I'm planning on traveling quite extensively through Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. I am an American and speak only English unfortunately. Any advice?

Thanks!

-Brandon

In most capitals you'll be just fine with English. You'll soon discover that most people there speak 2 or 3 languages anyway. At least at basic level, but most restaurants , hotels, tourist attractions and tours. German, French, English + the native tongue, if none of those are the ones.

Watch out for pick pocketers and watch your change, especially with taxi cabs. Avoid scams, be on your toes when shopping, watch the prices. The typical tourist spots sell stuff 2 3 times the price of the real price. Don't try to feed the birds, and be careful with women. They are much more brazen and braver than in USA and some of them are a really good scam artists.
There is a reason why Europe loves American unsuspecting American tourists...but hey you'll see lol.


On the good side, (If i haven't scared you enough, lol) the people are extremely nice and traveling is a lot more relaxed, especially airports aren't made to be jail entrances yet as far as I know...only if you are traveling from or to USA. Make sure you eat some pastry and cakes in Vienna or Prague! Unbeatable at any level!

Too bad you aren't gonna visit my old country Budapest, Hungary, but I'm sure you gonna end up in Vienna, that's a very nice place too.

Be careful of yr electronics! Buy adapters!

Thanks for the heads up!

Beer in Europe is about 2 times stronger than American beer!

Get acquainted with the metric system.

FIRST CLASS Eurorail is your BEST friend!!!

I stayed on the Continent, all of Scandinavia, Greece, Spain and Portugal for an entire year on my pass!

Worth its weight in gold ...

You can sleep on it for free at night, when no one else is aboard (Europeans sleep in the sleeper cars!)

The seats pull out and make a kingsize bed, bring a sleeping bag or just iuse your coat ...

... Best night drags are :

Amsterdam to Vienna ...

Vienna to Paris ...

Paris to Amsterdam ... Press repeat!

The pass also gives unlimited access to a "Love Boat" type cruise ship between Norway and Sweden, replete w/ free bed and showers ...

Also, the pass gives free access to lotsa boats/lakes ...

Check this pass out, even if ya stay in these 3 countries alone, the pass will just keep giving!

Lots of train stations have free showers also ...

Or are you touring by car?

You need coins to go to the loo in most of Europe; get currency/Euros BEFORE you get to a country ...

Also ... Youth Hostels ...

SO cheap and ALL the best/real travelers will be there!

Breakfast is complimentary, while ya get to hear all the best travel tales ...

Berlin is THE best in Germany, that and Bavaria ...

Salzburg in Austria (Sound of Music!) ... Also see the famous Austrian dancing horses, the Lipizzaner Stallions in Vienna!

And, of course, Prague in CR ...

... You will LOVE it; have fun ...

Great advice from Atlantis.

Also, be aware that some of our young, drunken, G.I.s have given us a bad name, to the locals. Just be polite, and people will be more apt to help you. I found that people were much friendlier, the further you got away from any of the American military bases, and VERY happy to help. Yes, even the French. lol. Try to think of yourself as an American ambassador.

In Germany, there is a beer that can be found in some parts, called "Perminator." We used to call it, "Perminator, the Terminator." Seriously, even if you are an experienced drinker, a few of these will screw you up, because unlike other high-alcohol beers, it tastes like the regular stuff. It has a picture of a monk, on the bottle, and he has his head cocked, like he's telling you: "This beer is gonna **** you up."



I highly reccomend it.

Yeah be careful of those womens runnin scams on your sexy a$$
And don't go falling in love out there either, we want you to come back


Please drink some amazing beers for me, I'm SO jealous!

what did you do to prepare yourself for your travel. i want to go to europe this summer too

He joined the Military

Yeah, didn't get the lil Military dealio about him when I left all my tips ...

Was only on his profile ...

Gstaats ... If ya follow my tips in Fall, rather than Summer ...

... You'll have such a better time!

Lived in Europe almost 10 years; it is SWAMPED w/ tourists in the Summer, blech ...

... Such a pain in the arse then!!!

I even had GREAT trips in the snowy, beautiful dead of winter ...

... Hiked up past the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia ... WOW!

Ridin' on the trains in the Alps and on the Norwegian Coast of fjords is SO safe and breathtaking!!!

NOT to be missed in one's lifetime, best part of Europe in Spades!!!

thanks for the advice...probably going to wait till september to go...its not too cold and flight prices are almost half the cost of summer flights

Europe is an amazing place! The Germans and the Austrians are very warm, friendly people.
Dont have a huge amount of experience of the Czech Republic. (Only have had one Czech friend)

A very high percentage of Germans speak very good English.
The Czech Republic, not so many, but Prague will have the highest percentage.
Austria also not so many.
If you can make it to Switzerland, then the majority of the Swiss speak English).

Your DVD players wont work here either. You need to change your Region code.

Flying over here from the States, to prevent jet lag, when you get on the plane stick to our time to sleep and eat. (As you are behind us in time)

Take an enorrrrrrrrrmous amount of photos!!! If it moves, sleeps, walks, talks, or just looks like a building - Photo it!!! lol

Also do a bit of research on each of places you visit.
It will endear you to the locals.

special adapters. anything with an electronic circuit requires a certain amount of amp/watts/volts. go to radio shack and look for one designed for electronic circuits.

the one i got and worked for me in '08 is rated up to 85 watts

radio shack catalog number 273-1426.

you may need a stronger one if you have a laptop power supply that requires more watts than that.

as far as the language barrier, take a german/english dictionary with you for germany and austria. i don't know about czech rep.

i went to poland and belarus in '08 and found very few people outside of the airport that actually spoke english. just a heads up.

hope you have a blast.