On our trip we will take mostly overnight trains
By maximax8
@maximax8 (31046)
United Kingdom
March 16, 2013 6:14am CST
Then we will be able to do the maximum amount of sightseeing. I have visited cities like Prague, Krakow and Budapest before. New places will be Ukraine and Moldova. I feel so excited about seeing those two countries.
I will get local money out from an ATM machine using a debit card in each of the countries we visit. Due to expensive prices we will try to visit free and low cost attractions. We will take some vegan food from home with us and then shop at local supermarkets.
Do you feel excited about visiting countries that are new for you?
Did you use an ATM machine abroad successfully?
Which trips have you taken some food from home?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
16 Mar 13
I would be nervous because I have a hard time trying to learn a new language. I would be worried about using an atm machine not because of nerves but because I do not like to pay fees. I would probably get the money exchanged at the bank first before I leave. I would also eat the food there, well at country restaurants and homes. Not a vegan, more an omnivore so I would eat a lot of pasta, casseroles, and cassoulets.
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
16 Mar 13
I like the a b c sorts of languages like English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Romanian. I have trouble understanding languages like Bulgarian, Russian and Arabic due to the different alphabet.
I had a nightmare like time at an ATM machine in Cape Town. Always let your bank know where you are traveling because they might think it is fraud.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
16 Mar 13
I have been trying to learn Italian and Spanish. I can understand what they are talking about, not speak it. I am also trying to save for the Rosetta Stone, and think that may work better for me. I guess using an ATM machine in another country might make it a bit difficult.
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
16 Mar 13
Good luck learning Italian and Spanish. Yes, you will hopefully like the Rosetta Stone Set. Yes, that ATM gave me an advise slip but not the 200 Rand I wished to have. I was so lucky that the shop assistant and then the bank helped me. I needed that money to pay for my accommodation I had been staying at in Cape Town.
Funnily enough at that accommodation there had been a man staying long term that lived in the same area as me. I was at the start of that trip 18 weeks pregnant. The next day I took a coach sort of bus to the Garden Route. They said a let us travel safely prayer before the bus left. That trip was in 2009.
I had a nightmare time with ATM machines in Colombia in 2011. Some machines would work but not every one.
@gitfiddleplayer (10362)
• United States
16 Mar 13
I would love to travel by train, it think it would be very nostalgic from when people use to travel only by train since it was the preferred method. It would be great to see the world move along. Travelling at night would be harder unless I was missing some great scenery, but if we were going through tunnels and mountains there wouldn't be much to see anyway.
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
16 Mar 13
I have already seen so very much of Europe so I don't mind sleeping on the night trains. On my family's trip to South America it was beautiful scenery over the majestic looking Andes Mountains. I hope that you will go on a lovely trip by train and have a fantastic time.
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
16 Mar 13
On one hand yes, I completely agree, it is exciting visiting a new country for the first time especially on your own, on the hand it is also quite scary too, but if you go to a country with English as their first language I feel more happier. I always go prepared with food, because you need to eat and travelling makes you hungry. Plus I feel happier when countries have the Euro too, I don't tend to use ATM's when abroad I either take enough Euros to cover the trip, I don't mind having them left over as they are versatile and can be used again, plus I also use my credit card to pay for meals out, expensive items or tickets to shows or trips etc.
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
16 Mar 13
Hi Wolfie. Not all the countries I will be traveling through or to use the Euro as their single currency. I will take some plastic cases for all the different currencies. In Eastern Europe around 1990 few people spoke English. Now many people are able to communicate in English in those locations. I am glad that you always go provided with food. I felt quite nervous in the capital city of Argentina.
@catchpazuzu (99)
• Portugal
16 Mar 13
Nights trains are amazing. There's this thing for me about them that I can't explain. I'm always excited to see something new, it's one of the few things in life that I'm excited for. I have never used an ATM machine abroad though, but I should... I have never taken food from home, unless I would stay in the place for a long period of time.
