Official "I'm in way over my head, can someone please help me out??" thread

[dfb547490]

OK, so I've gotten to do my fair share of traveling but have never booked anything close to this scale on my own. I'm looking to hopefully catch all 3 group matches and also keep my budget for essentials (airfare, game tickets, lodging, rail tickets, food, beer) as close to or under $2000 as possible. If it goes a little over that's fine, that's what rampant credit debt is for, but I really can't afford to pay through my ass for this (although if we make the knockout round I may end up just saying "******** it" and plunging myself deeper into debt).

In any event, I'll probably pick up the unlimited rail pass so I can bounce around the country a little bit. Also, this means I can fly into anywhere in the country--although it has to be somewhere where I can get in on the 11th and make the game in Gelsenkirchen on the 12th, so Frankfurt and Dusseldorf are the most likely bets. I'm also planning to spend most of the tournament based in Frankfurt, assuming I can find an affordable room there (I'm looking to spend no more than about $30-40 a night, and don't mind staying at a youth hostel)--although I may swing to Berlin or Munich for a few days as well (depending on if I can afford it). Frankfurt is pretty close to all of our first-round venues, so it's a good fit.

That said--while I've more or less figured out what I'm going to do thru trial and error, there are still things that will pop up that I'll need help on, and I'm sure there are a ton of other people who are just as lost as I am. So my thought is to use this thread for people to ask basic questions and hopefully get them answered by folks who have more experience with this sort of thing than I do. No question is too dumb for this thread, and I thank in advance anyone who can contribute.

I'll start off--does anyone have a clue about lodging in Frankfurt?? As I said I'd like something cheap although not totally flea-ridden since I'll be there for 10 days. As an alternative to a hostel, is there anyone out there, preferably around my age (I'll be 22 in June) who's up for getting a group of 3-4 together and getting a mid-level hotel room for the 10-11 days??

Also, will the trains be running overnight?? That may be an option for me some nights to cut down on lodging costs.

[stinky]

2500 and you might be able to pull it off...

its germany...not south korea....

we did s. korea for 2500 including airfare and that was about 20-25 bucks per night staying in broethels....(converted for the world cup ;) )

anyway...airfare will be 1000 ---- total = 1000

hotel 75+ per night minimum...one week = 7 nights... running total = 1525

tickets... ??? - say 350 if you win the lottery.. running total = 1875

rent a car...it'll be cheaper then the train... one week 500+..if you go with 3 others...thats 125...running total = 2000
(i checked a train from frankfurt to the first US match...it was 70 euros.)

beer...food...and beer...will easily be 70 per day....that's another 500.

[nowherenova]

I've done the overnight train thing. Not bad once or twice, but I would not recommend it as a common practice. I would imagine the trains will be much more crowded than usual.

[dfb547490]

Thanks for the input guys, unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to rent a car as I'm only 21. Not sure I want to be driving around on the Autobahn on that much beer and that little sleep, anyway.

Unfortunately a quick search indicates that there doesn't seem to be anything available and affordable in Frankfurt at any point during the group stage, so my new plan is to stay in Dusseldorf for the first 2 games (30 miles from Gelsenkirchen and 171 from Kaiserslautern, also 172 from Hanover in case I decide to check out the Mexico-Angola game), overnight train to Hamburg on the 17th/18th and stay there for 2 nights (maybe catch the Ukraine-Saudi Arabia game), then an overnight train to Tubingen (I never heard of it either, but it's the closest place to Nuremberg where I can find affordable lodging) and stay there thru the 23rd.

[Autogolazo]

Bring a tent and camp. The Germans are crazy about camping, they have campsites everywhere, even in major cities.

Keep your pack in a train station locker, if they still have those in these days of bomb threats.

The weather might suck, but you can do it for a few weeks.

[JoeSoccerFan]

To cut costs -

Plan more. Reduces surprises - find real deals
Be very careful on train options. Make a decision on how much you want to use it. mix/match between all option/few days (match day)/purchase for short trips
stay with others
stay outside of host city

Don't compromise safety or essentials. but bargain things that aren't so important to you.

picnic (don't eat every meal in a restaurant).
eat bread/jam for breakfast while watching people going to work

[Mikeymike15]

Two Words:

RAMEN NOODLES

:D

[dfb547490]

That's a given Mike!!

Good news, found something available in Munich unbelievably enough so I'll most likely be staying in Dusseldorf thru the 17th then taking an overnight train to Munich, staying there thru the 22nd, and taking the train from Nuremberg straight back to Dusseldorf (flying in and out of DUS on that Iberia flight)

[socks]

OK, so I've gotten to do my fair share of traveling but have never booked anything close to this scale on my own. I'm looking to hopefully catch all 3 group matches and also keep my budget for essentials (airfare, game tickets, lodging, rail tickets, food, beer) as close to or under $2000 as possible. If it goes a little over that's fine, that's what rampant credit debt is for, but I really can't afford to pay through my ass for this (although if we make the knockout round I may end up just saying "******** it" and plunging myself deeper into debt).

