Feb 17, 2009 17:21
i've been thinking a lot today about my plans for Easter. 5 weeks is a lot of time to fill, and i'm not keen on staying at people's houses and taking advantage of hospitable mothers for more than like, 3 days at a time. i've been trying to create a cost- and time-effective chronology of events, and first up is a visit to my one and only David Morris! (that's right Dave, if you're reading this. we shall talk later! haha) not for too long, lest we drive each other mad, but long enough to check out Bordeaux and catch up.
now, i figure... since i'm on the continent... why not go a little further? there are a bazillion places i want to explore, but i need to keep my costs under control, especially considering how expensive Canada>England (not to mention England>Canada) flights are becoming. and yes, i am definitely revisiting York sometime still in 2009. anyway, so, i figure the best way for me to still see a bit more of Europe is to pick one big city that i've always been keen on, and stay in a hostel there for about 5 or 6 days. this way i don't need to invest in a large backpack, i'm relatively secure, and there'll be no shortage of sights to interest me.
my question to you is... which city?
Berlin -- Vienna -- Basel -- Brussels -- Freiburg
in choosing your pick, think of what you yourself would be interested in (and tell me why!) and consider what you know of me and my passions. please&thanks.
for money's sake, obviously trying to stick to western Europe, French/German speaking-cities, ones to which there are relatively inexpensive flights, and ones which are tourist-friendly. you know, maybe somewhere a bit more obscure that - once i have more money, haha - i probably won't visit again, as i'd pick somewhere more high-profile to go. does that make sense?
basically, i want to spend time in a city that is full of history and general beauty. i did lots of research today into Scotland (going with Dutchie at the end of the break), but also tours through Croatian national parks, treks around Greek islands, and even a (pricey!) 8-day trip up the Nile. realized i would rather save money by staying relatively local, and then buy a ticket for a return trip to York next autumn. not to mention, i'm planning on doing more short trips around the UK.
coming back to London, i'll work my way up to York geographically (and therefore, most cheaply?) i'll look into visiting Emily in Buckinghamshire, Jack in Eastbourne, Chris in Devon (with a getaway weekend to Salisbury!) and then possibly Harriet in Shropshire and Mark in Scarborough before coming back to York to wait for Ellen's arrival so we can do our Scottish thing. clearly, even staying close to home means spending a lot. but there's no way i'm staying in an empty corridor for longer than i have to!
this term, i'd still love to do a day trip to Manchester or Newcastle with Chris, and if i don't make it to Mark's over the holiday, i'll visit next term. also, next term, i wouldn't mind taking a few days off school to maybe do one cheap tour of some kind, maybe back on the continent? we'll see!
you may think (and sometimes i do too) that these are all very lofty ambitions, but - money aside - i can handle the planning of this. if i break it into bits it can't be that hard, right? they say people are bitten by the travel-bug for a reason. once you start it's hard to stop, and i've been stopped for most of my life.
(i am going to have to find like, THE summer job, aren't i?)
england,
travels