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i'll pm you with my email. send them to me and ill post them.
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Sneaky sneaky Mr. Jake.
Most of your questions have already been answered but, damnit, I'm gonna re-answer them anyway.
1) I don't know about mailing packages home in terms of price and time it takes but it takes about 2.5 weeks for a postcard. Though I hear that postcards take longer than anything else for some stupid reason.
2) Reservations for seats cost about 4euro and take no time at all. Book ahead for all your longer train trips and when you use Thalys, TGV, and other high speed trains, you HAVE to book a seat. On shorter rides or slower trains, it's generally not a problem to not reserve though. If you're going to do it, you should probably reserve the day before, though I have done it a couple of hours before too.
Yes a couchette is worth the extra 15euro. Though I have a shitty back and can't sleep in upright chairs. Plus, one of the times I decided to not get a couchette and sleep in a seat instead, a group of about 15 Greek guys stayed up till 4am drinking and playing cards and musical instruments.......assholes
3) All I spoke is Spanish, though now I speak bits and pieces of a number of languages. Learn how to count to 10 in the language of each place you'll be, it'll help. Most French people speak more English than they admit but won't speak English either cuz they just don't feel like it or they don't want to sound stupid in a language they're not great at. Either way, in big cities, it's generally not a problem.
4) There's a great thing about Europe. Where in America you have to worry about getting shot or something like that, in Europe your only saftey worry is USUALLY just getting pickpocketed. That being said, get a money belt, keep your stuff secure and close to you, and use common sense.
5) Wearing shorts screams tourist, and in most cases, American. Buuuut, it doesn't really matter cuz they know anyway. Trust me, you don't want to be walking around Sevilla in 118 degrees in jeans. Wear what's comfortable and don't worry about fashion faux pas, you're backpacking for crying out loud
6) Get an ISIC card, they save you A TON if you go to museums and sights.
7) Book your plane as soon as you can but you really only need to book the first couple of days in Europe. After that you can talk to people at the hostel and see where they've been and what hostels they liked. Booking's not a big deal. If you really wanna stay at the big names like Flying Pig in A-Dam, the Generator in Berlin of London, those kind of places, book a few days in advance, they definitely fill up
8) STA works just fine. Call them instead of doing it online cuz they might see a better deal than you do. That happened to me, I called and the guy said that I could save $80 by returning a day later than I had planned.
Have at it, talk it up here we'd love to hear about you. good luck and ask a lot of questions, you can't be over prepared.
Jason
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I now have actual pictures on the boards!!! 
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