Help with possible Romania trip
Jun 10th, 2010, 07:32 PM
#21
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I think from the perspective of someone who hasn't been yet, I can see your husband's point. I remember before our trip that Transylvvania was "it" - the thing I thought of when I thought of Romania.
It's a conundrum, that's for sure. 3 fairly distinct areas that, IMO, aren't basically the same as anything elsewhere. I've heard people say that because the "Saxons" had such a strong presence in Transylvania, that the towns were essentially German. But to me the history, not to mention the current day to day life, after the basic construction seems so different that it renders the point irrelevant for me. But architecture is only a portion of what I usually come to see. Part of the environment, really interesting but not what I stare out while ignoring everyone going past.
I honestly don't think you could go wrong in ANY of the areas, but I think you'll have to accept that there's something unique and right next door that you're going to miss with a 7 day window. Especially since transport isn't a breeze. But you won't lack for interesting things to see.
Since you read the report, you probably already know we took a about 13 days if I recall and that we started in Budapest also. The whole car situation thing looked to be trouble (or pricy) at that time if starting in RO and honestly, we thought Bucharest wasn't particularly closer to some of our targets (Maramures & Timisoara) than Budapest was. Mind you, a lot of rental companies at that time weren't allowing cars to cross the border into Romania, but Budget out of Budapest (from a hotel on Buda hill) did. Plus, we figured that roads in Hungary were fast in comparison which turned out to be mostly true, so we made good time to the border. No dodging around there once I drove us out of central Budapest.
Oh... if you know any Italian, it's not hard to pick up a bit of Romanian. Pimsleur isn't too bad if you can work past the pick-up lines part of the dialogue. "So, she we eat at the hotel?" he asks... Just asking for a bill in Romanian would send cafe waiters away beaming and they'd bring back witnesses from the kitchen. haha Probably so they could share a chuckle over our pronunciations later.
And if you know any German or French, those would have both come in handy at certain points. Rural people around Agnita sometimes tried to see if we spoke German. Nice that people were surprised to see strangers and wanted to have a chat. Unfortunately, my grandparent's influence has mostly faded in my memory now. And French was the foreign language of choice for older people who went to school in the days of communism so that was tried on us at times too.
On the family front. Just wait until they're this age... first you think it's so weird that you're having real conversations with the same little faces you were looking at, only a couple of months ago, thinking "what DO they want??". And now they're pleading their case for wearing their shiny ballet shoes to the playground. Telling you how to drive..... and they're winning the argument!
It's a conundrum, that's for sure. 3 fairly distinct areas that, IMO, aren't basically the same as anything elsewhere. I've heard people say that because the "Saxons" had such a strong presence in Transylvania, that the towns were essentially German. But to me the history, not to mention the current day to day life, after the basic construction seems so different that it renders the point irrelevant for me. But architecture is only a portion of what I usually come to see. Part of the environment, really interesting but not what I stare out while ignoring everyone going past.
I honestly don't think you could go wrong in ANY of the areas, but I think you'll have to accept that there's something unique and right next door that you're going to miss with a 7 day window. Especially since transport isn't a breeze. But you won't lack for interesting things to see.
Since you read the report, you probably already know we took a about 13 days if I recall and that we started in Budapest also. The whole car situation thing looked to be trouble (or pricy) at that time if starting in RO and honestly, we thought Bucharest wasn't particularly closer to some of our targets (Maramures & Timisoara) than Budapest was. Mind you, a lot of rental companies at that time weren't allowing cars to cross the border into Romania, but Budget out of Budapest (from a hotel on Buda hill) did. Plus, we figured that roads in Hungary were fast in comparison which turned out to be mostly true, so we made good time to the border. No dodging around there once I drove us out of central Budapest.
Oh... if you know any Italian, it's not hard to pick up a bit of Romanian. Pimsleur isn't too bad if you can work past the pick-up lines part of the dialogue. "So, she we eat at the hotel?" he asks... Just asking for a bill in Romanian would send cafe waiters away beaming and they'd bring back witnesses from the kitchen. haha Probably so they could share a chuckle over our pronunciations later.
And if you know any German or French, those would have both come in handy at certain points. Rural people around Agnita sometimes tried to see if we spoke German. Nice that people were surprised to see strangers and wanted to have a chat. Unfortunately, my grandparent's influence has mostly faded in my memory now. And French was the foreign language of choice for older people who went to school in the days of communism so that was tried on us at times too.
