa) or stay on the bus and get off at the penultimate stop, cross V. Acaia, turn right, after 50 meters on the left there is V. Sinuessa.

Option 2: Take the Metro A direction Anagnina, get off at San Giovanni station, follow Via Magna Grecia, straight up to Tuscolo Square (600 m on your left) on your right you will cross Via Gallia, after Via E. Recina, than Via Ercolano and Via Sinuessa is the fourth street on you right."

[d_zialcita]

thank you bagaholic_chewy!

i already tried booking last night, but nagdown the site.. it was just 38 euros for 2, 2nd class...
but today 58 euros na!! so i booked na, scary, baka tumaas pa lalo.

paid already (received a text from citibank..), but no email from them pa, when will i receive the tickets kaya?

thank you again!!

complete na! except the paris apartment/hotel.


sorry for the text speak. edited it!
thanks!!

[bagaholic_chewy]

^ aww, sayang din yun ah.. Di ko maalala if nageemail sila agad e, pero sure na meron. Or login to your account in trenitalia, pwede rin i-print from there yung e-ticket.

[d_zialcita]

i didnt make an account.
i just paid, and put my details..

till now no email. and i can't find an email address to ask for help. :s


help!

[bagaholic_chewy]

^ wait mo lang, sis.. I booked more than 5 train trips online at trenitalia site and di naman kami nagka-problem.. Baka nadelay lang ang email..

[d_zialcita]

^
thank you dear!
i called the call center line.
and they told me that they did charge me the 58 euros, but it is just floating and they will return it to me in 3 days.
there are issues in the site, so i just booked thru the phone.
36 euros!

well, we were on the phone for a long time, so i guess with the international call charges, it's would almost be the same as 58 euros haha.

thank you thank you!

paris apartment nalang!

any suggestions?

[bagaholic_chewy]

^ oh, mas mura pa over the phone! Good for you! Pero yeah, added cost nga lang ang overseas call, hehe.. You reserved your seats na din?

Re Paris, wala ako ma-suggest na apartment e. we stayed before sa Hotel Au Pacific sa may Dupleix Metro station (on the other end of the street, me another line, Emile Zola station naman). Small rooms, we liked the location kasi me mga boulangerie, cafes and convenience store sa neighborhood, and walkable na din to/from Eiffel (medyo long walk, but keri kasi busog din kami from dinner nun, hehe). Nabaitan din kami sa staff kasi pumayag sila iwan namin 2 maletas when we went to Spain for 6 days. Bale we stayed there 6+3 nights yata yun.

[summer_princess]

Sisses question on tax exempt refund. How long till they post refund on CCs? I should've opted for cash refund nalang sana.

---
Our 21day trip is successful! Except for Italy, we weren't able to achieve our iti. I should probably allot 7days minimum if I want to include Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice. We only stayed 4days Lang kase in Italy. Being a first time Euro traveller, I am still on a high that Europe is finally off my bucket list. Now I can say quota na muna ako sa travel. At least for the first half of the year

For first Timers in Europe, you cannot really include everything in one go. We went to Paris for 4 days and those are just enough to tour the major spot (not even Versailles for us!) next time that's when I plan to enter each musee/play/shows that I like. Yung first time talga more on picturan talga yan. The louvre museum would take you at least 3 days to finish it. For me i read up and absorb details kase so I don't wanna enter if I will just pass by and rush. So sana ill have next time on Paris for museum/play visit alone.

Get an unlimited pass, carnet is sayang if you will be out the whole day because it only has 1hr free transfer.

Buy sandwiches in groceries (monoprix) if you want cheaper meals. For us we only dine on restos once only, 2 meals Lang for us solved na:)

For coffeeholics,Some monoprix has illy vendo machine for just €1! Addict ako dito sobra! Cappuccinos in Paris could be higher around €3-4?

Italy is definitely a haven for coffeeholics! Any coffee shops could serve a good coffee for just €1! Why does good coffee here in Manila had to be expensive??? Please try CASTRONI in Rome. The best coffee I've tasted in my entire life. Promise!!

The least fave part of our trip is our Barcelona. Not much to see. Sagrada familia, La Boqueria, Plaza Catalunya, hospital San pau. Raybans are cheaper here. Got our wayfarers for just €80 not incl tax ref pa yan ha.

We are so lucky to have sponsors all throughout. We went to Cannes, my tita's place is right outside the shops. Cannes is so small that you can finish touring in 1 day!
We spent 5 days in St Tropez! The place is lovely and home to millionaire jetsetters raw HAHAHAH. But not much to see on winter. The quaint lil town of st tropez will mesmerize you but I don't really reco if you don't have contact as there's not much to see plus hotels can be VERY EXPENSIVE! 

We stayed on a private villa being taken care by a Tita. I was told that this villa is being used on summer for houseparties. Paris Hilton has photos partying in the same place gosh! we are lucky indeed!

