NORTH GERMANY May 2008- Seriously now: maps, itinerary, prices

[Tangerini]

I (and my plus 2) are 95% for sure at this point. So please still count on us

 

[hawkeye]

How would the German police take to a 25 year old american male with a back pack and a camera bag sleeping in an alley way behind a store for a week? lol

all jokes aside though, I've dreamed of going to Europe my whole life, but have no idea what kind of money I need to have for a successful trip. Other than transportation (air fair),which I can find on my own, how much would I need, assuming I really REALLY roughed it?

 

[hawkeye]

hmmm, I see Cory asked this same question in the other thread about this. sorry Still not sure about my funds, but I'll see what I can do. I could always bring a tent and great big box of Ramen Noodles lol

 

[ferny]

I was going to say I'd camp but I'm not sure now. Those prices don't look too bad but I'm still confussed as to how much staying in an apartment would cost for the whole time. My brain is frazzled.

I'm still deciding if going by car or plane makes more sense. I've not looked at cost or return tickets and ferrys but AutoRoute says it will cost £80 each way in petrol for me. But I don't know how much petrol is in France and Germany. I've love to drive and it would allow me to take more stuff there and bring back. And it would allow me to take a tent if I wanted to camp. But if flying costs 70% less, do I really want to drive for 2 days (I'd probably do it in one) each way? Who else would want a lift and share petrol costs and some of the driving?

Here's a very quick AutoRoute direction list from Luton.