On the family front. Just wait until they're this age... first you think it's so weird that you're having real conversations with the same little faces you were looking at, only a couple of months ago, thinking "what DO they want??". And now they're pleading their case for wearing their shiny ballet shoes to the playground. Telling you how to drive..... and they're winning the argument!
Jun 11th, 2010, 05:06 AM
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Clifton, I so appreciate your input. I never thought about possible problems with renting a car in Romania, but I just did a sample reservation on Auto Europe for next May, choosing all locations and all types of cars, and they do not have anything available. Of course this could be because it's too far in advance. I'll have to check out other car rental websites, but this will apparently add just another challenge to the trip! We may have to fly into Budapest if this is the case. We prefer to drive, and given the train options in Romania going by rail isn't much of an option.
At this point I'm thinking that where we choose to base ourselves may come down to where we can fly into. If we have to fly into/out of Budapest it doesn't make any sense to drive all the way to Transylvania because it's just too far away and we would have to get back to Hungary to avoid the exhorbant drop-off charges. If we do need to fly into Budapest then perhaps we'll concentrate on the Maramures area. I haven't yet been to Budapest, so this too would add to the challenge because I'll be tempted to spend a few days there that we won't really have.
Decisions decisions! I think you are right though; given what I've read and seen I think we'll be happy with any of the three regions. Romania as a whole looks quite different from anything we've seen before and that's mostly what we are after...something different and unique!
It's amazing how quickly they grow up, isn't it? I still get a little shock when I see Elizabeth on her tummy even though she has been rolling over for about 3 weeks now! I have to give your little one credit for already being quite the fashion plate...a girl has to look cute, even on the playground!
At this point I'm thinking that where we choose to base ourselves may come down to where we can fly into. If we have to fly into/out of Budapest it doesn't make any sense to drive all the way to Transylvania because it's just too far away and we would have to get back to Hungary to avoid the exhorbant drop-off charges. If we do need to fly into Budapest then perhaps we'll concentrate on the Maramures area. I haven't yet been to Budapest, so this too would add to the challenge because I'll be tempted to spend a few days there that we won't really have.
Decisions decisions! I think you are right though; given what I've read and seen I think we'll be happy with any of the three regions. Romania as a whole looks quite different from anything we've seen before and that's mostly what we are after...something different and unique!
It's amazing how quickly they grow up, isn't it? I still get a little shock when I see Elizabeth on her tummy even though she has been rolling over for about 3 weeks now! I have to give your little one credit for already being quite the fashion plate...a girl has to look cute, even on the playground!
Jun 11th, 2010, 05:09 AM
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Oops...forgot to mention that I did take 4 semesters of college German. I'm certainly not great at it, but I *think* I may be able to brush up. My husband took German as well, so between the two of us we may be able to get by with a little bit of broken German if it's spoken. I've attempted to learn Italian before a few of our trips, but when it comes to French I am completely lost!
Jun 11th, 2010, 05:12 AM
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Sorry to keep responding and topping my own post! Clifton, rental cars from Budapest are almost half the cost over renting in Bucharest! Was this the same scenario you experienced? I decided to try a sample week in October and there were cars available but I was really surprised to see such a vast difference in cost. If we did want to reserve in Budapest I'll have to call Auto Europe to make sure we would be allowed to take the car across the border.
Jun 11th, 2010, 06:01 AM
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For everyone that responded to my post, I have a question. I really want to see Romania but our short time frame of one week seems almost too short to do it any justice. And with the stumbling blocks with airports and transportation I'm just wondering if you think it's even worth going to Romania for just a week? It just seems like if we had even three or four more days we would have much more flexibility.
Jun 11th, 2010, 06:16 AM
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<i>rental cars from Budapest are almost half the cost over renting in Bucharest</i>
Bingo! That was big motivation for us. Well that and two other things. I was cheating it into the itinerary because I was game to see Budapest anyway... and... because sometimes we'll do a two country gambit in case we hate the big focus country of the trip. In other words, if we hated Romania, we'd be able to cut it short and head *back* to Hungary early. Such a cop out.. lol. We've never had to use it, but it's not the only time we scoped it out that way. We did the same thing with Morocco. Planned to cross the straits to Spain at the end, figuring of we didn't like Morocco, then we could go north right away and wing it on hotels in Andalusia. Ended up loving Morocco and wishing we'd spent the last few days there too, but that's the cost of insurance.
