a Student-Oriented Travel Website

General

WEBSITES TO HELP:

·  www.statravel.com - a student-oriented travel website

·  www.hostels.com - cheaper than hotels, usually dormitory-tyle with occasional smaller or private rooms. Sometimes separated-sex, sometimes mixed. Usually with free or cheap breakfast.

·  www.lonelyplanet.com - the guides are worth their weight in gold

·  www.megabus.com - Coach Tickets for a mere £1? Who knew!

·  Budget airlines - http://www.easyjet.com/, http://www.ryanair.com/, http://www.flybmi.com/, http://www.bmibaby.com/, http://www.gexx.de/, germanwings.com, airberlin.com. Book in advance and flying between cities is often cheaper than trains (especially Eurostar, which is not kind on the budget)

BASIC TRAVEL TIPS:

·  Seems everyone agrees - the best way to eat cheap is to go to the local grocery store.

·  Also, you have way more fun looking for non-tourist, non-big-city places to go than doing what the guides tell you to do.

·  "If you do decide to go on a pub crawl, show up ten minutes late and hang outside the first bar. When the group leaves the first bar, blend in the with the rest of the people. Saved me 15 bucks two nights, and you usually get a free drink in every bar, though sometimes very watered down." -HungLikeAWoman

·  "Make sure you have the phone numbers of the hostels in the city you are visiting. Either collect them before you go traveling or get them at the local tourist information point. Then find the nearest payphone and start calling the hostels if there are free places. Beats visiting every hostel to check if there are free places." –Fizz

·  "Just as a general note, when you arrive in europe, stay in a hotel and not a hostel. Typically your going to be a little tired when you get there anyway and you'll be glad to get some rest instead of being awakened in the middle of the night by some guys that just got in from there trip to the bar." –spiralbrain

·  "Never pay for train tickets from an airport to the center of the city and never pay for bus tickets anywhere. They never check the tickets and if you do get caught the fine will be less expensive than all the tickets you didn't have to buy. Do pay for subway tickets. (this information becomes rather controversial later in the thread, so either follow this guy's advice if you're ballsy enough, or listen to EVERYONE ELSE if you're feeling sheepish)
Learn to say excuse me, hello, do you speak English, thank you, good morning, good evening, and good bye in the language of the country you are in. Even if your accent is terrible showing a little effort will go along way with the locals.
If you are partying your way through Europe I recommend staying at these places if at all possible (http://www.europefamoushostels.com). They cater to young backpackers and almost all of them have a bar that serves the cheapest drinks in town. I myself stayed at the Flying Pig, The Three Ducks and Hotel Alessandro and the hostels were all in good locations with an awesome staff and best of all cheap.
If you are backpacking make sure and book lodging a few days before you arrive. Nothing sucks more than arriving in Paris ay 3 am, and trying to find a place to sleep.
Consider flying between cities rather than taking trains. You can save yourself tons of traveling time and best of all airlines like RyanAir and Virgin Express sometimes offer rates that are cheaper than train tickets. RyanAir flew me from Milan to Paris for 25 euro.
Most of Europse has a Value Added Tax of up to 30% on all sold goods (like a sales tax basically). Save your receipts and you can get the money refunded to you at customs." -Logik

·  "Also, if you're in Europe, don't bother to order a Coke or Pepsi, they cost something like $4-8, depending on where you get it. Learn to love bottled water!" -Pyros

·  "In order to travel by rail cheaply in Europe look into Interrail passes. You're technically supposed to live in the EU for 6 months or more before you're permitted to buy one. If you speak the language of the country you're buying one in, you can often get one even if you don't meet this requirement... I bought them no less than 4 or 5 times while I was living in Austria.
Info on it can be found at: http://www.interrailnet.com
Read the info about it carefully, it's got some strange conditions, ie it's not valid in the country you purchase it in, and for high speed trains you often have to pay supplements (they're not very much though... usually 5-15 Euro on German ICE trains).

