travel to western Europe from India

Old Jul 31st, 2014, 08:43 AM
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travel to western Europe from India

Hi everyone
I am from Delhi and would like to travel alone to western Europe, need advise from all you folks here regarding the same, now I will definitely be on a very tight budget, I have narrowed down 3 countries that are a must for me, England, Scotland and Italy,
Now with Italy, just 1 city will be fine, either Milan or Rome, even Napples.
For England it will most likely be London, my gateway in to Europe, As far as Scotland goes, the more the merrier, Sterling, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Highland etc...
Will have to apply for a UK visa and a Schenegan visa.
Shopping or splurging will be the last thing on my.
October is the most that I have on my mind, Is that okay for travel as far as the weather is concerned (I kind of don't like snow,ice or very cold weather)??

Hopping for great help and early responses from all.
Also let me know if I an missing anything here,please film me in for the same.

Regards
Satvik
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 08:45 AM
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Sorry for the typos above
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 09:08 AM
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Well London is certainly not very budget friendly. Scotland is probably less costly as is Italy - but none are in the cheap category with Spain, Portugal and parts of central europe.

For us to give advice you need to tell us how long yuor trip will be, what you want to spend per night for lodging and what your interests are.

Oct weather should be pleasant everywhere - but do understand that Scotland can be chilly and rainy (40's, pouring down and windy) even in midsummer.
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 09:29 AM
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Many thanks for the prompt response.
The trip shall be for 12-14 days.
London is absolutely expensive but travelling from India that is the cheapest gateway in to Europe as far as the airfare goes. I myself work at a travel firm but deal only in international flights, (that's why don't know about the places,hotels etc)
Sri Lankan airlines at present is offering a fare for 45000 inr (742 USD) and the itinerary is DEL -LHR and return FCO-Del, are these fares ok for October?
Also I am looking at spending at max 2 nights in London and can also cut it down to 1 night, but I can't skip the stone henge, I believe it's a 2 hour drive from London (is it true).
I don't really have a lot of money for the trip but have been saving to the best of my ability. Also I won't have much of luggage 20kg check-in at max and a bag pack should work for me.
You also mentioned something about Portugal and Spain. If it can cut down my budget, I might as well skip the complete Italy.
Awaiting your reply. Many thanks in advance
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 10:16 AM
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In general Spain and Portugal are cheaper than Italy, but it's perfectly possible to visit Italy without spending a lot of money. Hostels cost about the same in every country, and there are cheap places to eat that are also more or less the same price everywhere. People who want to stay in a nice hotel and always eat in good restaurants are more likely to notice the price difference.

Naples is cheaper than Milan for most things, but Rome is also an affordable city and full of things to see, many of which are free or very cheap.

We were recently in Scotland, and we did find that restaurants were cheaper there than in England, but getting around by train anywhere in the UK is expensive.

Stonehenge is easy to get to from London by taking a train to Salisbury and a bus from there. You should spend at least three nights in London, maybe four, because there's so much to see there. Once you've found a good hostel, you wouldn't save a lot of money by leaving earlier.

Do you know what you want to see in Scotland? That is where you should really be careful, because getting around the countryside is not cheap. If you buy your tickets in advance you can get cheaper train tickets, especially if you travel at odd times of day. Someone from the UK can tell you the optimal time to buy tickets.
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 10:18 AM
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Concur with your idea of dropping Italy this trip. Next time you can see a good bit of it rather than just one city.
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 10:46 AM
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Really appreciate the help you all are doing by replying.

Scotland has been always on my mind but I am not very sure about the places one has to visit, Edinburgh and sterling, I have heard are the best,my main focus is absolutely on the Scottish Highlands, (with no idea of how to get there).
Maybe a ryan air flight might help or any other no frill budget carrier but please let me know which will be the closest of the Scottish cities if I had to fly out of Gatwick /stansted etc.
Now regarding a 3-4 day stay in London should that be 3-4 nights in England or London alone?
If in England then please let me know which are the English cities which are a must to visit apart from London and which are budget friendly also ?
Also is it easy travelling to isle of man and Cardiff and most importantly is it worth it for a person who would be on a hand to mouth budget?

