Eastern Europe

Tallin has a nice old town but has waaay too many cloned souvenir
shops.

Plus which it's the hottest new hen/stag party destination!

http://www.tallinn****up.com

Stag weekends can feature the "Medieval Lesbian strip show" and a
demolition derby with old Soviet cars, but the Kalashnikov shooting
range is currently unavailable.

"irishtraveller" wrote in message
lkabouttravelling.com...
Greetings, in the month of June me and 3 friends are planning on going on
a
trip to eastern europe. Roughly, the route we're planning on doing is,
flying from Dublin to Stanstead, then from Stanstead to Brno (with
Ryanair). From there, a train to Krakow, then to Warsaw. From there, to
Belarus (Brest - Minsk), then to Moscow via Smolensk, after that to St.
Petersburg. The final leg of the trip will be from there to Tallinn in
Estonia and finally on to Riga in Latvia, where can fly back to London
Stanstead. Ideally we'd like to spend not much more than 4 weeks away.
Does this route seem reasonable, are there any places i'd be advised not
to visit due to safety issues and what not. Also, i can't seem to find
much information on train prices so i don't know how much it is all going
to cost. If you have any advise regarding any part of this trip, please
respond.

A) You've never been to "Eastern Europe" in your life before, right?
B) You don't know **** about Eastern European visas, right?
C) You don't know **** about Eastern European train travel, right?
D) You can't work out costs.
E) You can't spell Stansted.

Have you thought about spending 4 weeks in Connemara, pal?

"irishtraveller" wrote in message
lkabouttravelling.com...
Greetings, in the month of June me and 3 friends are planning on going on
a
trip to eastern europe. Roughly, the route we're planning on doing is,
flying from Dublin to Stanstead, then from Stanstead to Brno (with
Ryanair). From there, a train to Krakow, then to Warsaw. From there, to
Belarus (Brest - Minsk), then to Moscow via Smolensk, after that to St.
Petersburg. The final leg of the trip will be from there to Tallinn in
Estonia and finally on to Riga in Latvia, where can fly back to London
Stanstead. Ideally we'd like to spend not much more than 4 weeks away.
Does this route seem reasonable, are there any places i'd be advised not
to visit due to safety issues and what not. Also, i can't seem to find
much information on train prices so i don't know how much it is all going
to cost. If you have any advise regarding any part of this trip, please
respond.

A) You've never been to "Eastern Europe" in your life before, right?
B) You don't know **** about Eastern European visas, right?
C) You don't know **** about Eastern European train travel, right?
D) You can't work out costs.
E) You can't spell Stansted.

Have you thought about spending 4 weeks in Connemara, pal?

Gerald Oliver Swift [on Wed, 20 Apr 2005 20:39:56 +0100] wrote:

"irishtraveller" wrote in message
lkabouttravelling.com...
Greetings, in the month of June me and 3 friends are planning on going on
a trip to eastern europe. [...]

A) You've never been to "Eastern Europe" in your life before, right?
B) You don't know **** about Eastern European visas, right?
C) You don't know **** about Eastern European train travel, right?
D) You can't work out costs.
E) You can't spell Stansted.

Gerald, would you now be kind enough to help 'irishtraveller' and answer
a couple of his questions? Or are you just being rude and enjoying every
minute of it?

As you found out, he "doesn't know **** about Eastern European train
travel and visas", but since you're putting it as you do, I suppose you
will enlighten him really soon, now.

Don't remain silent now, Gerald. Tell him what YOU know!


--
Low Countries By Bike - http://lowcountriesbybike.info
Riding on two wheels in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany

"Erick T. Barkhuis" wrote in message
...
Gerald Oliver Swift [on Wed, 20 Apr 2005 20:39:56 +0100] wrote:

"irishtraveller" wrote in message
lkabouttravelling.com...
Greetings, in the month of June me and 3 friends are planning on going
on
a trip to eastern europe. [...]

A) You've never been to "Eastern Europe" in your life before, right?
B) You don't know **** about Eastern European visas, right?
C) You don't know **** about Eastern European train travel, right?
D) You can't work out costs.
E) You can't spell Stansted.

Gerald, would you now be kind enough to help 'irishtraveller' and answer
a couple of his questions? Or are you just being rude and enjoying every
minute of it?

As you found out, he "doesn't know **** about Eastern European train
travel and visas", but since you're putting it as you do, I suppose you
will enlighten him really soon, now.

Don't remain silent now, Gerald. Tell him what YOU know!


--
Low Countries By Bike - http://lowcountriesbybike.info
Riding on two wheels in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany


OK Erick , you asked for it - and please note this is explicitly in reply
to your post and not the OP's post.

A) With over 35 years travel experience in Eastern Europe, please don't
assume that my travel experience is limited to "extended" budget airline
trips to Brno, Tallinn, Prague, etc., taking in Belarus, St. Petersburg &
Novokisvlovodsk en-route, etc., etc.
B) You can confirm this by looking up all my previous posts on
rec.travel.europe wrttravel in Eastern Europe.
C) The OP is simply living in a dream world with his obvious "inexperience"
of the itinerary he has proposed.
D) I get mighty ****ed off with people on this NG looking for a "quick
Eastern European fix" now that you can get "there" for £30 return.
E) I always try (and always have tried) to help SERIOUS posters on this NG
wrt Eastern European travel.
F) I stand by my reply to the OP. He should stay at home!

Regards
Gerry

Gerald Oliver Swift [on Wed, 20 Apr 2005 21:43:57 +0100] wrote:

"Erick T. Barkhuis" wrote in message
...
Gerald Oliver Swift [on Wed, 20 Apr 2005 20:39:56 +0100] wrote:

[Snipped what I consider a rant]

Gerald, would you now be kind enough to help 'irishtraveller' and answer
a couple of his questions?