PACKING

·  "Take twice the money and half the clothing you think you need." -Akvj1n

·  "get an erasable ink pen... worked just great for me ... took the train like a zillion times with my 5 day [Eurorail] pass." -Dnatural

·  "Take lots of vitamins, FORCE yourself to drink a lot of water (to compensate for the booze) and bring cold pills. Don't be afraid to act the tourist, ask people for help, go to TI centres, BUY MAPS." -big dig

·  "If you plan on going out at night, bring some nice clothes. Europeans tend to dress up much more than Americans. You will not convince an Italian chick, who doesn't understand anything you say, to come home with you if you're wearing shorts, a tee shirt and a hat." -Logik

GUIDES

·  "my Protip for the whole journey - photocopy those maps at the back of your tourbook before you go. It's SO much easier to whip out a little photocopied map from your pocket than bringing out the entire book each time proclaiming "I am a tourist and I'm lost!". This helped us muchly with our Bible-sized copy of Let's Go 1999." -squirrellypoo

UK:
General Info

·  In the UK, "sales tax" is called "VAT" (Value Added Tax), runs at 17.5%, and the government's guide to reclaiming it is here.

·  Advice for Accents: Don't be offended by someone talking to you in a bizzare accent, we don't all speak like Lord Chistlewick Flanders and they are not being rude. The accent I have the most difficulty with (And I'm English) is Scouser, but thats just because I find it irritating.

·  Cabbies: Cabbies can be a real pain in the ass in England, as with most countries. Make sure they give you an estimate of the cost of the journey before you hop in.

ENGLAND
London

·  http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/ - Tell it where you're coming from and where you're going to, and it will spit back all the different ways to get between the two, how long it will take, and how much it will cost you. Absolutely fucking essential for those "How the hell do I get home from Club X at 4am?" questions. Also great if you're arriving from another country and want to know the best route to your hotel! (squirrellypoo)

·  www.londontown.com - It has all kinds of useful shit on it like street maps to various locations, hotel guides, event listings, restaurant guides, and a bunch of other stuff. I'm an American living in London and this site has made it much easier for me to find things in this town. I'm sure others could find it useful too. (Risket)

·  http://www.the-generator.co.uk/ - recommended hostel (block51) its a really nice(as hostels go) with £1 pints/mixed drinks up till 9 in their bar. (BigRedCat) It's a huge place, but well run. Cheapest drinks you'll find in London, and cheap food. Has laundry, internet etc. I enjoyed my time here, and it's pretty affordable, by London standards. (LucasMedaffy)

·  GUTSHOT CASINO, NOT VICTORIA

·  I've stayed at the city of london and oxford street hostels, both very nice, no curfew, guys and girls apart. Oxford St ones mostly 2 bedroom rooms, from about £25 a night, city of london ranges from £15-30 depending on how many you have in your room. (powertoiletduck)

·  Go to the funfair in leicester square [i think it's always there, london goons may prove me wrong]. do not go on the eye, or eat in a garfunkels. (marwood)

·  Landmarks - Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Admiralty Arch, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square are the ones I'd recommend. They're all pretty close together so my advice is get a travelcard (which lets you use all of London's Public transport all day for a flat fee) and get your friend to give you the tour in one day. (Jamesface)

·  Museums - Definitely do the Tate Modern. Tate Britain is good too, as is the British Museum. The Natural History Museum, The Victoria & Albert Museum and the Science Museum are all next to each other, and all worth visiting. All of these museums are now free to enter, luckily. (Jamesface)

·  London also has the Imperial War Museum, one of the larger museums dedicated to the first world war. They have F.M. Montgomery's command car from North Africa and tons upon tons of artifacts from all sides involved in the war, though their bookship is somewhat (RandolH)

·  Absolute must-see is a little tiny museum near Holborn tube, Sir John Soane's house, on Lincoln's Inn Fields. TRUST ME ON THIS. I've sent so many friends down there, and everyone's loved it. And you've got nothing to lose as it's free (and there's a fantastic pub from the 1400s right nearby, The Cittie Of Yorke, that serves real ale and cheap food). (squirrellypoo)

