Eastern Europe
 

I've only been to Western Europe so far. My sister is trying to convince me to go to eastern Europe like Prague and Krakow. Do you agree? I'm interested, but convince me to go if you've been there and agree.

Have you considered doing a little research on the countries of middle and Eastern Europe?

Several countries in eastern europe - Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Baltic states - have great history, tones to see and do, reasonable pricess compared to the west and are just as easy to travel as the west (in terms of prep/ accomodations for tourists and many people knowing at last a smattering of English). These I recommend highly for everyone. Russia is a little more challenging to navigate on your own but is certainly worth the effort given the icnredible experience. Others - Romania, Bulgaria I would not recommend unless you're prepared to cope with some difficulties/differences - they're really not as easy to travel as western europe.

Does this help? Or do you have any specific concerns to be answered?

I'm not going to spend my time trying to convince you. You need to convince yourself. Get some guidebooks, go to the library and do some research, and gather enough background information to ask some intelligent questions. You'll get lots of responses. Good luck.

You could also choose one of the countries as a topic and peruse the comments of various travelers. I do not see why you, as a seasoned user of this site, do not do some stealth research.

If you like architecture, you MUST go. They are all romantic cities, and you will fall in love with the beautiful scenery, ornate buildings, public squares, mellow people. Also, it is very affordable to travel there. You can see places with great culture for very little $. Many people speak English, and there is no real problem with getting around the major cities, so don't be scared of a language barrier, etc. Just go & tell us how you liked it!

I'm headed to Prague over Christmas, never been but from what I've heard, it's supposed to be amazing, not to mention very accomodating to tourists. I would suggest just doing your research, you never know what you'll come up with.