Ashley_Quintern

Hi my friends and I are planning a trip to Europe in May, this is my tentative itin, Does it look ok? and should I take a day a way from belgium and add it to amsterdam or anything? .



may6-tpa
may7-dub
may8-dub
may9-nrthrn ire
may10-belfast
may11-belfast-edinburgh 10am
may12-edingbrgh
may13-scotland
may14-scotland
may15-london arrive 11am
may16-london (day tour)
may17-london
may18-amsterdam arrive 9:30am
may19-bruges arrive 10:55am
may20-belgium
may21-belgium
may22-brussels-tampa

Ashley_Quintern

Question, on day 2 in edinburgh we are renting a car and driving the 6 hours to glen brittle to see the fairy pools, (ive been there before) then we are staying the night and heading back, should we stop on the way back and sleep somewhere else or just head straight back to edinburgh?

alanRow

Fly Belfast to Inverness, hire a car there and make your way south, then use the Caledonian Sleeper to reach London - or fly to Edinburgh, hire a car, make your way to Inverness, use the Caledonian Sleeper to London

And what is "day tour"?

walkabout

At first glance, I would say you are moving around an awful lot for a 2-week trip. How are you getting from city to city? Trains, buses, planes? I think you are spending a lot of time in transit, and not enough time actually seeing and visiting the cities themselves.

Don't get me wrong--I am not a person who believes that all travel should be done slowly or that every city or country you visit must be seen in depth. On the contrary, I like to move around a lot, particularly if it's my first time to a place. I also get the feeling you are young. Jumping around from place to place can be easier and more appealing when you are young and eager to see as much as you can in a short period of time. Nonetheless, I think you should slow it down a bit.

Checking in and out of hotels, making your way to airports and bus stations, and simply navigating around a strange city can be very time consuming. I think you have underestimated the time it takes to do that.

If it were I, I would drop Belgium from the trip altogether and concentrate on the other cities/countries. For example, you are only spending about a half day in Amsterdam (once you consider making your way to your hotel and checking in). That's hardly worth the trouble. Same for Edinburgh--only about a half day because the second day you are spending the entire day out of town. Only 1 day in Belfast, too.

There is so much to see and do in all of the cities, and I think you are giving them short shrift, even for an "overview" type vacation.

Ashley_Quintern

ive already been to ireland and scotland, and we are going to be mostly staying in hostels. its not as bad as it looks. I do this every time i travel. We stay the first 2 days in Dublin, then we take car and drive slowly stopping to see sights such as new grange and what ever else is along the way to belfast , then we go over and see giants causeway and spend the rest of the time in belfast,i dont need a ton of time here because ive done it before and not much of a belfast fan. then we take a flight early the 11 to edinburgh and land there at 10am, we spend the day at our leisure,then we wake up early on the 12 and pick up a car and head to the fairy pools ( 5 and a half car trip), stop for the night in glen brittle, and head back toward edinburgh stopping along the way, arriving late into edinburgh, then we stay there 2 nights, and early morning the 15th we fly into london arriving 11am. drop luggage off at hostel, and explore the city, the next day we take a guided tour to see stone hedge and the baths and windsor,( so hostel in london for 3 night) spend a day exploring london, then on the 18th we fly in to amsterdam arriving 9:30 am and spend the full day there and spend the night wake up in am take train to bruges and finish out our trip in brussels where we fly home on the 22nd.


Belgium is a must, ticket has already been bought and is non refundable.

walkabout

If your travel companions are okay with the itinerary, and you obviously are, then Have a great trip!

skyking

Not sure why you bothered to ask for input on your itinerary. Doesn't sound like you want any suggestions.

hetismij2

Have you bought the train tickets from Amsterdam to Brugge? If not then add at least a day to Amsterdam. You will regret not spending longer there rather than all that time in Brussels.
Or drop Amsterdam all together and add the time to London.

Tulips

Agree with hetismij; 1 day in Amsterdam is very short. If you have not been to Amsterdam, I would add a day, instead of Brussels.
May 20 is a holiday in Belgium - (whitsun 19 and 20 may). Tourist attractions will be open, shops may not be.

skyking

To piggyback on walkabout, hetismij2, and Tulips I think less than a day in Amsterdam is too short. Either add more time or skip it altogether. Nor would I spend 12 hours of my Edinburgh time driving back and forth to the fairy pools.

Day and a half exploring London isn't much either. I'd rather spend more time in London than go to Brussels, or anywhere in Belgium for that matter. But you already bought a nonrefundable ticket from Belgium. Never understand why travelers make nonrefundable travel plans and THEN ask for tips on their itinerary.

