Overseas travel with a mate

[Moby Vic]

I spent three weeks in Germany last year. It's very clean and modern, and if you get a rail pass traveling from city to city is very easy. I went to a DTM race at the Nürburgring and camped out at the track.

They seem to have some affinity for Australians. I saw an Australian shop in Frankfurt and ate at an Australian restaurant in Dresden (it was called Ayers Rock).

[The Yeti]

I've done a few trips to Europe over the last 15 years

By far my favourite place is Prague make sure you visit the sex toy museum

[Jastel]

Originally Posted by Moby Vic

I spent three weeks in Germany last year. It's very clean and modern, and if you get a rail pass traveling from city to city is very easy. I went to a DTM race at the Nürburgring and camped out at the track.

They seem to have some affinity for Australians. I saw an Australian shop in Frankfurt and ate at an Australian restaurant in Dresden (it was called Ayers Rock).

Had dinner at Ayers Rock in Dresden myself back in April...it was a surprise to find it there.
I agree that it was a friendly place...no races at the Nurburgring when I got there but saw some testing of new Audis.

[CJR09]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

I've done a few trips to Europe over the last 15 years

By far my favourite place is Prague make sure you visit the sex toy museum

Prague RULZ!!

My favourite city i have been fortunate enough to visit - massive history, music, science, great food, best beer (pilsner), best woman, very cheap easy to get around - along way away though...

I think your best bet and best value for money given budget is asia and i'm liking what yellow festiva has to say about it, i would take his advise - he has a wealth of knowledge on the area,,,

Singapore, korea & vietnam is where i would be looking

You have plenty of time to thoroughly plan your trip - if you look hard enough bargains can be had everywhere - i had 3 months through britain, europe & singapore - myself, wife & 3mth old - we did it on 15k nzd including flights and managed to come home with a couple hundred left over

[Yellow_Festiva]

Thanks CJR09 ;-)

Any advice for when I take my bub away for the 2 weeks? She well be around 8 months old.

[CJR09]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Thanks CJR09 ;-)

Any advice for when I take my bub away for the 2 weeks? She well be around 8 months old.

You will love it mate - priority seating, priority boarding, everywhere in europe we went we did not have to queue!! That includes such place as the louvre, vatican museum et el - vatican was classic, the place is that busy we thought we got there early 830ish but line was already couple hundred meter long - we walked past everyone to the front and were ushered straight through, the look on some of the faces

Not sure what would be cultural protocol in asia though - singaporeans loved bubs and were very accomodating doing everything they could for us to ensure we were as comfortable as could be.

The biggest tip i would give would be to have a sling for bubs (front type), you have to pack as light as poss for the day - make sure bubs is still on the breast, makes feeding easier - when we went through europe 2012 had that heat wave, pushing 40 everyday so you WIll need a break from it depending on temp - i bit the bullet and got one of those dirt cheap colapsable push chairs that fold down to a managable size that could be strapped to back pack.

Apologies to OP going OT - got a bit long winded...

[Big_Daz]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

I've done a few trips to Europe over the last 15 years

By far my favourite place is Prague make sure you visit the sex toy museum

Agreed, Prague was amazing... Prague and Barcelona where the 2 best, and most surprising places I went in Europe...

In fact I tossed up ditching the rest of my tour and spending another week in Prague...lol

[Kieron]

Air Asia has got a brilliant sale on at the moment, to the OP, make sure you book towards the end of the Jan 16 school holidays to get the cheap flights. I just booked Perth>KL return in the April school holidays, $669 for 2 adults and 1 child, no luggage or food in that price though.

That will get you to KL and as you said you like asian food, KL is the melting pot of SEA for food, spend a few days there, try banana leaf restaurants, Malay food stalls, go to the night markets (pasar malams) to sample the real local food and see how the locals live, Char Kuay Teows, Curry & Asam Laksa's etc etc If you want to see more of the real Asia, KL is much better than the now sterile Singapore.

Book yourself tickets up to 'Nam next, HCM is a big, noisy sprawling city and you can eat from the roadside food vendors safely, museums, culutre and architecture their, do a Cu Chi Tunnel tour, Mekong Delta tour and see the floating markets, got down to Vung Tao for a relax. And/or go up to Da Nang/Hue, Citadel is in Hue, tour the A Shau Valley (stunningly beautiful place), tour the DMZ (Khe Sanh etc), Vin Mock tunnels and/or Hanoi, lovely city in the old French quarter, take the Halong Bay overnight tour, Sanpan tours

Or from KL, you can tour Thailand (Bangkok, Chain Mai, Pattaya, Krebi, Phuket) OR Cambodia (Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Killing Fields in Phnon Phen).

