European Tours Thread 4

[mama squeak!]

^Oh that's why! You work in the oil and petroleum industry. KLM gives special memberships for the oil and petroleum industry people. Much like CX or other airlines giving special memberships to their top cargo agents, etc. But for regular Flying Blue members, you have to have elite status to enjoy certain privileges/benefits.

[shygirlme]

^Ah! didnt know about it sis. Officemate ko lang nagsabi sakin non. Super useful kasi samin. Thanks for the correction!

[mama squeak!]

^Good for you! Really helpful talaga if you have lounge access, priority check-in and boarding when you travel.

[ninglovesturquoise]

Haha, now I know, I was wondering... it seems too good to be true!                                                              Mga sis, do you have experience with long haul flight tickets in the past years sa travel expo? I'm in a dilemma, whether to purchase our KLM tickets na, seems like a good deal kasi, USD4,183, for four pax, MLA-BUD, PRAGUE-MLA. We still don't have our visas so that's a factor to consider rin. Wahhh....

[Chili1113]

^^ My brother had a destination wedding in Rome a couple of years ago and most of my fam booked tickets via travel expo in Feb for oct travel date. My bro went there to book for all of us. But truth is you dont need to go to the expo unless you are booking in massive quantities/group boookings for a particular date. Most of the travel expo rates will be available online with the same rates/discounts.

[luckypal]

Thanks so much, mama squeak! you're right it's a bit tight... I think I should trim down the destinations to 7-8 cities/towns nalang. I don't want to spread ourselves too thin and not be able to relax on this trip.

[ninglovesturquoise]

@chili1113, thanks for confirming, you are right. I checked Qatar Air online and their rates at the BDO Travel expo, same or even higher pa nga sa expo because of the fees. Good luck on your trip sa Greece! Can't wait to hear about it. We were initially considering Greece pero Eastern Europe muna hehe 

[Chili1113]

ninglovesturquoise: you're welcome!! I think it is worth going to the travel expo though if you want to browse through cruise discounts too =) but for airfares no need.

luckypal: just saw your itinerary! sounds like so much fun. Here are some things I though you might want to consider though.

Madrid- 3N- This is totally adequate for Madrid. Unless you want to do day trips from there. Segovia and Toledo are very beautiful and I highly recommend going there even just for the day from Madrid. We also did a day trip to Avila last October. But then it wasn't as interesting as Segvovia and Toledo, unless you are a St. Therese devotee. Plus since you are going to Carcassonne, the Avila walls might pale in comparison.

Florence 4N- This might be a bit too long. Perhaps 2-3 nights will be enough. Make it 3 nights if you are an art lover and want to spend 1 day just visiting the Uffizi and David's statue. And one day for outlet shopping =) Don't forget to eat Bistecca in Florence hehe OR you can insert a trip to Siena, or Verona from Florence. San Gimignano is another gorgeous place, but it is trickier to get there via public transport.

Venice- 1N- If you lessen your nights in Florence you can add a night here. Venice is so beautiful. 1 day is enough to soak it in, but personally I can never get enough of Venice. You might also want to explore the smaller islands of Murano and Burano, and that will take another half day too.

[luckypal]

^thanks so much Chili1113! Can I do Segovia and Toledo in just one day? I can subtract the days in Florence so that I can accommodate the day trip in my Madrid itinerary. Maybe I should also subtract a night in Nice so that I can put that as an extra night in Venice. What do you think?

[icegayle]

Can someone suggest if there is a legit site where we can book a pass for tours/attractions/museum and train in Berlin? I saw one http://www.berlinpass.com/ but we dont know if it is legit or worth it ba to buy? Thanks

[melodymedley]

Anyone who did Europe using Turkish Airlines? My preferred route (MNL-BUD then FRA-MNL) only costs $1,062 for economy. I am thinking of getting it na. The connecting time is1H50M, which falls within the minimum required time naman  The next option naman is 7hours na. Madami bang magagawa sa Istanbul Ataturk airport?


@luckypal:
Agree with other sis here to cut a day in Florence (or maybe Rome) then put that in Venice.
From Madrid, you can do a daytrip to Toledo or Segovia - I think magkaibang direction yun so you cannot do both in a day. In our case, we chose Toledo. Mga 3 hours lang kami dun. Toledo is a pretty, quaint and hilly town. It reminded me a lot of Sienna, although they are not similar.