You talk about what you have done and what you don't like. What about your travel companions? Do they have any input into the itinerary? Or are they leaving everything up to you as the experienced traveler? If so, I have a feeling there are going to be some disgruntled travel companions.

janisj

You say you have been there before . . . have your friends? If not you are cutting them very short in a LOT of places.

You are going to have 1/2 day in Edinburgh.

And almost no time at all on Skye. Edinburgh to the hostel in Glen Brittle can easily take 7+ hours 'car time' w/o a single stop. Will your friends be happy stuck in the car for probably 8 or 9 hours - assuming you'll need a meal and a pee somewhere along the way.

Your '6 hours' estimate is for perfect conditions - no weather, no caravans, no sheep in the road, and no stops in Glencoe or anywhere else . . . open and empty road all the way. Not likely.

And then you are turning around the next morning and leaving -

But I am also unsure what you want since your plan seems set in stone.

janisj

From your other threads it appears this is your second time to Scotland and you were there for a week last March. Part of that week was a group tour. You are biting off a LOT w/ this one.

Ashley_Quintern

hmm i have a lot to think about and adjust, thank u.

Ashley_Quintern

its all my friends first time traveling except one, and they want nothing to do with the planning lol, just the going. Its all on me. I will take the suggestion of taking a day off in belgium and adding it to amsterdam, and will put it into action, ur right i dont want to make them grumpy. more time in one place is nice. thank you so very much, and I most likely will delete the fairy pools, i just was so inlove with them and after showing them to my friends they wanted to see them, thought we'd rent a car and take in sights :/ now im not sure.

Ashley_Quintern

i do need help planning london though, it so confusing. Im trying to find where I should look into staying hostel wise, whats most central? what streets am i looking for etc..

janisj

"whats most central? what streets am i looking for etc."

There are many hostels in London - All over the city. Why not tell us a few of the ones you are considering and we can tell what the location is like and what we know, if anything, about the specific property.

Ashley_Quintern

i haven't looked at any because I dont know where to begin... I want somewhere close to the airport and thats confusing because london apparently has a few airports :/ and one that we can walk to nearby attractions, and in a safer area. ugh i know how that sounds i guess let me figure which airport we will be using, and i'll get back to u.

Ashley_Quintern

all the site says is where flying to London(stansted), its only 40 usd and 1hr

walkabout

If you want to be walking distance to tourist attractions, then you will have to come to central London. There aren't tourist attractions out by the airport. Here are your transportation options from Stansted:
http://www.stanstedairport.com/trans...central-london

As for hostels, I have been to London many times, but have never stayed in a hostel. IME most of the people on Fodors are older travelers (like me) who rent apartments or stay in hotels. You could try posting your question on Lonely Planet's Thorntree Forum, which gets more backpackers. However, they took the site down for a couple weeks, and now that it's back up nearly all of their old threads have been deleted. So their info isn't as comprehensive as it used to be, and their search function won't yield much. However, it still might be worthwhile to post a question there about hostels.

To get you started, here are a few hostels I've seen mentioned through the years. You can check out the reviews on hostelworld and tripadvisor (TA). TA also has traveler pictures of the hostels.

Generator Hostel: http://generatorhostels.com/en/destinations/london/
Hostelworld Review: http://goo.gl/QsT8E
TA review: http://goo.gl/L7aaZ

YHA Oxford St.: http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/london-oxford-street
Hostelworld Review: http://goo.gl/Jx545
TA review: http://goo.gl/ukaxw

YHA St. Paul's: http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/london-st-pauls
Hostelworld Review: http://goo.gl/lX8Tw
TA Review: http://goo.gl/AJER3

Clink 78: http://goo.gl/mOrrF
Hostelworld Review: http://goo.gl/uRZRG
TA review: http://goo.gl/EkYC8

Piccadilly Guesthouse: http://www.piccadillyguesthouse.com/
TA Review: http://goo.gl/i364x

The Dictionary, Shoreditch: http://www.thedictionaryhostel.com/
Hostelworld Review: http://goo.gl/U2ttW
TA Review: http://goo.gl/mNbpr

As janisj pointed out, there are many, many hostels in London. Looking at the reviews, you will see that most of them are a mixed bag. Once you do a bit of research, there are many knowledgeable travelers on this site who can give you info about the locations and neighborhoods, if not about the hostels themselves. Good luck to you!

Nonconformist

"I haven't looked at any because I dont know where to begin... I want somewhere close to the airport and thats confusing because london apparently has a few airports :/ and one that we can walk to nearby attractions"

You can't have both, I'm afraid - all the London airports were well out of the city.