Europe String

Visiting Dubrovnik (Croatia for the unaware) is not complete without taking an island cruise to one or more of the chain of the Elaphite Islands. Cruises to the three inhabited islands — Koločep, Šipan and Lopud — can be found all over. Most of the advertised cruises, though, are expensive.
Steps to tour the islands for less money:

Buy a Guide (or, download and print one before you leave your home)
Take the inexpensive Jadrolinija ferry. It runs four times a day (only 2x on Sundays). It leaves from Gruz, which is only a few minutes away by …read more

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Previously Featured Destinations on Sounds Greek to Me: Rzeszów
The category Sounds Greek to Me is all about destinations with names which are difficult to pronounce and/or spell for English-speakers. Places featured are served by budget airlines.
Växjö is a small charming university town located right in the middle of southern Sweden, Småland.

First off, how the hell do you pronounce all those letters with those dots on top?! English speakers would probably guess that it would be something like vaxjoe, right? It’s not. It’s more along the lines of vek-fwoo. Best to ask a local when you to Växjö, …read more

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Do you have luxurious tastes or habits, esp. in eating and drinking. However, if you had money to burn, you probably would not be reading Europestring, would you? So rather than give you a guide which your challenged-pocket will not be able to use anyway, I will just point you to some of the best alternative to fine dining options in Paris.
Alaine Senderens (one of the founding father of Nouvelle Cuisine) gave back his Michelin stars and re-opened Lucas Carton into a simpler brasserie de luxe. It’s not exactly cheap dining but if you want an epicurean’s …read more

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For those in the UK who are interested to watch the Rugby World Cup 2007, you’ll be happy to know that there is still a way to get to Paris before the game. Tickets are still available on sale over at budget airline, Flybe.
Availability (as of now) of flights to Paris for tomorrow, 20October are from: Birmingham, Southampton, Cardiff, Edinburg and Belfast.
Note, though, that all return flights from Paris on Sunday are sold out. The earliest return flights available are for Monday to Southampton, Birmingham and Manchester.
Another bad news (not that I am discouraging you to go there), …read more

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Before I book a hotel, apart from checking aggregators and other travel service providers, I always check virtual tourist. I value fellow tourists’ reviews a lot more than information written by those who have been paid to write glowing reports.
Lately, I have started checking Lonely Planet’s Bluelist, as well.
Check out these recommendations and see for yourself how Bluelist can help a lot in your travel planning:

Best Youth Hostels in Europe
Dream Destination Europe
How Do You Afford It?
Classic Local Backpacker Banter
Europe Is…

Best Things About Bratislava
Rome and its Precious Family Jewels

And when you get back from your travels, share your knowledge and …read more

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11Euros entrance fee to a Club is not exactly what you’d call a great budget deal.
But if you can party the night away in any of the 23 participating clubs and have access to free shuttle service to get you from one party place to another then, I am sure that you’d agree with me that 11Euros IS a good deal.
DJs of all genres, live-acts, animations and percussions. The Night of the Clubs offers besides the club-classics like the “Living XXL” and the “U60311″ also new hotspots such as the “Cocoon Club”, the tabledance-club “Pure Platinum”, the reopened “ex Sam …read more

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Knowing the local language might help you get better prices because you can give this ‘I am foreign but I live here‘ vibe. Unless you have the extra moolah to enrol in a language course before your trip, the only way you can speak the basics of another language is if you take the time to teach yourself.
Reading a phrase book will not get you far. The next best thing would be to MANGO.

Mango is a FREE enterprise language learning course that is available online.  They have eleven courses, 100 lessons available on Beta release.

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Milli wins the Barcelona Student Travel JetPack for her “I’m leaving to barcelona in 2 weeks and currently my bank balance reads -£1250!!” plea.
1 Luxe City Guide goes to our most prolific guest blogger, Abby Yao.
Please email me (melissa.petri@gmail.com) your contact details so I could send your prices.
Watch out for our next contest soon!!!

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In a month, Eurostar will be moving from Waterloo International to the heart of London.
On Wednesday, November 14, Eurostar will be calling St. Pancras International its new home.
To celebrate, Eurostar is sharing the following with a few lucky participants:

For residents of London, you can win tickets to Paris, Brussels or Lille if you answer their survey.  It will only take you 5 minutes.
Buy a Eurostar ticket to Brussels from as little as £59 and you can travel on to any other Belgian station for free.

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You need to give yourself plenty of time to do your research before you travel to make sure that you get the best deal possible.
You may have to walk. A lot.  It’s one of the best way to discover a European city… plus, it’s the cheapest option.
You may have to wait for a better (meaning: cheaper) time to travel
After seeing that famous tourist spot, you may have to walk even further away to make sure that you do not pay thrice the amount for lunch
You need to time your visit to coincide with free entertainment offered in many cities.

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