Travel

[MtP07]

I will never, never, never fly United Airlines again. I was stuck at the damn airport yesterday for 7 hours because they cancelled my flight because they couldn't find a fire extinguisher to put on the plane :rolleyes: :mad: :mad:

[Numquam Moribimur]

Yeah, I'll be in Dublin until mid-May, unless United find a way to the CL final, which in that case I'm going to do my best to get over to Athens for a few days.

When are you going to be over again?



May 10th -June 2nd :D :D

[Howard Zinn]

May 10th -June 2nd :D :D


I'll have my camera ready to record the alcoholic state of euphoria. :D

[FIFARay007]

What about people who speak a French but to not reside from France?:D

They're worse, cuz they're poseurs! ;)

[Vermont Red]

I should mention that I only put Paris on that list because it's a major European city. There is no chance I'm going there because I hate the French. Carry on.

The French are arrogant, but so are Americans. In my limited experience, the French people have been very nice to me. They are able to distinguish between American people and the American president. And Paris is a beautiful city.

[Stud83]

I will never, never, never fly United Airlines again. I was stuck at the damn airport yesterday for 7 hours because they cancelled my flight because they couldn't find a fire extinguisher to put on the plane :rolleyes: :mad: :mad:

Did you get a refund at least? Funny, since I flew pretty much every airline out there and the only one that I never had any problems with was United. They even gave me $300 once to fly on a later flight (about 2 hour difference) since mine was fully booked and someone really needed to get back on time.

[Sapphire]

Berlin is awesome; Munich didn't do it for me at all. I haven't been to Paris or Rome, but I love the places I've been in France, and am ambivalent about Italy (dislike Milan, love the small northern villages). I've heard southern Italy is alot different than the north though.

Bottom line: go to Berlin. :)

[StrikerCW]

I will never, never, never fly United Airlines again. I was stuck at the damn airport yesterday for 7 hours because they cancelled my flight because they couldn't find a fire extinguisher to put on the plane
Yes, I concur, on my first trip to Europe (it was a group trip with an agent, though) we got stuck in Pittsburg for 1.5 days on the way back, the weather cancelled the flight and the agent had to do alot of hardball from what I know to get us home (on different flights 5 hours away from where we were supposed to be though!).


I have only been Paris once, and it was a negative experience, because the group I was with had had bad experiences there in the past and were being negative about it the whole time. I really want to go back though, but not before I brush up on my French to a good degree.

Rome was great for history, although I was only there for 2 days and unfortunatelly with a group. :( The volcanoe folk were interesting but slightly overated because you don't actually see any stone people in the places where they were.. they were all in one place behind cages, which makes sense but was a disappointment.

Barcelona is a great great place, but when I went there I had a bad time because I got homesick for some reason. But there is alot to do and it is just a really cool city IMO (stay away from the nude beach though :eek:).

Haven't been to the rest of the places, plan on it eventually though.

[Achtung]

I will never, never, never fly United Airlines again. I was stuck at the damn airport yesterday for 7 hours because they cancelled my flight because they couldn't find a fire extinguisher to put on the plane :rolleyes: :mad: :mad:

All US-based airlines are quite literally the same at this point. With no price regulation, its all about who can be most cutthroat when it comes to low prices, and service is always the first thing to go. I've had equally awful experiences with most major carriers... and I'm certainly not alone, sadly.

[Achtung]

The French are arrogant, but so are Americans. In my limited experience, the French people have been very nice to me. They are able to distinguish between American people and the American president. And Paris is a beautiful city.

They also love it when you speak a few phrases in (broken, mispronounced) French. At least in my experience. That and reminding them that Dieu est sept.

[Vermont Red]

They also love it when you speak a few phrases in (broken, mispronounced) French. At least in my experience. That and reminding them that Dieu est sept.

I have spoken broken French to people in Paris and they don't really seem to be that annoyed by it. Plus, many of them speak English. I really expected to hate them but I was pleasantly surprised.

[Achtung]

I have spoken broken French to people in Paris and they don't really seem to be that annoyed by it. Plus, many of them speak English. I really expected to hate them but I was pleasantly surprised.

I wasn't being sarcastic (for once :)) they genuinely do enjoy hearing Americans speak French, it seems. I guess that's true in most countries though, that locals tend to react better when you at least try to converse with a few words in their own language.

Everyone in Europe, at least in the cities, does seem to speak English though. I had worked on a few German phrases for my stopover in Zurich, and barely got past "Gutentag, Ich suche ein..." before they'd let me know they spoke English. I wasn't sure whether to take that as a good thing or bad thing. :)

[SirManchester]

I wasn't being sarcastic (for once :)) they genuinely do enjoy hearing Americans speak French, it seems. I guess that's true in most countries though, that locals tend to react better when you at least try to converse with a few words in their own language.

Everyone in Europe, at least in the cities, does seem to speak English though. I had worked on a few German phrases for my stopover in Zurich, and barely got past "Gutentag, Ich suche ein..." before they'd let me know they spoke English. I wasn't sure whether to take that as a good thing or bad thing. :)

Next time you need a German translator, give me a call. ;)

VR - Can I come with you to Paris? I love the French, they're magnifique.

[Vermont Red]

VR - Can I come with you to Paris? I love the French, they're magnifique.

The wife and I will be going sometime this year, with a short sidetrip to Switzerland. You're welcome to go at the same time, on your own dime of course.

[StrikerCW]

I'm not sure I agree that everyone speaks very good English in the cities.

When we were in Barca, we wandered the streets trying to find some lunch and stubbled into this place (where we got the best food of the whole trip, although it was slightly expensive I think it was more of a dinner place) and they didn't speak a lick. So after much hand gestures and theming bringing out a plate of rice to tell us what 'ariz' was we finalling got some good food. Twas interesting but confusing.

That actually happened to us two or three times in the 5 days there.

[SirManchester]

The wife and I will be going sometime this year, with a short sidetrip to Switzerland. You're welcome to go at the same time, on your own dime of course.

Don't be ridiculous, I would never accept you to pay for me. What? You insist? No, I simply cannot. Thanks for the offer though.

In all seriousness, since I skipped out on Germany last year, I'm saving up heavily to be able to go to Switzerland/Austria next year. If I can do that (and finally get out of this country and back to the mothercontinent for the first time in a decade) I will die a happy young man.

[SirManchester]

I'm not sure I agree that everyone speaks very good English in the cities.

When we were in Barca, we wandered the streets trying to find some lunch and stubbled into this place (where we got the best food of the whole trip, although it was slightly expensive I think it was more of a dinner place) and they didn't speak a lick. So after much hand gestures and theming bringing out a plate of rice to tell us what 'ariz' was we finalling got some good food. Twas interesting but confusing.

That actually happened to us two or three times in the 5 days there.

You're confusing the rest of Europe for Spain and Portugal. They didn't catch up to the 21st century yet. :p

[Bluto11]

i guess I'll chime in on Paris and my views on the French even though I'm a Gooner....

I love them!! :p


ok, kidding. I'm kind of indifferent. There were some nice ones and some mean ones. The mean ones included a waiter at a restaurant who spoke English (we heard him) but then only spoke french to the group I was with. the nice ones were in cities besides Paris, like Rouen, Angers, Chartres, and Mont St Michel.

[Achtung]

Next time you need a German translator, give me a call. ;)

I'll probably end up pissing off a huge German guy by saying Ihre Frau hat einen schönen Busen. :eek:

[SirManchester]

I'll probably end up pissing off a huge German guy by saying Ihre Frau hat einen schönen Busen. :eek:

On the contrary, in Germany that's the way to compliment a man.