Where would you go if you...
 

had 2 weeks to go & come back in <BR> <BR>had 3000.00 to do it with <BR> <BR>were celebrating your 12th wedding anniversary <BR> <BR>had been to Germany but your husband had been nowhere <BR> <BR>were going in late May <BR> <BR>We are still in the planning phase and would like some input to help with decision. <BR>

Nancy <BR>That is a tough one to answer, since it is hard to know what you and your hubby like best. My wife and I found the lake country of Northern Italy to be very romantic (Lake Como and surrounds). Breath takingly beautiful and very conducive to romance (wink, wink). From the lake area a trip to Venice will get the romantic juices flowing, and be sure to visit Florence. If looking at the statue of David and his ample proportions don't get you thinking of love you may need help. <BR> <BR>We also find Switzerland to be romantic, and we really like Luzern and the area around there. <BR> <BR>France is for lovers obviously, especially Paris. <BR> <BR>London puts me in a loving mood, as does Brugge, Belgium. <BR> <BR>And then there is Germany, the romantic road, the wonderful Black Forest, the Bavarian mountains, the wine region along the Rhine, all very romantic. <BR> <BR>And do not forget Austria and Lichtenstein, ah love in is the air. <BR> <BR>And Madrid, ah Madrid, with the pretty senoritas (and handsome senors) all around just has to lead to some serious romance time in your hotel room. <BR> <BR>So my advice? Pick a place and go. You won't regret it.

Nancy <BR>Your biggest expense will be air fare. <BR>Look into it now for London, Paris, Milan(to Venice), Rome, and Athens, and I'll bet for May it could eat up to $1200-$1500 of your budget. Also look into airfares to <BR>easy transfer points like Sabena to Brussels plus an intra-European flight or train which may be less. <BR>Here are some budget travel websites, there are many others <BR>www.cheaptickets.com recommended on Fodor's forum <BR>www.budgettravel.com includes info on bus and train travel <BR>www.eurotrip.com <BR>www.expedia.com <BR>www.fare.com <BR>www.fortunecity.com/oasis/ links to many travel sites <BR>www.frommers.com <BR>www.hoteldiscount.com <BR>www.itn.net/airlines provides lowest fares, you can subscribe <BR>www.travelbids.com you design your trip, travel agents bid on your trip <BR>www.onsale.com travel auctions <BR>www.travelocity.com flights, hotels, cruises, information on locations <BR>www.travelscape.com do it yourself booking <BR>www.travelweb.com/TravelWeb/clickit.html has weekend discounts available on the Monday before <BR>www.travelzoo.com clearinghouse for airfare discounts <BR>www.ricksteves.com <BR>You may want to check with individual airlines (British Air, Air France, Delta, Alitalia etc) for <BR>combined air and hotel packages, which would give you and your husband a 7-10 days vacation within your budget. <BR>It would help if you could describe a bit more what kind of trip you are interested in. Sightseeing, museums, and historical sites? Lying on a beach, or at a lake? Driving vs taking a train from one place to another? <BR>Budget considerations to one side for the moment since I don't know what you'll have left after airfare, I'd suggest a 7-10 day vacation in France (Paris plus somewhere else), Italy (perhaps Rome and Venice, or Venice and the Lakes, or Rome and Amalfi), or Greece (two days in Athens plus one or two of the islands). <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>

