summer in europe - 2013
 

HEY!

so i'm planning on going to europe for the summer with 2 friends when we're all finished school, so the summer of 2013. the reason i'm planning ahead so far is that, being students, we do want a rough estimate of how much money this will cost, and therefore can budget appropriately.

i've put together a rough intinerary, which i will post here.
guestimating that we'll spend roughly 2 days in the larger cities, perhaps some stoppers on the way to another city, and maybe 5 or so in holland (we all have family there), this is what i've come up with.

the major questions i have for you guys are 1. which cities would you suggest are better to stay in/which are drivebys, and 2. is there a better way to do the icelandic countries? it's really important to my friend, but this was the best way i could figure it out.

thanks in advance!






ENGLAND
UK
. dublin
. belfast
. glasgow
. edinburgh
. manchester
. london
 bath (day trips)
 cambridge
FRANCE
. paris
 versailles
. nantes
. bordeaux
SPAIN/PORTUGAL
. bilbao
. madrid
. lisbon
. sevilla
. valencia
. barcelona
MONACO
. monte carlo
ITALY
 milan
 verona
. florence
 pisa
. rome
 vatican city
. naples
 pompeii
. brindisi
((ferry to patras))
GREECE
. athens
 corinth
. mykonos/santorini
((ferry to venice))
ITALY
. venice
 san marino
AUSTRIA
. salzburg
. vienna
GERMANY
. munich
OTHER
 liechtenstein
SWITZERLAND
. zurich
. geneva
FRANCE
. strasbourg
BENELUX
. rotterdam
 luxembourg
 brugge
 brussels
. amsterdam
GERMANY
. hamburg
ICELANDIC
. copenhagen
((ferry to oslo))
. oslo
. stockholm

That's a lot to see in one summer. How long do you plan to travel for?

based on the current exchange rate I would budget 75 us dollars a day, not including flight or eurail pass

but who knows what can happen in four years!

the best way to know what cities are worth visiting is to watch a lot of travel shows ie rick steves, globe trekker. I dreamed of traveling for four years while i was in high school and all i did was watch travel shows so I knew pretty much exactly what i wanted to see when I finally did backpack!

If you are going to do Scandinavia, I would suggest looking into the possibility of flying to one of the capitals first (possibly going there via Rekyavik Iceland with the IcelandicAir stayover program).

There are a few advantages to starting there. First, they tend to be expensive (especially Norway). If you run out of money toward the end, you can more easily cope in Greece, Spain, or, in your case, Holland, than you can in Sweden and Denmark. Depending on when you start, May 17th is Norwegian Independence day which would be fun to see. Second, it is a nice way to ease into the trip. The people there are friendly, helpful, speak remarkable English, and the cities tend to be a bit on the smaller side. Of course since you all have Dutch family maybe you all have been to Europe a few times.

Your itinerary looks pretty good but I think 2 days per city is a little rushed. I would suggest cutting the itinerary in half and spending 3-4 days per city. For example, I would make Salzburg a day trip from Munich.

Since you all have family in Europe this may not apply to you as much as others: If your friends go with you, great but plan on traveling solo. People love the idea of traveling but when it comes down to it, money, cold feet, other opportunities (job, new boyfriend/girlfriend etc) can all put that on hold.

--Joey

So you're basically just starting school and you're already planning what you'll do when you graduate? While I think this is awesome, I also thing you should be a little weary on nailing down things too specifically....a LOT can happen in four years. I say just save -as much as you can- in the next four years then go from there. Set your own personal goal...like Im going to save 30% of each paycheck. Put that money aside in a bank account you can't get to easily then see what you're left with a year from your deadline. If you're still gung-ho you can budget then & try to see how much extra money you'll have to make up for your trip (if any).

So you're basically just starting school and you're already planning what you'll do when you graduate? While I think this is awesome, I also thing you should be a little weary on nailing down things too specifically....a LOT can happen in four years. I say just save -as much as you can- in the next four years then go from there. Set your own personal goal...like Im going to save 30% of each paycheck. Put that money aside in a bank account you can't get to easily then see what you're left with a year from your deadline. If you're still gung-ho you can budget then & try to see how much extra money you'll have to make up for your trip (if any).

LOL, I think I have the same amount of cities on my list to visit with 8 months traveling! Well, maybe not quite........

I think it's pretty rushed and you are certainly going to get tired of packing and unpacking every two days. Perhaps start planning your itinerary with the most important places and slowly branch out and add from there? Perhaps the further away places like greece and spain could be left for another time.

Agree with what everyone else has said, this looks very ambitious with a lot of cities. 2 days per place may sound a lot but it isn't. Particularly in the bigger cities like Paris, London or Rome, you may find you struggle to fit everything in with a short space of time.

When I went round Europe last summer I met some girls in a hostel in Florence who were going round Italy in 2 weeks, giving each city they went to about 2 days, trying to see all the main sights. They were at the end of their second week and they said it felt a bit rushed. Think what it'll be like after 3/4 months (or however long you intend to go). Plus sometimes you need aday here and there to do nothing. Sometimes you get tired, sometimes you get a cold, sometimes you just need to do nothing to get your sanity back.

Only an opinion but I'd think about cutting back on some places and giving yourself longer time. Maybe take all these places and make a list of "must see" and make another list of "would quite like to see" so you know in your own mind your priorities - of course this is more difficult when you have your 2 other friends coming too!