I have read a hundreds of blogs here for Europe and all of them recommend the Euro Rail passes, now if I go to Portugal or Spain, will those passes also work in UK and vic-a-versa.
What should be an average per day expense that I should be looking at for Europe and for UK? here in India we use the INR so roughly a pound is like 103 INR and about 84 INR equals an Euro
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 12:38 PM
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Rabbies Tours out of Edinburgh go all over Scotland. We took a day trip that went to Stirling Castle and Loch Lomond (which is in the southern Highlands). It wasn't very expensive and the driver was full of interesting information about the destinations and Scotland in general. You can get a tour of any length. Or you can take a train to Stirling, Glasgow, etc.

Look into getting an apartment in Edinburgh--we got one for a few days right on the High Street and it was less than most hotel rooms we found on Tripadvisor. It had a kitchen and washer/dryer so you can save money by making your own food.

As to what cities in England and Wales, I'd get a good guidebook to the UK and read about what's where. You're the one who knows your interests. However, my spouse and I really liked York, Chester, Canterbury, Oxford, Bath, Durham, and Caernarfon Castle in Wales.

Four nites is about the minimum to start seeing London as that gives you only three full days.

If you'll respond with your interests, we can help you better.
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 02:29 PM
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The UK has its own rail pass the Britrail pass. You have to do quite a lot of long-distance train travel to make it pay off. I think you'd do better to buy your tickets in advance, so that you can get a good discount. However, you'll need to know the best time to get these discounts. I think we left it a little too late.
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 07:21 PM
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dwdvagamundo
Many thanks for the advice,
Your advice has actually changed my complete outlook on the same, I can take a bus once I enter Scotland, seeing the entire country side by road would be nice. I can't rent a car because though I do drive in India and we have the same left side driving and the steering wheel on the right (just like England) but I would have to apply for a UK driving licence, hence leading to unadded expenses and documentation,
Have fancied traveling the UK country side since I was a child. So please let me know which would be more budget friendly - a bus once I get to Scotland or a train from London to York, a 2 day halt in York and then train to Glasgow / Edinburgh???

And as I mentioned I'd be most possibly be travelling all alone, I need a advice from you that is it all safe in the UK? I have heard that Europe is nearly crime free for tourists but still wanted a feedback from someone who has been to UK.

I think I'd have to stay at an affordable hotel / hostel with wifu. What should be the per night expense that I shall be expecting?? I hope I am not being too ambitious with the wifi.

Awaiting your response.

Cheers
Satvik
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 07:28 PM
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bvlenci

I think I'll have to pass on the Italy visit and ditto for Portugal / Spain, I cam visit these countries may be after a few years, if I get a chance to visit Europe again.

It seems it is purely going to be UK this time.

Where can I get to know about the availability, price etc for the trains etc. ??

Cheers
Satvik

PS Excuse the typos.
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Old Jul 31st, 2014, 09:26 PM
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A Britrail pass is almost certainly an expensive mistake for any traveller on a tight budget - and it's almost never the case that trains alone provide the best value way of getting round Britain.

Britons short of money get about mostly by booking inflexible advance tickets on trains (about 12 weeks prior) for journeys over 100 miles or so, by buying offpeak walk-up tickets for shorter intercity journeys, by buying a Railcard for 33% discount on these fares if they're eligible (see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/46540.aspx) and by buying local transport packages for travel entirely within the larger conurbations.

On some longer routes (like London-Glasgow) airlines might be cheaper: on some routes, (like London-Oxford) buses might be faster, cheaper and comfier, and some routes (like getting to Stonehenge) require a bus part of the way anyway.

Though Britrail loyalists (and clandestine earners of commission from touting Britrail passes) are forever banging on about Britrail's advantages, the benefits come down to flexibilty: no-one has ever demonstrated on this or any other forum a real-world rail itinerary that's cheaper through a Britrail pass than by careful prebooking of point to point journeys.

For some relatively affluent tourists, this doesn't matter: a Britrail pass more or less lets them get on any train between towns during its validity, and it doesn't matter to them that they'd have saved £50-£100 by booking journeys separately. This doesn't sound like a luxury you can afford.