Time Mile Instruction For Toward
Summary: 541.4 miles (1 day, 39 minutes)
DAY 1
Check your departure time; the next stop is in a different time zone.
09:00 0.0 Depart Luton on A6 [Guildford Street] (East) 0.2 mi
09:00 0.2 Keep STRAIGHT onto A6 [Church Street] 174 yds
09:00 0.3 Keep STRAIGHT onto A6 [St Marys Road] 0.1 mi
09:00 0.4 At roundabout, take the THIRD exit onto A505 [Park Viaduct] 0.5 mi
09:02 0.9 At roundabout, take the FIRST exit onto Castle Street 0.3 mi
09:03 1.2 Road name changes to London Road 0.9 mi
09:05 2.2 At roundabout, take the THIRD exit onto M1 0.6 mi M1 / London / The North
09:06 2.7 At roundabout, take the FIRST exit onto Ramp 0.2 mi M1 / London
09:06 2.9 Merge onto M1 9.2 mi
09:14 12.1 At Exit 6A, bear LEFT (East) onto Ramp 0.3 mi M25 / M11 / M3 / M20 / M40 / M4 / Stanstead Airport / Dartford / Heathrow Airport
09:14 12.5 Take Ramp (LEFT) onto M25 39.7 mi M25 / M11 / M20 / Stansted Airport / Dartford
09:48 52.1 Road name changes to A282 4.9 mi
09:52 57.0 At Exit 2, keep LEFT onto Ramp 0.6 mi A2 / M2 / Canterbury / London / Non-Motorway Traffic
09:53 57.6 Take Ramp (LEFT) onto A2 9.1 mi A2 / M2 / Canterbury
10:01 66.7 At Exit 1, road name changes to M2 5.5 mi M2 / Dover / Channel Tunnel / Canterbury / Chatham
10:06 72.2 At Exit 3, keep LEFT onto Ramp 0.4 mi A229 / M20 / Maidstone / Chatham / Channel Tunnel
10:06 72.5 At roundabout, take the THIRD exit onto Local road(s) 0.4 mi
10:07 72.9 At roundabout, take the FIRST exit onto Ramp 0.2 mi
10:07 73.1 Merge onto A229 2.0 mi
10:09 75.1 Keep LEFT onto Ramp 0.3 mi
10:09 75.5 At roundabout, take the FIRST exit onto Ramp 0.3 mi M20 / Ashford / Channel Tunnel / Dover
10:10 75.8 Merge onto M20 29.6 mi
10:35 105.4 At Exit 11A, take Ramp (LEFT) onto Local road(s) 1.4 mi Channel Tunnel
10:40 106.8 *Check timetable* Take Channel Tunnel (East)
11:17 106.8 Entering France
11:30 106.8 *Check timetable* Stay on Tunnel Sous la Manche (South)
11:30 106.8 *Check timetable* Stay on Tunnel Sous la Manche (South)
11:30 106.8 Take Local road(s) (West) 0.3 mi
11:31 107.1 Merge onto Local road(s) 0.5 mi
11:31 107.6 Road name changes to Avenue de France 0.6 mi
11:32 108.2 Take Ramp (RIGHT) onto A16 [E402] 35.4 mi A16 / E402 / A26 / E15 / Calais / Lille / Reims Paris / Bruxelles
12:02 143.5 Entering Belgium
12:02 143.5 Road name changes to A18 [E40] 26.2 mi
12:24 169.7 Merge onto A10 [E40] 30.2 mi
12:50 199.9 Keep RIGHT onto Ramp 0.2 mi E17 / Kortrijk / Antwerpen / Gent
12:50 200.1 Keep LEFT to stay on Ramp 1.0 mi
12:52 201.1 At Exit 9, keep LEFT to stay on Ramp 0.2 mi
12:52 201.3 Take Ramp (RIGHT) onto A14 [E17] 31.1 mi E17 / Antwerpen / Haven 1-6990
13:19 232.3 Merge onto R1 3.1 mi
13:22 235.4 Road name changes to A12 [R1] 0.3 mi
13:22 235.7 Merge onto A1 [A12] 2.0 mi
13:24 237.7 Keep RIGHT onto Local road(s) 0.5 mi E34 / E313 / Eindhoven / Turnhout / Aken / Luik / Hasselt
13:25 238.3 Road name changes to A13 [E313] 5.3 mi
13:30 243.5 Keep RIGHT onto E34 1.3 mi E34 / Eindhoven / Turnhout
13:31 244.8 Road name changes to A21 [E34] 29.0 mi
13:55 273.8 Entering Netherlands
13:55 273.8 Road name changes to A67 [E34] 11.9 mi
14:05 285.7 Merge onto A2 [A67] 2.2 mi
14:07 287.9 Keep STRAIGHT onto A67 [E34] 32.4 mi A67 / E34 / Venlo / Duisburg
14:35 320.3 Entering Germany
14:35 320.3 Road name changes to A40 [E34] 26.4 mi
14:56 346.7 At Exit 14, keep RIGHT onto E34 0.6 mi A3 / Hannover / Du-Kaiserberg / Arnheim / Köln
14:57 347.3 Merge onto A3 [E34] 7.0 mi
15:03 354.3 At Exit 1, keep STRAIGHT onto A2 [E34] 6.8 mi A2 / Hannover / Bottrop
15:08 361.1 At Exit 5, keep RIGHT onto Ramp 0.2 mi B224 / Essen / Gladbeck / Marl
15:08 361.3 Keep RIGHT to stay on Ramp 0.2 mi B224 / Essen / Gewerbegebiet Gladbeck-Brauck
15:08 361.5 Bear RIGHT (East) onto Local road(s) 21 yds
15:08 361.5 Turn LEFT (North) onto B224 [Essener Straße] 1.8 mi B224 / A2 / A31 / Emden / Oberhausen / Marl
15:11 363.3 Road name changes to A52 [Essener Straße] 12.7 mi
15:22 376.0 Bear RIGHT (East) onto Ramp 0.3 mi A43 / Münster
15:22 376.3 Take Ramp (LEFT) onto A43 25.3 mi A43 / Münster
15:41 401.6 At Exit 2, keep RIGHT onto Ramp 43 yds A1 / Bremen / Osnabrück / Münster-Nord / Dortmund / Flughafen
15:41 401.7 Keep LEFT to stay on Ramp 0.5 mi A1 / Bremen / Osnabrück / Münster-Nord / Flughafen
15:42 402.1 Keep RIGHT to stay on Ramp 0.3 mi A1 / Bremen / Osnabrück / Münster-Nord / Flughafen
15:42 402.4 Take Ramp (LEFT) onto A1 [E37] 101.2 mi A1 / Bremen / Osnabrück / Münster-Nord / Flughafen
Check local time; this stop is in a different time zone.
17:00 503.6 End of day
DAY 2
09:00 503.6 Stay on A1 [E22] 20.0 mi
09:15 523.6 At Exit 50, keep RIGHT onto Ramp 0.2 mi B75 / Stuckenborstel / Sottrum / Rotenburg / Ottersberg
09:15 523.8 Keep RIGHT to stay on Ramp 76 yds
09:15 523.9 Turn RIGHT (East) onto B75 [Bremer Straße] 7.2 mi
09:25 531.1 Bear RIGHT (East) onto B71 [B75] 2.3 mi
09:27 533.4 Keep STRAIGHT onto B75 [Nordumgehung] 4.6 mi
09:34 538.1 At roundabout, take the SECOND exit onto B75 [Harburger Straße] 2.6 mi
09:37 540.7 Turn RIGHT (East) onto K212 [Rittergut] 0.4 mi
09:38 541.1 Keep STRAIGHT onto K212 [Bahnhofstraße] 0.3 mi
09:39 541.4 Keep STRAIGHT onto K212 [Berliner Straße] 87 yds
09:39 541.4 Arrive Lauenbrück

