Out of the bubble …

THIS IS HOW YOU SAVE TIME AND/OR MONEY:

Firenze: Reserve the tickets to the Uffizi Gallery beforehand, www.firenzemusei.it. It costs you 3 euros more but saves you from the line up to 3 hours.

Vatican: Last Sunday of the month entrance to Vatican museums is free, but terribly crowded. When you have enjoyed enough museums and Sistine Chapel, do NOT go out from the normal exit but the door on your right (it says for authorized tours only – dont mind about that). This route takes you to the St Peter Basilica without needing to queue again to security check (up to 2 hours).

Rome: Colosseum ticket is joint entrance to Forum Romanum and Palatine Hill. If Colosseum ticket booth is very crowded (it IS), walk 200 meters backward (from the side of Arco di Constantino) and buy your combined ticket from Palatine ticket office and you can march directly in the Colosseum.

Europe Transport hints&tips:

Best way to get around in Germany, look up a hitchhike on this German website http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/, it is very popular and cheap and all you got to do is make a phone call and meet up the driver somewhere. Safe and cool!

In Italy the best way to go around is by Train: http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/, cheap and safe but never on time!

In France, the SNCF will definitely eat your budget. However, they have sometimes nice offers on their webside, www.voyage.sncf.com. The best hint though is to try using the buses like Eurolines or maybe hitchhiking if you are up to it! Hitchhiking website similar to German one is www.covoiturage.com.

In Czech Republic, Buses are the best way around; you can get timetables on http://jizdnirady.idnes.cz/.

In Slovakia, Buses are amazing, check Student Agency Bus Transport http://www.studentagency.sk/. They are really good and cheap.

In Hungary, no transport really work well, and the word expensive cannot describe it. Be sure to have valid metro and public transport tickets, there are lots of check-ups all the time. so buy that ticket because you might be checked in Budapest like 10 times in 1 day!

In Romania, train stations makes you feel like you are time traveling. Trains are something here, you can check schedules on http://www.cfr.ro and be sure that your trip will take time. It took us 14 hours from Budapest to Sibiu

In Bulgaria, Transport was okay specially passing over the Danube from Bucharest to Sofia; you can take the Bulgarian railways for reasonable prices http://bdz.creato.biz/en.

In Greece, Transportation by train is not so difficult and fairly price, we took a Greek train from Sofia, be careful with the timetables they change often. Inside Greece, taking a intercity is no option from Thessaloniki to Athens because it could be very expensive, take the slow train at night to reach Athens and take a couchette otherwise you are surrounded by noisy Greeks check timetables on http://www.ose.gr

Middle East Travel :

Going around Lebanon is no easy task for sure in the high season of the summer, taxis are very expensive and Lebanon tends to have very highly priced transport due to its economic crisis. I will write a report on that in a week or so but now writing about how to get from Lebanon to Syria seems a more needed tip of information on the web.

To get to Syria from Lebanon, you could always take a taxi that will charge you 100 USD and take you thru the borders in an a/c car and a bit of a fancy trip but why to go for the expensive taxi company while you can visit Charles Helou Station, The station is located on the highway from downtown Beirut toward Jounieh , you can easily book a seat there by just going and waiting for a bit with a taxi for the fee of 20 USD , mostly Syrian yellow cabs. Or you can do it my way: The bus, 2000 Transport Company leaves Beirut every morning at 07.30 AM and arrives to Damascus around 11 to the New Soumariya Garage, 15 minute by car after to center Damascus at the fee of 100 Syrian pounds with any Syrian taxi.

The Bus charges 10 USD per person and offers a/c, candies to passenger, full service and help at the “Borders” and specially the loud Arabic music you can ever hear of all the Lebanese/Arab singers. It is a very efficient way to travel between the 2 countries and based on my experience last week it was something.

The timetables are as follow: Leaving Beirut to Damascus at 07.30, Leaving Damascus to Beirut at 18.00, the contact of the company is +961 3 897243 or in Syria 0944 757490.