By all means first determine the cost of Britrail. Its website isn't accessible to people in Britain, and virtually all its foreign fans either don't understand how to get cheap train fares, or don't want to tell you, so you need to do this comparison yourself. Then cost up your proposed itinerary by constructing dummy journeys for around October 15 on www.nationalrail.co.uk - but do play round with timings, since train fares vary widely through the day.

The National Rail site also has maps of the network. With only one exception, your most sensible working assumption is that the prices quoted on the National Rail site are the cheapest available (the site then connects you to the relevant train operating company site to make the actual bookings). Virtually all third-party sites claiming to quote lower prices (ESPECIALLY thetrainline) simply lie, by charging you extra booking fees.

The one exception, on some routes, is http://uk.megabus.com/

This is a booking engine, for some train and bus routes, that offers exceptionally low fares, sometimes for inconvenient routings or timings (so for some promising prices, such as London-Bath, compare its timetables with those on National Rail). Its trains are no different from other people's, though many of its buses are slightly more crowded than their competitors - which on some longer journeys can really matter.

You'd be wise to submit your proposed itinerary to a forum like this. By and large, this forum is good at helping you plan itineraries, but the UK Trip Advisor forum is far, far better at then fine-tuning railway plans to squeeze your costs as far as they'll be squeezed. Trip Advisor contributors can be balls-aching in the minutiae they'll cover to get train prices down - but there aren't any Britail touts among them, and errors get spotted by other contributors very quickly.
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Old Aug 1st, 2014, 10:01 AM
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Usually the cheapest lodging is hostels - but that will mean a dorm room shared with strangers. This is not how we travel but I would look at the student web sites to find those that are safest (some are party places with lots of drinking and drugs), most pleasant and conveniently located. I believe a bed/locker in a shared dorm room is about US $50 per night. And I assume you would want a unisex room.
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Old Aug 1st, 2014, 09:13 PM
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flanneruk


thanks for the detailed advice

I did go to the http://uk.megabus.com/ and found buses for as low as 10.60GBP.from London victoria to Glasgow.Only drag is that the arrival in Glasgow will be 12.30am. Going by your advice I am pretty sure that I will not be opting for the Rail Pass by Brit rail
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Old Aug 4th, 2014, 04:28 PM
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Hi Satvik,
We spent almost a week in London a few years ago. There are affordable hotels, we stayed at a Holiday Inn in Hammersmith. It was £55/night and included b'fast! It was a great deal, some kind of special rate they had for a short time. The hotel was a 8-10 minute walk to the nearest Tube station for the lines one needs to get to all the sight seeing, but it was an easy walk on a busy street, felt safe even late at night.
Food: We found plenty of Indian restaurants in Hammersmith and ate very reasonably. Are you vegetarian? Found fab South Indian food! Coming from the US, it was Indian food heaven. Not much British fare for vegetarians, usually.
There are always sandwich options too, and ready to eat meals at grocery stores. If you can eat like the locals and you can save lots of money. We didn't go to fancy restaurants, as we had kids, and didn't have that kind of money anyway.

Hope this helps and you have a great trip!
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Old Aug 13th, 2014, 09:14 PM
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Hi All.

I am back after a few days,now I did apply for a UK visa but its been delayed by a couple of months due to some documentation,I would most probably be getting my UK visa in Early December and that is not the best time to travel to the British aisles.
I see myself now planning for a trip in the summer of 2015.I wanted to know that which month will be the best to travel as far as cost and climate are concerned. I don't like winters a lot and money is a big issue like I said earlier.This might be my only chance to ever visit Europe or for that matter anywhere outside India.

I initially was a little confused whether to put Republic Ireland also on my radar but I think I'll pass on that.
P.S I know its a beautiful country but such is life.


So if now we talk about just the GB,Excluding the Northern Ireland also,I have 3 countries Wales,England,Scotland.

Here at fodors I haven't heard much about wales.I'll be having a total of 14 days for GB and I think covering 3 beautiful countries is not possible within that short span.
Comments and Advice's are most on welcome on that.

Some of area of Interests are Sightseeing the Green Lushy outfields of Scotland, The beautiful countryside of England under a cloudy weather(all so serene),distilleries in Scotland .

Yes I love history and would love to see a castle or 2 in Edinburgh etc and also Stonehenge is a must for me.


Now some of the cities that I have narrowed it down are as follows

For England
London
York
Birmingham
Manchester
Portsmouth/Plymouth
Oxford.


