Rick Steves' Europe: Travelers' Helpline

RE: ETBD - Denver

2009-11-20T21:24:00-08:00

for those of us not lucky enough to live in Denver, what is this all about? Maybe we need one in Victoria?

RE: Bed & Breakfasts in London

2009-11-20T21:10:00-08:00

We stayed in the Jesmond Hotel in September. Its on Gower Street which becomes Bloomsbury Street past Bedford Square. The rooms are good, the included breakfast was wonderful, and it's 5-10 minutes walk from the British Museum. See- http://www.jesmondhotel.org.uk/ Good luck!

RE: England Itinerary

2009-11-20T20:57:00-08:00

Thanks everyone for your opinion. Liverpool is a "must" for me. The Beatles were a BIG part of my life growing up, and I want to see where they grew up and got their start. I might want to skip Bath, but not Stonehenge. I didn't know they had private tours - thanks for that info. Our main reason for seeing Edinburg - it's my husbands's roots. His grandparents were born here. So we really want to see the surrounding area. Everyone seems to really like Scotland, so I am both curious and anxious to see it for myself.

RE: carrying alcohol back to the U.S.

2009-11-20T20:37:00-08:00

Purchases in the airport are not a bad option. There are multiple shops with a big selection. The problem will be if you have a second flight after landing in the US. Then you will have to put them in checked bags.

RE: Pacsafe and airport security

2009-11-20T20:33:00-08:00

My wife used the Pacsafe citysafe 200 for two trips to Europe this year and really loved it. It carried all her diabetic supplies and much more. The mesh lining caused no problem going through airport security. Good luck.

RE: Where would you go for Christmas?

2009-11-20T20:31:00-08:00

Salzburg Austria for the Christmas markets and beautiful city. London for the atmosphere. Bath- again the markets. Cardiff- markets and atmosphere. Inverness or Aviemore Scotland- total experience (Aviemore has REAL reindeer that pull Santa's sleigh down the main street during a Christmas Eve parade)!

RE: Liechtenstein

2009-11-20T20:31:00-08:00

We stopped briefly in Liechtenstein when driving from Neuschwanstein to Innsbruck. Not much really to see or do that's noteworthy, we just got our passports stamped (for a fee - this appears to be their major tourist activity). The capital seemed like a nice town, but unless you are collecting countries, it's not really worth much of a detour IMHO.

RE: Itinerary Critique - 50 days in Europe

2009-11-20T20:28:00-08:00

Natalia, Sometimes open jaw is referred to as multiple destinations. See if that will help you. Salzburg is a wonderful place! You will enjoy it.

RE: ETBD - Denver

2009-11-20T20:27:00-08:00

I will remember this time. Sorry about last month.

RE: 3 Weeks in Europe: Ireland or Mainland Europe?

2009-11-20T20:13:00-08:00

Wow, what an opportunity! I can't compare between Ireland and the mainland Europe cities you name. I've been to all the cities, most more than once so I'll comment accordingly. I disagree with Teena that it is a long way from the Rhine (Bacharach) to Rothenburg. We drove it in one day easily including a 2-3 hour stop in Wurzburg. I agree with her suggestion to change the order a bit (... Munich-Salzburg-Vienna-Prague) so you can fly out of Prague. You'll average about 2 nights per city and travel every 2nd or 3rd day. Please be certain that is what you want to do. Happy travels! PS: May I join this generous company?

RE: ETBD - Denver

2009-11-20T20:05:00-08:00

I'm so envious! I wish I lived in Denver so I could meet up with you all!

RE: Is Ireland good without a car?

2009-11-20T20:04:00-08:00

you would be very limited w/o a car. Driving/parking is not complex in Ireland except for big cities.

RE: Bed & Breakfasts in London

2009-11-20T20:03:00-08:00

you might keep your options more open for a hotel with breakfast incl. do not know about Bloomsbury as it can be higher in $ but try garden Court hotel nr Kensington Park excellent all round great price and breakfast avail. walk to most of London top spots also from here.

RE: Liechtenstein

2009-11-20T19:30:00-08:00

For such a short trip, you also have a few redundancies, such as the Rhine and Mosel, and Switzerland (I assume you want to see the Alps), Liechtenstein, Innsbruck and to a lesser extent, Salzburg. That's a lot of mileage to see several variations of the same theme.

RE: Buying Euros stateside

2009-11-20T19:22:00-08:00

Since Tyler mentioned XE Trade, I'll pick up where he left off. If your landlady will accept a bank draft in euros, open an account by going to www.xe.com/fx. Money will be taken from your checking account by electronic transfer and converted to the currency of your choice. If your landlady will give you her bank account number, you could do a SEPA transfer as described by Tyler. If she doesn't want to reveal the account number but will accept a bank draft in euros, you could have the draft made payable to her and mailed to you rather than to her. Take the draft with you and hand it over in person. The exchange rate will be only slightly higher than the Interbank rate on the day the transaction is initiated. There are no fees. For security reasons it takes a little time and effort to set up an account, but everything goes swiftly and smoothly after that. Or do what Nancy suggests. Even if you didn't need to withdraw large amounts, it's good to take two cards linked to different accounts in case one card doesn't work.

RE: Ireland

2009-11-20T19:19:00-08:00

In September you shouldn't have a problem. Make sure you pick up a B&B directory at a Tourist Information desk so you can look ahead to the next area to see what might be available.

RE: Dublin in Feb.

2009-11-20T19:18:00-08:00

There are some great deals with Sceptre Tours. I just spent 8 days in Ireland - a fly/drive/condo pkg for $730 per person. In Feb prices are as low as $399 per person.

RE: Ireland: car rental and driving maps

2009-11-20T19:15:00-08:00

Rented from Dan Dooley. Would recommend spending the extra $$$ for the zero deductible insurance coverage. You almost can't help getting scratches on the left side of the car from the bushes and things on the small roads. I bought a very good map here in the states at Barnes & Noble. It is AA road map of Ireland - worked great for us.

RE: Buying Euros stateside

2009-11-20T19:14:00-08:00

Andrea, if you take two ATM cards attached to two different accounts (perhaps two different banks?) you can take out the daily limit on each one, which should be enough to cover what you need. You can also ask to have your limit raised for the time period during which you will be traveling. But I'm sure your landlady has dealt with this before - why not ask her how others have done it?

RE: Liechtenstein

2009-11-20T19:13:00-08:00

sounds like an awful lot of area to cover in two weeks I agree. Just count the hyphens. If you include the trip back to Frankfurt, that's ten trips. True, many of them are short trips, but that is still a lot of traveling. Including Frankfurt twice, that's 11 places in 14(?) nights - almost all one night stands. That will be very tiring, not to mention that finding the accommodation, checking in, unpacking, repacking the following morning, and checking out consumes a lot of time. I suggest you try for an average of at least two nights per venue.