GRcade Travel Topic

Anyone been to Vilnius? I'm planning on going in the first week in March.

5 weeks today until me, wife and our 2boys go to Orlando for Disney/Universal/Busch/etc. Never been to there before so looking forward to it immensely. Staying in Animal Kingdom hotel.

Kids only found out about it at Xmas (booked it in Aug). Excitement levels rising.

Gandalf - when I was 25 and still single I decided to go on a few holidays on my own. Over the next 4 yrs I visited Chicago (twice), Clearwater (Florida), Toronto, New York (twice), Hong Kong, Bali, Singapore, Sydney (twice), Melbourne, Perth, Cairns, Ayres Rock. Loved every minute of it all. I was free to do what I wanted and when I wanted to. Stayed in proper hotels each time. Would highly recommend it whilst you can. My Orlando holiday this year is the first non-Spanish or non-Centre Parks holiday in 10 years. Holidays with kids are so different (but brilliant in a different way)

£7k for a month in Japan is insanity. I spent 10 months traveling (in South America admittedly) for that. If you're prudent and organised, you shouldn't have to spend over £1.5 for a month.

A pound fifty?!

TELL ME HOW!

Tafdolphin wrote:£7k for a month in Japan is insanity. I spent 10 months traveling (in South America admittedly) for that. If you're prudent and organised, you shouldn't have to spend over £1.5 for a month.

We were neither of these. Will try some restraint this time round.

How much were you paying for food during that month? If you don't go to Western restaurants, you can get great food for about ¥1000 (or less, I had a big bowl of miso ramen tonight for for ¥700 and this is about the norm).

Is it including hotels and stuff? Otherwise you were spending £250 a day, and that's me taking it at the current exchange rate, whereas you would have got more yen for your money.

£7k makes it sound like you splurged on an once-in-a-lifestyle trip, but you're coming back here again. Just keep Anung away from Super Potato and those maid cafes this time.

Anyhoo, I'm off to Australia for 9 days at the end of April (might seem a short trip but it's only 9 hours direct from Tokyo and escapes the Golden Week rush in East Asia).

Any recommendations?

Flying to Sydney but have heard that maybe I should just stay there the whole time.

Some things are probably off limits due to the shorter time scale, as due to massive distances I can't really do everything like the Barrier Reef, Uluru etc. Got friends who live in Canberra and Perth so will likely head back in be near future.

Was thinking of Sydney and maybe one other city. Maybe Auckland or Wellington in NZ if not an Australian one.

Parksey wrote:Anyhoo, I'm off to Australia for 9 days at the end of April

Any recommendations?

Flying to Sydney but have heard that maybe I should just stay there the whole time.

Some things are probably off limits due to the shorter time scale, as due to massive distances I can't really do everything like the Barrier Reef, Uluru etc. Got friends who live in Canberra and Perth so will likely head back in be near future.

There's not a huge amount to do in Canberra tourist-wise. If you are there, I'd recommend sparing a few hours to go to the Australian War Memorial there. There's a full museum and they do the last post every single day (I think at 5pm?) for a different soldier every day with their story which is really moving.

Around Sydney... Taronga Zoo is worth a look. I'd definitely recommend getting a few ferries around. Pop over to Manly and get fish and chips on the beach there. It's beautiful. If you've got time, definitely head to the Blue Mountains. Gorgeous.

Canberra is ok but you wouldn't want to spend more than a day there. Check out the big fountain, the Parliament building and the war memorial (as Mini E suggested) and then get out and find a more interesting city.

£1.5k for two people for a month!?

I guess it depends what kind of experience you're after but at 30 I like to travel in comfort so low cost airlines and hostels are completely out of the question. For something that you've looked forward too for so long I think you should value your time over saving a few quid.

I'm snowboarding in South Lake Tahoe at the moment. There have been two crazy days storms but it's finally calming down tomorrow and people are talking about 5-6 feet of powder. That's one in a lifetime conditions.

Bunni wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:£7k for a month in Japan is insanity. I spent 10 months traveling (in South America admittedly) for that. If you're prudent and organised, you shouldn't have to spend over £1.5 for a month.

We were neither of these. Will try some restraint this time round.

I didn't mean to be quite so aggressive here btw. I think it stemmed mainly from amazement.

Hime wrote:£1.5k for two people for a month!?

I guess it depends what kind of experience you're after but at 30 I like to travel in comfort so low cost airlines and hostels are completely out of the question. For something that you've looked forward too for so long I think you should value your time over saving a few quid.

I'm snowboarding in South Lake Tahoe at the moment. There have been two crazy days storms but it's finally calming down tomorrow and people are talking about 5-6 feet of powder. That's one in a lifetime conditions.

Ha, I'm the polar opposite. When I travel on my own it's the cheapest flights and accommodation available. During my big trip a few years ago (when I was just hitting 30) I was living on about $30-40 a day for food and accommodation in the States and about half that in South America, just so I had more money to spend on, you know, actually doing stuff. For flights especially I simply don't understand why anyone would fork out more than you absolutely have to.

Tafdolphin wrote:

Hime wrote:£1.5k for two people for a month!?

I guess it depends what kind of experience you're after but at 30 I like to travel in comfort so low cost airlines and hostels are completely out of the question. For something that you've looked forward too for so long I think you should value your time over saving a few quid.

I'm snowboarding in South Lake Tahoe at the moment. There have been two crazy days storms but it's finally calming down tomorrow and people are talking about 5-6 feet of powder. That's one in a lifetime conditions.

