European Essentials

Hey everyone,

There's a possibility that I might go to Europe this summer, and meet my SO for the first time! Nothing's final yet, but in the event that I do, I've been fantasising about every detail.

I was thinking about visiting these countries: Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, maybe France, and the Netherlands (where my SO is). I picked these countries because they're relatively close to one another, yet have distinct and interesting cultural differences.

I've been reading about European culture and even trying to learn some of the native languages there (don't want to seem like a total tourist). Is there anything absolutely vital that I should know if I ever visit? e.g. meeting customs, good food to eat, places to go, et cetera.

I'm also willing to exchange travel advice about the US, if anyone's going ^_^

[snow_girl]

I think you've got a year to figure this all out

[Deleted]

You're very right! I just can't get my mind off it, I guess XD

[Hollandia]

I always thought we would be able to country jump too, but the distance is much further for most of those than you think. Italy, Switzerland and Austria would most likely require a plane or very very long train ride. I think Paris is six hours away from South Holland. Germany might be close for you if your SO is in the East of the country. Belgium is pretty doable, I hit it every time I go. My SO is in the Dordrecht area and we spent a lot of time in Baarle Nassua and Belgium is right there. If you do have the time and money to grab some planes, then country jumping becomes more realistic. We really really want to, but we can just never come up with that extra airfare and I always think I would rather save it towards seeing each other again next time airfare is needed. My SO's parents love to vacation in Portugal and next summer they have asked us to stay with them in a villa there for a few weeks. I think it would be really special but with the SO's job, I know this means coming up with more airfare, because driving there and back would take far too much time. I won't use Ryan Air and so tbh, I am hoping they offer to help with the airfare or it will probably not happen. It is beyond frustrating to have all these really cool countries so close but yet not be able to see them because all of your travel monies has to be saved to use for the LDR travel.

I don't want to be a party pooper, but perhaps this won't be true for you like it is for me. I have no regrets, it just is what it is. What I suggest is that you take a look at your available time tables and funds and then price out the cost for airfare, train tickets, gas and tolls and see what is actually viable for you. Germany and Belgium are most likely the easiest for you if your SO lives in the East. Frankfurt and Muenster Germany are two places that I have had recommended to me and Brussels in Belgium. I think you could probably drive to a Northern region in France. I will say that NL is not as small as you might think it is and there is plenty to see just in NL alone. I still have not seen half of it and I have been there 5 times. It has beaches and rivers and new cities like Rotterdam and Older ones like Dordrecht and Amsterdam.The first time I went there my SO had a blast showing me around his country and I had no desire to do anything but soak it all in. If your SO likes to do it I would suggest grabbing some bikes and letting him give you a tour of the countryside on bikes. No matter what you end up doing, I hope you have a great time doing it.

[milaya]

I couldn't agree more with Hollandia.
Europe might look small on a map, but country hopping is not all that easy in some areas. There's great distances and mountains. Especially around Switzerland and Italy. Traveling there might be rather time consuming, unless you take a flight. From the Netherlands of course France, Germany and Belgium is quite doable - though Paris is quite far, so maybe you would like to stick with the Northern area of France like Hollandia adviced.

Also, even though you say you've tried to learn some of the native languages to not seem to much like a tourist - that's a lot of languages, that's Dutch, German, Italian, French... (among the countries you mentioned)... which probably means you'll be limited to greetings, which in the end will not hide the fact that you're a tourist. Hehe.
We spot non-Europeans right away - even without them speaking.
Though of course, to be polite, it's good to learn "Hello, thank you, goodbye". Don't waste your time on learning to say "how much?" and "How are you?" if you won't be able to understand the answer anyway. In a country like the Netherlands, they will probably talk English to you as soon as they realize you're not local (at least that's what we do in Denmark).

[Tooki]

There isn't much point in learning a lot of a European language (especially a minority language) if you're not going to spend time outside of the tourist centres. As milaya said, don't bother learning phrases because you probably won't understand the response. Knowing some basic introductory phrases will help though.

I also recommend cutting back on your travel plan. Belgium/Netherlands/Germany would work well, especially if you want to spend time with your SO.

[MissButterfly]

I agree with what the others have said. You can find some pretty good deals for the Thalys to go to Paris if you're lucky, but if you go by car it's quite a drive. Same for Berlin, it's much further than you probably think. Austria/Switzerland/Italy are doable in one circle if you have the time, and are willing to sit in the car for a long time. Otherwise you'll have to fly, which is expensive. But you can definitely go to other places in Germany and Belgium if you take the train. However, since you're only 14, and flights to even get here are also pretty expensive, you'll have to make a good travel plan and budget! You certainly can't do everything in one go. Hell, when my SO first visited I spent 3 weeks showing him The Netherlands! You are going to want time for just the two of you, as well, you don't want to be traveling all the time There's plenty to see in the Netherlands alone, so I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun regardless if you get to travel across all those countries.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the replies, everybody!

You're all definitely right: now that I've thought things through, it certainly doesn't seem realistic to travel to that many places. I've always envisioned travelling the world...since I never vacation much, somehow I thought that I would have to go everywhere all at one time T-T

@Hollandia: Thanks for your wisdom! My SO lives in Gelderland (central east area, I guess?) I loved the ideas you offered up, I'll be sure to keep them in mind.

@milaya: That's so funny! You're right about that. I just don't want to make them feel like I'm taking advantage of their language skills...I'm sure they appreciate the effort? XD

@Tooki: You're absolutely correct. That's what I plan to do ^_^

@MissButterfly: Yeah, I was thinking of taking the car. It sounds weird, but I quite enjoy long car rides XD I have quite a bit saved up (several thousand dollars) so all I need to do now is figure out how to budget that.

Thanks again, everybody!

[Gin_12]

Yeah, what everyone said.
I might have missed it but how long are you visiting for? The first time I visited for 2.5 weeks. We did one trip (4 days) to his cabin up the mountain to ski and by the time we came back, we couldn't go left and right but hang out in town. Last visit, I was there 3 months... still not enough time to do everything we wished to do between SO's work schedule, my online training, my Norwegian language courses, mini trips to visit his family... etc. We were focused on learning to live together as naturally as possible (testing our compatibility) so we decided that we would split my stay in two: vacation time and living time.
Being on the road so much eats up on your time and funds. One of our mini trips for example meant driving 4 hours one way and spending money on accommodations and such...

[SaraHonRara]

To give you an alternative to all those thinking its a bad idea traveling. If you are staying for a longer time, why not go interrailing? The interrrail tickets are not that expensive in difference to plain tickets everywhere. I did 3 weeks interrailing with my best friend, and in three weeks we did germany, prague, austria, italy, barcelona and paris. If you plan well Europe is easy to do on a budget. Really recommends the roughguide to europe on a budget.

Would love to go interrrailing again, and love to bring my SO with me. Traveling through europe in trains is amazing.

[Deleted]

@Gin_12: I was thinking maybe around 3 weeks. I'm too young to live there XD You're absolutely correct though, in that I should be conscious of how much money I spend on transportation.

@Sara: That's genius! ^_^ admittedly I don't really use public transportation...but it's always nice to learn. I'll give that a thought. Thanks!