Europe for a YEAR, My Itinerary, any advice - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

travlvirgin · 09-20-2007, 05:02 PM

Thought i might post my itinerary and see if anyone has any ideas or if anyone will be in the same place at the same time so we can catch up. ill be in europe for a yr so im hoping i can catch up with lots of tpunkers. oh and before i start i think it might make more sense if i let you know i will have a one yr working holiday visa in italy - my base country

18th March 2008
Leave Brisbane and fly to dubai were i stay with the parents for 3 - 4 weeks

20th april 2008
leave dubai fly into rome and then catch a quick flight to sicily. i will stay there for another 3 - 4 weeks with family. as i am a first time international traveler i thoguht it would be best to fly into somewhere that had family first, plus i will get to travel around sicily with them and get free accomodation and stuff so that a pluss. after seeing sicily an getting familiar with the idea of going solo and the lingoo etc. im off on my own

20th May 2008
I leave my families place in sicily and head off by myself

naaaa :D. so the plan is... i go from the south of italy all the way up to milan being my last stop. and when i say go south to north i mean really really really thoughrouly. i have a list of 87 places in italy alone i want to see (i know i have looked into it way to much) lol.... so i will be there for 3 months (in italy). then.....

22nd August 2008
i leave milan and fly into barcelona. strategically timed so i can be down in bunol by the time the La tomatina festival is on. after the festival im off around spain and portugal for a month (going clockwise from valencia)

22nd September 2008
by this time i want to be in either San sebastian (my final destination in the portugal - spain leg of the trip) or in Paris. once in either of these two places i begin the next leg which includes 1 months of travel shared between, belgium, netherlands, germany, switzerland, denmark, london (not uk just london) and where ever else i have the erge to visit.

22nd October 2008
I will be broke ahaha. na. i would have finished the main part of my trip and will be safe in Sweeden with my other Aunty. i will stay with her for 3-4 weeks until my shengen time runs out (i hate that silly 90 day within 6 month rule) and then im back to italy (i have the one yr working holiday cisa there so i can go back there)

22nd November 2008
Be back at my first Aunties house in sicily and begin to work or revisit all the amazing places i have seen in italy. i have family scattered throughout all of italy so the aim for this part of the trip is to move around italy staying with them and work in the surrounding areas for 3 months or so. (the aim for this is to experience the average day in the life of a working italian and discover with more depth the places in italy i really enjoyed the first time round and most importantly SAVE so i can fund the last part of my trip). i willl spend christmas in italy with some family and then im off agian...

22nd febuary 2009
by this time i will either be home sick or falling in love with europe so i have 3 options. leave italy for the second time and venture out to eastern europe this time or go back home to australia and start uni

or do i stay in italy and continue to work and travel until my 1 yr working holiday visa is up. (that would be by the 22nd of April or there abouts.) obviously being such a long time away i am not going to make plans as such just see how i feel at the time.

so yer thats my story lol... so the basics are...
brisbane to Dubai
Dubai to Italy
Italy for 3 months
then off to spain and portugal for a month
then off to france,belgium,netherlands,denmark,germany,switzer land for a month
then to Sweeden for a month
then back to italy to work
then i have no idea.....
lol

saving is freaking me out - im planning on about 18,000 - 19,000 AUD but that is everything - tickets,eurail,accomodation,liesure,food,etc
and remembering i travel for 6 months and the rest i am working or with family.

So if anyone is in the areas that i am give me a shout or an email and we wil catch up.

and also if anyone has advice or there 2c id appreciate it. its my first time, but i have been planing for a while lol. so be gentle.

jokes. ciao for now

travlvirgin · 09-20-2007, 05:05 PM

P.S if anyone wants the actual individual places or cities i am going to or information about italy give me a shout.

**freespiritz** · 09-20-2007, 05:15 PM

I'll be in Italy mid-Jan - some point in May and hope to make it down to Sicily at the start of May so I may be down to meetup.

I have no idea what I'm doing after that. Europe, Morocco, the Middle East, go home, Nepal, Sri Langka - it's all open!

travlvirgin · 09-20-2007, 05:24 PM

AWSOME. i will keep in touch definately, i think ill need some friendly faces overthere, the thought of first time traveling is exciting but really scary to lol. if your stuck for accomodation in sicily when im there your welcome to stay with me and my family. free accomodation is always good lol....

**freespiritz** · 09-20-2007, 05:29 PM

Fo sho...I'm hoping my college will give me money to look into some aspect of Sicily that will enrich my Italy experience, so if you have any suggestions for places or things in Sicily that I could sell to my college let me know.