Hi Nancy. I have enjoyed most every day of my 3 trips to Europe in the last 3 years, and I had been there before. I once tromped around Europe for a total 12 weeks. <BR>The first time, I did not plan it too well. The last four trips have been successes because I had an agenda. My wife and I went where we wanted to go and see and do what we wanted to do. The only thing that kept my 99 trip from being a smashing success was rain in the Swiss Alps. Hiking in sleet and rain quickly loses its appeal because visibility is so limited. <BR>So you are wise to think over what you want to do before you get there. <BR> <BR>OK. Here is the Brown philosophy. <BR>I enjoy doing in Europe pretty much what I enjoy doing in the USA, except that city visiting is more fun in Europe. <BR>Here are some specific examples of how I think: <BR>1. I enjoy Paris because of the art museums, the historical monuments and locations, the architecture, the food, the music, the churches, and on and on. <BR>2. I enjoy the Swiss Alps because mountains attract me. And civilization goes right up the slopes so that you can see the beauty and enjoy the good life at the same time. <BR>3. I also enjoyed my visits to London, particularly the theater, and to Vienna because of the music. <BR>Amsterdam and Copenhagen are fun places, also, to visit. (I am not a Rome fan, at least not yet. I know it is a city that is loaded with everything. But ..) <BR> <BR>My suggestion is to decide what you would do and love regardless of where you were, then figure out the best places in Europe to do it. If you have a passion for beaches, then there are plenty in Spain and south Italy that will be warm in May. If your love is the theater,then London should hold you for a while. If sitting at a sidewalk style cafe watching the world go by is your thing, then Paris should be a prime attraction. But if you hate art, then visiting the Prado or the Louvre will not help you to enjoy the experience just because it is a foreign country. <BR>Most people who contribute to this forum will have many experiences to discuss that they enjoyed. But all such experiences are personal, and may or may not appeal to you. So I think you need to figure out what type of experiences you would like to enjoy and then plan your trip so that you can maximize your enjoyment. <BR>One thing I discourage, however, is planning a trip that takes you to many destinations so that you are doing little more than running all over the place.

WOW!! Thanks guys. That was fast. <BR> <BR>I enjoy history & my husband enjoys life. A must for him is Amsterdam, the red light district. I have tried to tell him that Europe is a red light district! <BR> <BR>We really want to get the most for our $. We want to drive & for the most part skip the larger towns. <BR> <BR>What is the cheapest country out of Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Austria or Germany? How about gas. Is it any cheaper in any one country. <BR> <BR>We will have a good time wherever we go, we just want to be able to go! <BR> <BR>Thanks again!

You will get the best exchange rate in any country that is member of the European Union, as their rates are all pegged to the Euro. We just returned from France and Belgium and the exchange rates were GREAT- made the trip very inexpensive compared to previous ones. You will not find the good rates in England, Scotland, or Northern Ireland as the UK is not a member yet and the pound is not tied to the Euro. The Republic of Ireland (I think) is a member so their rate may be better - I may be wrong on their membership though. Germany is member and the rate for the Mark I saw just today was 2.21 to the dollar - that is very good rate. If money is big concern then you might want to stick to Euro member countries, which is most of western Europe (except Switzerland, which is still expensive). <BR> <BR>Gas is expensive, but if you rent a diesel car it will be cheaper..better mileage and lower per liter cost. Don't be concerned about the diesel, on the recent trip both rental cars we had were diesel (one Renault and one Puegot) and they were plenty powerful and very thrifty on fuel usage. Both were what we would consider mid-sized cars here in the USA (think the size of a Toyota Camery or Honda Accord). Diesel is the way to go for the car. I never had trouble finding fuel, all places I stopped had diesel pumps.

Generally from the west coast, with luck you could get a r/t air for around $600 to Amsterdam. It would be cheaper if from the east coast. After a couple of night in Amsterdam you could take Easyjet to Edinburgh for around $30 each way, After Edinburgh you could train, or bus to London. Stay at a bare bones hotel and then fly back to Amsterdam for your return flight. If you really watch spending on food and admissions you just might manage to do it for $3000.00 Otherwise I would opt for a package of Paris or London which would cover the basics. Have fun and do go if possible. Merry Xmas all.

Sorry gang, Am I the only pragmatist here? Nancy, you have gotten great input for some wondereful destinations <BR>if you want to spend $5000. But, you asked about spending $3000 over 2 weeks. <BR>IMHO, that will limit you to the best <BR>bargain locations in Europe. You will <BR>use up $1500 with your airfare in May, so you need to spend the other $1500 <BR>on food and lodging, local transport, and tourism costs. You have 2 choices, <BR>Portugal or Ireland. Now, if the $3000 <BR>is not firm then lets talk.

