Vaca help from all ye world travelers

jenna8984 · November 2014

Last fall we did China & Japan and it was DH's first time overseas. The culture shock was too much for him and he HATED the language barrier and the food. So we're trying to come up with a European vacation next fall keeping those items in mind. Ideally we'd like to do 2 countries in 10 days. But everywhere looks so awesome to me, I'm having a hard time chosing! These are the contenders, if you had to chose or recommend 2, which ones would you pick?

1) London, 2) Paris, 3) Prague, 4) Geneva/ Montreux, 5) Rome

Please stick with the choices as I've already been to Greece, Spain, all of Scandanavia and we have no real interest in Germany, Poland, Turkey, etc. Thanks!!

climbingsingle · November 2014

I'd pick London, and then also include Ireland or Scotland.

sarawifenow · November 2014

Paris!

holyguacamole79 · November 2014

The only ones I've been to are London & Rome, so I guess those are my votes!!

Obviously, those are the farthest apart from each other (Or at least close to it), so you'll want to take travel time into consideration when looking into it.

I was only in Rome for barely 36 hours (long story). The language barrier was frustrating, but the food is closer to American food than I imagine China & Japan are.

I did some work from London and stayed there for 2 weeks at a time twice. So, I'm a bit more knowledgeable on that city. No language barrier, except for some phrases / words or heavy accents. The food is good (especially if you like fried fish). There is PLENTY to do and the public transportation is easy to get around. Depending on your duration, a day trip to Bath / Stonehenge is also easy and fun.

Good luck!

loro929 · November 2014

Such a tough decision, all of those countries are beautiful and have different things to offer.

Also, in fall, the weather will be reasonable in all of your choices, maybe a bit rainy in London and Paris.

If I had to choose two, though, I would pick Rome and Paris.

1. The travel connections between those two countries make hopping between them quite easy.

2. the FOOD - fondue and pizza. i.e. heaven

3. These are two quite "international" cities, meaning that any tourist can get away with English in either of them. I actually speak Italian, so it was no problem to go around in Italy, however, I do think that the Italians LOVE English (even though they might not speak it) and have fun trying to communicate with tourists. Paris, MIGHT be a problem language wise in the less-touristy places. But, in general, in Europe, all of the menus are available in several languages, amongst them English.

I have been to both Paris and Rome and whenever I think of my experiences there I think: Eiffel Tower, Seine, wine, cheese, Coliseum, Vatican, spaghetti, more wine, vespas, buona notte, the bread and most importantly, il dolce far niente

If you want any specific recommendations, feel free to PM me.

littlemushroom · November 2014

I agree with @ClimbingBrideNY‌. London and then add Ireland.

Also, if the language barrier was such a big deal to him last time, London is the best way to go this time to convince him traveling can be fun.

doeydo · November 2014

Out of those I would pick Rome.

OliveOilsMom · November 2014

Based on your H's culture shock from last time I would recommend London and/or Ireland/Scotland. They will be closest to being home, for him, but are different.

labro · November 2014

We just did our HM in Munich and around Bavaria with a brief step into Austria so I'd totally recommend that area except you say you have no interest It really was amazing! My only complaint was the coffee in Munich was terrible since apparently they are all obsessed with instant coffee..bleh!

I'd definitely do the UK (not just London). Then you can hit up Scotland, Ireland and Wales. 2 weeks should be plenty of time to get yourself immersed and hopefully spend some quality time in each country.

My second choice would be Prague. One of our really good family friends lived there for a time and absolutely loves the city!

FYI I have heard horror stories about the Paris airport from H's coworkers...I've never been myself so I can't speak from personal experience. While Paris is probably absolutely incredible, there are other places I'd rather go first. When my boss went earlier this summer they weren't even able to go up in the Eiffel Tower because of a union demonstration going on below it.

novella1186 · November 2014

If the language barrier was too much for him, maybe go to London. Not much culture shock and obviously the official language there is English. From there you could make an easy trip over to Paris. I will say, though, when I did my big trip around Europe I went to Paris, Prague, a few cities in Portugal, and a few cities in Spain. And I regretted not staying in one country more. For example, Paris was great but we didn't have enough time to see Versailles, and we didn't have enough time to go to the Louvre, and we didn't have enough time to go to Nice or any of the other amazing cities around France. Yeah the major, big, tourist cities are awesome, but some of the greatest places I've ever been are the smaller, lesser-known cities.

And for the record, Prague is also beautifil and amazing so that wouldn't be a bad choice either. But we didn't run into too many English-speaking people and it is a hard language to catch onto.

climbingsingle · November 2014

I've been to Italy and France, and if the language barrier bothered your H, I'd stick to English speaking countries for now. A lot of people in Italy and France spoke English, but not everyone. Some places had menus in English, and some didn't. I did find it hard to understand certain things in both countries.

daria24 · November 2014

I've been to London, Paris, and Prague. I loved them all for different reasons. London has awesome museums, great public transportation, it's easy to get to other towns in England, or to Ireland & Scotland. It is the most expensive of those three places. Obviously there's no language barrier. The food is OK, there's such a huge international presence so if you venture outside of pub grub, you can get some good food.

