4 Guys, 5 weeks, and the whole world ahead!

[griffster122]

Hi there, my name is Tommy. I just signed up to start posting here, and I wanted to say hi. I'm going backpacking through Europe this summer for about 5 weeks with 3 of my closest friends, and I can't wait. It's going to be the most insane trip we ever do. We're all 18 years old and can't wait to party and see what Europe has to offer us.

We'll be leaving in early June, and probably going from Boston to London to start. I have a TON of questions, and wanted to see if some of you experts here could help me out.

1.) We are all getting our ISIC cards soon (I've heard these help a lot with discounts, is this true?). I've been talking to travel agents at STA travel, is this a good place to book flights for students?

2.) We're contimplating which Eurrail pass to get. Our itinerary looks (roughly) like this:

- England
- France
- Spain
- Belgium
- Netherlands
- Germany
- Switzerland
- Italy

(not in this order)

Which Eurail pass would you suggest? Is there a way to cut this down?

3.) Can a 5 week trip to Europe ACTUALLY be done with around $2500? We figured all transportation (planes, trains, ferries etc.) would cost around $1200 - so can 5 weeks happen on just $1300?

4.) We've heard London is extremely expensive to stay in, plus we figured it would be boring if we're in a foreign country where they speak our own language (ha!). So we'll probably hit a few bars then be on our way. What's the best way to get outta England and to mainland europe? I've heard the Ferry is a lot of fun, has anyone done this?

5.) What are the best informational websites on backpacking europe? Who else has done it as a young, poor, college student? Tell me some of the things I CAN'T miss, and tell me what I should simply ignore.

Thanks so much, and I hope to be posting here often!

- Tommy

[bellelass]

4.) We've heard London is extremely expensive to stay in, plus we figured it would be boring if we're in a foreign country where they speak our own language (ha!).

It's terribly, horifically expensive. There are several places to stay that run about 10 pounds a night, thats not too bad. I shudder to think what the conversion rate will be by then, right now its just under 2:1 so watch out.
That said, London is one of the coolest cities I've been in, and as the man said- when a man tires of london he tires of life. Not boring.

Good luck!

[Somnambulation]

I took the ferry from England to Amsterdam and it was roughly the same amount as taking the train would have been if I remember correctly. It was cool, I would recommend it. I would try and arrainge your itinerary more efficiently, like England, Netherlands (Amsterdam, who are we kidding?), France, Spain, Italy, Swtzerland, Germany. That is the path that I took last summer. I took my time and did it in 2.5 months, but 5 weeks is doable as well.

Youll probably need more money than that though, especially if you plan on doing much drinking.

[griffster122]

Yea, we're going to try and knock it up to $3000, which is still not enough, but what can I say, we're in college.

bellelass, I don't think we'll even stay a night in England, just land there because it's the cheapest way to fly, then head right over on the train or a ferry.

Somnambulation, is the ferry a good time? We heard that there's all kinds of parties and gambling and drinking on the boat, is this true? Where should I look into getting ferry tickets?

Thanks again,
Tommy

[omisan]

If you're looking at just landing in London and going, you might want to look at a cheap flight to Amsterdam (or wherever your next destination is). In order to take the train, you'd have to get to central London and get to Waterloo station. In order to take the ferry, you'd have to get over to one of the port cities either on the east or south coast.

There ARE bus/train+ferry combos from London to Amsterdam that are dirt cheap, but those are usually weekender rates where you leave on Friday and come back the following sunday. Check out a site like this for info:
http://www.amsterdam-city-break.gb.com/fer...y-amsterdam.htm

My last time around, I went directly to Amsterdam from Heathrow aboard BMI (http://www.flybmi.com), but you can check other airlines via http://www.whichbudget.com

As for your Eurailpass options.. the UK isn't a Eurail country, but passholders do get a discount on tickets for the Eurostar (chunnel train to Brussels or Paris). That brings your list down to 6 countries, as Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg count as just one. If you're not doing a lot of travel within one country, you can skip the pass for that area.. i.e BeNeLux, since train tickets from Amsterdam to Brussels and/or Paris can be had on the cheap, especially with student ID.

Good luck, and welcome to TP!

[worldwidemike]

Not to sound like an ad for easyjet or ryanair, but don't overlook those as a way to get to and from the continent. Now, if you ARE planning on skipping London except as an entry point, don't neglect the other low cost carriers as a way to get to the continent directly.

That way you save your departure taxes and transport from London...