I think Bob the Nav may be the only pragmatist to respond. I don't think I was! Airfares will be higher I hear, because of fuel costs. <BR>Even 2 star hotels in Paris run more than $70 a night, plus a little for breakfast. So 12 days would run <BR>nearly $900. <BR>

Nancy--- what a wonderful dilema! <BR> <BR>I will pick up from BOB THE NAV post. My pick? In late May and with a total of $3K for 2 weeks, I would go Northern Portugal (Costa Verde; northwest corner) and Northwest Spain (Santiago de Compostela, etc.). This region is a dream destination; beautiful beaches, charming medieval seaside villages, INCREDIBLY inexpensive, divine food, great people, very romantic, and wonderfully undiscovered. You could fly into Lisbon, rent a car and start driving towards Oporto, Sintra, etc. We were AMAZED at the prices in this region ($35/night for a gorgeous apartment right on the beach in Viana Do Castelo). We were blown away at the prices of entire villas by the ocean. Please e-mail me if you need details.

A little off-topic, but to clarify something that was said earlier, it's not true that all members of the European Union have currency tied to the Euro. There are several members of the EU that are not parties to the European *Monetary* Union. I'm not positive, but I think they're the UK, Sweden, Denmark, and Greece.

You can do this for 3K in northern Europe as well with some careful planning. <BR> <BR>You can limit your transportation expenses by not crossing the channel and by picking a route that allows you to see some different countries without travelling huge distances. Maybe begin and end in Germany, (Frankfurt, where flights are usually cheapest,) the one place you're familiar with, or in Amsterdam, if you really must go there (not a very romantic place, in my book.) <BR> <BR>B&B's can be quite inexpensive in Germany's smaller towns. Stay 3 days on the Mosel River in centrally-located Cochem in Frau Hilken's tidy B&B with crispy sheets for $30/night. See the castle in town and Burg Eltz downriver. Take a daytrip to Trier for some history, to Luxembourg, or rent bikes and ride along the river bike path to the smaller wine towns nearby. <BR> <BR>You're still in love, right? Not too far from here to Paris. Spend 3 nights at one of the less expensive places you'll hear of from others, or at the Hotel Kuntz ($50 double, not romantic, but clean and secure) where we stayed, just a few steps from the Est train station and the metro. <BR> <BR>Head back to Germany for the Black Forest region and Titisee. Stay at the Bergseeblick Inn, about $40-$45 per night (www.sbo.de/bergseeblick) which includes their breakfast buffet (haven't stayed here, but it looks pretty good.) Titisee is a great place for walks and nature (gorgeous lake in alpine setting) but it's also not a bad place to take daytrips from. You can head out to Schaffhausen in Switzerland to see Europe's greatest waterfall, to Germany's picturesque Lake Constance, or to Colmar and Freiburg to the west. <BR> <BR>Head north again for Oberwesel on the Rhine. Find a B&B here for $40 or so for one night, then splurge and spend another at the Auf Schönburg, a castle-hotel with a very good reputation ($150 or so) and a terrific view of the Rhine. While you're here, take a Rhine cruise for an hour or two downriver and return by train. You could also visit another castle (The undestroyed Marksburg in Braubach is really a good one.) If you like WWII history, you could head further north to Remagen and visit the excellent Bridge at Remagen memorial museum. <BR> <BR>You can probably find a place near the airport in Frankfurt or Amsterdam for around $70 - $80 for your last night. <BR> <BR>With this scheme, you're looking at about $650 for the 12 nights mentioned -- a pretty decent average. <BR> <BR>I've flown to Frankfurt and Amsterdam 3 times in the last 3 years in May and June and never paid more than $450 from the west coast, but I was pretty vigilant on sales. You can no doubt, with a bit of care, find something for $600. I can't say exactly what a car will cost you, but you're probably looking at around $500 - $600 or so with gas and insurance. If you do the Frankfurt - Cochem - Paris - Titisee - Frankfurt route I've suggested by train, you'll probably pay less than $400 or so, including day trips, if you purchase day passes available in Germany for most of your travel there. <BR> <BR>So far, I've got you at $2250 (with the train) and you've had breakfast at your inns (except Paris) so you'll need to eat. $10 per meal, without alcohol, is very do-able in Germany; double this for Paris. If you have one large meal out per day, that's $320, which brings you to about $2570. The other $430 should cover picnic foods, metro fares in Paris, and miscellaneous sightseeing expenses. <BR> <BR>Go for it!

