within the next 6 months, me and 2 of my pals wanna go to amsterdam.

I went there last april from boston and loved it.

We were thinking of spending 10 days there and another european country (italy/uk/france-paris/germany-berlin).

Would it be better/cheaper (usually) to fly into amsterdam and use that as our main base. I.E., we fly into amsterdam, use easy jet to fly to whatever country, fly back to A'dam and leave from there?

or would it be better to fly into country x, leave country x for y, then leave y for U.S.?

i have been to amsterdam 2x, once from SF and once from boston. we flew KLM. where else should we look?

Thanks,
Dino

I would suggest that using either Easyjet or Ryan air, then using your return trip is best.

Alternatively, fly into London, and easyjet from London to Amsterdam, Koln/Bonn etc and use easyjet rentacars.

You can also consider the German FKK's which will blow your mind, and dont forget the posibility of cheap acomadation in Alkmaar commuting into Amsterdam.

There are cheap one-way flights, but logistically getting the longhall on a return deal, then doing the European rounds on the budjet airline circuit is great. You can see a lot, for not a lot of money, the way they all link up.

What Mike said with this proviso: use A'dam as your base. You will want to spend the last hours of your trip here doing whatever it is that you like to do in Amsterdam. I am in the States right now, but will return to the greatest place on earth on Friday. God, I love that place. Not because it's perfect, because it definitely is not, but because it is so versatile, so much so that anyone from any walk of life, in any country, can find something that they love about the place. It even angers me when I tell unknowing folks where I live and they immediately snicker and make an ignorant comment about drugs or sex. Amsterdam is that, but she is so much more, and for the rest of my temporal life and any eternity that might await, I will carry an infinite thankfulness in my heart for having been lucky enough to get to know her and walk down her canals and meet her people and hear her church bells chime. To qoute George C. Scott from the movie Patton, "God help me, but I do love it so....."

I agree with using AMS as a base. Plenty of places you can get to from there cheap either via train or jet. And I second the recommendation that you make A'Dam the last visit on the itinerary...it's a great place to look forward to throughout the trip and will make a great place to share stories.

I've traveled there from many points in the US and always follow this scheme. You do need to make sure your airline transfer time in AMS allows you enough time to get your bags, recheck-in and get thru security. Can be rather lengthy. If you miss a flight on one of the smaller airlines, it can cause quite a few time and financial headaches. Be sure to check their penalites for changes, etc.

Although, when it happened to be a few months back, I capitalized on the 7 hours till my new flight and made the quick train journey into town for a few hours of unplanned fun!

the downside of flying into a British airport is the taxes... you can get like a $200 fare but then end up paying about the same in taxes. it is particular to just british airports.

i've done into amsterdam and out of amsterdam w/ transport between by train as well as into london and then out of amsterdam w/ transport between by train.

so anyway... i think the best answer is that you have to figure out your destination and then ask the question again...

frick i don't even know if i am making sense anymore... la la la... sorry for going off the deep end... :D

Yeah sorry about the fucking extortionism our government imposes on foreign travellers. basically they'd rather raise money that way than do something inventive to raise cash.

I'm constantly ashamed and yet constantly affected.

Dave

I live here in Amsterdam and love every minute of it, however, may I suggest E. Europe.... There are two places my friends from Dallas and I just got back from and let me tell you the cities are awesome and easy to get to from the Dam.

Check out both Prague and Krakow (Poland). You can fly on Czeq Airlines for under $200 RT and once you get there it is absolute heaven for scenery, nightlife,dining and some of the hottest ladies you will lay your hands on!

Prague has some of the best nightclubs in Europe and the girls are stunning! We always do a few pre-night activites before heading to the dance clubs to hook up with the locals (which is easy as hell).

There are a couple strip bars which are on par with the best I've seen in the States (think Dallas, Vegas and Atlanta), but with a twist.....every girl in the place you can take upstairs for an hour or however long you would like and bang the hell out of them for $140USD. We are talking hundreds of Eastern European women from every country you can imagine they would like to get the hell out of...and make some $$$$ Were talking Super Model looks and bodies. The place is called "Darling Caberet" check it out at http://www.kabaret.cz/

Another club to check out the fine babes at is called "Club K5" which can be found at www.k5relax.com. If your coming in the summer months then call ahead to make a reservation for this place as they are extremly busy. I lost my friend from NY for 3 hours in this place after he dropped some Vitamin V and met a 6' Russian Super Model who loved anal and sucking cock! Really could not blame the guy.....she did have a great ass....