Anyway, back to your trip... yeah - call Autoeurope. Their site used to tell you who you'd be renting from, as in what actual company, before you finalized the offer. And you'd get to see the terms and conditions on the screen for each pickup location, which was of course different companies. Now I don't think they have that. So someone on the phone should be able to suss that out if you end up starting in Budapest and use AE to arrange the car deal. I remember they were on top of things when I had to call them about a different trip and very nice.
All of the Romanian rentals we'd see were either with small indy companies that always give me the heebee jeebees... or with Hertz, who seem to think, based on their rates, that their cars are made of diamonds and gold. And that's the case no matter what country I've checked them in. Of course, some time has passed.., it may have gotten better as far as selection of companies. Back then, even the few there were wanted us to bring the car back to Bucharest (there goes the chance to fly back) or they'd sort of pretend to have other Romanian drop cities on their website, but in reality once we got to the fine print were planning on charging us a hefty fee to have someone come from Bucharest and pick up the car themselves. (we considered an open jaw, from Bucharest to Budapest, maybe leaving the car in Oradea or Satu Mare or Sibiu and going by train to Budapest but it wasn't to be)
Hopefully you get to use that German and that it's still holding up. I, ahem, have several of Spanish and I'm sure I still sound like I've taken several blows to the head trying to have a reasonable conversation.
The "Saxon" population (really a 700 year old displaced group from the Rhineland area) have been dwindling due to age and going to Germany, but quite a few were still maintaining their churches. Yeah, French totally zooms me too. All I hear are vowels and breathing. I've got no ear for it at all. Romanian is actually a latin language, with some slavic thrown in. So since I'd been listening to Italian CD's for 8 months, a lot of it sort of transferred.
You're right. Central Transylvania would be a haul. I forget that we stopped in Timisoara and Hunedoara on the way. Actually though, I think you probably could do something like 2 or 3 days in Maramures. and the rest based in Sibiu or Sighisoara and still pull it off. Maramures is not a big area and again, it's not a lot of attractions - just villages mainly, plus the Merry Cemetery. A bit more driving one day, but you can really haul once you hit one of the Hungarian highways. I checked and we had 12 days in RO... but we did do Timi and Hune (the Banat) and Bucovina... and Sinaia in the mountains too. So, just saying...
If you do try Budapest, I could see though why you'd want to stick to Maramures. Budapest itself would be hard to ignore coming and going. Don't know what you like in hotels, but if basic with a nice staff and a monster view is appealing - an unsolicited reco - Room 93 at the Victoria. www.victoria.hu
ok, I looked at my own old url and I see their prices have jumped. It was like 79 euro when we went. Ah well. Still, what a view from the little balcony of that room. http://www.travelisfatal.com/gallery...w&gazimage=149
and the view if you turned your head to the right slightly was an equally impressive view of the Chain Bridge. Normally I don't worry about views because I want to be out there... but that was one I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at. Hey, at least if you want to see sights and don't have the time... you got all night.
Bingo! That was big motivation for us. Well that and two other things. I was cheating it into the itinerary because I was game to see Budapest anyway... and... because sometimes we'll do a two country gambit in case we hate the big focus country of the trip. In other words, if we hated Romania, we'd be able to cut it short and head *back* to Hungary early. Such a cop out.. lol. We've never had to use it, but it's not the only time we scoped it out that way. We did the same thing with Morocco. Planned to cross the straits to Spain at the end, figuring of we didn't like Morocco, then we could go north right away and wing it on hotels in Andalusia. Ended up loving Morocco and wishing we'd spent the last few days there too, but that's the cost of insurance.
Anyway, back to your trip... yeah - call Autoeurope. Their site used to tell you who you'd be renting from, as in what actual company, before you finalized the offer. And you'd get to see the terms and conditions on the screen for each pickup location, which was of course different companies. Now I don't think they have that. So someone on the phone should be able to suss that out if you end up starting in Budapest and use AE to arrange the car deal. I remember they were on top of things when I had to call them about a different trip and very nice.
