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Going to Europe on a 00 budget
10-21-2013, 07:03 PM
Edit: Oops! Can someone move this to the travel section.
I've been reading through the travel forum extensively (see 1am last night).
In a few months, I will be free for a couple of months. This will be a trip between jobs. I do plan on coming back to this shitty city for an incredibly higher salary. For reasons I won't say here, I will not have a lot of free cash for this time. Only $5K. $10K max. But assuming a $5k budget, where would you guys go?
A family member has a place I can live for rent free in London, England. It's a small bachelor room (fridge, bathroom, etc) and it's about a 15 minute commute from downtown. I would have this to myself.
I was thinking of 2 options:
1) First go to London and live there for 3 weeks and then fly to another country
2) Don't go to London, save the first flight money, and just fly to another country directly. For this I am thinking of Latvia, Czech Republic (is it dangerous? Ill use the forum search function), Germany, or Poland. I am open to other countries too.
All advice is welcome. I am seriously going to do this and this forum is going to influence 99% of my decision.
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Going to Europe on a 00 budget
10-21-2013, 07:50 PM
Definitely check out London if you can. But be aware that it is expensive, particularly if you're planning on a few nights out. You can easily end up spending £80 on a relatively quiet night. And even using an Oyster card (Sort of like a debit card for travelling on the underground) you can quickly rack up those travel expenses. But it is a pretty damn awesome place, a real cultural hub of people. Really buzzing whatever time of day and containing the a huge breadth of experiences.
Unless you particularly want to go to western Europe (France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland etc) I'd jump straight across to Eastern Europe. I went to Croatia last year and had a great time on the cheap. Hostels were £10 a night and drinks and food were dirt cheap as well. Since I was hitting up hostels I was thrown in with fellow travellers which contributed to my enjoyment, something to consider if you're a different type of traveller. Other than the owners of the hostel who we partied with and bar staff, we socialised with very few locals but most seemed decent folk in a kind of rural, stoic kind of way.
Flights tend to be fairly cheap once you've made it across the pond, although there is a hefty tax out of the UK.
My only experience of Czech was when I was 16 and it seemed pretty safe, although I do remember having to drag one of my friends back to the main road after walking past what was obviously a drug deal between some real shady guys. So if you have any common sense you shouldn't have much trouble. Heard the Ukraine can be a little rougher, but that's only based on hearsay.
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10-21-2013, 08:18 PM
option#2 - Eastern Europe and Central Europe will give you more bang for your buck. Poland and Czech Republic are good starts and no they are not dangerous. Most flights from Canada will go direct or through Frankfurt.
I use to live in London, great city but it will eat your dollars very quickly.
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Going to Europe on a 00 budget
10-21-2013, 09:04 PM
Thanks guys. Going through the forum, it seems that Poland and CR (prague) seem to be the top 2 contenders.
I will keep reading through the travel section. I didn't see specifics on costs in hotels or other lodgings in city centers. It seems that Poland > CR. I'll read Roosh's book later this week/month.
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10-22-2013, 03:43 AM
London is the world's capital city. (No apologies to NYC.) The old Empire's legacy lives on there. And it's not limited by their old colonies - but the entire world.
Perhaps the cultural contrast is starker and more vivid to a Yank than a Canuck, But the lure and legacy of our shared English language, economic dynamism, and legal and political institutions is palpable whenever I visit London.
Only then you will grasp why the world and EE regard a command of English as the key to upward mobility.
You are living out our forbears legacy of winning Three World Wars - WWI and II, and the Cold War. Discover if all the many decades of sacrifice and investment in todays future world was worth it and visit London.
“There is no global anthem, no global currency, no certificate of global citizenship. We pledge allegiance to one flag, and that flag is the American flag!” -DJT
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Going to Europe on a 00 budget
10-22-2013, 03:20 PM
Orson - WTF are you rambling on about...
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Going to Europe on a 00 budget
10-22-2013, 06:22 PM
Yeah no idea either haha
Update:
I decided to land in London, and stay for about 2-3 weeks. And then off to Poland for 4 weeks. I'm deciding right now between Poznan and Wroclaw.
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10-22-2013, 07:39 PM
I wouldn't recommend London for that long. WAY to expensive, and why waste that much time in one city? A city like that or Rome only deserves 5 or 6 days tops. Get a Eurorail pass and train places unless it's going to be longer than say 8 hours. That's just too much time that's killed when you could be seeing things and gaming. Gaming girls on a train a positive however. Travel light and use Ryan Air, Wizz Air, and Easy Jet specifically for cheap flights. Skyscanner is the best for search engine for flights.
Eastern Europe is where it's at. Went all over there, and never had a problem..most of which was traveling alone or with one friend. If you're hell bent on staying in the U.K., then at least stay in Ireland and Scotland too. I'd even recommend stopping in Iceland as well. Here's a little more of my take on Europe:
For good beer: Belgium and Czech Republic
Nice friendly people: Netherlands and Bulgaria
Cities with the most charm: Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Budapest, Edinburgh, Reykjavik.
Raging nightlife: Berlin, Bucharest, Budapest, Prague, Kiev, Iceland (thur-Sat). Malta has good nightlife, but it's a really young crowd, lots of fights...etc. But it's still a kicking good time and I'd recommend their booze cruises.
Cheapest: Bulgaria and Hungary
Most Expensive: Sweden and England
Most history and/or tourist things to do per square mile: Malta, Sicily and Iceland.
Most racist and probably most unfriendly to tourist/foreigners: Stockholm, Sweden. I swear because my friend was black we weren't allowed into some places. I just simply wouldn't recommend Stockholm at all.
And of course the hottest women: Romania, Ukraine, Iceland, Sicily, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary and specifically Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
Best and cheapest 5 star hotel I ever stayed in: Queen's Court Budapest
Other place to consider in Hungary- Heves Thermal Lake
The city I had the most success in that I would call you a fool for not going to:
Brno, Czech Republic. Just be aware that night life is a bit dead during the week, so make sure you do the weekend. This was however in March when it was cold, so perhaps more is going on in the summer. I read Naughty Nomads take on this city and totally disagree with his assessment. This place is definitely a must.
Again, do yourself a favor and don't stay that long or go to London for 3 weeks. Feel free to message me if you have a specific country you want to know about...I may have been.
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10-22-2013, 09:42 PM
Mbare has given you a great blueprint, London for a week tops and definetly do the Iceland stopover with Icelandair.
I will totally disagree with the comments about Stockholm, simply my favourite city in Europe but very expensive.
Budapest is a great city, lukewarm on the girls.
Prague is great if you have never been.
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Going to Europe on a 00 budget
10-23-2013, 01:01 PM
I can show you a few cool spots in London if you're interested.
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Going to Europe on a 00 budget
11-14-2013, 04:13 PM
London is sick but mind the exchange rate and expect to ball out. I just got finished doing something similar to what you are discribing and with around the same budget. that said I think I spent more money in London in 2 days than I spent in croatia in a week. london also serves as a good jump off point to a lot of other cities in europe because of the budget airlines that fly out of there namely ryan air and easy jet. do be careful when flying these guys though because they find ways to rape you if you don't know how to use them properly. That you have a free place to stay so close to downtown should be a huge leg up.
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