Paris has great food, great Museums/sites. I don't speak French but we survived just fine. We stayed outside the main tourist areas and we were treated better. Paris has a bigger problem with petty theft, as well as being harassed by Roma. I've been there twice, the first time I hated it, I loved it the second time.

Prague I just love. The architecture is amazing. It's less Americanized than the other cities. It does feel more foreign, there is less English spoken there. The food isn't great. But I just love feeling like you are in a whole other world. It's best for about 3 or 4 days though, so it's easy to combine with another place.

It's a shame you aren't interested in Germany, I think it's the most approachable for Americans. Everyone speaks English, all the signage/instructions are also in English. It's incredibly clean.

amelisha · November 2014

I wouldn't do London - it's great and all but I think it makes a better stopover than a vacation destination (but I love to take an extra day when I fly through!)

Paris is obviously beautiful, but I think it can be overwhelmingly touristy if you don't speak decent French because it's hard to get off the beaten track in English. If you just want to see the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower and the Champs d'Elysse and whatever, then that's awesome and you should do it, but if the idea of packs of tourists doing the same thing isn't appealing, it might not be my first choice either.

I LOVE PRAGUE. It's beautiful, the food is great, it's less expensive than London/Paris, the people are friendlier...recommended. And I also recommend taking the train from Prague to Geneva...it's a gorgeous trip, if long. Geneva itself might not make the top of my list either but it is a really great trip and Switzerland is interesting too. Geneva is less compelling to me though just because I think it kind of could be anywhere, if that makes any sense. I just don't think it's as fun as the Czech option (but if you're going to combine two, I'd do Geneva and Prague for sure.)

I like Rome too, and there is a lot to see for sure, but I strongly prefer northern Italy myself so I'd probably rather chose something there. But Rome would probably be my second pick (although I wouldn't do Prague-Rome by train unless I was absolutely positive that it was not an Italian train...I'm having horrible flashbacks just thinking about it. You couldn't pay me to take an Italian train again.)

So yeah. If it were me I'd do Prague-Geneva, but Prague-Paris and Prague-Rome would be my alternate options.

lyndausvi · November 2014

I would do London then add Ireland and/or Scotland OR London and Paris. You can take the chunnel or a ferry over to France.

Does he like history? I loved Normandy.

My DH is not a good traveler to Europe. He just doesn't do well with museums and old stuff. I find it's better to find balance. So we go to places where he can eat and study food and I get to throw in a little history for me.

labro · November 2014

daria24 said:

It's a shame you aren't interested in Germany, I think it's the most approachable for Americans. Everyone speaks English, all the signage/instructions are also in English. It's incredibly clean.

All of this! H and I felt completely safe even late at night travelling from wherever we were in Munich by train back to our hotel. The U-Bahn and S-Bahn systems are super convenient and easy to use. Everything was clean, people were generally friendly, especially in the countryside. The landscape in Bavaria is incredible!! I hope we're able to go back again soon.

theartistformerlyknownas · November 2014

I did Paris/Angers/London for my first international trip and honestly, I didn't love London. It was just a little too "generic big city" for me... Paris was more traditional European/worth the super long flight for me personally. I want to get out of my comfort zone a LITTLE, KWIM? The chunnel is a really easy trip between them though if you want to do both.

jenna8984 · November 2014

Interesting- I never knew Germany was such a nice, English-speaking place.

London probably does tip the scales, even though I have been there before. DH has not been and I know he'd love the sights and the food (and the English). I know two separate people living there would love to show us around a little. Also we live in New England so he thinks it would be really neat to visit some places we have towns named after like Brighton, Leicester, Oxford, ect.

lacqueredlover · November 2014

I've been to them all!

Honestly if the language and food is an issue, I'd go with London or Rome (although if you do Rome, you have to go to Florence as well.) If you guys are into history, definitely Rome, it's just amazing. My FI's family has an apartment there, it's seriously one of the best places ever. the food is amazing, the sites are incredible, it's just a wonderful place. London is great, but much more like other big cities

jenna8984 · November 2014

lolo883 said:

I did Paris/Angers/London for my first international trip and honestly, I didn't love London. It was just a little too "generic big city" for me... Paris was more traditional European/worth the super long flight for me personally. I want to get out of my comfort zone a LITTLE, KWIM? The chunnel is a really easy trip between them though if you want to do both.

I'm totally with you and I prefer more "authentic" places. I'd ride camels to freakin Petra, Jordan if I could but he would NEVER.

amelisha · November 2014

jenna8984 said:

Interesting- I never knew Germany was such a nice, English-speaking place.
London probably does tip the scales, even though I have been there before. DH has not been and I know he'd love the sights and the food (and the English). I know two separate people living there would love to show us around a little. Also we live in New England so he thinks it would be really neat to visit some places we have towns named after like Brighton, Leicester, Oxford, ect

Germany really is wonderful. I spent a semester there in high school and it remains one of my favourite countries. Berlin is in my top three cities in the world without a question.