All of the Romanian rentals we'd see were either with small indy companies that always give me the heebee jeebees... or with Hertz, who seem to think, based on their rates, that their cars are made of diamonds and gold. And that's the case no matter what country I've checked them in. Of course, some time has passed.., it may have gotten better as far as selection of companies. Back then, even the few there were wanted us to bring the car back to Bucharest (there goes the chance to fly back) or they'd sort of pretend to have other Romanian drop cities on their website, but in reality once we got to the fine print were planning on charging us a hefty fee to have someone come from Bucharest and pick up the car themselves. (we considered an open jaw, from Bucharest to Budapest, maybe leaving the car in Oradea or Satu Mare or Sibiu and going by train to Budapest but it wasn't to be)
Hopefully you get to use that German and that it's still holding up. I, ahem, have several of Spanish and I'm sure I still sound like I've taken several blows to the head trying to have a reasonable conversation.
The "Saxon" population (really a 700 year old displaced group from the Rhineland area) have been dwindling due to age and going to Germany, but quite a few were still maintaining their churches. Yeah, French totally zooms me too. All I hear are vowels and breathing. I've got no ear for it at all. Romanian is actually a latin language, with some slavic thrown in. So since I'd been listening to Italian CD's for 8 months, a lot of it sort of transferred.
You're right. Central Transylvania would be a haul. I forget that we stopped in Timisoara and Hunedoara on the way. Actually though, I think you probably could do something like 2 or 3 days in Maramures. and the rest based in Sibiu or Sighisoara and still pull it off. Maramures is not a big area and again, it's not a lot of attractions - just villages mainly, plus the Merry Cemetery. A bit more driving one day, but you can really haul once you hit one of the Hungarian highways. I checked and we had 12 days in RO... but we did do Timi and Hune (the Banat) and Bucovina... and Sinaia in the mountains too. So, just saying...
If you do try Budapest, I could see though why you'd want to stick to Maramures. Budapest itself would be hard to ignore coming and going. Don't know what you like in hotels, but if basic with a nice staff and a monster view is appealing - an unsolicited reco - Room 93 at the Victoria. www.victoria.hu
ok, I looked at my own old url and I see their prices have jumped. It was like 79 euro when we went. Ah well. Still, what a view from the little balcony of that room. http://www.travelisfatal.com/gallery...w&gazimage=149
and the view if you turned your head to the right slightly was an equally impressive view of the Chain Bridge. Normally I don't worry about views because I want to be out there... but that was one I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at. Hey, at least if you want to see sights and don't have the time... you got all night.
Jun 11th, 2010, 10:36 AM
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Of course it's worth to go to Romania even for a week - southern Transylvania, Maramures, Bucovina are all extremely interesting regions, seeing any of them will make up for not having the time to visit the whole country.
As for car rentals, the best way is to rent directly from Romanian companies. The larger ones like Autonom ( http://www.autonom.com/ ) or Eurocars ( http://www.eurocars.ro/ ) are reliable enough, have offices in most large cities and are relatively reasonably priced.
In case you decide to go through Budapest another option to get to Transylvania fast is flying with the low cost airline Wizzair ( http://wizzair.com/?language=EN ) to Targu Mures; the flight takes one hour and costs about $20 if you book with a few weeks in advance. Targu Mures is quite close to southern Transylvania (less than one hour's drive to Sighisoara, 2 1/2-3 hours to Sibiu) and respectively about four hours away from Maramures.
As for car rentals, the best way is to rent directly from Romanian companies. The larger ones like Autonom ( http://www.autonom.com/ ) or Eurocars ( http://www.eurocars.ro/ ) are reliable enough, have offices in most large cities and are relatively reasonably priced.
In case you decide to go through Budapest another option to get to Transylvania fast is flying with the low cost airline Wizzair ( http://wizzair.com/?language=EN ) to Targu Mures; the flight takes one hour and costs about $20 if you book with a few weeks in advance. Targu Mures is quite close to southern Transylvania (less than one hour's drive to Sighisoara, 2 1/2-3 hours to Sibiu) and respectively about four hours away from Maramures.
Jun 11th, 2010, 10:43 AM
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Tracy,
Just got back from Bucharest ... Short time but loved it. I have some Lei ($$$) left over (Could not get them exchanged in US) that you can have for you trip in May! You can check out my report at:
http://dmbtraveler195.blogspot.com/2...bucharest.html.