The itinerary sounds great, though...!

worldwidemike

[griffster122]

Hmm, I'll definately have to investigate this a little more. It sounds like plane travel within europe is fairly cheap. Maybe it would be better to simply grab a flight right out of London?


Thanks everyone for your help, anyone else have some suggestions on the trip in general?

[griffster122]

Oh also, what's the exchange rate for the Euro right now? Is it still around 1.35? Thanks.

[omisan]

Ahh yes - Mike, I keep forgetting about Easyjet and RyanAir. Probably because they don't fly out of Heathrow, but if you're getting into Gatwick or the transfer to Gatwick/Stansted/Lutton is cheap enough, they could very well be worth your while!

Griffster, for up to the minute exchange rates, I usually use xe.com.

[JiveTurkey]

Yeah, I took an Easyjet flight from London-Luton to Prague for like $60.00US The earlier you book, the cheaper.. also, the ex rate for the Euro will differ from place to place when you get over... the best ex rates are at the banks.. if you have an ATM account it's easy to use the ATMs over there.. just withdraw out alot of money each time you have to use it (so insted of taking out $100 3x to make $300 just take out $300 at once and pay only 1 withdraw fee...

If you are looking to save some money start by looking at flights right into Amsterdam or Brussels. They are normaly the 2 cheap places to fly into from the states.. Then think of the places you are going... England is crazy expensive.. I was just there a few weeks back and turned in 200 dollars US and got back 102 pounds! OUCH! Try and stick to Eastern Europe (The Eurorail pass covers Hungary, but thats about it) You can buy an Eastern Eurorail pass.

I enjoyed eastern europe much more then western europe.. Prague, Krakow, Budapest, Bratislava all awesome places to go and CHEAP!!

Giddy Down!

[beergal]

you could also try

skyeurope


or

wizzair

[griffster122]

So if I'm going from boston to London, what's the major airport that most airlines fly into? Is it heathrow? And would I have to transfer to a smaller airport to fly outta there on a cheap flight to amsterdam or Brussels?


- Tommy

[beergal]

you could fly into gatwick aswell and i know that you can pick up a one way to amsterdam for around £50 on british airways including taxes

[madjoy]

You're like the counterparts of some friends of mine :P Me and some other friends (guys and girls) are going backpacking through Europe this summer, and we're also trying to figure out what we're doing.

I'm no expert, because I'm still trying to research stuff. But it seemed to us that all the cheapest flights basically transferred through London anyway... So we're going to fly in there, even though we don't plan on spending more than a day or so there. Then we're taking the Eurostar to Paris, spending around 4 nights there, then a night in Brussels, 5 nights in Amsterdam, 4 in Copenhagen, 1 in Hamburg and 1 in Berlin, 5 nights in Vienna, then Venice, Florence, Rome and then flying (with Easyjet) back to London. (then we'll have to transfer to Heathrow) We didn't get any of the tickets though...

We live near NYC. We're spending around a month there. We're getting the Eurail Pass Youth for one month - we considered the flexi, but would prefer spending the extra money for the flexibility of being able to use the train whenever we need it and not conserve our days.

Plus, we're definitely becoming Hostelling International members. It seems completely worth it, and my friends and I don't mind if the rooms are a little cleaner and the people not as crazy-getting-drunk-and-partying. :P

[beergal]

Plus, we're definitely becoming Hostelling International members. It seems completely worth it, and my friends and I don't mind if the rooms are a little cleaner and the people not as crazy-getting-drunk-and-partying.

dont head for budapest then this place was the scariest dump ive been to

[griffster122]

Is it worth it to become HI members and get their little card?

[beergal]

you can usually blag some discount with an isic card

[pala4833]

For what it's worth:

Our tickets on British Airways from Seattle to AMS were only slightly more than SEA to London. Flying out of Madrid 8 weeks later. Flying into London and figuring an additional jump to the continent didn't seem to save us much money. Flights from the East Coast to London may be significanly cheaper than from the Left Coast, so "your milage may vary".

[griffster122]

That's great, I'm gonna have to look into Boston - England and Boston - Amsterdam prices.

What are some cities that I simply MUST go to?? I need your advice Tpunkers!


- Tommy

[madjoy]

Originally posted by griffster122@Dec 28 2004, 09:37 AM
Is it worth it to become HI members and get their little card?

It depends what kind of hostels you want to stay at... if you're going to stay at HI hostels as opposed to independents... then yes ^_^