·  Skip London Dungeon and the Tower of London. They're crowded, horrible, and unbelievable overpriced. For history, take a couple hours in the British Museum or the Museum of London. free free free weeeeeee! (squirrellypoo)

·  Science Museum - huge place, lots of really cool and interesting stuff. It may be worth checking their website for more information, they sometimes have things set up for a few weeks. Also very cheap (free I think actually) to get in. One of my favourite places in London really. (FractionMan)

·  Shops - Oxford Street, Regent Street, Carnaby Street and Tottenham Court Road are all close together. If you can do Camden Market at the weekend definitely do. Harrods is out of the way in Knightsbridge and not as special as it used to be, I wouldn't count it as a target any more. (Jamesface) For up&coming cheap fashion, definitely go to Spitalfields Market (near Liverpoool Street) on Sundays for moshpit crowds and very quirky designer fashion for extremely cheap. (squirrellypoo)

·  Food - Soho is a good idea. Also try Borough Market and the West End as a whole. (Jamesface) Brewer street in london has some great japanese restaurants. (jonnii) Pub sunday lunch cannot be beaten, or pub lunch on anyday (roast beef and yorkshire pudding) Spitfire rocks. (phikl)

·  Ale - As far as beers are concerned, you need to get some real ale inside you. Spitfire, Abbot or Newcastle Brown come highly recommended...but head into any inner-city Wetherspoons (a chain of pubs) and they'll do one or two weird-ass obscure ales. The idea being to taste as many as humanly possible (gucci_piggy)

·  Pubs - If you want the real English Pub experience, I'd steer clear of Wetherspoons. They're dead cheap, but there's no music, they're always packed with the pre-club crowd and the beer is usually bloody awful. Anyone who thinks that Spitfire is a real ale hasn't tried the genuine article. Try Theakstones, Eldridge Popes, Old Speckled Hen or London Pride, all good quality falling-over juice.
A lot of British pubs are owned by big brewery companies, and tend to serve the same range of Australian lagers, cheap bitters and overpriced bottled crap like Bacardi Breezer, or "bitch piss" as it's affectionately known. They're OK if all you want is to get leathered, but you'll be missing out on a the real heritage stuff.
Look for a sign saying "Free House", which usually means the pub is independently owned and the landlord is free to stock whatever beers he wants. Either that, or stick to pubs owned by small breweries. If you can find one that has a good range of real ales and know how to keep them properly, then you've struck gold.
If you're going to be in London, I'd recommend The George, in George Inn Yard, SE1. The place was built in the 1500's; Shakespeare and Dickens were both regulars. Also good is Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street, and the Prospect Of Whitby, Wapping Wall E1 (a brewery pub, but one of London's oldest). (chromis)
If your looking for a cheap pub The Goose a block from the russel square tube station is good, £3.95 for a burger(beef or chicken) and a pint, £2 double drinks + mixer. (BigRedCat)

·  Activities - The London Eye will show you the whole city. You can also get waterbuses down the Thames which I recommend. (Jamesface) The london eye is a total swiz; it's very expensive, the queues around then will be insane and frankly it's not that great. do a thames boat tour or get up a tall building instead, seriously. (marwood)

·  Races - go to http://www.wsgreyhound.co.uk/ on a saturday night. quality entertainment at a great price. (aversion)

·  The prince charles cinema off leicester square is less then half the price of most london cinemas, it shows rad movies like bundy that aren't on anywhere else and it's always full of interesting drunks, drug addicts and good looking film fans like myself. (aversion)

·  London Underground: Ever seen American Werewolf in London? Well, the tube STILL looks like that (Minus the Jubilee and parts opf the District and Circle lines). Its great fun when quiet (Usually around 3-4PM ) and the best way to get about IMO. It's seperated into zones, which is how payment is calculated - just get an allday travelcard for zones 1-3 and that should do for all your travel needs! (LordEvilElmo)

·  London Walks: Easy ones to do are around Westminster and St James' Park, South Bank to Bankside to Tower Bridge, Baker Street through to Camden. All are easy enough and if you ask for brief directions people will help out. I can provide you with a couple of maps if you would like, with some notes on history etc. (LordEvilElmo)