SUMMARY
Driving distance: 541.4 miles
Trip duration: 1 day, 39 minutes
Driving time: 7 hours, 49 minutes
Cost: £80.95

 

[LaFoto]

Wow, that is detailed!!!
And makes it sound really DIFFICULT, which it isn't, not as difficult as it sounds. But hey, you want to be on the list then, ferny? Cool. Try as much as you can to pursuade other UKers to hop in on the car with you, you could share not only costs but also the driving!

Hertz comes over driving, too. But he takes Tangerini, husband and mother/m-i-l (one person!) on board, so his car looks pretty full already.

 

[LaFoto]

So I take it the updated (today) list would need to look like this?

Tangerini - 3 beds
Corry - 3 beds
Hertz - 1 bed
Antarctican - 1 bed
DigitalDiva - 2 beds
Jeff Canes - 1 bed
Daan (doenoe) - 1 bed
photojazz - 1 bed
Alex_B- 1 bed
ferny - 2 beds

That's beds (we are entering the range of "pull out sleeping sofas", too, now, mind you!!!!) for 16 now in "Ole Hoop" out of a maximum of 18.

 

[LaFoto]

Costs, ferny:

Apartment 1: € 32.-/day/two persons
€ 6.-/day/one additional person
€ 26.- lump sum towels-bedlinen-cleaning
This Apartment is for 2 - 4 persons.
So it'd be cheapest if there actually were 4 persons there to share:
32+6+6=€ 44.-/day/all 4 = 308.-/week/all
divided by 4 = €77.-/week/person
+ lump sum € 26.- divided by four = € 6.50.-/person
= € 83.50/week/total/maximum filling.

Apartment 2: € 36.-/day/two persons
€ 6.-/day/one additional person
€ 26.- lump sum towels-bedlinen-cleaning
This Apartment is for 4 - 6 persons.
So it'd be cheapest if there actually were 6 persons there to share:
36+6+6+6+6=€ 60.-/day/all 6 = 420.-/week/all
divided by 6 = €70.-/week/person
+ lump sum € 26.- divided by six = € 4.35/person
= € 74.35/week/total/maximum filling.

Apartment 3: € 39.-/day/two persons
€ 6.-/day/one additional person
€ 26.- lump sum towels-bedlinen-cleaning
This Apartment is for 6 - 8 persons.
So it'd be cheapest if there actually were 8 persons there to share:
39+6+6+6+6+6+6=€ 75.-/day/all 8 = 525.-/week/all
divided by 8 = € 65.50.-/week/person
+ lump sum € 26.- divided by four = € 3.25.-/person
= € 68.75/week/total/maximum filling.

You can, of course, put all the costs together (assuming you will fill the homes to capacity and share everything among 18):

Apartment 1: € 308.-/week + € 26.- = € 334.-
Apartment 2: € 420.-/week + € 26.- = € 446.-
Apartment 3: € 525.-/week + € 26.- = € 551.-
.........................................Total = € 1331.- divided by 18 = € 74.-/person/week

(Accomodation only, these apartments are strictly self-catering only).

 

[ferny]

Ok, think I made sense of that.