If you're going to travel around England/Great Britain and not just do London, then that should probably be the whole vacation rather than trying to fit somewhere on the continent in, too. I think it would be a more pleasant trip that way (and you could then also see Scotland, Wales, or Ireland.)

labro · November 2014

@jenna8984 If you have friends in London that would definitely tip the scales for me! We are friends with an American couple living in Munich right now and it was first and foremost fun to visit with them while we were on our HM, plus they also took us around to a few really great restaurants we never would've known about, and gave us some local "tips and tricks" advice. It definitely benefited our vacation!

cafarrie · November 2014

I would also think about cities that are easier to do together. Like Lolo mentioned - London and Paris are easily doable in the same trip, as are London and either Ireland/Scotland.

I know you're not super interested in Germany, but it's one of my favorite places ever and i really think you should consider it! We did Munich and South to the Bavarian alps to see small towns and castles and Christmas markets

never had any issues with the language barrier. I'm a bit partial to Prague since my sister lives there and I LOVE visiting.

Last time I was there we did 3-4 days in Prague, took a train to Munich (perk, you can drink on the train while watching the gorgeous countryside) and spent 1.5 days in Munich then rented a car and drove through Bavaria stopping in random small towns along the way for a few days. Then we took a few hour bus ride back to Prague for another few days.

Rome would be amazing, but I think if I were to go to Italy - I would rather make the whole 10 day trip to Italy since there are so many cities and terrains and regions I'd want to hit other than Rome. (Venice, Milan, Sicily etc.)

I have no opinion on Geneva/Montreaux since I've never been.

Sugargirl1019 · November 2014

Now I really want to go to Prague and Geneva and Munich. Thanks guys haha.

jenna8984 · November 2014

@cafarrie I was kinda thinking the same thing...that Italy would be better to come back when we have the time to just stay there and hit up all the different Italian cities.

Doesn't Icelandic Air do like 2 day stopovers in Reykjavik on the way to London? Maybe that would be cool because the northern lights are in Sept.....hmmmm

Sugargirl1019 · November 2014

jenna8984 said:
@cafarrie I was kinda thinking the same thing...that Italy would be better to come back when we have the time to just stay there and hit up all the different Italian cities.
Doesn't Icelandic Air do like 2 day stopovers in Reykjavik on the way to London? Maybe that would be cool because the northern lights are in Sept.....hmmmm

I really want to see the Northern Lights!!

climbingsingle · November 2014

I was just reading something that said NY and Boston had very reasonable flights to Reykjavik.

jenna8984 · November 2014

ClimbingBrideNY said:

I was just reading something that said NY and Boston had very reasonable flights to Reykjavik.

Yea I just checked real quick and Boston to London (and back) with Reykjavik for 3 days in between is $965. That's actually really good.

dcbride86 · November 2014

PRAGUE!! It's SOO beautiful!!! Everything is so old and beautiful, and walking along the bridges is just breathtaking.

My 2nd choice would be Paris. It really is just SO romantic. Having said that, it is a rather expensive place to visit. Rome is nice, but it isn't very relaxing.

I personally don't like London. It's always rainy and cold, and I just wasn't a fan.

I've never been to Geneva, so I really can't speak about it in any light.

Have fun!!!!

themuffinman16 · November 2014

Paris first, then Rome!!! I am biased. I loved both of them so much and think it's such a romantic vacation. But I think you also might consider a trip to Italy a separate time, to visit Rome, Florence and Venice. There is so much to see in that country outside of Rome, and you will be so glad you did!

thisismynickname2 · November 2014

Other food for thought for other potential world travelers... the language barrier really isn't bad anywhere provided you can a) order food and b) navigate pretty well with a paper map.

Fodor's and Frommer's books have very easy "common language" in the back of the books. Check the books out of the library, photocopy the language pages, and you're off and running.

All I've ever needed in a foreign-language country is "hello/goodbye/thank you" "I would like to order..." "check please!" and "toilet?" Figuring out the train system in Paris was a wee bit challenging but once we got it, it was easy. If you're concerned about restaurant food, familiarize yourself with the major food translations (chicken, beef, etc).

Granted, I've never been to Asia and I think that's a whole other ball game, but a little effort with really basic language and manners goes a long way.

anjemon · November 2014

I had less luck with Prague than some PP's. I really enjoyed it and it was gorgeous, but there was more of a language barrier. Lots of people spoke English but most of the signs were in Cyrillic and hard to read. Granted this was almost 10 years ago, so things might have changed. But that was the biggest language barrier I had to deal with on my trip.

Vaca help from all ye world travelers

Re: Vaca help from all ye world travelers

Choose Another Board

Search Boards