Travel

[Rosenrot]

[sknss]

Trying to plan summer holidays. What are some cool and cheap places to visit in Europe?

So far the contenders are:

budapest vienna bratislava
bologna venice florence
barcelona and surrounding areas

If you've been there/have any other ideas I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[bhajz]

I'll be in paris with my family this summer (4 of us) and was wondering if anyone who lives there or has travelled there has any recs on places to stay. Food recs are always welcome as well

[Rosenrot]

@missrowan, I was at Antwerp for a day and spent it visiting the designer boutiques and second hand stores. However I do think @syeknom is the best guy to give recs for this city.

[missrowan]

, I've only been to Barcelona out of the places you mentioned, but I really loved it. Spanish food is awesome (mostly because I like paella) and there's craptons of culture (eg flamenca and cool looking outfits) and unbelievable architecture there (see: ).

It has been a while since my trip there, but I remember that we got passes to the which is a hop-on-hop-off kind of thing that makes loops around the city.

I haven't been to the surrounding areas of Barcelona but it's on the southern coast right? If it's anything like Vigo, which is a tiny fishing town on the northern coast of Spain, then it's picture-perfect idyllic, people take siestas and eat dinner at 10pm, and everything is just relaxing and slow-paced. Top place for sure.

Out of interest, what is making you consider Vienna? I'm going to Vienna this summer and I'd love to hear what's drawing you so I can factor it into my planning.

, any recommendations for antwerp?

[Syeknom]

[drawes]

After a long amount of anticipation, I leave for London at the end of the week. I'll be at Regent's College until the end of June, and I need some recommendations. Food? places to go? All of that stuff.

Also I'll be in Paris for one weekend, and I have another weekend set aside to travel somewhere in England, where should I go?

[raags]

[lee3jm]

Embarking on a 3 week road trip today! Starting from Virginia, going down through Tennessee, seeing some hot springs in Arkansas, New Mexico, the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Vegas, LA, and back up/east through San Francisco, Yosemite, Utah and Denver. Then going back down to Tennessee for Bonnaroo and then back to VA. Too excited!

[pk!]

where and why did you visit Kentucky? I'm mostly from and am currently based out of Louisville, but you probably know how different that is from just "Kentucky".

Though the part that's pretty funny is that I'm leaving Louisville soon, and after a short tenure in Minnesota to play some gigs and a festival, heading to CA. Specifically Xanadu.

I stayed in Xanadu a bit last autumn, but I was mostly wrapped up and didn't have time to explore much, anyone have any cool spots to check out? Berkeley specifically, but it's not like its hard to walk/bike/bus anywhere else around too.

[donut_milk]

I went to KY for my bf's brother's college graduation at EKU. It was a short, weekend trip.

Hmm..well, I'm not from or living in Xanadu, though I've been a few times. I can't really say what you should check out but try reading up some spots on , Yelp, Urbanspoon, etc. When I went to Berkley for a show I only stayed around the campus and didn't have time myself to explore but you should definitely check out ; there's one here in Southern CA as well.

[fun_yunchables]

[brlmski]

Going to Zhuhai, Macau, Hongkong, Shenzheng, and Guangzhou. Any cool things I should deffo check out? I bought tickets to dialogue-in-the-dark, a museum with a really cool concept.

[missrowan]

: to add onto lunchable's list... He isn't much of a drinker but if you are, some options in sf are: muka (wine bar), Virgil's sea room (cool bar, nice backyard), fig & thistle (low key, one of my favourites) and biergarten right around the corner. Those are less sight-y than the cove, for example. But they're nice just to hang out in.

Also worth mentioning is night life at the academy of sciences. They basically open the exhibits/museums the first Thursday of every month and also sell drinks. Science and alcohol?? Can't go wrong. Somewhat similar, but Oakland art murmur happens every first Friday and it's when a bunch of art galleries in the same area do open houses and also serve drinks.

On the topic of Oakland, cafe von kleef does a killer grapefruit drink (it's a bar despite its deceptive name). My favourite food place in the area is Kingston 11, a Jamaican restaurant in Oakland. Right next to it is rock paper scissors collective, an art collective that holds various open art classes and also sells assorted art, crafts, clothes, general knick knacks, some of which are made by their students. I especially like their zine library upstairs, cozy little place with a couch perfect for reading poetry while twirling your hipster moustache.

More food places: slow and belli osteri in the Berkeley area (slow has a pretty cute backyard rose garden), and La Note for brunch. Farther down in rockridge area you'll find ici and Tara's for ice cream. Personally a fan of Tara's but ici always draws a crowd. If you keep going down college there's a brunch place called bourbon and beef that has bottomless mimosas every day. Never been, but it sounds sweet af. Kirala is a Japanese grill restaurant that tops my list as well.

