For Christmas break, I’m going to be spending my time traveling Europe with my girlfriend. Our start/end point is Paris, since that is where she is studying, but we will have nearly two weeks of time during the vacation that will be spent out of France, traveling. We’re definitely going to Amsterdam (…) and London (not my first pick), and some of our strong considerations are Copenhagen, Praag, Stockholme, and Barcelona (or Madrid…or somewhere in Portugal). My problem is that I’m a quite overwhelmed with trying to plan this out, booking transportation and places to stay, figuring out what we want to see, etc. Any information regarding past experiences in Europe, must see stops…pretty much any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time! (P.s. My girlfriend and I are urban explorers at heart if that helps at all. I’m not planning on doing anything “illegal,” since I’m not very comfortable with doing that in a foreign country, but for sake of example when I first visited Paris we would go see the Catacombs instead of the Eiffel Tower. That sort of thing. Thanks again!)
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I have found Rick Steves' guidebooks helpful in planning my trip. He has some great suggestions on what to see and what not to see, where to stay, where to eat, sometimes even who to meet etc.... http://www.ricksteves.com/ I usually check out a couple of his books and DVDs from my local library before planning a trip. He also has many articles or write-ups on this website. There also are some European here users who may have the inside scoop on what to see and what to avoid. I'll try inviting a few I know of. :) Happy Travels.
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This site really helped my plan my vacation. http://www.tripadvisor.com/