European Tours Thread 3

[mama squeak!]

^You know what? That's the same question I had when I saw the promo    Kasi balak ko naman US in Sept. and Paris in the New Year with my SIL (crossing fingers matuloy!) But hindi daw eh. It has to be the same area, US only, Europe only, etc. But still good deal pa rin.

You can also check out the travel expo this coming Feb 15-17 at SMX. According to my colleagues they will be offering promo fares on a book and buy basis. Since you already have your dates, this might be more applicable to you.   

@sky_butterfly17, sis please back read on the Schengen Visa thread. Marami na na i-post dun about your concerns.

 

[Starlust]

Saw a roundtrip flight with Emirates MNL-CDG for 542 euros a couple of days ago

[foxymom]

^oooohhhhhhmmmmmgggggg

[vain_kixie]

starlust, when's the departure date? couldn't find the deal anymore.

[Starlust]

^For mid & late February.

[riksy07]

Sisses. Do I take the risk na kaya of booking EasyJet and Eurostar tickets? I found trips kasi na mura-mura and I was thinking by the time na maapprove Schengen visa ko baka wala na those trips. Ideal pa their schedules kasi earliest trips for the day sila so that gives me a lot of time to roam around after I've arrived.

[mama squeak!]

^I'd say risk it. As long as you have all the requirements no reason for you to be denied a visa. Plus presenting confirmed tickets to the embassy just shows how confident you are and that you really are going on a tour and not mag-TNT.

[vain_kixie]

risky07, me too I found good fares sa easyjet na pero I will travel October pa. I'll take your advice mama squeak. I'll just close my eyes and book it as early as now. I don't think the rates will go any lower pa.

[riksy07]

Sisses!

I booked na my CX flight. Got a MNL-HKG-LHR (16:35 hours duration) and FCO-HKG-MNL (15:+ hours) for 1282USD. Tapos when I checked the Eurostar site, biglang may trip na sila for 39GBP ng 2PM (it wasn't there yesterday and the cheapest trip was 39GBP pero gabi na). So super happy naman ako and I got it na rin. Lastly, sa EasyJet naman, I found a flight na 7:10am kaso super aga naman akong aalis nun ng apartment if ever. So I got nalang the 12:35pm flight which is only 7euros costlier. I ended up paying 84.04euros (kasama na dun ang fee na 15.something euros for the hold baggage and 4.10euros for my pre-selected seat.)

[melodymedley]

*inhale exhale*
I am back here! 

After my dream-come-true Europe trip in Autumn 2011, I knew there had to be a part 2. So I am pushing through with my dream Spring Europe 2013 trip. Will be flying out the in May and be back in June. I actually booked the flights in October but I was still busy with another trip at that time. Then there's the Christmas season and busy work season now. Hirap tumodo sa planning.

So here is my draft itinerary. I am still ironing out the details.

Day 0   PM        Manila   Depart NAIA
Day 1   AM       Czech   Prague   Arrive in Prague
Day 2              Czech   Prague   Prague
Day 3              Czech   Prague   Prague
Day 4   11:10   Prague to Athens via Aegean Air
           14:35   Arrive Athens
Day 5              Greece   Athens   
Day 6              Greece   Athens   
Day 7              Fly from Athens to Santorini
Day 8              Greece   Santorini   
Day 9              Greece   Santorini   
Day 10   20:25       Santorini to Athens via Aegean Air. Stay in airport til next flight.
Day 11   1:00           Athens/Barcelona via Vueling
           3:45      Arrive Barcelona (AM!!!!!)
            Rest in the morning
Day 12              Spain   Barcelona   Gaudi Day
Day 13              Spain   Barcelona   Old Town
Day 14              Spain   Barcelona to Madrid   3 hours via train
Day 15              Spain   Madrid   
Day 16              Spain   Madrid   
Day 17              Spain   Madrid   
Day 18              Spain   Madrid to Granada   By train - 4.5hours, by bus, 5 hours
Day 19              Spain   Granada    Alhambra
Day 20              Spain   Granada to Seville   Train is 3 hours, bus is 3 hours
Day 21              Spain   Seville   Daytrip to Cordoba
Day 22              Spain   Seville   
Day 23                   Spain   Seville to Lisbon   Bus is 7 hours
Day 24              Spain/Portugal   Lisbon   
Day 25              Portugal   Lisbon   
Day 26                   Afternoon   Portugal   Depart Lisbon   
Day 27                   PM   Manila   Arrive Manila   

So.... ngayon ko na kelangan mag-seryoso sa detailed planning. One month to go before I apply for another Schengen visa in Spanish Embassy. Hopefully, no more heartbreaking news this time.

