Comments on: Final comments on our trip to Europe

By: Brad

Brad — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:03:16 +0000

I don’t know that I would necessarily advise you to do anything differently per se, other than staying longer.
However, that’s related to a debate I am having right now. Anna and I are starting to plan a two to three week trip in the Balkans in September. Generally, Germans seem to take the following approach to vacations: travel somewhere. Stay their one or two weeks. And then travel back. It may be some latent American urge of mine that says, well, if we have up to three weeks, we might as well see all eight countries! Of course we could spend two weeks in Serbia, but I want to see more than that.
Generally, wherever you go next time, I think that it’s important to maintain a balance between seeing interesting things and keeping a relaxed pace. I think your approach was pretty good. I always try to avoid travel legs of more than half a day if it can be avoided.

And of course comfortable shoes are a must wherever you go.

By: Folken

Folken — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:44:16 +0000

Regarding Credit Card Payments.

Usually payments above 100 Euros are done with credit card. E.g. hotels, car rental, elaborate dinners. There has been a recent rise in the usage of direct debit cards at for example grocery chains. While credit card payments are usually possible its not generally done. There are also small stores and restaurants that do expect cash payment. So its better to ask or look for stickers.

By: John Goerzen

John Goerzen — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:40:36 +0000

Interesting point on clothing — makes sense.

Yes, I almost always used the ATM for cash. With only a few exceptions, American credit cards add a fee of at least 3% when they’re used outside of the country. It wasn’t practical to use an ATM for a few things, such as hotel reservations made online.

As far as prices are concerned — making a very broad generalization here, it looked like: restaurants were more expensive than in the USA, as were many sidewalk stands. Bakeries were much cheaper, and rail transportation was cheaper. It’s a bit difficult to compare rail fares because of the difference in distances and type of service involved, but in general the discounts we got for buying in advance on DB made it a good deal in my mind. I believe the total cost for our 3 trips on DB came to EUR 80 for 2 adults. A couple of exceptions to that: the restaurant in Prague where we ate with Anna was far cheaper than most American restaurants, and also almost everything at the Prague airport was terribly expensive.

As for things we ought to do different — well, I’d really like YOUR feedback on that too! In any case, besides Terah’s shoes, I ought to have just left the GPS at home. I think we did what made sense for our first trip to Europe, but next time, I think we’d want to spend more time in each place rather than squeeze in more cities. It felt that just as we were getting used to the transit system, getting around, etc. in a given place, it was time to move on to the next.

I wish that I had learned more German before we went. That wasn’t really a problem for the trip; more a personal goal.

From your perspective, what do you think we ought to have done differently? Did we make any errors that I just didn’t notice?

By: Brad

Brad — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:18:05 +0000

Interesting review. Regarding clothing, I wouldn’t neccessarily agree with you accessment that those in Germany in Prague are dressed more informally, I just think there may be a lower percentage of men wearing suits and a different style of semi-formal. Although I come from Kansas, I haven’t traveled as much in the US as in Europe. I was wondering if you could compare the general price levels that you encountered. Also, did you always use ATM machines to get cash or did you pay for some things using a credit card? Finally, is there anything you would do anything differently next time (besides comfortable shoes)?

By: Hauke

Hauke — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:26:44 +0000

Nice summary. I didn’t read all your posts about the trip but at least a few of them. I really can’t believe you were told we wouldn’t wear jeans :)
I should’ve pinged you when you were in Berlin. Would’ve been nice to meet you guys…