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My first time in Europe and I loved it!!!

Hello friends. I just made it back from my first trip in europe I went to paris,switzerland, venice and rome. What can I say ? It was a amazing trip I will remember for the rest of my life. It was my first European trip with my wife and it didn't disappoint. We started in Paris where it's probably the most beautiful city besides nyc. All the buildings where white from the top of the Eiffel tower. The only thing I regret was staying there only 2 days. But I plan on going back and seeing the great sites I missed the first time. Then we have switzerland which was absolutly amazing the mountains where so beautiful and I have to say that we went paragliding in the alps and have it on a go pro!!!!a memory that I will never forget. We stayed there 5 days in swiss and stayed in beautiful laturbrunnen went biking from murren which was breathe taking, we did from murren to lauterbrunnen. Then onto venice wow the food the people everything clicked we saw st marks, was so different then seeing it in the movies or anywhere else. And my final stop was rome and it didn't disappoint the history this city has can't be compared to anything. The vacatian the colleisum the forum. Everything was perfect the food by far was the best on the trip. I'm not a coffee person but the cappuccino was the best I ever tasted. I planned this trip on my own but it couldn't have been done without this community of people and the help they gave me. Whether I asked ppl on here questions thru private Mgs or on a post. People went out of their way to help me. I'm beyond thankful to everyone who took the time to help me. I plan on the doing the same when seeing someone who needs a little help. My total cost for 2 ppl on my 14 day 4 cities 3 country tour was a amazing 8g's maybe a little bit more. That's including flight food hotels and apts we rented tours etc. it can be done it just takes a little bit of research and help. The last thing I ask for you guys is where should I visit next year ? Bareclona ? Austria ? Lake Como ? Please let me know.
P.s Rick steves is the man I the bus with all the people on there having a blast. Take care and safe travels.

Posted by
419 posts

In absolutely no way meaning to be disrespectful, but could you possibly edit your report so that it reads better--punctuation, capitalization?
The "vacatian:, the "colleisum"?
"Rick Steves is the man I the bus with. . . ."
If you want to help new travelers, I think you might want to take a bit more care in describing your travels.
Just my two cents.

Posted by
9436 posts

Rudy, I'm so glad you and your wife had a great trip! You said you'd like to go back to Paris, so I'd include it in your next trip along with new places. Two days is way too short. Thanks for your post, so great that you enjoyed yourselves!

Posted by
3398 posts

Thanks so much for letting us know how it went! It's always nice to hear back when people have great experiences...that's why we're all here! Next year you should go back to places you wish you could have stayed in longer, and then expand to other parts of Europe you think will interest you. All the places you listed are great, they're just very different from each other so you need to decide where your interests lie, what kinds of things you want to do, and just go for it!

Posted by
2262 posts

Glad to hear it went so well, Rudy, and I'll take your kind of enthusiasm any way I can get it. We were in Europe at the same time and I enjoyed reading your posts. Nice to hear from you, better get busy planning!

Posted by
32345 posts

rudy,

It's great to hear that you had such a wonderful time on your trip. I also just returned from Europe so I can certainly appreciate your sentiments.

As someone else suggested, where to visit next year will depend on what you're most interested in seeing. One method would be to make a list of places, ranked in order of most important to least important. From that list, pick an appropriate number of places for the time frame and budget you have.

Posted by
3580 posts

Fly into Paris, spend a few days, then fly/train to Barcelona and tour Spain.

Posted by
1501 posts

Rudy, ignore Joan. THANKS for your Thanks! It's always nice to hear that someone who's new to this forum has used advice and found it beneficial! That's why this website exists!!! We were ALL new here at one time, and I'm so thankful to this website for helping me with my next destination, and I'm happy to share my info on places that I actually know something about (like Sicily, Florence and Rome).

It seems like you didn't quite get your fill of Paris, and there are so many options! You could go back to Paris and spend more time there and enjoy the rest of France (She's BIG), go north to Normandy, and/or drive South to Provence.

You could also do what the previous poster suggested and head to Spain. OR you could save Spain for one big trip in a year or two! I've been to Spain three times and she deserves one trip just for her. I've been to France twice, once didn't get out of Paris, and the other time did Paris and Normandy. Next trip, I'll just spend a couple of days in Paris and head South in a rental car. That's my plan anyways!

Posted by
11507 posts

Rudy glad you had a wonderful trip, and now you will be hooked!
I would ( of course) return to Paris, and as for where else, well everywhere I have been in western Europe has been great visiting , some more so then others, but it all personal taste.

Joan its considered unnecessary to dwell on grammar or spelling on any forum I have been on, an exception is sometimes it is important for a poster to have the correct spelling of a place or site ,so that they can look it up, or get directions to it from locals or guidebboks( an incorrect spelling could send a person to the wrong place with similar name etc)

Posted by
33755 posts

Rudy, Thanks for the report - I enjoyed reading it.