And For Scotland
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Sterling(I am a big Braveheart Fan)
Aberdeen
Dundee.


Please let me know that whether I should add a day or 2 in Cardiff??

Also I wont mind seeing a couple of museum also in these countries.Going by the Internet it seems that London is the most expensive in all these cities as it being the Financial and Political capital,It will be important for me to put it on my Travel plan as I'll be flying into LHR and Flying out also out of LHR. Because of the low airfares and numerous flight options from Delhi.(over 50 airlines have connections on the DEL-LHR and 5 are non stop).

So should it be first London and the rest of England and then head to Scotland,see Scotland and rush back to London.Am I rushing it or Am I being too Ambitious? Comments are most welcome.
Or Should it be a London halt for a couple of days and then all Scotland and then coming back a stay in a English city and then London???

Awaiting all the responses


Cheers
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Old Aug 13th, 2014, 09:19 PM
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sasaco

Thanks for the insight .I am not a vegetarian but I don't eat Pork or Beef.
South Indian food is great and healthy as well,I will have to look out for hotels soon enough.
I can eat like locals in Britain.I don't want the fancy restaurants,( I am tight on budget )
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Old Aug 14th, 2014, 08:30 AM
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Old Aug 14th, 2014, 08:44 AM
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Your wish-list is much too ambitious in the amount of time you have. Plan your trip by nites, not days. You should have five nites in London. That leaves you nine or ten at most for the rest of the UK. Travel in the UK is quite slow, particularly in rural areas.

When to go: May or September would be good, but the weather in the UK is unpredictable. We went in May last year and it rained a little almost every day and some days it rained hard. If I had it to do again, I'd go in September.


Whether to stay in London first or last is up to you but I would not recommend staying there two different times, unless you are just going to stay for the nite prior to an early flight; if so,then stay at the airport for that nite. You'll generally, but not always, get a better hotel rate for a longer stay.

Is there some particular reason you want to see Birmingham, Manchester, Portsmouth and Plymouth? Portsmouth and Plymouth are quite a distance apart, and I question whether you have time to see all of these a two-week trip and also see anywhere else. And there is little that is rural about them.

Unless you have some particular reason I'd substitute Bath and a tour of some of the Cotswold villages for these major cities--one of the most beautiful areas of rural England. Maybe try to stay in one of the smaller places in southern central England and travel around by bus. That alone plus York and maybe a run up by train to Edinburgh with a day trip to Stirling Castle and the Highlands would exhaust the time you have and would be a very fast trip.

Again, any particular reason to go to Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen? They are not in the Highlands, which is something I thought you wanted to do. Again, seeing all these plus Edinburgh plus Stirling plus Highlands will take more time than you have.

So it's either London plus Scotland plus York, or London plus Oxford/Costwolds plus York. In my opinion, that's all you have time for.

York deserves a couple of days (at least an early arrival and an overnite) as it offers a lot to do.

London has some world-class museums and they're mostly free. Be sure to visit the Docklands branch of the Museum of London as it deals with the "Empire." Very interesting. London has great South Asian food, as do most of the cities in the UK.

BTW--the UK is quite safe. Don't do anything you wouldn't do in Delhi, don't wear jewelry on the street, carry your valuables in a money belt, and beware of "friendly strangers". You should be O.K.
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Old Aug 14th, 2014, 08:53 PM
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Dwdvagamundo
Thanks for replying

Is there some particular reason you want to see Birmingham, Manchester, Portsmouth and Plymouth?

Actually no, don't have any specific reason to visit these cities, just have read in few newspapers that these are famous tourist spots, so thought of mentioning it here.

York will be a must for me.


Also let me know if it is worth stoping in Nottingham for a night, (I am a Robin Hood fan) May be local sightseeing, and also about Cardiff, shall I ignore it because of the less time I have?



Again, any particular reason to go to Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen? They are not in the Highlands, which is something I thought you wanted to do.

Yes I really want to see the highlands, I have heard that Glasgow is a must visit, is it true??

Will I get time to add Loch and Lake District if I ignore Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow??





and beware of "friendly strangers". You should be O.K.

Now that's one good advice that you have given. Will surely keep it in my mind.

Cheers

Satvik
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