Flights: everything booked last October 2012.
MNL-PRG, LIS-MNL - open jaw ticket via KLM: $1,393
Roundtrip: ATH-JTR via Aegean Air - 130 euros
One way ATH-BCN trip via Vueling - 90 euros. Napamahal ako dito, they offer a cheaper deal now mga 75 euros.

The Prague thread has been helpful so far. I think we have no Spain thread?  Papost naman the link if we have one. I can't find it. 
And I will be backreading the Santorini thread too.  Do we have a Greece thread?

Cheers to our Europe dreams! 

[mama squeak!]

Wow melodymedley, I love it! You're visiting longer this time. I have a post about our Prague trip in my blog you may want to visit it. Please, please, please make a blog post about your Greece, Portugal and Spain tours after your trip. I would love to read about it and get some tips.

Enjoy your planning and looking forward to hearing about your adventures! 

[foxymom]

what a nice trip melodymedley!! i love prague (how many times have i posted that?? )

sarap mag plan!!

[greenblueblood]

This is my first post although I've been lurking for quite some time and have gotten pretty awesome tips and info from everyone.

Anyhoo, like melodymedley i have been planning for my dream eurotrip for roughly 2 years and it is finally happening this spring!

Here's my draft itinerary:

Day 0 - Leave Manila
Day 1 - arrive in Barcelona in the morning
Day 2 - Barcelona
Day 3 - Fly to Sevilla in the morning
Day 4 - Sevilla
Day 5 - fly back to Barcelona in the morning
Day 6 - Cinque Terre (fly from barcelona to pisa then train to manarola)
Day 7 and 8 - Cinque Terre
Day 9 - Train to Florence
Day 10 - Florence
Day 11 - Day trip to Sienna and San Giminiano
Day 12 - Florence
Day 13 - Florence
Day 14 - Train to Rome
Day 15 - Rome
Day 16 - Rome (Vatican)
Day 17 - Rome
Day 18 - Train to Bologna
Day 19 - Bologna
Day 20 - Bologna (possible daytrip to Dozzo and Imola)
Day 21 - Train to Venice
Day 22 - Venice
Day 23 - Venice
Day 24 - Fly to Prague
Day 25 - Prague
Day 26 - Prague
Day 27 - Prague
Day 28 - Interlaken (fly to Geneva then train to Interlaken)
Day 29 - Interlaken
Day 30 - Lauterbrunnen
Day 31 - Lauterbrunnen
Day 31 - Lauterbrunnen
Day 32 - Train to Paris
Day 33 - Paris
Day 34 - Paris
Day 35 - Paris
Day 36 - Paris
Day 37 - Fly to Barcelona
Day 38 - Barcelona
Day 39 - Barcelona
Day 40 - Fly back to Manila

I fly RT to Barcelona because my bestfriend stays there and she will aslo be travelling between the 27th of April and 28th of May so i decided to go back to Barcelona at the end of the trip so we can hangout for a couple of days before i go back to Manila.

Accommodations: Most of my hostels are booked already except for Bologna, Venice and Paris. i'm taking the suggestion of mamasqueak to use airbnb for Paris and I have pretty nice options already.

Flights: I'm booking my RT to Barcelona this week via Singapore Airlines. Last I checked its $1,316.00. So far i have booked:
RT Barcelona- Sevilla vueling airlines 72eur
Venice-Prague wizzair 103eur (but i made a mistake in booking so it cost me an additional 30eur. 73ure lang ang ticket talaga)
Prague-Geneva swissair 80eur (super promo fare so booked this already)

Trains: Question regarding Trenitalia. I only booked one trip so far (Pisa-Manarola) and it consisted of two train changes. i've read that you need to validate your ticket before getting on board lest you risk a hefty fine. For my pisa aeroporto to pisa centrale regionale ticket there was a specific notation that the pdf ticket appended to the email confirmation is all i need to show on the train but no such notation for the intercity pisa centrale-la spezia leg of my trip. How do i validate my ticket then?