As the inter Asis flights are cheap as chips, you can even combine some of these places, ie Saigon, Danang/Hue, Siem Reap, and possibly Hanoi)

No need to use a travel agent neither, plan it all out, book airlines tickets online, book accommodation using the likes of Agoda.

I've been to most of these places and go to KL a few times a year so can give more pointers.

[Fordster91]

Originally Posted by raised by monkeys

Looking for any suggestions on where to go. Not fussy really.

We're both (a young) 32 and have commitments to females.
I have about 3k to spend on travel arrangements (he'll have more ha).
Looking at going Dec - Feb for a week or 2.
Have another mate who works at a travel co. who will look into packages for us.

I don't want to do just the touristy thing, like a bit of culture and food. Both don't mind a little bit of physical stuff. Beach, city or in land doesn't really matter.
My thinking is something cultural then finish in a resort; or thinking Paris and then London. I've been to England but with family but really want to go to Paris for the Louvre and what not; but I have family in England, and everything is just a train ride. In saying that, something I haven't done is great too.

Any positive experiences or ideas?

Hi mate,

i've been to Paris (lived there for 4 months). It is a beautiful place especially during local summer time as you can sit by the Seine every evening anjoy cheap but still amazingly good wine. Usually there is a ton of people out in warm nights. However, Paris is extremely touristy and I doubt that you will get to do a lot of non-touristy things if you are there for only a couple of days. Its nice and all but touristy, just letting you know. Similar for London, although I have not spend enough time there to actually give you a recommendation.

Could recommend Portugal, not so much for the food but for its beautiful landscape. Start at Porto, spend a couple of days there and then move down to Lisbon. Whenever you like, move to the next beach. Spend 4 weeks travelling Portugal, had a great time.

Best

[NTF6]

Hi,

I've done Italy (Rome, Tuscany, Florence, Venice) and Greece (Santorini, Mykonos, Athens) and USA (Vegas, New York, LA, San Fran) plus Dubai, Singapore, Thailand, Bora Bora and just recently Vietnam. Out of those the only places I'd go if on a budget would be Vietnam or Thailand. Vietnam was amazing and the people there can't do enough for you, everything was cheap except my $400US meal at an Argentinian Steakhouse in Hanoi but that was one of the best meals I've ever had. Entry into all of the museums and places of interest is a paltry 20,000 Dong ($1.25 AUD)

Going to most places in Europe will suck your cash faster than anything.

I'm planning a trip to the UK in June/July 2016, hiring a car in the UK, driving the Chunnel to France and then down the west coast of France, staying Bordeaux as a base for about 5 days then driving on to Spain and doing Barcelona, San Sebastian and Madrid, then heading over to Monarco for a few days as well. On the way back stopping in Paris for a few days, all up about 4-5 weeks. I'll let you know how it pans out and give some feedback seems your not going until the end of next year.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Did I read that right?? $400US for an Argentinian feed?

Hope that included flights there! Good God that's exxy - especially for that neck of the woods!

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Did I read that right?? $400US for an Argentinian feed?

Hope that included flights there! Good God that's exxy - especially for that neck of the woods!

I had to reread that too. My word....

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by raised by monkeys

Im just going by this, and given these are 3 star hotels.
Europe is what id like to do but if its too much stretch of the budget, happy to look else where for sure.

http://www.flightcentre.com.au/holidays/london

Ugh, Flight Centre. They screwed up our flights last month. Everything on the itinerary was correct and as we wanted, but they didn't actually book what they wrote on the itinerary.
After100USD+ in international phone calls they 'fixed' their mistake. Middle of the night we got a Facebook message from family saying FlightCentre changed it for a 3rd time but it was all good. Turned up at the airport and they had NOTHING in our name.
Since returning I have spoken to at least 4 other people who have used Flight Centre and they have all said they made some sort of mistake. Usually booking the wrong flights or accommodation.

[NTF6]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Did I read that right?? $400US for an Argentinian feed?

Hope that included flights there! Good God that's exxy - especially for that neck of the woods!

$400US for 4 people plus an awesome bottle of red from Chile and another one from Argentina. Without a doubt one of the best steaks I have ever had. They only serve certified Black Angus and Wagyu from the USA and Australia. Even the garlic mash and red wine jus were fantastic not to mention the salsa's that go with it. There were no Vietnamese staff, they appeared to all be from South America, great customer service, the owner even came to our table at the end of the night and sat with us chatting, then he came back with some super tasty white spirit and we did heaps of free shots.

If anyone ever gets the chance when they are in Hanoi try El Goucho down near the big roundabout near the opera house. I highly recommend it.