Also acme bread down on San Pablo makes me feel like I died and went to bread heaven. Just saying.

Oh, and I guess I should mention ruby skye, if you're into that kind of thing. I've also gone to pretty good shows at the mezzanine and the great american.

[popcorn]

Very excited to be going to Denmark for a few weeks this June, how is the climate at that time of year and what do you guys recommend (that isn't the Norse Store) in Copenhagen? I'm open to all kinds of advice, I'm spending more time there than I know what to do, and I want to fish around with a lot of options. (smiling)

Also spending a week in NYC immediately before that, so recommendations are of course lovely but I have no idea where I'll be staying or what I want to see above all. I'd love to just fish around and try my hands on all the designers I can think of.

[parastexis]

[popcorn]

If you're in the Berkeley area you'll more than likely find something to enjoy on Telegraph Ave, Oakland. Telegraph is colossal, pretty much the Aorta of Oakland. Aside from retailers, there's a renowed tremendous book store called Moe's Books and a really cool two floor thrift store called Mars (it's foggy, but I believe that's what the business cards say) - prices are rational and wares are kept above a good line. This is also the road Bow & Arrows is on, and upper playground if streetwear is your thing, they're a pretty big streetwear icon for Xanadu.

My favorite part of Telegraph is a little alley called Temescal, there's a menswear store called Standard & Strange that stocks RgT, Blue Blue Japan, Naked & Famous, etc., a really cool book store the size of my bedroom, a plant store that makes me wish I knew what succulent even means, and so many more holes in the wall worth peering in.

[lee3jm]

Anything to do late night in san Francisco/bay are for people under 21? Also, if anyone is down to chill/be my guide ill be around thru Thursday. Also, gonna be in Denver Saturday and Chicago Sunday night and Monday. What's good with those places? Anywhere I could crash in Chicago potentially.

[chadnik]

Going to be in Arlington, TX for two weeks soon, and will probably go to Dallas for a day. Any recs, especially for museums/galleries, new and vintage jawns, neighborhoods to walk around, and/or vegetarian food?

[ballast]

Re:Bay Area/San Francisco. It's First Friday this week in Oakland and SF. This is traditionally an art gallery opening/party at nights, but has devolved into a big party in certain neighbourhoods. Art galleries will still be showing though, so you could take a look.

http://northbeachfirstfridays.com/
http://sf.funcheap.com/
http://www.oaklandfirstfridays.org/

e:woops, realized you're not going to be here friday. my bad.

[popcorn]

[vgtbls]

Does anybody have a good resource for finding out how the hell phones work in Europe? I have a Verizon Galaxy S3.

I'm traveling to:
Ireland (south and north)
Brussels
Berlin
Istanbul

Any suggestions for things to see in those cities is also much appreciated. (smiling)

[sid3000]

most of those places have their own service providers that only have domestic coverage, unless you want to pay out the butt for roaming. I would say youre better off mooching wifi at whatever cafe you run into when youre out, or at your hotel. Even if you put your phone in airplane mode, gps will still work for any given maps app and thats good enough for getting your bearings. If you absolutely need mobile internet, some airports have sim cards in like, vending machines. Expect to pay $20-35 for one, but they usually come with unlimited everything for a couple weeks. I think galaxy's come unlocked, but double check.

[donut_milk]

Like what sid3000 said you need to check with Verizon and see if your phone can be unlocked. If it can they will unlock it for international use. Also, check to see if your S3 has a SIM card slot. If that's the case all you need to do when you get to Europe is buy a SIM card from the airport, switch it out with your Verizon one (and keep it safe for when you return) and there ya go...you can use your phone overseas.

Since Verison is CDMA it won't work without a GSM/SIM card slot unless you want to pay extra for international roaming (and it's really expensive). Otherwise just use Wifi wherever you go if your phone isn't capable of overseas use. And don't forget to turn off ALL ROAMING or your gonna get charged a shitload (think thousands) when you return.

[vgtbls]

I'm not worried about mobile data, and I do have a SIM slot. So there shouldn't be any problems just buying a local sim card for voice/text emergencies? In the settings I'm able to set "Preferred Network Mode" to "Global".

[popcorn]

[Thomnd]

[alby]

Leaving for Costa Rica today with . This is the first time I'm leaving the country. We're going with a few classmates for 9 days. Super stoked. Just finished packing and everything. Will be sure to post pictures when we return.

[vgtbls]

Enjoy, it's a very beautiful country. I hope you get to see some sloths!

[sknss]

What to do in Belgium?