Eastern Europe

RT <bang@confused.com> wrote:

> We are planning a trip to eastern
> europe,,Budapest,Pargue,Vienna,Krakow maybe Warsaw,,question,,are we
> better off on a tour or planning it ourselves? [all sic]

If you need to ask such a question, and ask it in such a way, then you
are most definitely better off booking on a tour.

cheers,

Henry

RT wrote:
any tips would be helpful

I wrote you a long reply which I feel is too long to post and not of
general interest. But it was undeliverable as your e-mail address is
invalid. If you would like the reply, please write to me at


Larry at Morro Bay, California

RT wrote:
> We are planning a trip to eastern
> europe,,Budapest,Pargue,Vienna,Krakow maybe Warsaw,,question,,are we
> better off on a tour or planning it ourselves,and if so what are the
> risks,,any tips would be helpful

Please allow me to suggest Lviv in Ukraine instead of Warsaw. It is not
long from Krakow, an old and very interesting town, inexpensive, great
for wining and dining, immune to any kind of snobbyness and a great mix
of Polish, Austrian, Jewish, Gothic and more history and arcitecture.
You will not regret it!

from the 1st of January 2006 people with European Union, US, Japaneese
and more passports will not need a visa for Ukraine.

Jan

As well as being gorgeous cities they also have some side trips that are
well worth doing:

Krakow - You probably have Auschwitz on your list, but the Wieliczka Salt
mines are very impressive. You can get there by bus and then pay for a tour
once you get in.
Vienna - A trip on the Danabe between Krems and Melk is possibility the best
stretch of river in Europe.
Budapest - Not a side trip as such but you did ask about tours - The
communist tour is very entertaining including a tour of Statue park, a visit
to an old communist flat and directions(!) to the Museum of Terror on the
way to Heroes Square. By the way the mines in Budapest were both poor in my
opinion.
Prague - Spoiled for choice when it comes to tours. I did one to Karlovy
Vary (the spa town) but wasn't enough time in a tour so I ended up seeing
Kutna Hora's Bone church and Cesky Krumlov on my own. Karlstein castle was
also nice.

If you are feeling comfortable getting around on trains, buses and trams
then go on your own with a good book. Otherwise tours can come in handy if
you are feeling lost and wont make it on your own...or lazy :-). They are
never long enough though - especially "city" tours.

Hope this helps
Mike



"RT" <bang@confused.com> wrote in message
news:34t6c2pvcu5t8prqt4c1283bulol1q4arp@...
> We are planning a trip to eastern
> europe,,Budapest,Pargue,Vienna,Krakow maybe Warsaw,,question,,are we
> better off on a tour or planning it ourselves,and if so what are the
> risks,,any tips would be helpful
>
> RT

> >> We are planning a trip to eastern
> >> europe,,Budapest,Pargue,Vienna,Krakow maybe Warsaw,,question,,are we
> >> better off on a tour or planning it ourselves,and if so what are the
> >> risks,,any tips would be helpful
> >>
> >> RT
>
> THANK YOU ALL !!
> >
>

Just returned yesterday from 45 days: St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga,
Vilnius, Budapest, Belgrade, Sofia, Athens.

We, 65-yr old couple, did what most here recommend. . . read good
guidebooks, use internet resources and ATM machines, get bus/train
tickets several days early (maybe as soon as you arrive in a new
place).
Learn "Please" and "Thank you" (at least) in the local language, smile
but be respectful, flexible but patiently persistent when necessary.

I plan so that we will be OK if everything is stolen, take all
reasonable precautions (even though we hate to wear our moneybelts
every day), rejoice that we were not abused. We were given more and
shown more than we earned or deserved from the 99% in every country
that appreciates others as much as we do.

I know this thread is probably dead but I hate to begin a new one
just for my input. And I just have to tell the newsgroup how wonderful
we found traveling eastern Europe on our own.

If any "regulars" read this, you were right. When I asked for advice
here two months ago, especially about travelers' checks, I got "beat
up" a little, but also some good advice. One said essentially,
"Travelers' checks are obsolete, fool". Ouch! But that turns out to be
true. Trying to find a non-ripoff place to cash checks was WAAAAAY more
trouble than using ATMs, found easily almost everywhere.

Like the OP of this thread, I thank you all! ---Ken

RT wrote:
> We are planning a trip to eastern
> europe,,Budapest,Pargue,Vienna,Krakow maybe Warsaw,,question,,are we
> better off on a tour or planning it ourselves,and if so what are the
> risks,,any tips would be helpful


Forget tours! You'll spend many hours on cramped, uncomfortable, and
slow buses. You'll have very little time to do exploring on your own.
You'll stay in soulless, overpriced, unfriendly hotels. And you'll be
ripped off.

Eastern Europe is not as scary as it sounds. All those cities are
civilised and safe to get around on your own and finding cheap
accommodation on your own is easy.

Travelling between those cities by train is a far superior option to
tour buses - it's faster, more comfortable, and the trains will take
you right into the city center.

The only real risk you'll be exposed to is pickpocketing. Always take
precautions, wherever you are.

Dave Frightens Me wrote:

> In god knows how many years of travel, I have never used a travellers
> checks, and don't even know how they work. I have always suspected
> them to be a thing of yesteryear.

There was a time, back in the dark and forbidding 1970s and early 1980s,
when ATM cards issued in the USA didn't work in much of Europe; hell, it
was hard enough to even figure out where European ATMs were, let alone
use them. Travellers checks were an alternative to carrying cash,
because they could be replaced in case of loss or theft.

Fast-forward a few years, and yes, you are quite correct. ATMs have
largely put paid to the utility offered by TCs, and they are very much
a thing of yesteryear. There might be the occasional traveller who
is so used to the damn things, and so intimidated by the thought of
using an ATM outside of his/her home country, that he/she still uses
the things, but in general, yes. A thing of yesteryear, and becoming
ever more so.
--
dgs