Russ, you have revitalized me! After Bob the Navigator plunged me into reality I thought why are we even trying? Now you have renewed my faith. <BR> <BR>We live in Tallahassee so I have several major airports that I can check for departure flights. I am even eyeing SkyAuction.com for some really cheap ones. <BR> <BR>The rental car is still my biggest source of the unknown. I really want to drive, when I was there in '99 we saw so much we wouldn't have seen if we had ridden the trains. We found a wonderful little flea market at the bottom of Neuschwanstein castle (in the town of Schwanstein), some of our favorite treasures came from that flea market! <BR> <BR>After Christmas my husband & I plan to pin down a destination & start the planning. Thank you everyone for your wonderful input. You have given me loads to think of ~ even you Bob! <BR> <BR>Merry Christmas everyone!

I have to throw some cold water on Bob's comments about hotel prices. Based on a just completed trip, here is what we found in France: <BR> <BR>Mont St Michel, at Realis St. Michel, a 4 star hotel with panoramic view of the lighted mont, double room was 450 francs <BR> <BR>In Loire Valley, at Amboise, hotel Manior Le Minimes, 4 star super-lux, was ours for 500 francs double <BR> <BR>In Paris, Grand Hotel Leveque in 7th, 2 star, comfortable and great area, was ours for 400 francs. <BR> <BR>Using an exchange rate of 7 francs to the dollar (it was actually more like 7.7 when we were there), that means these prices equate out to <BR> <BR>450/7 = 64 dollars <BR>500/7 = 71 dollars <BR>400/7 = 57 dollars <BR> <BR>Now granted, these were off season prices and outside of Paris will be higher in season. I don't know if Leveque will raise prices in season or not. My point is that with the current exchange rates Europe is very affordable, even in the "main" (read more touristy) countries. <BR> <BR>We also found similar rates in Belgium, where the hotel we used, a super nice 4 star (the Prinsenhof in Brugge) was ours for around 90 dollars including full breakfast and private parking. <BR> <BR>Obviously, if you chose all 2 star in the places we used 4 star the prices will be cheaper.

Let us hold off on throwing cold water until we look at the time of the year that Nancy said she was going: late May! If you just got back, you paid fairly low hotel prices. The price structure in late May is going to be quite a bit different than early December!! <BR>The Muguet, which is a 2 star establishment of top level reputation, will charge about 600 ff for a bottom tier double room in late May. <BR>That is $82.00 a night and I don't think taxes have been figured in. <BR>There are cheaper 2 star hotels, but the less you pay the less you get. <BR> <BR>And the exchange rate is not as good right now as it was last summer. <BR>The last I looked, yesterday, the rate was more like 7.24 and there is no reason to believe that the US economic picture is going to go driving ahead like it was 6 months ago attracting huge amounts of foreign capital. <BR>I don't have a perfect crystal ball, but I think the cooling of the US economy could well signal a return to more balance between the dollar the the Euro. The 19% difference of last summer is not going to return soon!

Nancy, My intent was not to discourage you--it was to suggest two wonderful and <BR>reasonable destinations that you had not considered. Ireland is great and a real steal right now--we just got back <BR>from a 12 day itinerary in Oct. and got <BR>by for $3300. Portugal is one of my favorite destinations in all of Europe <BR>and the best value in western Europe. <BR>Of course you could do Benelux and Germany and stay within your budget if you want to travel like a college student. But with a car and staying at <BR>decent 2 stars that time of year you will not spend less than $150/day and that means $1950 without air. Check out the package deals thru Aer Lingus to Ireland. They have a new flight out of <BR>BWI that will be easy for you and you will love Ireland in May. Good luck !

You may need to make a leap of faith on waiting for airfares -- right now I'm only seeing fares in the $800 RT range from the east coast to Europe. I know from past experience they will come down. USAirways just dropped 25% through April 30. I'm waiting for that to extend through May 30th, myself!