Example...I got a grant to do a trip to the most famous mountains in China to "connect to my artistic heritage" as an art major, lol.

Traveling...It's scary before you leave, and AMAZING once you get there!

**simply_angelic** · 09-20-2007, 06:10 PM

Sounds awesome, good luck!

Don't worry, travelling solo isn't nearly as scary as it seems before you head out on your first overseas trek (this from a girl who did Western europe solo at 17). You will have some of the most amazing times of your life!

I was actually reminiscing today a lot about my european travels...well more so the wonderful lads I ran into along the way

. Being a solo backpacker as a girl is amazing. Especially for someone like me who has relationship ADD, or maybe just ADD, lol. Anyways the people you meet will be amazing~ definitely the best part. I want to travel noooow dangit!

travlvirgin · 09-20-2007, 06:14 PM

Wow that sounds awsome, that you get to go to see these amazing places and its all because of education. i wish i would have listen to my mum more maybe she was right wen she said education can take you a long way ahaha. ok but now down to the serious stuff...... my selling point would be this ....

Sicily is enriched with historic influences, it is not so much a testimant to italian culture but the collection of many many cultures. for example the Trinacria (sicilian crest) the emblem of sicily, still printed on flags today. it actually orginated from greece. the centre shows a medussa head, three legs that make a triangular shape at its points and wings coming for medusa. there is alot of debate about the true meaning behind the emblem and every province or should i say every sicilian has there own interpretation. the basic concept is that the greeks invaded sicily and overthew all italian ways they built there own infrestructure and influenced sicilain tradition. the greeks thought that sicily was the Epitome of beauty and the gods created perfection in the for of this island. long story short the sicilains kicked the crap out of them and they left lol.....the trinacria represents....firstly the three legs represent the threee corners of of sicily (female legs were perseaved to be the most beautiful part of the body by greeks at the time) thus meaning sicily in its entirety is beautiful. the medusa head was introduced by the sicilians as a warning to the greeks that if they ever returned to sicily they would have medussa to answer to, the wings represent the lives lost in capturing sicily from the greeks etc. ... there are many interpretations and these days the crest is more about honor, tradition and courage then anything mistic. but ofcourse being an art major it may apeal that it took the greeks and the sicilians to create this amazing crest that represents so much history and purpose, this artform is the basis for all of sicilian beliefs. thats just a little on the trinactia but as far as places to visit here is my list

the bellow places in particular have alot of historic monuments, castles, museums, architecture etc that have been created by the greeks, sicilians, africans, persians, and even have influences from the middle east. (remebr sicily was a place that many many cultures fled to for sanctuary during wars and battles in ancient times.

Agrigento
Catania
Cefalu
himera
san giuseppe jato (monuments date back to 800BC)
segesta
bagheria
palermo
selinute
siracusa (medievil)
taormina (where my aunty is - its perfect for viewing of mount etna)
enna
erice
mussomeli
messina
augusta
corleone (centre of maffia. where it originated)

I think sicily would be great to go to especially for art just because it is one of the rare places in the world where you can see the progression of art by many different cultures side by side and compare how they may have influenced eachother. It is more medievil then people anticipate and in some places there are castle and monumnets literally built next to eachother by to completely different cultures greeks and africans. sicilians and persians. its jsut an incredible place..

ok i could talk forever. ..... ... . . . .... . ...

thats my 2cents anyway

**freespiritz** · 09-20-2007, 06:25 PM

Wow, that's an awesome lot of information. Thank you so much! :D I'll definitely be able to spin a lot of grant ideas from that (basically it's a thousand dollars up for grabs to go...somewhere in the country that I'm studying in, and do...something or another), and hopefully I'll be able to come hang out and drink some wine together in beautiful Sicily.

I'm totally about milking college for what it's worth. Grants, semesters abroad, scholarships...sure I write a hell of a lot of applications, and some of them bomb, but the ones that work out make it all worth it.

travlvirgin · 09-20-2007, 06:37 PM

Exactly, you never know if you never try i guess. Good on ya for doing it. i went to uni for 4 weeks and differed ahaha. HAD TO TRAVEL. couldnt consentrate but when i get back i might just have to try some of that myself see if i can get myself an exchange or something.

**millmuff** · 10-01-2007, 07:05 PM

Good luck on the trip even though its a little ways away. Seems like you've got most things planned.....but always leave the option to break away from that too.....it feels good to change itinerary at the last second sometimes.

I'll be landing in germany in June and will tour around for a few months but probably wont get that far south.

Good luck with getting ready nd have the time of your life!