Hey guys!

[Stig]

Hey everyone,
Well i've somehow caught the travel bug, and i'm itching to get out of the country! I'm thinking of starting with europe for my first trip, havent quite figured out my route yet (theres just too much i wanna see and do) but i've decided i'm gonna take it by rail. Really wanna make this trip as long as possible which is gonna mean stretching my cash as far as it'll go, but lifes for living right?! Oh and i'm going solo, i guess i need to prove to myself i can do it or something.

But yes, anyway, that is me...

-Stig

[mbo108]

Great. Good luck with all the planning and don't hesitate to ask any questions (although I would advise you to search the boards first as there is a plethora of information on Eurotrips).

[lauren313]

Hello Stig! Welcome to TPunk! I love Norwich, my boyfriend lives there, so I visit quite a lot. Love Cambridge too! Good luck with your trip planning!

[travelchick75]

Welcome to Tpunk! Any questions just ask, we're full of well traveled folks on here from all over. Good luck with your planning:D

[Stig]

Thanks for the warm welcome :D
Norwich is fantastic, i'm at uni here and completely dreading going back to cambridge over the summer.

Just been sketching up some possible routes, could use other peoples opinions...

I'm thinking of getting the eurostar from London to Brussels (as i'm trying to avoid flying if i can help it, save the world and all) and then using a 22 day flexi eurail pass to go:

• Possibly Luxembourg?, Luxembourg
• Venice, Italy
• Rome, Italy

then either:

• Athens, Greece
• Possibly the greek islands
• And then somehow work my way up to Krakow, Poland

or:

• Vienna or Salzburg, Austria
• Prague, Czech Republic

and then:

• Krakow, Poland
• Berlin, Germany
• Amsterdam, Netherlands

and get a ferry back to the UK.

Does this seem a bit much for 3 weeks? I dont wanna be constantly rushing around from place to place after all. Also is there anywhere u guys would recomend?

[ajb3000]

That is a lot of ground to cover in 3 weeks if you're going completely by land. Is the 3 week limit time or funds related? Moving round the Greek Islands will take some time and then getting from there up to Poland will probably require a day or two on the train (train travel in Eastern Europe is nowhere near as fast as in Western Europe). People usually recommend a minimum of 3-days for any reasonable sized town/city you visit, plus travel time to move between places.

[travelpunk]

Well, you got 8 or 9 places you'll be visiting within a 21 day time frame. That's about 2.5 days or less, per city.

Then you'll have 8 or 9 days of actual travel days to get from one city to the next. It won't take all day for you to get from one city to the next, BUT you'll spend a good half day on the average travel day from hotel checkout, transportation to the train station, checking in, waiting to board, actual train travel, arrival to city, getting acclimated to the new train station, finding your way to the hostel (if you have one reserved), getting settled into the new city...only to leave in less than 2 days.

I don't think you'll get the true essence of these cities/countries in 2 days (each). That's not even enough time to meet people and hang out with them. Maybe travelers, but not locals.

I'd prolly be inclined to shorten the list of cities and take my time. Kinda like a trickle of water finding my way through the cracks of the city and finding the path of least resistance as opposed to a tsunami crashing into the city's coast.

Not interested in France or Spain?

Also, welcome to the boards !

[pinknic38]

welcome to the boards!!!

I'm going to Krakow in a few weeks and I found a seriously cheap flight with wizzair.com from Munich and I know they fly from other areas so definitely check out the flight situation, I'm sure you'll have some success.

good luck with trip planning!

[MolsonGirl]

Welcome!! Glad to have ya!

[Stig]

Yea, the 3 week limit is 100% funds related... i really wish i was rich sometimes ! I'm budgeting £40 a day (does that sound reasonable?) so that for 3 weeks + the eurail pass is gonna work out at a little over £1k, which as a poor starving student is actually all my savings and a little bit of student loan.
Thanks for all your advice, i thought 8/9 countries sounded like a few too many. So i've decided to scrap a few for this trip and visit them another time. I've also reconsidered france. I've been to france a few times before and each and everytime i've found the french to me incredibly rude and unwelcoming. In the spirit of adventure however i've decided to give them another chance, i figure every country has those type of people in it, i'll just find the nice ones .
So the new plan is:

• Paris, France
• Rome, Italy
• Salzburg, Austria
• Prague, Czech Republic
• Berlin, Germany
• Amsterdam, Netherlands

Thats 2 countries a week, which should give me a bit more time to actually experience them. Just need to figure out exactly how long i wanna stay in each place now.

-Stig

[ajb3000]

£40 a day should be fine. If you want to extend you trip a bit longer than you should avoid France (very expensive, even more so now with the strong Euro), and spend more time in Eastern countries like Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. Although if you're getting the railcard anyway it won't make so much difference.

A couple of years ago I spent 7 weeks in Eastern Europe for about £1,000. That was far Eastern Europe though: Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine etc. (generally the further east you go the cheaper it is).

[Stig]

Yea, i heard eastern europe was a lot cheaper, i dunno about doing it as my first big solo trip though... i figured in western europe theres usually gonna be atleast 1 person who speaks english if i get into any trouble. Is that sensible or am i being silly?

[marc873]

Welcome... I'm a bit late on this one. We have a ton of info on a lot of the places you are going, so feel free to ask away or PM....

[Elizabeth]

All the places ajb mentioned have a lot of English speakers, not as much as western europe but more than you might think for a place like Ukraine or Romania. If all else fails I love the point and mime strategy for communication.

[kingcrazylegs]

welcome!

[raoulduke]

Welcome to TPunk mate.

[ChasinJason1313]

Just realized while reading this thread that I don't know if you're a male or female. Anyway, "help" while you're there might be a bit different depending on your gender. Not too bad but it'll probably be more readily available if you're a girl, for better or worse. Anywho, if your time limit is only money-based I would extend it as long as possible by doing the more central and eastern Euro countries while they're still cheap to visit. It's not like you're gonna have to be talked into seeing Rome or Paris in your life but, from what I've heard from other people and my own experiences, places like Budapest, Bucharest, and Krakow are just as amazing with less fanfare. If I could start over with my travelling I'd see the cheaper places now while they're still cheap because the difference in price to see a place is going to be exponentially worse in a developing tourist spot like central and eastern europe than it will be in a place like Paris or Rome.

It also might help to see a slightly "rougher" version of travel to begin with than the easier path. Of course that can work the other way too depending on you and how you think you like travel. I prefer the "rougher" version now after a few trips but starting out I liked the easier way. Unfortunately, taking the easier path wasted a lot of time and money my first few trips when I could have seen and experienced a lot more.

Don't know if this helps at all but good luck either way.

J