Just got back from Bucharest ... Short time but loved it. I have some Lei ($$$) left over (Could not get them exchanged in US) that you can have for you trip in May! You can check out my report at:
http://dmbtraveler195.blogspot.com/2...bucharest.html.
Jun 15th, 2010, 02:33 AM
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Hi Tracey. I went to Romania for just three days and did some sightseeing while my husband was attending to some business there. Although it was only a short time I am very glad I went. Should you decide to use a guide for any portion of your trip, then I can highly recommend CTI Tours. I did a full day tour of Bucharest and the next day, I did a full day tour of Transylvania (Brasov, Bran and Sinaia). I had an excellent english speaking guide (Maria) and a driver and they really enhanced the experience for me because they could explain the significance of the sites I was seeing much better than a guidebook could. Having lived through the latter Ceacescu years, Maria was also able to give some extremely interesting insight about life during Romania's not too distant communist past. I highly recommend them if you choose to go this way.
http://www.studyabroad.ro/cti/en/index.htm
http://www.studyabroad.ro/cti/en/index.htm
Jun 15th, 2010, 05:33 AM
#30
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Clifton, I had to laugh at your comments about adding Hungary just in case Romania didn't work because we too have done something similar in the past. We've often planned trips with a backup plan in case we didn't care for our original plan. Sad but true....our vacation time is much to valuable to spend it in a place we don't care for!
I am still working on the logistics for this Romania trip. I really, really want to visit Maramures and/or Bucovina. I'm thinking that I may see about flying from OTP to maybe Baia Mare and then driving to Sighet and from there to Suceava and then back down to Bucharest. A lot of driving, probably more than I would prefer, but we do typically like driving and will see about possible places of interest to stop along the way to make the journey more interesting. We still want at least a night in Sighisoara and then maybe a stopover at Bran Castle before arriving in Bucharest to fly home. I'm not really too interested in Bucharest so we don't plan on spending much time there other than to catch our flight back.
I guess I shouldn't be getting too much into the details, though, until I make sure we can even get a flight to Bucharest with AA miles! I don't want to get too ahead of myself. If we have to fly into BUD then will will have to skip Transylvania all together, and maybe even Bucovina, depending on how much driving we want to do. And if we can't get AA flights to Budapest, well, I guess the whole Romania trip will have to be scrapped for plan B (which, at this point I *think* will be centered around Krakow/Poland).
Thank you everyone that replied and given me your advice, opinions and links! I really appreciate it!
Tracy
I am still working on the logistics for this Romania trip. I really, really want to visit Maramures and/or Bucovina. I'm thinking that I may see about flying from OTP to maybe Baia Mare and then driving to Sighet and from there to Suceava and then back down to Bucharest. A lot of driving, probably more than I would prefer, but we do typically like driving and will see about possible places of interest to stop along the way to make the journey more interesting. We still want at least a night in Sighisoara and then maybe a stopover at Bran Castle before arriving in Bucharest to fly home. I'm not really too interested in Bucharest so we don't plan on spending much time there other than to catch our flight back.
I guess I shouldn't be getting too much into the details, though, until I make sure we can even get a flight to Bucharest with AA miles! I don't want to get too ahead of myself. If we have to fly into BUD then will will have to skip Transylvania all together, and maybe even Bucovina, depending on how much driving we want to do. And if we can't get AA flights to Budapest, well, I guess the whole Romania trip will have to be scrapped for plan B (which, at this point I *think* will be centered around Krakow/Poland).
Thank you everyone that replied and given me your advice, opinions and links! I really appreciate it!
Tracy
Jun 15th, 2010, 06:12 AM
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Not to pry, but if you have plenty of FF miles, look into OneWorld partner awards. They'd cost more miles usually, but the availability is totally different.
I know British Airways flies to Budapest, because that's how we got there and I'm almost certain Bucharest too. Also, Malev, the Hungarian national airline, is now a OneWorld member too.
We were looking for award tickets to Australia and couldn't get them once. Then we came up with one of the OneWorld plans that sent us through Hong Kong and we were able to go anyway. Just more miles... and in our case, a couple extra days because we decided the HK layover would be too good to pass on.
Even if you were able to fit in a couple of days in Maramures and a couple in central Transylvania, I think you'd have a great trip and not too rushed.
ps - those car companies flat4 suggested weren't around when we went, so they might be an answer to your problem, if they're not limited miles/km's.