For Florence - 4N is sakto lang. 1D to explore town, 1D to explore Uffizi and Accademia (I did Uffizi in the morning and Accademia in the afternoon). Pre-book your tickets for these 2 museums because the lines are infinitely loooooong. 1D to explore Cinque Terre (I joined a tour group for the day trip here), and 1D for Sienna and San Gimignano (DIY)

[Chili1113]

luckypal: melody medly has some great itinerary ideas!! Yeah nga pala you can do pala Cinque Terre from Florence =) For me though between Sienna and San Gimignano-- I prefer San Gimignano. I think you need to book a tour for this. But Siena can be done on your own =)

melodymedley: I haven't tried Turkish Airlines, but perhaps you can check the other airlines first. Seems like almost all are on sale this week due to the travel expo this weekend. I know Etihad, KLM, and Qatar are on sale. Haven't checked CX and  Emirates but I think they are all on sale. The sale rates seem to play at around 800-900 USD , so you might be able to get a slightly cheaper rate and also at a better airline.

[icegayle]

Turkish Airlines is good, my husband travelled to Europe last year and according to him it was a good trip.

[luckypal]

thanks so much melodymedley and Chili1113! Yes, I definitely want to go to Cinque Terre... would you recommend spending a night there? 

Grabe, I'm going a bit crazy with the planning. Last night I was deliberating to just remove Spain from the list and just focus on France and Italy so that we can savor the sights more.

I'm also torn between the idea of just going on a Europe tour to save my sanity or plan a slow paced DIY tour of just Spain, France and Italy. I'm driving my husband a bit nuts as well 

Btw, it's our first visit to Europe so we really don't know what to expect, that's why I've been reading up on forums and stuff, but it's making me want to go to ALL the places - LOL! 

[mama squeak!]

^Haha! I know the feeling! It is so tempting to cram everything in one go. There is just too many places to see and too little time. Isipin mo na lang na there will always be a next time especially now that with careful planning and preparation a trip to Europe can really be affordable. Kaliwa't kanan lang naman ang mga airfare deals plus you have a lot of options for accommodation from hotels, rentals like airbnb even convent/monastery stays.

[Chili1113]

^Haha I can super relate. I tend to really cram my itinerary because I want to maximize each trip. So this time around that I am planning my honeymoon, I am having a difficult time trying to resist the temptation to add more places. I have to remind myself it is a honeymoon wherein we should have blank days on the itinerary where we can sleep all morning and just go for a swim and drink all day haha.

[ninglovesturquoise]

Gusto ko mag-stay sa monastery mama squeak, I swear monk ako noong past life ko.  

Excited ako to read all your itineraries. 12D lang kami max, kasama na ang flight to and from Europe kaya para kaming nangangabayo

[mama squeak!]

^I haven't tried staying at a convent or monastery yet but my SIL and BIL have in Italy. I think that time they only paid EUR20/person a night. But of course there are conditions attached to the stay like curfews plus very basic yung rooms nila (single beds, no ensuite, you know the drill). If you search convent/monastery stays in Europe, you'll get a lot of hits. It can a be another experience in itself.

With 10 days excluding travel time, I would stick to maybe 3, max 4 cities/towns that are near to each other so I don't spend the little time that I already have in traveling. That's my preference ha. Iba-iba naman kasi tayo, some would rather do an amazing race kind of trip while some like my husband and I would rather linger, try to get the feel of the place and people, get lost (hehe lagi kaming nawawala! Which is okay since we get to discover so many things you don't normally find or see when you are in a hurry to get to the next destination).

 

[ninglovesturquoise]

I've read about it nga mama squeak about staying in a monastery, parang staying overnight in a temple in Japan. Next time, I'll do that when I travel with my bff. 

Naku mama squeak, ang type ng nanay ko the more cities the merrier! Seriously, we're doing Budapest - Vienna - Salzburg - Prague. If I had a choice, I'd add two more days para may break naman pero hindi kaya so ayun.

[shegie_285]

Melodymedley I flew with Turkish Airlines last year Dublin - Seoul. Sarap ng food nila. both ways 1 hour 40 minutes lang connection time. We didn't have any problem naman. Nakapag-coffee pa kami sa airport.  So far sila ang top choice airline ko for going home (i live in Europe), if price is right dahil sa food and connection time.

Having said that, I saw on the news recently na may bomb scare sa isang airplane nila (had to make an emergency landing but wala naman nakita na bomb) and parang magulo sa Turkey so parang ako unless super mura ng fare nila I'd go with another airline for the moment.