Money help: I’ve decided to go backpacking through France, Italy, and maybe Belgium or Monaco. - Help.com

hey limon! I walked the cinque terre before..totally recommend it! It’s so lovely! When do you plan on going?

Oh and you gotta see Monaco! Such a lovely place, you feel like you’re spending money just standing there! What age are you dude?

cool!we walked the cinque terre during the hottest summer, shouldn’t be too bad at the end of may..i was asking about your age because we had a 34 year old with us and he had some difficulty coz it was so hot! It’s so beautiful though and I didn’t find it too challenging either..altho i do remember sounding like darth vader for a time! I’ve never been to Belgium so I can’t advise on that one! :)

Language barrier might be a difficulty in Italy but in France (depending on where you go..but the south of France, everybody speaks english) and Monaco, you’ll have no difficulty

aw wow..you’ll have the best time!! Can I come too?! :(

Well I was spending the summer in Nice so we just drove from Nice to the Cinque terre..or maybe we got a train there.. I remember we were lugging quite a bit of stuff with us..and it was really hot so the difficulty in breathing lead to darth vader showing up!
We just walked to all the villages and then got a train back..so we were just there for a day really! And then I only went to Monaco on day trips because it’s very close to Nice too..transportation is so cheap there..well in comparison to Ireland..I guess transport in the states is quite cheap too!

oh paris!!! Aw wow..i’m so jealous!!

Yeah, it’s a lovely city..

haha! Yeah if I had the option to go anywhere in the world it would be italy! Rome just blew me away! Everything about the country is so beautiful and the people, while scary, are the nicest, most decent, most friendliest in the world..wow, and i didn’t even mention the icecream!!

From personal experience, the French were not the friendliest..they do assume that if you speak english you are wealthy and arrogant!! Actually, that was only my experience of the south of France, people in Paris were absolutely lovely! I wouldn’t let people turn me off a place though really..like you’re gunna get good and bad everywhere..Nice is a cool place, I spent so long there though that I never really got to see it from a tourist perspective

But if you’re going to Monaco, then you’d be daft not to see Nice..it’s literally about 30 mins away

not necessarily..i had quite good french when I went over there and whenever I tried to use it, they’d recognise that i wasn’t a native and would just reply to me in english and sometimes tell me not to bother speaking french..like i was dirtying up their language or something! Whereas in Paris, the people were far more patient with me and always let me speak French to them!

what’s special about ontario?

I should really learn some things about the states..there’s so much I don’t know! Yeah I definitely think it’s respectful to try to know a bit of the language..and it’s fun too! And I can totally see where the Nicois people are coming from too..like I saw some things in Nice that would put you off americans if that was your only contact with them! I think the French Riviera gets the richest of the rich who are used to clicking their fingers at everything..that’s prob where the bad rep comes from!
I understand Limon..sorry for my dimness! :)

OH NO!! NOT CANADA!! (heheh..just tryna fit in with you merican folk)

Oh wow! Jeepers, I spent three months in the USA last summer and was just astounded at the amount of Irish Americans I met!! :D I grew up in the south east and am at college just outside Dublin at the moment! You should visit Ireland..it’s great! :D I recommend the west coast if you do..it’s really beautiful around there..oh and come in the summer time!! It won’t be hot but it’ll be less likely that you’ll have to endure constant rain ;)

Limon, I’m sure you speak French like an angel :)

(a french speaking angel, obviously)

Oh I didn’t see Florence on your list before! Florence is lovely! Just make sure you don’t go on a monday..think that’s the day all the museums close..man how are you gunna fit all this into eight days??

You’ve heard Ireland is pretty parted as far as living conditions? How do you mean?

The quality of life for Irish people is quite uniform actually..well it’s certainly not determined by demographics anyway..the only thing would be that housing is alot cheaper away from cities but certainly living conditions are good nationwide..like there’s no one deprived area or anything like that!

no advice, i have never been overseas, but dang it all, have fun, and glad you are going wiht someone and not alone (would not want vampires to get you)

oh yeah, take pictures, and post em.

wow! that sounds amazing! great schedule! And yes, limon I am studying for exams but gosh darnit it’s saturday night and all my friends are out having fun, I deserve some help time! I agree with Akslogistic on this one..I’d love to see what Limon looks like on holidays ;)

(just putting together a history lesson for you peabl)

wooden stake, preferrably ash or cedar.

Peabl:I naturally thought you meant the republic of Ireland..which is where i’m from..back in the olden days, the island of ireland was invaded by the british and put under british rule. If I were any way patriotic i’d tell of the 800 years of persecution, of how they robbed us of our language and religion etc..but i’m not gunna go into all that! :)
In 1798, the Irish tried to fight back..had a bit of a rebellion..think they stole the idea from the French…it was a bit of fun but we didn’t manage to get our country back..
Eventually, after years of fighting, a politician dude managed to strike a deal with the british. The island is made up of 32 counties and Britain said, we’ll give you back 26 and keep the 6 in the north.
So this created the divide between northern and southern Ireland. Ireland became the republic of Ireland in 1922 and Northern Ireland is a separate country. As you can imagine the guys in the north weren’t too happy about being sold out so the catholics wanted it to be part of Ireland, the protestants wanted it to be part of England and so there was a lot of fighting..a civil war and whatnot..but yeah so there was especially bad fighting in Northern Ireland in like the 70s and stuff but at present there is a total ceasefire and there hasn’t been any violence up there for about..i’d say maybe 10 years now..
But there’s no fighting at all in the republic, which is where i’m from..i’ve never actually been to Northern Ireland ever..there’s a different currency there and everything since they’re still part of Britain really I suppose! *sorry for any inaccuracies, like i sed, not very patriotic but that’s a general gist of it!*