I know British Airways flies to Budapest, because that's how we got there and I'm almost certain Bucharest too. Also, Malev, the Hungarian national airline, is now a OneWorld member too.
We were looking for award tickets to Australia and couldn't get them once. Then we came up with one of the OneWorld plans that sent us through Hong Kong and we were able to go anyway. Just more miles... and in our case, a couple extra days because we decided the HK layover would be too good to pass on.
Even if you were able to fit in a couple of days in Maramures and a couple in central Transylvania, I think you'd have a great trip and not too rushed.
ps - those car companies flat4 suggested weren't around when we went, so they might be an answer to your problem, if they're not limited miles/km's.
Jun 15th, 2010, 10:34 AM
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Thanks Clifton! I can use AA OneWorld partners for miles. I just have to call them to book because they won't allow online bookings for miles tickets on partner airlines. I think I'm just more worried about availability. I don't have as much experience with flying on awards miles as some on here, and in the past we've had to tweak our trip plans a bit because of flight options, but I'm hoping that if we try to book sooner we can either get what we want or continue calling until flights open up.
Have you done much traveling from Australia? I know that at one time you mentioned cheaper flights to SE Asia, and from your post above it sounds like you made it to Bali? So much fun..I'm envious!
Have you done much traveling from Australia? I know that at one time you mentioned cheaper flights to SE Asia, and from your post above it sounds like you made it to Bali? So much fun..I'm envious!
Jun 15th, 2010, 03:30 PM
#33
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Yeah, definitely call them. Oh - and there is a difference between a partner award and a OneWorld award. For instance, not all AA's partners are OneWorld. And the OneWorld alliance offers something a little different than a straight partnership arrangement. Best I can tell, OneWorld has very specific types of awards, but it seems like they may override at least some of the availability issues. So if you looked at the OneWorld.com site and found an award that would work for you, when you called AA and they ran out of options, you could say... "what about the OneWorld award XXX". When we called about the Australia trip, they would check their own routes, then Qantas as a 'partner' (as in, did Qantas have any seats in their FF program on those dates).. and then said "no". Then we pulled the OneWorld award question out, and it was "no problem".
Bali was our only trip so far. It was a gift - a family member loaned us their villa there and the flight was just a 5.5 hour non-stop on Jetstar (a budget airline). That's probably it for a bit. Maybe see some more of Australia. It's just a big move and re-buying everything and getting set up in a house and starting new careers is going to keep us grounded for a while. But I am pretty excited about Air Asia running budget flights from here non-stop to Kuala Lumpur and from there to all sorts of places for relatively cleap tickets... like Sri Lanka or Guilin or Borneo. And especially to Siem Reap for $58, since I've been dying to get back there.
Bali was our only trip so far. It was a gift - a family member loaned us their villa there and the flight was just a 5.5 hour non-stop on Jetstar (a budget airline). That's probably it for a bit. Maybe see some more of Australia. It's just a big move and re-buying everything and getting set up in a house and starting new careers is going to keep us grounded for a while. But I am pretty excited about Air Asia running budget flights from here non-stop to Kuala Lumpur and from there to all sorts of places for relatively cleap tickets... like Sri Lanka or Guilin or Borneo. And especially to Siem Reap for $58, since I've been dying to get back there.
Jun 15th, 2010, 03:36 PM
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Oh, on that OneWorld thing. With our ticket, the "special" part of the qualifying for that particular ticket was "must use three OneWorld members to make the trip". So then we said... well, what if we stopped in Hong Kong? And so we took AA from STL to LAX, Cathay Pacific from LAX to Hong Kong... Qantas from HK to MEL and again MEL to LAX where we picked up AA again to get home.
I was thinking with your route, it may not be so hard to creatively combine AA, BA and Malev to build an 3 airline itinerary to either Budapest or Bucharest (or open jaw), if you had to. --
AA to London and back. BA to Bucharest, Malev from OTP or BUD back to London? 3 airlines, all OneWorld.
I was thinking with your route, it may not be so hard to creatively combine AA, BA and Malev to build an 3 airline itinerary to either Budapest or Bucharest (or open jaw), if you had to. --
AA to London and back. BA to Bucharest, Malev from OTP or BUD back to London? 3 airlines, all OneWorld.
