European Tours Thread 3

[hanshellite]

How much yung nagastos nyo sa trip sis?

[devmommy]

Planning to have a eu Tour on a 500k budget, 2 adults. 4days london 5 days france 5 days italy. Is this good enough?

[melvel]

^Budget-wise, that's more than enough for two adults. 

I don't think its wise to spend 4 days in London though.  Remember you have to get a separate visa for that (costs around P6,000).  You should spend around 7 days minimum in London and surrounding areas for the hassle of getting an additional visa to be sulit.

[little_princess]

^ agree! london has so many things to do and see kaya 4 days will not be enough and sayang the visa fee. if you can extend, do so in 7 days, you can go around london proper lang ha, this doesn't include places like oxford, cambridge, bath, stonehenge, etc.

[caterpillar-girl]

My fiance and I are in the early stages of planning our European honeymoon. Or, rather, I, am in the early stages haha, but he's given me the go signal na. One month woohoo! I've a year to plan this whole thing before our trip in May 2014.  We narrowed it down to the places we really really want to go to, topmost of which is London! We're such Anglophiles, so part of our list involves London, Scotland and Ireland. DIY lang, except for some day trips and maybe city walks.

Anyway, general view is like this:
3 days Rome
3 days Florence (including overnight in Tuscany countryside)
2 days Venice
5 days Paris
7 days London ( including day trips to Bath, Stonehenge, Windsor, and my request, Cotswolds)
3 days Edinburgh (including day trip to the Highlands)
7 days Ireland (including trips to Galway, Cork, and maybe Donegal)

Plus travel times, so a little more than a month lang talaga. We've actually been to Ireland already because his sister and family are based in Dublin, but there are places we still haven't explored, so we have to go back.

Help, Europe experts! Too busy ba the itinerary? Anything I should add, subtract? Except for another country hehe, much as we would love to explore Spain, Germany, etc, di na talaga kaya ng sked Thanks a lot!

[mama squeak!]

^A little over a month to visit all the cities you wrote? I think okay na rin your IT. Depends din kasi on how much time you want to spend per city based on your interests.

Try to get open jaw tickets. Arrive in Rome then depart from Ireland (or London which has more flight options). To save more on your air fares, visit travel expos. There should be another one before the year ends. Or subscribe to promos on airlines' websites. Also check the European low cost carriers' websites for good deals. The farther away the departure the cheaper the fares.

Another mode of transportation to consider when in Europe are the trains. Italy to France to London.

To save on accommodation, rent apartments. I can recommend to you the apartment we will be staying at in Paris this coming September. It's not exactly in the inner arrondissement but it's only 100 meters from the nearest metro which can take you to the tourists attractions in less than 10 minutes tops.

Same with the rest of the cities, apartment or BnB stays will be cheaper compared to full-serviced hotels unless you can get a very good deal. Another way I discovered on how to save on hotels (if you prefer this over apartments/BnBs), check out Groupon (US website). Once in awhile they have really very good deals on their Getaways. Though you have to have someone with US billed credit cards to get this for you. When it comes to group-buying sites, mas reliable and trustworthy ang US site (since mas protected ang consumers dun compared to here).

Ano pa ba? Just back read on all the European and country-specific threads while planning. Tanong-tanong ka rin. I'm sure a lot of girls here will help you in your DIY trip.

  

[caterpillar-girl]

Thanks mama squeak! I'm having fun reading your blog too. Saan pala yung place na nasa header mo? It looks so peaceful

Anyway, we're lucky kasi we have relatives in both London and Ireland that we can stay with. Italy, Paris and Scotland lang wala. In London, my fiance's aunt lives walking distance to King's Cross station, and then in Ireland naman, his sister lives 20 mins from Dublin, very accessible by bus or train.

My plan is to plan this trip per leg. We have to end at Ireland kasi my fiance wants to spend the last part of the trip with his family. Ok naman with me. And looking at the Europe map, best if we start at Rome. Is May an ok month to go? My friend went to Europe this May and ang ginaw daw. But on the net it says May is a good time to go. I can handle cold weather, basta wag lang tipong 10 degrees. Spring-y, crisp weather is fine.

Just heard that PAL will soon be offering direct flights from Manila to Europe, Rome being one of the destinations they're considering. Paris and Munich and Amsterdam being the others. Sana nga!!!