Sorry super long post. I'm just super super super excited about this trip!!

Here's to making dreams happen! :-)

[mama squeak!]

^I am so green with envy!    That's a pretty long trip, galing! You have to share your experience with us after you get back.

I have no experience with trains in Italy but for our Amsterdam-Prague-Strasbourg train trip I also availed of the e-ticket option with DB Bahn. So pdf din yung tickets namin. When we boarded the train we just showed the conductor who went to our compartment our printed e-tickets and passport.

While for the TGV tickets from Strasbourg to Paris, there was no option for e-tickets since I was redirected by their site to the RailEurope site. In short they mailed us paper/cardboard tickets. These we validated at the yellow validating machines at the train station. Same with our previous TGV rides on earlier trips, the paper/cardboard (looks like a boarding pass) tickets, we always validated.

I am assuming if you hold pdf/email received e-tickets, no need for validation since hindi din naman sya kasya sa slot ng machine. While for paper/cardboard boarding style tickets, these you have to validate.

[greenblueblood]

^Thanks! I wondered also how the e-ticket would fit in the machines, pictures of which i saw online 

It is a pretty long trip. Would have been longer if budget and time permitted :-) I really wanted to spend enough time in each place wherein I didn't have to rush and cram everything. I realize there is a huge temptation to do that especially in my case na first time and who has dreamt of going to europe for a long time but from my past travels, memories are best retained when you give enough time for it to build and linger and imprint itself in your mind.

Yes, i will definitely share my trip when i get back and in the meantime I'd most likely post more questions here as my trip planning progresses.

[little_princess]

waaahhh Starlust, those prices are so cheap!

i pay an average of 1400-1600$ per trip but i book the tickets at least 3 months in advance. baka it's better to get tickets closer to the time?

my april flight to the UK is around $1600 na via CX. I'm scared na for the September flight but we'll book it later on pa.

we're going to paris this May 11-15 super super super excited! then prolly rome post-nup on october.

[Starlust]

^Nice!! We're 3 mins away from Gare du Nord, as in literally ilang hakbang lang

Our flight with CX-Air France last September cost only 46k php round. Economy class nga lang but it was super OK naman and we only had a 2 hr layover in HK. Though medyo pangit ang in flight entertainment system nila (small screen) compared sa economy class on Qatar & Etihad.

There are a lot of cheap deals for September lalo na with the Arabian companies. I like Etihad & Qatar! Their service is really good! Try checking starting June.

[foxymom]

^i heard nga! we will try the business class of etihad this trip since i'm getting more disappointed with klm business class i really like the fish bone layout of etihad and business class is more affordable than other airlines

[mama squeak!]

^sis, you might want to check out Cathay Pacific's latest promo tie-up with Citibank for business class and premier economy. You get a free round trip ticket to HKG via Dragon Air (KA) for every purchase. Yun nga lang from Clark (CRK) yung flights.

[mrs research]

Trains: Question regarding Trenitalia. I only booked one trip so far (Pisa-Manarola) and it consisted of two train changes. i've read that you need to validate your ticket before getting on board lest you risk a hefty fine. For my pisa aeroporto to pisa centrale regionale ticket there was a specific notation that the pdf ticket appended to the email confirmation is all i need to show on the train but no such notation for the intercity pisa centrale-la spezia leg of my trip. How do i validate my ticket then?

Sorry super long post. I'm just super super super excited about this trip!!

Here's to making dreams happen! :-)

Hi greenblueblood! for trenitalia e-tickets no need to validate in the yellow or green machines.
In our experience riding Frecciargento, we just board the train, had ourselves seated (our e-ticket came with seat numbers) and waited for the conductor to scan the barcode so make sure you have a very good copy to avoid any tech problems. The conductor got to us 30mins after the train started moving. 

I googled Manarola and it's so bright and colorful! Beautiful!!!  Browsing through google images, it looks like a small town bec  the search result were all cliffside shots and i looooove it!!!