Jun 15th, 2010, 04:41 PM
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Thanks Clifton! You know so much more about this stuff than I do! I think I could get three OneWorld flights with some creative planning. I believe most flights that leave Charlotte have an AA flight to ORD or JFK, then a BA flight to LHR. From there I can see if I can get a Malev flight to OTP or perhaps back from BUD to LHR. Interesting! I'll definitely have to look into it.
Bali sounds great. A private villa too....I think I would die! I know what you mean though about starting over and all. Hopefully you'll get to do lots of traveling in the future. I would love to return to Asia (we've only been to Japan) but the flights are so long, and expensive, that it makes it difficult for just a week or so.
Bali sounds great. A private villa too....I think I would die! I know what you mean though about starting over and all. Hopefully you'll get to do lots of traveling in the future. I would love to return to Asia (we've only been to Japan) but the flights are so long, and expensive, that it makes it difficult for just a week or so.
Jun 21st, 2010, 12:02 PM
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Good news! I just called AA this morning and I have flights on hold! CLT to ORD to LHR to OTP and back. The flights aren't really that bad...no really long layovers and, best of all, no overnight in London necessary! The flight doesn't get into Bucharest until 4:15 pm, but I can handle that. We'll probably immediately rent the car or fly to our next destination.
It sounds like Romania is vastly different from western and central Europe, which is what we are looking for. I have 5 days to confirm the booking. Any last minute words of encouragement or your personal thoughts on your Romania trips?
Thanks!
Tracy
It sounds like Romania is vastly different from western and central Europe, which is what we are looking for. I have 5 days to confirm the booking. Any last minute words of encouragement or your personal thoughts on your Romania trips?
Thanks!
Tracy
Jun 21st, 2010, 03:28 PM
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Thanks Clifton! I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I got my preferred dates without having to do any juggling around. And many of the flights on AA.com showed overnights in London and I'm so happy I don't have to do that. Too expensive, I don't feel the need to return, and I don't have to take a night away from Romania. So excited!
Jun 21st, 2010, 03:41 PM
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Clifton (and others), I'm putting together a rough itinerary because, well, I'm bored and the girls are in bed for the night! This is very rough, but how does this sound?
1st night - Bucharest (4:15 pm arrival)
2nd night - Sighisoara (see Brasov/Bran on the way)
3rd night - Sighisoara (day trip to Sibiu)
4th night - Sighet
5th night - Sighet
6th night - Suceava
7th night - Bucharest (flying from Suceava to Bucharest)
Fly home
Is this entirely too much traveling? I'm using viamichelin and I admit that it's a lot of driving, although we do like driving and the scenery looks gorgeous. If so, should I eliminate Maramures or Bucovina? I want to drive one direction and fly back, but I'm not sure which would be more appealing? It looks like we could fly back to Bucharest on Tarom from either Baia Mare or Suceava.
Thanks!
Tracy
1st night - Bucharest (4:15 pm arrival)
2nd night - Sighisoara (see Brasov/Bran on the way)
3rd night - Sighisoara (day trip to Sibiu)
4th night - Sighet
5th night - Sighet
6th night - Suceava
7th night - Bucharest (flying from Suceava to Bucharest)
Fly home
Is this entirely too much traveling? I'm using viamichelin and I admit that it's a lot of driving, although we do like driving and the scenery looks gorgeous. If so, should I eliminate Maramures or Bucovina? I want to drive one direction and fly back, but I'm not sure which would be more appealing? It looks like we could fly back to Bucharest on Tarom from either Baia Mare or Suceava.
Thanks!
Tracy
Jun 21st, 2010, 04:45 PM
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Depending on how/where you're getting your car... and keeping in mind, I haven't started this way myself but just based on old ideas from old research...
What do you think about the idea of catching the train from OTP to Brasov on arrival and being that much further along the next morning + less driving before sight seeing the next day?
I think then your longest bit is Sighisoara to Sighet - if you could cut down on that idea of starting in Bucharest one morning, driving the mountains (the road runs along the tracks anyway) and ending in Sighisoara along the way, with Brasov (a pretty good sized city) and Bran on the way. That would be a rough day. By starting in Brasov that morning, you may even find time to see some of the more authentic Saxon walls, like the churches in Harmann or Prejmer. They're about 20 miles the other side of Brasov, opposite the way from Bran.