Apartment 1: £240 total - four sharing = £60 each
Apartment 2: £322 total - six sharing = £54 each
Apartment 3: £398 total - eight sharing = £50 each
.........................................Total = £960 total divided by 18 = £53 each

(roughly based on €1 = £0.72)


Obviously costs could go up so how does between £50-£130 each (€70-€180) for the whole week plus food and 'entertainment' sound?

I think the idea of splitting the whole cost makes perfect sense and everything fairer. Hopefull all would feel that way. It may be wise to put me down as +1. I don't know if Sarah wants to go. It's also her birthday during the trip so I may have to pull out.

 

[LaFoto]

Well, the train journey into Hamburg and back to Lauenbrück or into Bremen and back to Lauenbrück (without any reductions, just the normal return ticket price) is €19,60. That is another price I KNOW (but we can easily reduce that price by up to 70% if I know NUMBERS early enough and we stick to the trains [times] I might book beforehand, but that is up to you - less freedom, cheaper travelling).

We can choose to just book a one-hour trip, for example with http://www.barkassen-meyer.de/ round Hamburg Port (no catering) for &#8364; 10.-/person, or we could book their "snacktörn" (2-hour-tour, one free drink, hot food on a plate and bread and butter plus funny explanations of all we're going to see - which can also be booked in English with Barkassen-Meyer!), for &#8364; 24,50/person <---- but this only if our group grows to 35 persons or more (!)

The
http://www.miniatur-wunderland.de/ (biggest model train exhibition of the world, I think, there is a link to the English version of their site) is &#8364;10.-/adult (individually) or &#8364;9.-/adult/group starting at 15 members.

To calculate prices for lunch in "Ratskeller" in Bremen (vaults under the Old Town Hall), go to their site http://www.ratskeller-bremen.de/ and there to downloads. There is a PDF-file of the menu in German and English. (The prices of the lovely rooms catered by the restaurant L'Orchideée are QUITE a bit on the STEEP side, ooooooooooooooo!:shock: - but Ratskeller as such has moderate prices).

I will check out prices for the tour in horse-drawn carriages through Lüneburg Heath.

Calculate other meals and DRINKS, too! And your contribution to the BIG BARBECUE PARTY! It is a "bring-your-own-food-and-drink"-party, see?

And we must share costs for the canoes on the River Wümme and you must calculate entrance fees into the swimming pool (www.ronolulu.de ). What else have I planned for us to do? Must go check on that myself.

 

[DevinLamb]

I am new to the board, just joined today actually- I work out of a small design office in Prague Czech Republic half the year- I wondered if there were any other Praguers in thephotoforum and any meetups?

regards,


Devin

 

[LaFoto]

You could ask around in a thread of its own. Just create a new one with your question.
Oh, and welcome to ThePhotoForum

 

[doenoe]

im looking for train tickets now, but i just cant find a train that goes to hamburg (or something). Hannover is the farthest northern city i found.....but i only tried 1 compagny. Still searching though

 

[LaFoto]

This is what I found when I put into the "Die Bahn"-site (German Railway) the connection for earlier tomorrow morning from Amsterdam to Hamburg (just testing):

Amsterdam Centraal Do, 06.12.07 dep 08:04h
Hamburg Hbf Do, 06.12.07 arr 15:12h
EUR 98,80
Travelling time 7:08h

That is the regular one-way price. It'd be travelling with three trains: Amsterdam-Oberhausen, then Oberhausen-Münster, then Münster-Hamburg. (Times may well change until next year in May, as may the prices - OF COURSE, you know that!!!)

 

[ferny]

I like spamming this thread.

Did some looking up. Going with RyanAir *shudders* works out cheap enough. Some places wanted to charge £180 each way!!! So if I'm going I'll book my tickets just before or after Christmas.

I'll most likely be flying into Hamburg. Any preference on arrival and leaving times? What's too early and late?

 

[LaFoto]

You'll find that what Ryan Air calls "Hamburg" is, in fact, Lübeck, which is another one hour drive away from Hamburg. And there is not a huge variety of flights into Hamburg-Lübeck, from what I know, and I know even less since I have switched to flights out of or into airports that are more easily reached. Find out when there are flights arriving. If I am to go out and collect you, calculate that collecting you will take at least 4 hours out of my day, so I would need to plan for that!!!

And cool post count just now!!! 6.666 posts. Devilish!