[bagaholic_chewy]

Our style naman ni hubby sa pagtravel in Europe is to focus on two countries per trip. Ayoko kasi nasasayang ang time sa travel, tapos feeling ko pa nakakapagod ang madaming byahe with bagahe. We prefer na medyo ma-absorb yung vibes ng lugar. And since di kami nagmamadali, we have time na tumambay-tambay sa park, take leisurely walks, etc.

On our first trip, we travelled for 17days -- 9nights in France (paris), 2nights sa Trenhotel (during the Paris-Madrid and Barcelona-Paris train travels), and 5nights in Spain (madrid & barcelona).
On our second trip, we travelled for 3weeks -- 2weeks in Italy (we went to 9 or 10 cities/towns) and 6days in Czech Republic (Prague and Cesky Krumlov). 

We pick one main country na gusto namin, then choose another country for sidetrip na medyo convenient puntahan from our main destination.

@ sis summer_princess
Kami naman, we loved Barcelona kasi chillax lang ang vibe. We went during summer. Masarap magshopping, tumambay sa al fresco cafes, tapos we spent some time din sa beach (na maraming naka-topless, i felt so manang in my plunging tankini, hehe). We enjoyed Barcelona more than Madrid.

Pangarap ko mapuntahan St. Tropez, Cannes, Nice and pati Monaco din. Target ko sa next trip, pang-sidetrip. Medyo mahal nga lang sa area na yan, so depende pa din sa budget. And kung kelan ang next trip, ewan lang din. Ipon muna.. Hehe..   

[little_princess]

^ those are nice places! include mo na din malta, it's not on the top tourist destination for asians but it is for europeans.

re tax refund, it takes time.. mga 6 weeks up ata. my tax refund from malta wala pa din and they only have one option - mail the cheque to you so i am a little skeptical if i'm getting it pa ba because of how our postal system works here. though my parents have gotten their refunds back sa CC nila.

for paris, is it better to stay in the city center (say, near champs elysee or eiffel tower) or somewhere mas malayo but near a metro station?

[mama squeak!]

Sisses question on tax exempt refund. How long till they post refund on CCs? I should've opted for cash refund nalang sana.

Depends on the detaxe agency processing your refund, you can get it from one to two months time. My recent Sep/Oct purchases, I got the refund in December. For me more convenient yung refund thru credit card specially if mahaba yung pila sa counter for cash refund. Okay ang cash refund if you have time otherwise go talaga for credit card. Mas malaki pa ng konti yung mare-refund sa yo.

For first Timers in Europe, you cannot really include everything in one go.

That is what I keep advising ladies here in GT. You will not enjoy your Euro trip if ang style is picture-picture lang. Unless that is how you prefer to travel.

It is so tempting to cram all the places you want to see in one trip since most of you are thinking, sayang naman nandun na ako or mahal pamasahe kaya lubusin na. Well, for me mas sayang pamasahe if you were not able to fully enjoy and experience what each and every city/town has to offer. For me travelling is all about discovery, a new way of looking at things.

Get an unlimited pass, carnet is sayang if you will be out the whole day because it only has 1hr free transfer.

I think you got confused here. I think you meant a "ticket". A "carnet" has 10 tickets. A ticket is only good for an hour of travel including transfers. A carnet (of 10 tickets) is good for short stays of less than 3 days since you won't be able to use up all the tickets. An advantage to the carnet is you can share the tickets with your companions unlike the pass.

The unlimited pass or Paris Visite pass is preferred for stays of more than 3 days. You don't have to worry looking for loose change to pay for the fare if you have the pass. One disadvantage lang with this and it happened on separate trips, the pass can be easily demagnetized. So very important talaga na once you start using it, fill up the start and end dates. In case ma-demagnetize, you can always exchange it for a new one.

Our style naman ni hubby sa pagtravel in Europe is to focus on two countries per trip. Ayoko kasi nasasayang ang time sa travel, tapos feeling ko pa nakakapagod ang madaming byahe with bagahe. We prefer na medyo ma-absorb yung vibes ng lugar. And since di kami nagmamadali, we have time na tumambay-tambay sa park, take leisurely walks, etc.

   

We're the same! Since hubby gets only three weeks off in a year we carefully plan our trip. Two to three countries per trip so no time is wasted travelling from one place to another and not too tiring packing and unpacking stuff. This recent trip of ours we were able to do 3 countries Netherlands (Amsterdam 4 days), Czech Republic (Prague 5 days) and France (Alsace 6 days and Paris 3 days). And it was DIY all the way!

For us, mas enjoyable if you hold your own time. Although I make sure we have an IT we can follow, we don't hesitate to change it. In case we missed something, we take a note of it and include it in our next trip. Now, I'm looking at Tuscany and the Loire Valley for our next trip. This was originally our plan last year but had to change it. The beauty of DIY!