Regarding the other issue, some will say that spelling doesn't count and while to a degree that is true it is also the case that when some phrases don't make sense (like "was a amazing 8g's" and "is the man I the bus with all the people", neither of which make any sense to me) either I have to skip over them or ask for clarification. Some expressions seem to be the result of iphone word replacement (sort of like asking the supermarket order for ripe bananas and receiving spaghetti sauce) and failing to proof read and some just don't make sense at all. In this case the general report is good and enthusiastic, and I just skipped over the bits I didn't understand.

What really riles me up is txt speak. Usually I just ignore those.

Posted by
11613 posts

Rudy, so glad you posted! I spent a month in France last year and could have stayed longer. Also love Belgium. If you loved Italy, maybe the south/Sicily?

We are here for you!

Posted by
2393 posts

Rudy - thanks for coming back and sharing your new love with us! Sounds like you had a great time. I expect, like me, you will return to Paris again and again! You will love Barcelona - it is a fantastic place to just hang & chill, the rest of Spain is fab too.

BTW - are from Astoria? My favorite neighborhood!

Posted by
72 posts

Sorry guys @ joan :) about the spelling i did it while i was on the train on my iPhone and i didn't prove read it but in all honestly i just was so excited and just wanted to say thanks to the people that took the time to help me and others on the site…
p.s reading back on the last thing about rick steves …. well i have no idea what i wrote either "Rick steves is the man I the bus with all the people on there having a blast. Take care and safe travels." wow that was pretty bad probably meant to say that rick steves is the man ! other then that i have no idea what i wrote hahaha sorry guys….

Posted by
419 posts

Rudy, thanks very much for your post. I had tried to indicate that I was not being critical, just hoping for clarity for folks new to the site,, not sticking a knife in your back.
I, too, was happy that you enjoyed your trip so much.

Posted by
72 posts

Thank you…. no worries I am the same way when someone makes a lot of grammar errors.. and thank you very much. :)

Posted by
9436 posts

You are very gracious Rudy... : )

I've been w/o my laptop for a week and have to write emails and on this forum on my iPhone and it's a big pain. iPhone "auto-correct" drives me nuts. It often changes correctly spelled words into a different and completely random word. So annoying.

Posted by
8293 posts

Susan is right, you are gracious. You took the (unnecessary) criticism in good part. Glad you came home happy with your experience.

Posted by
2030 posts

It's so much fun reading a great report from a first-timer to Europe! (even with the typos). :)
I hope you will return again and again -- and certainly spend more time in Paris.
The cost of your trip sounds right to me! Go big or go home is my motto.

Posted by
635 posts

Thanks, Rudy, for the report. Love the enthusiasm!

Did you upload the paragliding video onto YouTube?

P.S.: The greatest travel blog of all time, The Journals of Lewis & Clark, had a few spelling and grammar errors, too ... [smile]

Posted by
9110 posts

Rudy gets the "Hell on Wheels" award.

Well done.

Posted by
3857 posts

Oh Rudy! Your trip sounds fabulous! I am so glad you and your wife had a wonderful time! You did some great planning and chose some great places. And you did it all for around 8 thousand dollars! Well done!

I hope you will someday write up a detailed trip report, recommending hotels and cafes, because I want to copy your itinerary and go on a similar trip. I enjoyed reading your questions/updates while you were on the road, but sorry, I was not able to give you any help since I have not yet been to those places about which you were asking.

For your trip next year, I would say do all three; Barcelona, Austria and Lake Como. Sounds great.

Yes, Rick Steves IS the man! He got us all excited about European travel, has the best travel program on TV, and offers the very best tours. And he is our host for this great travel forum where we can all talk about our love for travel. Thanks for coming back here and telling us about your trip. It is a joy to read about someone having such enthusiasm for travel as you have.

And you get the "Good Sport" award for the month for not letting a certain comment rile you.

Posted by
1162 posts

I can't believe that no one has suggested London! Rudy, either fly into or out of London and use the Eurostar to get to Paris or vice versa. A good itinerary would be London, then Eurostar to Paris then fly to Barcelona. Build up an itinerary to see more of each country either through daytrips from each city or moving around depending on your time allotted.

I love this website and have had so much help on planning my trips. Also for all those with issues on auto correct on your phones, do you know you can turn that annoying feature off? Please don't ask me how because I just played around in my settings and stumbled upon it. I'm sure there's a tutorial available on YouTube.

Posted by
9436 posts

Claudette, I didn't know auto-correct could be turned off! Thank you!

Posted by
893 posts

Rudy,
Such a great report! I smiled all the way through because of the enthusiasm and I could tell that you are hooked!

You seemed to enjoy Rome so much it may warrant another trip and throw Venice and Florence into the mix and it will be perfect.

Good report and happy travels
Mimi

Posted by
9436 posts

Claudette, Gonna ask my son to do it... : )

Edit: Done. Yay!