Weekend Travel Advice

[scb12]

What`s up everyone? I am 21 yrs. old, just finished my college football career in the states and I am playing for a semi-pro team in Basel, Switzerland right now. I will be here until late-July and then I will go back to the states to attempt to make either an Arena League or Canadian Football League team (I have invites from both).

I often get bored here in Basel...the clubs are so-so at best and Swiss girls are pretty stuck up. There has been exceptions, of course, but for the most part I have had the most success with people here from other nationalities (Australian, Italian, and South African).

Anyways, I am making quite a bit of money here and I want to be able to enjoy all of the fun experiences I can during my stay in Europe, so I am debating taking several short 2-3 day trips over Europe to party, meet girls, etc.

I am just wondering where some good places to go are for such a short time period. Obviously, I would want to go where people understand English, as that is all I speak. It would also be convenient if the people liked Americans...maybe nobody over here does??

I just really want to enjoy myself and see/do everything I can while I am here...this might be the only time I am ever in Europe. So fellas, help me out please. All advice will be greatly appreciated.

[mark-0]

A lot of Germans speak english, and Germany's right there. Your best bet for meeting people and having a great time would likely be Munich, though I'm not sure how long it would take to get there. Big cities are usually your best bet if you're into clubs and that sort of thing. A great way to meet people is to stay in hostels, but if you're rolling in money you'll probably want to stay someplace much more comfortable, i.e. a real hotel.

Though they can be lame sometimes, there are organized pub crawls that take you to beer halls, bars, clubs and such places. You can find these in most major European cities, though. In Munich, there are about a half dozen people working for different pub crawls handing out pamphlets on what I dubbed "hostel alley", a street with tons of hostels right near the main train station and mere blocks away from the "old city." It seems like Munich is the closest major city to you that I've been to, although again, if you have the money you can fly somewhere further from Basel.

[worldwidemike]

Spain, my friend, is where you want to go to party. Madrid is where they go out and don't come back till the sun's up the next day. Same thing in Barcelona, and you'll likely run into more visitors there, too (plus more folks who Speak English -- or admit to speaking English). I'd start with those two and see how you like it (report back, too, we like to read the details of other folks partying in Europe...).

So, college ball career, eh? Anybody this big college football fan might know? Please don't say you were a UM Wolverine, cuz this Buckeye might just have to give you bad advice, from now on...

Good luck!

worldwidemike

[simply_angelic]

not stuck up hunh? Hmm..didnt seem to run into those people at all during my travels...Everyone seemed more than willing to help me as a young female travelling across europe...

Yeah, Spain's pretty good...oh the crazy spaniards..
Alsoi, if you're hoping to party with the locals the portugese seemed to party hard ...no matter what age they were...London's fun too. I met a lot of cool people there, and it's real close to you. And don't forget Scotland...the people were extemely friendly to me there...they all seem to have SOMETHING to talk about. Just go into a pub somewhere there and you'll have a good time. I've heard Ireland is amazing too, with the warmest people. I wasnt able to make the trek across the Atlantic to get there, but that's what I've heard...I dunno. I pretty much feel like everywhere you go you'll have a good time. Europe's full of great times, and even if you dont end up hanging with the locals, you'll have tons of great stories to talk about guaranteed...unless you're the anti-social type... or you end up at a crap hostel (which with our help definitely wont happen) good luck and have fun!

[Somnambulation]

A good time is always had at Interlaken. If you havent been there you should definitely check it out. Wont meet many locals but there are tons of people from everywhere else.

[scb12]

What about Prague? Flights there are very cheap and I have heard that everything there is very inexpensive and the girls are fun.

[tumblezweedz]

It's also one of the more beautiful cities in the world...

[bluepea]

I was just going to suggest Prague. I only did a day trip there, but from what I saw it was beautiful. Lots of sites to see, it's cheap and it's becoming on of the big party cities in Europe. Lots of tourists going there, so you should be able to meet a fare amount of people from all over and from what I dealt with, like in any tourist city, most people have a pretty decent grasp on English.

You also might want to check out Ibiza. Lots of night clubs and stuff, though I'm not sure of the attitudes of people there.

[voyd]

Originally posted by scb12@Mar 12 2006, 04:37 PM
What about Prague?* Flights there are very cheap and I have heard that everything there is very inexpensive and the girls are fun.

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Prague is a great city. Very picturesque and far cheaper than Switzerland - but perhaps overhyped now. Fixtures are still a bit Commy-rigged, but due to mass tourism the prices aren't as dirt-cheap as before. But, Czech beers are some of the best around anywhere. And their absinthe is legit and flows freely as well. As far as the girls - most of the locals are identifiable by poor hair-dye jobs and I didn't find them to be overly friendly to me, at least. Still, I had a good (albeit short) time there and really no complaints.

I just wouldn't necessarily expect a city with 3rd-world prices full of supermodels throwing themselves at all the tourists. But, it does certainly seem like a GREAT place to kick back and enjoy life for a bit...

[candyfliss]

hey.

seems i am in kinda the same situation as u.
have been in basel(muttenz) since august and am here til the end of july.

as for night life, basel really does suck.
i suppose it depends what ur into, but it does only seem to have one type of club!
for nights out i generally go to Zurich or up to Freiburg or Karlsruhe in germany.
its a bit of a trek, but definately worth it!

for weekends away, we have been going snowboarding most weekends, but now that the seasons coming to an end, the travelling can start properly.
tommorrow am flying to barcelona, from karlsruhe, but wud b much easier to fly from basel, it was just more expensive when we booked it. am also flying to prague in may, berlin/leipzig in june, and bratislava and rome in july.

other than easyjet, skyeurope.com also fly cheaply from basel, failing that ryanair fly from karlsruhe....

hope that helps you,

Fliss

[scb12]

hey candyfliss, what is your e-mail address? send it through private message if you wish.

Originally posted by candyfliss@Mar 16 2006, 06:52 AM
hey.

seems i am in kinda the same situation as u.
have been in basel(muttenz) since august and am here til the end of july.

as for night life, basel really does suck.
i suppose it depends what ur into, but it does only seem to have one type of club!
for nights out i generally go to Zurich or up to Freiburg or Karlsruhe in germany.
its a bit of a trek, but definately worth it!

for weekends away, we have been going snowboarding most weekends, but now that the seasons coming to an end, the travelling can start properly.
tommorrow am flying to barcelona, from karlsruhe, but wud b much easier to fly from basel, it was just more expensive when we booked it. am also flying to prague in may, berlin/leipzig in june, and bratislava and rome in july.

other than easyjet, skyeurope.com also fly cheaply from basel, failing that ryanair fly from karlsruhe....

hope that helps you,

Fliss

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