 

[bagaholic_chewy]

^ kami din, DIY all the way. And I also make a general itinerary. I group together the sights to visit within the same or nearby areas, then i make a "route" for the day. Para mas efficient, and mas tipid sa transpo costs.

Re:Paris, bought din carnet (of 10 tickets). On average, we used up two tickets lang per person in a day - transpo from the hotel in the morning, then transpo back to hotel in the evening - since as i mentioned, we group nearby places together para cadillac-ad na lang from one sight to another during the day. Me times, one ticket per person lang nagamit in a day, like those times when we walked pauwi ng hotel. At most, i think we used up only three tickets per person in one day. Kaya for our travel style, not sulit ang unlimited transpo pass in Paris.

We got lang the 3-day Paris museum pass, kasi we went during summer (July) and generally super-haba pila papasok sa mga museums. Sulit to for us kahit medyo mahal, kasi sa Louvre pa lang, we were able to skip the long lines since there's a different entrance for passholders.

[summer_princess]

We were travelling on a group of 6 people kase and we share the carnet. Kaya mabilis naubos then useless na in one hour. I think if you only need few transfers then carnet is good for you. Probably next time when I intended to linger carnet is more viable.

being a first timers our DIY trip is successful! I didn't opened our iti during our travel but when I scanned it later, surprised that all itis were achieved!

SUper thankful to be part of this forum! Lots of learnings & tips!

[foxymom]

just got back from our trip and all i can say is : I LOVE PRAGUE

we were there after new year and the christmas market was still up. the place is magical! we stayed for 4 days and was able to tour the city leisurely. old world beauty at its finest (at least for me)

i have the same travelling style as mama squeak and bagaholic chewy: hubby and i just focus on 3 major cities max. for this trip we had 18 days and we spent 8 days in london, 4 days prague, 6 days barcelona.

i liked london but did not love it. it was too busy for me. was there right after christmas, at the height of sale season (boxing day was a little crazy). had a great time shopping though, hehe. went on a day tour to windsor, stonehenge, and bath. and also to the harry potter actual studio. sulit both! highlight of our trip was the dinner cruise we took during new year's eve. we were along the river thames, had dinner, drinks, the boat cruised the thames while waiting for the new year. when it was about to strike 12, our boat took a prime spot in between the london eye and big ben. the fireworks was right in front of us. one for the books!

for barcelona, after touring the major sights in the first few days, we concentrated on shopping. zara and mango was really cheap. plus side was zara already started their sale! regular priced items was almost 1.5k cheaper in barcelona. highlight of our barcelona trip though was watching the fc barca team play! i saw messi! kahit sobrang lamig nun, tiniis namin mapanood lang! hahahaha

now i'm researching where is a good new year's eve location we will go to this year (cross fingers!) we can't do sydney since we already went there for our honeymoon. i'm hoping one of the eastern european countries will have a good NYE fireworks, otherwise i plan to go to iceland and see the aurora borealis

[riksy07]

@foxymom

Sis, which tour company did you go with for your tour to Windsor, Stonehenge, and Bath?

[foxymom]

^risky07, we went with premium tours. i think it was 88 pounds per person and inclusive of a fish & chips breakfast our guide simon was good!

[mama squeak!]

Ladies, if anyone is planning to go to Europe (or US) twice this year, Cathay Pacific has an ongoing promo on their Premium Economy and Business Class fares. They call it bundle sales, the more trips you make, the cheaper the fares come out.

For example, first trip to Paris and next trip to London, your Premium economy fares come out to USD2020 per trip as opposed to USD2600 per trip. If 3 trips, it's USD1900 and 4 it's USD1800. Good deal na! Just check their website if you're interested.

I am sooo tempted! Wouldn't it be great to have a GT Euro trip? Sosyal!   

[sky_butterfly17]

Hi everyone,

We will be having our company trip in Paris this coming March and one of the requirement of the French Embassy is personal appearance.

I just want to ask you, what to expect during the personal appearance and what are the usual questions.

Thanks you...

[foxymom]

Ladies, if anyone is planning to go to Europe (or US) twice this year, Cathay Pacific has an ongoing promo on their Premium Economy and Business Class fares. They call it bundle sales, the more trips you make, the cheaper the fares come out.

For example, first trip to Paris and next trip to London, your Premium economy fares come out to USD2020 per trip as opposed to USD2600 per trip. If 3 trips, it's USD1900 and 4 it's USD1800. Good deal na! Just check their website if you're interested.

I am sooo tempted! Wouldn't it be great to have a GT Euro trip? Sosyal!   

uy okay ito mama squeak! pwede kaya i-combine US-Europe? we are planning to go to the US in april, then europe in december. travel angel ka talaga!!