Sighet to Suceava is long, but not a hard drive IMO. A one highway drive for the most part with one high pass and a few interesting looking villages on the way, but not much specific to stop at. One village just inside the Bucovina area had quite unique houses, but you look as you pass, more or less. I think I might suggest stopping short of Suceava. A place like Guru Humorliei(sp) is closer to the monasteries, should you still need some time in the morning before you head to the Suceava airport. We actually stayed in a guest house very near the Voronet monastery called Casa Elena. We were winging it without reservations. Not a lot of character and not close to town, but they had a lot of rooms and were nice, plus had decent food. But we could get up in the morning after a long drive, grab some breakfast and be at the first of 4 monasteries in about 5 mins, so that was ok with us.
Around Sighisoara, you might plan for the Sibiu day trip, but also think about leaving time to poke about Sighisoara's citadel area. It's small, but it has a lot of nooks and crannies, plus the ancient wooden staircase to the old church and cemetery hovering above the town. Leave time to snoop. Also, if you have a good map and a car, you may find yourself curious about the nearer towns and run out of time for Sibiu. For instance, Medias has a lot of that old architecture... and I swear for a good sized city, with avery old and colorful center, I never saw any tourists. Mind you, it's not quite as evocative and not nearly as spruced up as Sibiu. In fact, I'd say it's fair to say that it's rough around the edges. But I liked it. So, if you get into a pinch....
Oh, and on your question about what to eliminate if you had to - I'd start with what I've already said, but if it came down to Maramures or Bucovina... for you I'd say eliminate Bucovina. If someone seemed to be ga-ga about churches, architecture and painting, I'd go the other way and say to keep Bucovina. But what you expressed about being more interested in living culture... that's more Maramures. Although, one sticky point is that the drive from Sighioara to Bucovina is much more scenic (and slow and winding and tempting to stop for photos!) than from Sighisoara to Sighet (we drove a lot of that in between area in day trip from Sighisoara).
What do you think about the idea of catching the train from OTP to Brasov on arrival and being that much further along the next morning + less driving before sight seeing the next day?
I think then your longest bit is Sighisoara to Sighet - if you could cut down on that idea of starting in Bucharest one morning, driving the mountains (the road runs along the tracks anyway) and ending in Sighisoara along the way, with Brasov (a pretty good sized city) and Bran on the way. That would be a rough day. By starting in Brasov that morning, you may even find time to see some of the more authentic Saxon walls, like the churches in Harmann or Prejmer. They're about 20 miles the other side of Brasov, opposite the way from Bran.
Sighet to Suceava is long, but not a hard drive IMO. A one highway drive for the most part with one high pass and a few interesting looking villages on the way, but not much specific to stop at. One village just inside the Bucovina area had quite unique houses, but you look as you pass, more or less. I think I might suggest stopping short of Suceava. A place like Guru Humorliei(sp) is closer to the monasteries, should you still need some time in the morning before you head to the Suceava airport. We actually stayed in a guest house very near the Voronet monastery called Casa Elena. We were winging it without reservations. Not a lot of character and not close to town, but they had a lot of rooms and were nice, plus had decent food. But we could get up in the morning after a long drive, grab some breakfast and be at the first of 4 monasteries in about 5 mins, so that was ok with us.
Around Sighisoara, you might plan for the Sibiu day trip, but also think about leaving time to poke about Sighisoara's citadel area. It's small, but it has a lot of nooks and crannies, plus the ancient wooden staircase to the old church and cemetery hovering above the town. Leave time to snoop. Also, if you have a good map and a car, you may find yourself curious about the nearer towns and run out of time for Sibiu. For instance, Medias has a lot of that old architecture... and I swear for a good sized city, with avery old and colorful center, I never saw any tourists. Mind you, it's not quite as evocative and not nearly as spruced up as Sibiu. In fact, I'd say it's fair to say that it's rough around the edges. But I liked it. So, if you get into a pinch....
Oh, and on your question about what to eliminate if you had to - I'd start with what I've already said, but if it came down to Maramures or Bucovina... for you I'd say eliminate Bucovina. If someone seemed to be ga-ga about churches, architecture and painting, I'd go the other way and say to keep Bucovina. But what you expressed about being more interested in living culture... that's more Maramures. Although, one sticky point is that the drive from Sighioara to Bucovina is much more scenic (and slow and winding and tempting to stop for photos!) than from Sighisoara to Sighet (we drove a lot of that in between area in day trip from Sighisoara).