Another bonus of Prage is the unlimied number of Escort service's which you can find listed on the net....just do a google search. Basically you can find some cutie for the whole night for $150.

Another Gem is Poland and the cities of Krakow or Warsaw. I would suggest Krakow as its smaller, has more sights to see during the day (Auschwitz is something you need to check out), largest University in E Europe, cheap and has the highest density of bars in the world (according to a few websites). Simply hundreds of bars can be found in cellars and courtyards stretching from the Old Town to Kazimierz. Stay in the Old Town and you can simply walk every where.

There are so many clubs and bars in the city you can't go wrong. Listed below is a website which is the bible of traveling to E Europe. They report on everything from eating to hotels to strip bars.... http://www.inyourpocket.com/

Oh one site we found if your into polish escorts for about $25/hour is at: www.odloty.pl
We had a girl named Karolina come over for 4 hours with some friends for only $100USD each. Check her out at: http://www.odloty.pl/cd/product_info.ph ... ts_id/1263

I think most any place in Eastern Europe would be better for the money and the honey's....

Contact me if you have any questions or need some help with choosing where to go!

Good fucking!

Amsterdave

you have many options. I would suggest that you fly KLM/Northwest and plan your dates for multi trips in and out of ams for unlimited stopovers to other european destinations, or you can book a cheap return flight to ams then use www.raileurope.com to get a rail pass, packages, and rail n drive packages. Good luck!

KLM runs the only non stop from SF and it's worth it. No frills but leaves at 4 and arrive at 11 (10hrs) the next day, ready for a full day in the promised land.

I allways fly into amsterdam and use it as my hub. (so much nicer then heathrow).
It's easy to get to several other countries by train from amsterdam ,like germany.
Then fly south to spain or italy to beat the chill.
I don't do France (there just not nice people).

Hi;
A friend and I looked into flying into Prague and then taking the train to Amsterdam and flying out from there. Prague is awesome and a train pass can let you get off where ever it looks interesting (maybe a pun intended) You can also do a train/car thing with x number of days on the train and y number of days with a rental car. We were going to take the train into Munich and then drive around Germany and drop the car off at Frankfurt and get back on the train and head to Amsterdam. Check into EurRail passes http://www.raileurope.com/us/rail/fares ... /index.htm. Of course we usually go to Amsterdam 5 or 6 times a year so we were looking for something a little different. Just cant seem to get enough of the place. Hope to be back in February or March.

You can get an international license from AAA and as long as you can remember you have to drive it gives you lots of flexibility. Driving in Germany is pretty easy - but pretty fast.

Good luck

Jake2000

rubbish. and they write more gooder than many of you americans do.

Can't we just all get along -- black, white, French, American? Everyone, no matter what race, creed, or religion -- except for the Irish, of course!

personally i think one of the reasons i enjoy france and the french so much is the lack of english sun reader type people with their ignorant xenophobic attitudes. evidently these attitudes now extend to the grammatically disabled across the pond too. what did they ever do to you - steal your dictionary?

yours, bored of people knocking a country which i have enjoyed for over 20 years (based on literally dozens of visits none of which have left me with any inkling that these are not 'nice people')

withnail

>>yours, bored of people knocking a country which i have enjoyed for over 20 years (based on literally dozens of visits none of which have left me with any inkling that these are not 'nice people')

withnail<<

Not to mention that they sit on top of some of the best real estate in Europe. And I never had a problem with them either. I've never had a problem in any country in Europe. Being polite to your hosts goes a long way.

At the risk of sounding like a Houseman for you Euros, I have to agree that I'm down with the folks in France and their beautiful country. And as for Paris the people have become more friendly since I first visited in '79. (That may be partly due to the fact they now think I might have some jack to spread around as opposed to the back-packer kid I was back in the day).
I think what happens is that Americans hear this horror stories and so when they finally do come visit France any run-in or unpleasantness gets magnified and blown out of proportion. Most Americans who go to France for the first time go to Paris, and its a huge city, and huge cities can suck anytime, anywhere, on a bad day, even here in Amsterdam by God! (But not for long).
Anyway, do we have to disparage someone's beliefs, no matter how misguided, by judging their literacy? To paraphrase a line I read on this board a while back when AutoThief got called on his grammar, "We're Americans, not grammarians!"

Peace and love and by golly, give the French a second try, you won't regret it. If every European held America's politics against individual Americans, i wouldn't have anybody to talk to.
Open your heart, babe.