European Tours Thread 3

[mrs research]

It gives me some relief that European high speed train toilets fare better than what I have pictured... well atleast better compared to regional trains. I was pondering on taking regional trains bec they have more scenic routes, then again..

Now for the smell test, can anyone please confirm? Are they tolerable like how airplane toilets are?

Pictures of train toilets http://toilet-guru.com/train.php

[foxymom]

^i've taken the fast train within Italy and the toilets in the first class were okay. clean and big enough. but i expected them to be good because we were in the fast train and stayed in the first class compartment. syempre dapat lang maganda-ganda

[little_princess]

is 1800euros for 2 pax enough na for a 2.5 week honeymoon? this will be just for the food, land transpo and attractions. we're going to malta this november. we do have cards so can use that anytime, just don't want to bring too much or too little.

[summer_princess]

Enough na ba ang 1k euro per person. Airfare & hotel is excluded (prepaid already) shopping money is excluded too. 1k for trains, land arrangement, meals, museum passes. Were doing Paris, Spain & Italy for 23days.

[melvel]

Enough na ba ang 1k euro per person. Airfare & hotel is excluded (prepaid already) shopping money is excluded too. 1k for trains, land arrangement, meals, museum passes. Were doing Paris, Spain & Italy for 23days.

Parang not enough. So that means you'll be spending about less than EUR50 per day for food, transpo, passes? A bit tight.

[mrs research]

^ mejo naintriga ako so i made a sample computation but i agree it's a bit tight for 23 days. Our  budget is 15 Eur for lunch 20 Eur for dinner. Our breakfast is already inclusive in our hotel reservations and i'm guessing yours too.

15 Eur x 23days = 345 Eur
20 Eur x 22 days (minus 1 night kasi uuwi na the next day) = 440
Total for food = 785

Here are some of the unlimited passes (assuming 1 week/city) since walang specific city in Spain and Italy, I listed down Madrid and Rome
1 week Paris  Navigo Pass= 33,40 +5 EU fee for the card itself= 38,40 EUR
1 week Madrid  Abono Transporte Turistic Tourist Pass Zone A= 33 EUR
1 week Rome  Biglietto settimanale C.I.S Pass = 16 EUR
Total local trains and buses= 87,4 EUR

Popular museums
Louvre: 15 EUR
Vatican: 15 EUR
Prado: 12 EUR
Total Museums= 42 EUR

Sightseeing Tours
Discover Walks Paris: 15EUR
Discovery Walk Rome: 15EUR
M Visitas Walk or Bike Madrid: 3,90 EU (Users must pay for additional services not included in the price of the tour (entry to museums and monuments, bike rentals or buses or others), where necessary.
Total Sightseeing 33,9

GRAND TOTAL 948,3

But wait there's more... there's tourist tax per person per night in Italy and that depends on the star rating of your hotel + restaurant and hotel tip and other taxes. All else na pasyal DIY na. 

[Mhoirae]

Will be leaving for Paris, Italy and Spain in 5 days...!
Not yet packed.  Anyone been to these countries around October?
What outfits should I bring?  Cold na ba?

[melodymedley]

@summer princess: agree with sis melvel that this is a bit tight. If you have free breakfast sa hotel, you can keep your meals at less than 5 euros for each meal - sandwich or slice ng pizza lang. But you'll want to splurge on food from time to time - mga 20+ euros each meal kung ganun.
Trains to cross cities in Italy costs around 30-40 euros (mine was prebooked a couple of days before).
Some entrance fees are costly din - from 8-15 euros. I got the Paris Museum Pass which was 50 euros (more about this on the Paris thread). Medyo ipit, but not impossible. But you'll probably skip some sights and live on budget meals when you are there.

[summer_princess]

Ayayayy! I'm thinking Hindi naman Siguro everyday we get to visit and pay for a museum, anyway forgot to include that were staying with France based titas so a big chunk of our savings on our pocket money since we will stay, and travel with them.

Yayyyyy! Ang gastos pala ng euro trip! I don't think I can spend 100k just for pocket money alone. Gosh! Must rethink and budget our pocket money.

[melvel]

^Just to give you an idea, here's how our expenses are coming along:

-ticket would cost about P50,000
-our accommodations in London cost P15,000 per person for 8 nights (this was a bargain)
-our accommodations in Paris cost P15,000 per person for 5 nights

Thats already P80,000 for plane fare and accommodations pa lang.

I told my friends to set aside P150,000, shopping excluded.

[juana_antonia]

^^Ang expensive kasi sa Europe sis ay food and your transpo. I agree that 50 euro a day kung maglilibot ka ay medyo alanganin.  Expect to spend at least 15 euro per meal.

[summer_princess]

@melvel actually the airfare isn't included in my pocketmoney since we've prepaid already. So the 50-80k will just go for local transpo, food, and some museum passes. Tama ka if I add airfare to our budget that's going around 120-150k/pax.

[mama squeak!]

Experienced Paris in October and it was cold and wet! So better bring travel umbrellas. My friends who are there right now said it is the same. We're heading there next week and we're praying weather will get better.