[little_princess]

^King's cross area is an ok place kasi it's super central and you can get anywhere easily. About the weather, Feb-May and July na and for me, April-May was pleasant kasi last July, it was rainy eh dapat summer that time. There are days na naka tshirt lang ako but I always have a jacket with me just in case there is a gust of wind. London weather is very unpredictable.

Bath and Windsor will take a day each na so baka bitin as London has so many nice places to go to! Just prioritize what you want to see kasi daylight around May is until mga 8-9pm naman

[mama squeak!]

@caterpillar-girl, thanks for visiting my blog, sis! That picture was taken in one of the roads in Alsace, France when hubby and I did the wine route. Peaceful talaga, no traffic! 

You're lucky to have a place to stay in Europe. That's a big chunk of savings!

Yup, start from Rome and work your way westward. May is spring time and supposed to be good weather  but weather nowadays is weird. At least you get longer daylight hours, sun comes out before 6AM and doesn't set until 8PM. Just layer up and you'll be fine.

PAL will be flying to Europe (again) pretty soon. But I heard it will be Paris and Amsterdam first followed by the other European cities. They also used to fly to London (Gatwick), Rome and Frankfurt. But Amsterdam was where they based their crew. Let's just hope their fares will be competitive.

 

[letters_to_cleo]

According to the chismis of a friend who is a PAL FA, October daw ang rollout ng Euro trips, first is yung Amsterdam route :-)

Will be going on a 10 day summer vacation to Benelux (Belgium Netherlands Luxembourg) in exactly 15 days. Sa wakas makakatakas sa 40 degrees summer dito sa Madrid!

[jenger109]

yup sis, by oct or nov din i heard here.. my friend tried to book by feb 2014, nung nakita daw nya manila-amsterdam then mag connecting flight sya amsterdam-oslo ibang airline na..

[mama squeak!]

^sis, nakapag-book na yung friend mo? I'm wondering how since the route is not yet reflected on their website. San daw sya nag-book?

[jenger109]

hindi sya nagpa book sis since ayaw nya na ibang airline ang connecting flight nya..she'll be leaving this oct then will be returning here on feb.. wala pa daw ng oct.. hindi sya sa site ng pal sis.. ill ask her..

[yena^_^]

Hi ladies, galing naman ng thread na ito.

May nakapagtry na ba dito ng Bernina Express/route from Zurich to Tirano in Italy? Wish ko kasi talagang makita yung scenery ng Switzerland and sa nabasa ko eto daw yung pinaka-scenic. This is our tentative itinerary.

3 nights Paris
1 night Zurich preparation for a long trip to Venice via Bernina route and Milan
2 nights Venice
3 nights Florence for day trips narin sa nearby towns
3 nights Rome

[jenger109]

accdg to my friend its orbitz.com.. ive been searching also the flights, but i cant find.. haiz.. but she's insisting na nakita nya..

[mama squeak!]

^Ay sis! Nakita ko na and she's partly correct. Nag-mock booking ako sa Orbitz and meron talaga ikaw na makikita na PAL but the flight is actually a code share with Emirates. Meaning you buy under PAL tickets but the aircraft na gagamitin is Emirates Airlines. I'm sure yan yung nakita nya. 

@yena^_^, sis that looks like an interesting trip. I haven't heard of the Bernina Express in particular but there are lots of European trains with mga scenic routes. That must be one of those trains. What I do want to experience is the Orient Express Venice-Simplon line. Dream ko talaga yun! Ipon lang muna 

Oh, your itinerary looks good too 

[jenger109]

^Ay sis! Nakita ko na and she's partly correct. Nag-mock booking ako sa Orbitz and meron talaga ikaw na makikita na PAL but the flight is actually a code share with Emirates. Meaning you buy under PAL tickets but the aircraft na gagamitin is Emirates Airlines. I'm sure yan yung nakita nya. 

really sis?! kala ko niloloko lang ako ng friend ko..

mga sis ill be in rome next month, 3d2n or baka mag 1 week ako.. saan saan ba maganda pumunta? tia..

[mama squeak!]

^sis, this thread might help. 

[jenger109]

super thanks mama squeak! 

[yena^_^]

wow mama squeak! I googled about Orient Express Venice-Simplon line and so mahal pero grabi din parang you will wonder ang sarap sigurong matry to, parang you will travel like royalty talaga.