Don’t think your american cell will work in europe..my american cell didn’t work when I came back to Ireland anyway..but sure you won’t need it really! :)

yep, france, italy, monaco..all euro

wow..extreme..well i was t-mobile in the states, they told me the phone i bought would work over here too but it didn’t..you guys work on a different band you see..like we use dual band mobiles here..wheras you use tri-band cells in the states :)

i’m not sure that I understand your statement P but I was raised Catholic and have no animosity toward protestants..there is still some division in Northern Ireland though, like there would be catholic neighbourhoods and protestant neighbourhoods etc but to be honest I wouldn’t know the difference..like I’m sure some of my friends are protestants! It’s not an issue..it’s kinda funny thinking that it would be!

oh wow..yeah like i know times were bad for people who lived in the North..really bad but like I said I’ve never visited there so I don’t know first hand! It’s incredible how many people think that Ireland is stil part of Great Britain though! Goodnight Peabl! :D

Haha! Take it easy Limon, I hope you have a really lovely trip! :D

when i saw backpacking trip…
…i was like. WOW, CAN I COME!?!?

I love backpacking.

THEN YOU SAID
EUROPE!!!!

I should do that some day.
fyi, Ireland is supposed to be amazing.

You’d think you were in some other world.

I have heard, ginseng, from people who has their main family in Ireland, that there is still some hatred floating around.

Italy is a fantastic place, i saw the pope when I was there. May he rest in peace.

join the club. I am also an extreme lightweight packer.
my friend is even crazier, he is going to wear these running-shoes-like-things-that-are-more-like-flip-flops….just because they are extremely light.

also, idk if you do this, but dehydrated food (is that what its called?) is extremely light…although not tasty.

When i went to paris…it wasnt that anyone was mean to us…it was that no one spoke a word to us….it was kinda creepy….

anyways, enough babbling.

Have a nice trip!

Vimy Ridge in France is beautiful! Just be careful not to step on any land mines where the sheep roam:P.
The Louvre is beautiful. It even includes these really tiny beds which belonged to French kings.

Also, in Belgium, keep some change on you for the washroom lady at the public washrooms.
Also, try the triple Belgian chocolate Haagan Dasz Icecream! It’s delicious!
There is also this tank museum somewhere in Belgium with all of these WWII tanks.

Also, pick up a book by Rick Steves. He has travelled through Europe many times, and always by backpack.

Also, LonelyPlanet phrasebooks can help too!

To add…if you say that you’re from Canada, French people will automatically assume that you’re from Quebec :P.

Also, in some cities in Belgium, you may become lost, since all the stores are either: bars with Stella Artois signs on the outside, rug shops or chocolateries.
I remember walking through there: bar, rug shop, chocolaterie, bar, rug shop, chocolaterie, bar, rug shop ….

Beware the attack of the sandwich boxes! There are overpriced sandwich boxes being sold all over Europe. They cost about $7 Canadian each, and are located at every tourist attraction.

And when you are in the Louvre, that itsy bitsy painting on the wall surrounded by 20 people actually ‘is’ the Mona Lisa.

Also in Belgium, take advantage of the chocolate filled croissants for breakfast. yum!

If you get a chance, spend a day hiking in Switzerland on your way to Italy. We live near the border and hike there whenever we get the chance. Cinque Terra is great, the hike will be hot, but you can swim in at least 5 different beaches along the way and eat fruit smoothies or gelato ice cream in each village. Nice is ok, but not thrilling in my opinion. Lots of residential. Take a few days in Rome for sure to take it all in. Same with Paris or Venice.

Florence is amazing. definitely try to make it there. in my opinion, it’s WAY cooler than Rome. i don’t know why, but it just feels more personal than Rome does.

It sounds like you’re having a good time!
I remember when I saw the Eiffel Tower from a distance in Paris, and going to the Louvre.
The short beds for the various kings are hilariously tiny!

That’s for sure. And the Mona Lisa is so tiny! I originally thought that it would take up an entire wall.
Did you write a journal about your experiences? If not write now! Before you forget all of your adventures!

Yay! I’ve already started to forget so much from my trip. I’m glad I wrote it down. Even on a walk through the forest in London, my friend and I came upon a set filming for a TV show, while seeing 100 hopping bunnies in the distance. Crazy times.

lol! From what I remember, my first night in London I had been awake for about 40 hours, I was offered drinks until midnight, then had to cab home with my friend to the place we were staying which looked like every other little house unit for several blocks. Luckily, we arrived at our destination.

The 100 bunnies was real. We were out walking in the forest on a nice afternoon, and then came upon the bunnies and the fake murder scene for the TV show :P.

It was a really pathetic murder scene. The body was pants and a shirt stuffed with straw lying in a wheelbarrow in the river. It was for some TV special in England.
They offered us free food, but we declined, in case they then wanted us to pay for it :P. They did have a huge table of free food though! Now I wish that I had taken some :P.

I know what you mean, timing is everything! At least in this case, with the taxi, we didn’t have a time limit. I guess the other problem while I was over there was trying to set up a moldy tent in the pitch-black dark at midnight, not being able to read the tent instructions, with a lake right beside us that we could fall into and a horse running around and making noises.