As to Paris transport Passes, don't get the Navigo Pass since this is for long stays i.e. weekly, monthly and annual. For short stay tourists, the Paris Visite Pass is still preferable. Check the ratp.fr website for the pricing and zones involved.

If you will be visiting 3 or more museums in Paris, it is still cost effective to buy the Paris Museum pass. Plus it will save you time queueing to buy tickets. For more tips, just backread on the Paris thread.

For our 4day stay in Paris this time, we saved a little on our lodging since we are staying at the outer arrondissement. I don't expect to spend a lot on food too since we are staying at an apartment and we can buy our food from the market. I'll post our expenses once we get home.

In the meantime, happy planning and enjoy your Euro trips!

[foxymom]

@summer_princess: as others have said, medyo tight nga ang 1k euro for 23 days. if you are staying with relatives in france and they will pay for most of your food, then maybe the budget is workable. during our trip to last december, we budgeted around 20 euros for lunch and 30 euros for dinner. you go to europe for the experience, so do not scrimp on that.

in paris we did not get the transport passes. we just bought a set of 10 (carnet) metro tickets. you can use 1 ticket and ride the metro and change cars (as long as you do not exit) within 90mins. a carnet is 12euros. hindi ka naman kasi sasakay ng metro more than 5 times a day. so a carnet lasted us 2-3 days  

[juana_antonia]

And if I may add, if umagtatagal ka sa isang place, rather than buying tickets daily opt to buy a ticket that would last you a week, cheaper that way

[shegie_285]

is 1800euros for 2 pax enough na for a 2.5 week honeymoon? this will be just for the food, land transpo and attractions. we're going to malta this november. we do have cards so can use that anytime, just don't want to bring too much or too little.

hey kim, are you going to Malta for your honeymoon? Malta is cheaper than other european countries. I remember we went into an asian resto dun sa popular gimikan place nila, we paid EUR80 lang for three people and with beers na un ha, nag-dessert pa ata kmi. then we went to a chinese restaurant for dinner, parang mga EUR15 each lang ang share namin. I guess enough na [textspeak!] EUR1,800 parang €100 per day. We ate din dun sa mga tabi-tabi, mura lang din.  If you want to have an idea for prices, i have friends who live there,let me know i can ask her. are you going to rent a car? parang mas madali pag me car dun kesa sa public transpo. our last day kase na-delay ang flight so we decided to go to a tourist attraction, walang timetable ang bus stop tapos hindi din nakalagay kung anong mga bus numbers ang dumadaan dun so tanong-tanong na lang kmi sa mga tao.

[riksy07]

For those interested, the Travel Club is on sale in Glorietta until tomorrow, Sunday.I was able to buy an anti-theft bag yesterday with a 20% discount and even payable in installments with HSBC. A lot of trolleys and other travel bags, as well as other travel stuff, were on sale, as well. According to one of the sales girls, this is the last sale for the year and they're still unsure as to the schedule of sales for next year.

I also found a very nice coat sa Surplus store sa SM City Bicutan. It costs just PHP1,499 and it's pretty thick na rin. Not really too thick but thick enough to give warmth I guess for early spring nights. The other day naman, I was able to pass by Payless in Glorietta and they have boots for PHP1,700 (I forgot the exact price). What other stores sell boots (not the ones with heels na matataas, but those that have an inch or less of square heels will do) that are affordable (meaning not more than PHP3,000 as that is my benchmark for "afforable")?

[summer_princess]

Sisses doable ba ang land travel via car with the route:
Nice-->Switzerland(maddanan going to Italy?)-->Venice--->Rome---->Tuscan tour
then back to Nice

Bec our sponsor said that we would just rent a car, we'll do land travels (car instead trains)

I'm thinking Baka maubos ang Oras namin Sa travel pa Lang, advantage is we get to pass different places esp Switzerland which were not originally part of our iti.

[mama squeak!]

^Renting a car would definitely be cheaper compared to taking trains. And yes doable naman yung route since they're all land locked. Matagal nga lang yung byahe ninyo. Here's a helpful website where you can check the different travel times.

What's also nice having your own car is the flexibility. You can stop anywhere. If something interests you pwede kang pumarada sa tabi. Disadvantage lang talaga is the travel time and finding a parking space specially at the highly populated and popular tourist areas like Rome.

[mrs research]

What other stores sell boots (not the ones with heels na matataas, but those that have an inch or less of square heels will do) that are affordable (meaning not more than PHP3,000 as that is my benchmark for "afforable")?

S&H. Saw this sa mga blogs and chictopia so I checked them out at Landmark Makati last weekend. Mostly less than 2K some are even on sale as low as 800 pero wala ko nabili kasi gusto ko yung no slouching leather boots. Muji Rockwell also has boots on sale pero wala ng size ko. Price range between 2K-3.5K. Pansin ko lang rockwell store has more shoes compared to gbelt and moa.

Check the top shelf. Eto parin yung mga display last week sa  S&H Landmark
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=478220655544072&set=pb.146759788690162.-2207520000.1350145439&type=1&theater

Sorry kung OT na.