In any event, I'll probably pick up the unlimited rail pass so I can bounce around the country a little bit. Also, this means I can fly into anywhere in the country--although it has to be somewhere where I can get in on the 11th and make the game in Gelsenkirchen on the 12th, so Frankfurt and Dusseldorf are the most likely bets. I'm also planning to spend most of the tournament based in Frankfurt, assuming I can find an affordable room there (I'm looking to spend no more than about $30-40 a night, and don't mind staying at a youth hostel)--although I may swing to Berlin or Munich for a few days as well (depending on if I can afford it). Frankfurt is pretty close to all of our first-round venues, so it's a good fit.

That said--while I've more or less figured out what I'm going to do thru trial and error, there are still things that will pop up that I'll need help on, and I'm sure there are a ton of other people who are just as lost as I am. So my thought is to use this thread for people to ask basic questions and hopefully get them answered by folks who have more experience with this sort of thing than I do. No question is too dumb for this thread, and I thank in advance anyone who can contribute.

I'll start off--does anyone have a clue about lodging in Frankfurt?? As I said I'd like something cheap although not totally flea-ridden since I'll be there for 10 days. As an alternative to a hostel, is there anyone out there, preferably around my age (I'll be 22 in June) who's up for getting a group of 3-4 together and getting a mid-level hotel room for the 10-11 days??

Also, will the trains be running overnight?? That may be an option for me some nights to cut down on lodging costs.

you need a girlfriend. some are a little flea-ridden but don't worry about that. i have had unusual luck in Germany. so put on some old spice and go....you may even come home with money still in your pocket.

[scottk964]

I haven't seen it discussed here yet, so I'll bring it up: Deutsche Bahn, the German rail system, is going to have potentially cheap deals on trains to/from all the WC cities during the tourney. You can buy match-day round trip tickets to whatever city a match is in for either 54, 74, or 90 euros, depending on the distance. They're called "Weltmeister-Tickets". 54 for up to 200 km, 74 for 200-350 km, 90 for more than 350 km. It's only good if you have an actual match ticket though.

The website is www.db.de (http://www.db.de/), but it's all in German from what I can tell. They also offer a pass for unlimited rail travel all over the country from June 7th to July 11th for 349 euros (2nd class) and 549 euros (1st class).

Or you could go for one of the passes on www.eurail.de (http://www.eurail.de/). I'm getting the German Rail Twin Pass for me & a friend for $390. That includes 4 days of travel within a month for two people, which is all we'll need because we'll only be there for a week.

Not sure about trains running overnight, but you can type in cities, dates, and times on www.db.de (http://www.db.de/) in the upper right corner just like you would on an airline booking page. "Ankunft" means arrival, "Abfahrt" means departure.

Hey guess what - they do have an English version: http://www.db.de/site/bahn/en/start.html

Oh, and if any of you are in groups of up to 5 and it's a weekend and you're not in a hurry, you can get a "schönes-Wochenende" (great weekend) ticket for 28 euros that's good for all 5 of you to travel anywhere on a Saturday or Sunday.

Hope that helps...

[Thomas A Fina]

To cut costs -

Plan more. Reduces surprises - find real deals
Be very careful on train options. Make a decision on how much you want to use it. mix/match between all option/few days (match day)/purchase for short trips
stay with others
stay outside of host city

Don't compromise safety or essentials. but bargain things that aren't so important to you.

picnic (don't eat every meal in a restaurant).
eat bread/jam for breakfast while watching people going to work
I also found the bread/cheese/box wine lunch combo to be cheap and excellent.

I figure I'll hit quadruple digits on beer alone

[stevewhit0]

This is what I’m going to be doing. I'm 22 and also have almost no money to my name.
Flight- Most likely I’ll get it off Studentuniverse.com Chicago-Frankfurt $750
Train- Weltmeister Pass 2nd class pass this includes all local travel $414
Housing- Staying in Frechen 20min train from Cologne free housing with my brothers friends.
Food- I'm going to bring over Powerbars to snack on to cut back on moments of hunger money
GameDay housing- I'm still not sure what to do here, cologne is close enough to travel back to after the first two matches but I’d like to party after the games. So I’ll most likely party and get the last train out or sleep at the train station or perhaps try and find a girl to stay with for the night :)

Travel= 1164
Food/Beer =400
Sightseeing = 200
Total= 1764
Thats my goal.