Ha, I'm the polar opposite. When I travel on my own it's the cheapest flights and accommodation available. During my big trip a few years ago I was living on about $30-40 a day for food and accommodation in the States, just so I had more money to spend on, you know, actually doing stuff. For flights especially I just don't understand why anyone would fork out more than you absolutely have to.

Because 8-12 hours is a long time to be horrendously uncomfortable and it means your holiday starts at the airport and you arrive at your destination not feeling like death. I'm hooked on collecting air miles so it doesn't actually cost that much. Also, eating out is probably my favourite thing in the world. Not saying I only enjoy fine dining but there is only so much street food I can eat.

The idea that enjoying nice things means you don't, you know, do stuff is ridiculous. I hate the idea that you're not a 'traveller' if you don't live on a shoe string while abroad.

Ph. Tourist.

EDIT: Semi-sensible response: Horses/courses etc. I have never gotten back from a holiday and thought "You know what would've made that holiday special? A premium-economy upgrade." Often the cheapest flights to far-off places will be through carriers like Singapore Airlines or Emirates anyway, and any short haul flight is, well, short so I don't mind a few hours of bent knees. Accommodation wise, I prefer hostels as that's where you meet people which is probably about 33.3333% of why I travel anyway. I've stayed in fancy hotels before on trips with partners and they're lovely, but if I'm on my own I can't think of anything more isolating than a single room somewhere.

I do understand eating out though.

Mini E wrote:

Parksey wrote:Anyhoo, I'm off to Australia for 9 days at the end of April

Any recommendations?

Flying to Sydney but have heard that maybe I should just stay there the whole time.

Some things are probably off limits due to the shorter time scale, as due to massive distances I can't really do everything like the Barrier Reef, Uluru etc. Got friends who live in Canberra and Perth so will likely head back in be near future.

There's not a huge amount to do in Canberra tourist-wise. If you are there, I'd recommend sparing a few hours to go to the Australian War Memorial there. There's a full museum and they do the last post every single day (I think at 5pm?) for a different soldier every day with their story which is really moving.

Around Sydney... Taronga Zoo is worth a look. I'd definitely recommend getting a few ferries around. Pop over to Manly and get fish and chips on the beach there. It's beautiful. If you've got time, definitely head to the Blue Mountains. Gorgeous.

I was going to recommend Blue Mountains. Well worth doing if you're in Sydney and have time.

I'm the same as Taf when it comes to flights.

Quite often, given where I am in Japan, the some of the cheapest tickets to places further afield (I've visited Canada whilst here, next is Australia and I also have been back to the UK twice) are with Cathay Pacific. So I guess I'm lucky in that they are one of the world's better airlines, so even in economy the service is pretty decent (I think they are one of the last companies to have 9 per aisle instead of 10 as well, though this is changing soon).

When I look at the fares for Premium Economy, they are usually more than double and that's a big chunk of money that can be spent elsewhere. Like Taf said, you could spend the extra £500 on something more memorable. You might have to walk past a few better seats to get to yours, but you're still all getting there at the same time.

The one exception is I try to avoid some of the cheaper Chinese ones like China Eastern, and ones with awkward layovers or more changeovers than I would like. I could understand paying more money for fewer stops or more direct flights.

I'm different to Taf when it comes to hostels on my own. I don't mind traveling on my own, but much prefer having a single room if I'm not with anyone. Just gives me a private, secure base (not literally a base). I prefer hostels when there's two of you. It's not a big group so you can still mix easily, and you weren't going to have any privacy anyway. I've always found it easier to hang around with other groups, if you're invading it with another person too.

Tafdolphin wrote:Ph. Tourist.

EDIT: Semi-sensible response: Horses/courses etc. I have never gotten back from a holiday and thought "You know what would've made that holiday special? A premium-economy upgrade." Often the cheapest flights to far-off places will be through carriers like Singapore Airlines or Emirates anyway, and any short haul flight is, well, short so I don't mind a few hours of bent knees. Accommodation wise, I prefer hostels as that's where you meet people which is probably about 33.3333% of why I travel anyway. I've stayed in fancy hotels before on trips with partners and they're lovely, but if I'm on my own I can't think of anything more isolating than a single room somewhere.

I do understand eating out though.

I would have thought the same until I tried it. I'm a bit of a nervous flyer so putting in a bit of effort to fly business or first class and only pay £500- £600 in taxes to turn the journey into something to look forward to is totally worth it.
I can understand the hotel thing if that's how you like to meet people but I've always found going to the pub an easier way to get chatting to locals or other travellers. Presumably hostels and the like will have people in a similar position so it's more natural to talk to people.

My flight to Iceland on Wowair got cancelled due to weather. I've been trying to call them all morning to re-schedule, and I'm just met with a busy signal. Wonderful.

Oh and the number they included in the email doesn't work as it's only 6 digits long (after the 1800 part):

1-800-948-890

I've had to cancel my hotel booking already as well as the rental car as those need to be cancelled by 5pm local time or else I get charged the first day for them, so thought it would be better to proceed like this. However I asked the person at expedia regarding the hotel and they told me that it's booked for the next week solid so I now need to find a different hotel.

I have a week off this month with nothing to do as I had to use up my remaining holidays. Was thinking of going to Berlin for a couple of days as I have never been to Germany before.
Is Berlin any good? I watched the expedia travel guide video on youtube and it looked pretty boring compared to other cities.

Personally I wasn't the biggest fan but it's certainly not boring

I really liked Berlin. Going back in a few weeks as it's only an hour and half away from Hamburg. Big with lots to do. Lots of good bars and food. Interesting sights, and the people all seemed friendly. A bit gritty in some areas but that's fine.