OK Erick , you asked for it

I did.

A) With over 35 years travel experience in Eastern Europe, please don't
assume that my travel experience is limited to "extended" budget airline
trips to Brno, Tallinn, Prague, etc., taking in Belarus, St. Petersburg &
Novokisvlovodsk en-route, etc., etc.

I never assumed anything about your travel experience. All I saw was your
reply to what I consider a valid question in this newsgroup. And it was
merely a blunt attack.

C) The OP is simply living in a dream world with his obvious "inexperience"
of the itinerary he has proposed.
D) I get mighty ****ed off with people on this NG looking for a "quick
Eastern European fix" now that you can get "there" for £30 return.
E) I always try (and always have tried) to help SERIOUS posters on this NG
wrt Eastern European travel.
F) I stand by my reply to the OP. He should stay at home!

Gerry, I still don't get it, although I appreciate your reply.
You're obviously disgusted, because you 'worked hard' to get to Eastern
Europe and collected lots of experience. Nowadays, you see inexperienced
folks get there cheaply "because they can".

You're ****ed.

Yet, I wonder why. These folks can get to Eastern Europe just as if
they're going to Mallorca on a cheap flight. Annualy, hundreds of
thousands of people go to Mallorca, and it's considered a common way of
enjoying two weeks of vacation.
Recently, the region East of the 'Wall' became available to tourists.
They don't need to fight hard in order to get there, anymore.

I suppose we should simply adjust. Eastern Europe has become a vacation
destination for the ordinary tourist, and questions about that region
become 'ordinary' as well.
You may still not want to reply, but being ****ed the way you were
earlier today is, I strongly believe, not what may be expected anymore
these days. Times have changed.


--
Low Countries By Bike - http://lowcountriesbybike.info
Riding on two wheels in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany

A) I have never been to Eastern Europe, no. Do you have a problem with
that? It's a place i want to visit, if everyone refused to visit places on
the basis that they had never been there before, there wouldn't be much
travel going on.

B) I don't know much about Eastern Europe visas, that's WHY i'm asking for
advice here, i think you misunderstand the concept of this website.

C) I don't know much about Eastern Europe train travel as i've never been
there.

D) I find out how much i'm going to need, at most.

E) I fail to see the relevance of that comment, English isn't even my
first language.

I don't understand why you're being unnecessarily rude, we can't all be
know-it-alls.

To the people who responded with advice, it's greatly appreciated, if
anyone has anything else (constructive) to add then please respond.

Erick, I take your point(s) wholeheartedly.

I was extremely OTT (over the top) with the OP. Perhaps I should have
disregarded his post entirely and left it to others to reply.
I will endeavour to do this in future. No advice from me to
"irishtraveller". Apologies to "irishtraveller" who has, I notice,
subsequently replied.

Erick, you are quite right. Times have changed. We must move on. Thank you
for pointing that out to me.

Regards
Gerry

PS I really liked this quote taken off your website: "A child on a farm
sees a plane fly by overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveller on
the plane sees the farmhouse and dreams of home". How many times have I
thought the same!



"Erick T. Barkhuis" wrote in message
...
Gerald Oliver Swift [on Wed, 20 Apr 2005 21:43:57 +0100] wrote:

"Erick T. Barkhuis" wrote in message
...
Gerald Oliver Swift [on Wed, 20 Apr 2005 20:39:56 +0100] wrote:

[Snipped what I consider a rant]

Gerald, would you now be kind enough to help 'irishtraveller' and
answer
a couple of his questions?


OK Erick , you asked for it

I did.

A) With over 35 years travel experience in Eastern Europe, please don't
assume that my travel experience is limited to "extended" budget airline
trips to Brno, Tallinn, Prague, etc., taking in Belarus, St. Petersburg &
Novokisvlovodsk en-route, etc., etc.

I never assumed anything about your travel experience. All I saw was your
reply to what I consider a valid question in this newsgroup. And it was
merely a blunt attack.

C) The OP is simply living in a dream world with his obvious
"inexperience"
of the itinerary he has proposed.
D) I get mighty ****ed off with people on this NG looking for a "quick
Eastern European fix" now that you can get "there" for £30 return.
E) I always try (and always have tried) to help SERIOUS posters on this
NG
wrt Eastern European travel.
F) I stand by my reply to the OP. He should stay at home!

Gerry, I still don't get it, although I appreciate your reply.
You're obviously disgusted, because you 'worked hard' to get to Eastern
Europe and collected lots of experience. Nowadays, you see inexperienced
folks get there cheaply "because they can".

You're ****ed.

Yet, I wonder why. These folks can get to Eastern Europe just as if
they're going to Mallorca on a cheap flight. Annualy, hundreds of
thousands of people go to Mallorca, and it's considered a common way of
enjoying two weeks of vacation.
Recently, the region East of the 'Wall' became available to tourists.
They don't need to fight hard in order to get there, anymore.

I suppose we should simply adjust. Eastern Europe has become a vacation
destination for the ordinary tourist, and questions about that region
become 'ordinary' as well.
You may still not want to reply, but being ****ed the way you were
earlier today is, I strongly believe, not what may be expected anymore
these days. Times have changed.


--
Low Countries By Bike - http://lowcountriesbybike.info
Riding on two wheels in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 22:57:14 +0200, Erick T. Barkhuis
wrote:


You're ****ed.


You may still not want to reply, but being ****ed the way you were

You should say "****ed off", as being ****ed means very different
things in British and American English.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 22:57:14 +0200, Erick T. Barkhuis
wrote:


You're ****ed.


You may still not want to reply, but being ****ed the way you were

You should say "****ed off", as being ****ed means very different
things in British and American English.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--