[gngrasso]

So I’ll most likely party and get the last train out or sleep at the train station or perhaps try and find a girl to stay with for the night :)


Repped; damn I feel old now.

[dfb547490]

Well finding ladies to spend the night with is definitely a top priority, although I don't know how much it'll help me from an economic standpoint since I'll be booking the rooms in Dusseldorf and Munich probably by the end of this week anyway (once I've booked them I'll post the links on here so others can take advantage, hate to be selfish but gotta make sure there's room for me).

As far as the trains go, I'm going to either get the 8-day (within a month) pass from Deutsche Bahn which is good only for Germany for $201, or a 20-day pass from Eurail for $298 which is good for the Benelux countries as well. I'll have a few days of down time between the Czech and Italy games, so I have to decide whether or not I want to take a day trip to Amsterdam and/or check Belgium off the list (never been there), unfortunately it adds $100 to the cost so that probably won't happen...I may end up using some of that money to check out the Mexico-Angola game in Hanover (anyone else going to that one?? Mentioned this in another thread, but I'd love to get a little cheering section going for Angola made up of US fans).

[icowrich]

The english version of that World Cup rail special is here: http://www.db.de/site/bahn/en/start.html

There's no link to it from the german site. I just changed the "de" in the URL to "en" and, bam, it worked.

[dfb547490]

Travel= 1164
Food/Beer =400
Sightseeing = 200
Total= 1764
Thats my goal.

Good way of looking at it, although don't forget about game tickets. My budget goal:

Airfare - $636 (Iberia from JFK to Dusseldorf)
Lodging - $298
Rail pass - $201
US 1st round game tickets - $178
Food/beer - $350 (over 13 days)
Miscellaneous sh/t (sightseeing, non-US game tickets, local rail/bus fares, more food/beer) - $250
TOTAL - $1913

[dfb547490]

Also, if anyone's looking for a rail pass the German Rail Pass (http://www.bahn.de/-S:PtVORd:dGxS-9NNpcpDfNNNNN5M/p/view/international/englisch/travelservice/german_rail_pass.shtml) seems to me like the way to go. It doesn't let you go to any other countries (except Salzburg and Basel) but it's very affordable, and dirt cheap if you're under 25. I'm planning to get the 8-day pass and as you can see above it's US$201 (170E), doesn't get much better than that.

[ACGreen]

HAving spend more than 7 mos at a time backpaking across E and Central Europe, I can share a couple of cost cutting trips for the young traveller:

Buses are an oft overlooked intercity option (usually more than half the price of trains). Eurobus is the most prominent. You give up space and number of departures in the trade.

As for lunch and bfast, go to the grocery store and buy bread, a tube of mustard and some cheese. Hostels will offer bfast and coffee with the room. Save your money for the night-time fun. During the day you can buy tallboys at the grocery store and have a relaxing, beer fueled picnic in the numerous gorgeous parks.
For dinner and after, go to the local beer garden, order the 'plat' of the day, always one option is the meal of the night costing 30% less than the others and every bit as tasty. Then pound as many liters as you desire. You will spend your money wisely this way and never deprive yourself of any fun.

As for rooming, get a hosteling international card (20$) and book reservations at the International Youth Hostel in each town you plan to stay,. It is early enough and German hostels are the nicest in Europe. Must be under 25 to use this option. If you do so, make your own sleep sheet sleeping bag by sewing a double sheet in half. Hostels rent sheets unless you bring your own. German hostels unlike many others do not have a curfew for returning at night, but you must leave in the am by 9:30. Many have bars that offer beer at lower prices than you would find elsewhere.

BTW you can rent a car in Ger if 21, but they will not give you an engine bigger than 2L. I tried to rent a Boxter and a Mercedes at Hertz but I had to be 35! Ended up rocking the Renault Clio for a week. Bear in mind that Gas is Four to five times more expensive in Europe. Trade off is that you can sleep in a rental car in any summer weather (rain not a huge bummer).

If you are smart about it, you can save loads of cash by planning, but also stepping outside of the traditional US travel MO of normal hotels, restaurant meals, etc.

[_chachi]

Or you could go for one of the passes on www.eurail.de (http://www.eurail.de/). I'm getting the German Rail Twin Pass for me & a friend for $390. That includes 4 days of travel within a month for two people, which is all we'll need because we'll only be there for a week.

you got jobbed. you can get that same pass for $135 each at http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/germany.htm

[obie]

Airfare - $636 (Iberia from JFK to Dusseldorf)Have you booked this? If not, look into both Aer Lingus and IcelandAir, both of which use their capital cities as gateways to the rest of Europe, and usually cheaper than a direct flight.