Weekend away

[quixoticgeek]

" I'd have liked to go for Barcelona"  a friend who's very familiar with Spain said she felt quite vulnerable the last time she visited for a conference. Lot of petty crime &  street hassle.

Reason I'd like to goto Barcelona is that I have friends there I'd like to see. Having an escort from locals means I don't have to worry so much about such things.

J

[perpetual dan]

" I'd have liked to go for Barcelona"  a friend who's very familiar with Spain said she felt quite vulnerable the last time she visited for a conference. Lot of petty crime &  street hassle.

Reason I'd like to goto Barcelona is that I have friends there I'd like to see. Having an escort from locals means I don't have to worry so much about such things.

J

We had a family holiday there last summer and I didn’t feel particularly vulnerable (even by proxy for teenage kids), except on Las Ramblas but that bit had always been like that. It may we’ll be worse than much of Spain - I don’t know, and being white male and working in Brighton gives me a certain context.

[mzjo]

If it's not too late to add a suggestion I would like to offer Freiburg. I know nothing about the rail links but it must be possible. Or the Moselle valley, Koblenz or Mainz.

Warsaw.  It'll be cold but it's a fantastic city (18 hrs 44 mins).  Or Krakow... a bit more touristy (19 hrs 27 mins).

Poland is well off the list unfortunately

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/02/25/third-of-poland-lgbt-free-zone-atlas-of-hate-homophobia/

J

My french daughter has always felt that France is fairly homophobe as well. She takes a lot of care in Paris to be discrete.

[Regulator]

We’ve  never had a problem in France... or in Poland for that matter.   That said, in Poland we’ve mainly been in large cities. 

[mzjo]

We’ve  never had a problem in France... or in Poland for that matter.   That said, in Poland we’ve mainly been in large cities.

She lives and works here so her POV might be slightly different, being day in day out rather than visiting. Also I think she has rose tinted specs on over the freedom she sees in UK when visiting.

[quixoticgeek]

Thank you all for the replies to this thread. Alas, it's all gone to pot. As of Monday my plan had been to get a train tomorrow (Saturday), to Stockholm, spend a couple of days there, then a train to Hamburg, night there to see friends, then train back to Amsterdam.

This morning I got a train back from Copenhagen. As I was approaching the Dutch border I got the message that the Danes are closing the border tomorrow at noon. Looks like I chose the right time to run away back to .NL.

I'm now back in .NL, and I'm expecting the rest of my interrail pass to be wasted unfortunately.

On the plus side, I do have lots of ideas for when we can travel again, maybe next spring...

J

[mzjo]

Thank you all for the replies to this thread. Alas, it's all gone to pot. As of Monday my plan had been to get a train tomorrow (Saturday), to Stockholm, spend a couple of days there, then a train to Hamburg, night there to see friends, then train back to Amsterdam.

This morning I got a train back from Copenhagen. As I was approaching the Dutch border I got the message that the Danes are closing the border tomorrow at noon. Looks like I chose the right time to run away back to .NL.

I'm now back in .NL, and I'm expecting the rest of my interrail pass to be wasted unfortunately.

On the plus side, I do have lots of ideas for when we can travel again, maybe next spring...

J

I saw on the DFDS site that Denmark had closed its borders. At the moment it seems to be the only EU country, apart from Italy which is a special case, to have done this, so at present you can still plan on next week-end for the rest of the EU, provided you don't have to transit by Denmark. However all may have changed by next week-end (Macron seems decided that the whole of the Schengen area should close its borders and he will probably convince the others that this is the best united solution) and inside that zone things that you would want to visit might well be shut anyway. France is pretty much closing up shop. The order has come down from govt to organisations like the FFCT to cut back so all randonnées, concentrations etc and most regular activity is stopped until further notice. I would presume it is the same for other sporting organisations, cultural events etc.
I am waiting to see if we travel to UK for a family event next week-end. The decision to cancel the ferry and hotel is not yet taken (hence looking at the DFDS site) but it will be fairly shortly. The risk is not in going but in coming back, particularly for me!

[Cudzoziemiec]

Malta is putting all foreign arrivals in 14-day quarantine and hasn't Spain just shut its borders too?

[mzjo]

Don't bother about the borders, from tonight midnight France is on shutdown - all non-essential shops and services closed. No restaurants (but still newsagents and tobaconists). I am sure that the borders will follow, just that Macron is trying to make it a united EU front, rather than going it alone like other countries would (perhaps there's a certain amount of politics involved, not appearing to adopt Marine LePen's policy after time). We have cancelled our trip needless to say. We are just waiting to see how work pans out, particularly for my wife who is a hospital nurse in a reanimation service. All calm in the Limousin at present, only 3 cases in Limoges hospital, unlike some other regions.