hi! i'm going to europe in september for about 2 or 3 weeks. my friend an i know we are flying into amsterdam and then taking the eurorail until we get to greece (then we'll hop on an easy jet and go into london before we fly from london to the US).
obviously there are A LOT of things to do in europe. is it better to just fly by the seat of your pants and decide onwhat to do on a day to day basis, or should i sign up for a few tours while i'm there (which leads me to ask, do you need to sign up for tours before you get there or what?) are tours generally a bad idea?
also, i'm going the middle to end of sept (trying to avoid the summer rush and prices), do i need to worry about booking hostels in advance or should i just keep a few in mind and hope there are openings when i get to them?
i'm asking because, besides knowing where we are flying into and out of, we dont have a set itinerary.
set a basic idea of where you definitly want to go. Make sure they arent on opposite sides of the map else you will spend way too much time on a train.
Only book your first couple of nights then play the rest by ear as you go.
Other than that Welcome to Tpunk.
All of your questions have been answered in other threads, cruise around and contribute!
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Adventure needs to be as much about discovering yourself as it is about discovering the world.
Well, first off welcome to TP
I agree with jake, look at what countries you wanna do, what you wanna shoot for is no backtracking, the nice thing about Europe is that you can set up a nice "loop" for your travels of countries to hit and finish where you started with minimal backtracking. As far as tours go it really depends what kinda tours your talking about. I DONT reccomend tours of cities at all, places like Rome, Athens etc.. even though they once were the largest cities on earth they still only had several thousand people at the time and all major attractions will be within walkin distance of each other I say just get a good tourist map that has illsutrations of all the major sites and walk it, you'll have a much better time like that anyways. The only time I would take a tour is to see a castle or something that x number of kilometers outside a city and it covers bus and entrance fare and you couldent walk there yourself, other then that just run it oyurself you will save money that way
take care
will
I would also say no to package tours. You can do it on your own. Get a decent guidebook that lets you pick out the highlights of what you want to see. Check the city map, and like the others said, walk around and see it yourself. You'll be able to take your time, see things at your own pace, and if you meet other backpackers, chat with them and make friends. If you have to rush back onto a tour bus, you won't have time for that, and you'll feel hurried.
That's one of the great things about travel: It teaches you independence and how to rely on yourself.
Good luck! And feel free to ask any specifics...
worldwidemike
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"Life is not measured in the number of breaths we take, but by the places that take our breath away..."
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