Backpacking Europe
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- imadesigner0
Romania is great! You can see some photos here: http://www.tomrobinsonphotograph…
- Rushmore0
That sounds great, what do you mean but not very convenient though? As in, I won't get to see much or hard to get to or hard to acquire?
- gung_hoek0
well, with interrail you´ll see very, very much of the countries. many train stations for example. in fact it´s the next best thing to hiking, in terms of experiencing the different countries. not the best thing to get fast from a to b though, you´ll always wait for the next connection, get stranded from time to time, no access to the high speed trains. interrail is more for the adventurous drifter, esp. for meeting other people if you´re into that.
- gung_hoek0
I just looked it up, apparently interrail is for europeans only. yankees have to get this: http://www.eurail.com/1_global_p…
- gung_hoek0
also, you absolutely need either a neck pouch or a fanny pack.
- Rushmore0
Is traveling mainly on foot and camping out a viable option?
- gung_hoek0
If by foot you mean walking the cities + covering larger distances by train or bus yes. public transport and the occasional hitchhiking will basically get you everywhere.
sleeping outdoors is more difficult. there´s definately places you can camp freely, like on the mediterranian coast, but in most places you´ll get in trouble with the authorities sooner or later. however, there are camping sites in most areas where you pay something in the range of 10 to 20 eurobucks per night to put your tent. most sites are somewhat out of the cities though (takes time to get there).
for safety reasons alone free camping would not be the best idea. I´d go for hostels or the couchsurfing thing. and then there´s the designated hiking trails if you´re doing the nature thing, free camping is allright there.
- Corvo20
If you plan to walk-around, hiking, camping out for an extended period of time you should consider an international travel insurance - medical assistance/evac, theft/lost luggage, repatriation expenses are usually covered.
- Rushmore0
I also really really really want to see Everest.
- megE0
I'm a little late on this buuuuut - def get a eurail pass, it's a great deal you can't pass up, make sure you fill them out in PEN - the guards on the train will take them from you if they're filled out in pencil and then kick you off the train.
I backpacked for 3 months, did most of my hostel booking at hostelworld.com a few days in advance. I didn't really plan much before I went over outside of my plane ticket. Unless you're traveling somewhere during a festival or a large sporting event, it was never an issue to to book a hostel last minute. (ps. don't stay at Brown's Hostel in Dublin, Ireland.... horrible!) If you need city-to-city suggestions - email me.
I had the most fun in Barcelona, Munich, Pamplona, Florence and Prague. If you're in Europe the first week of July try and make it to the running of the bulls - you'll never experience anything like it.
Buy a travelguide book, life saviors even if you just use them for necessary information and not for touristy things.
Other than that... I was in 16 different cities in Ireland, England, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Czech, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany - if you have city suggestions from a traveler's perspective just email me :) have fun! I'm totally jealous!
- Thanks, I am trying not to overplan but i think I will definitely email you to chat!Rushmore
- mg330
If anyone hasn't said it, good luck Rushmore. I'm seriously jealous. I wanted to go to Europe for a few months after I graduated from college in 2001 but never figured out how to do it. I'm happy to be engaged, have a great job and a comfortable life, but man, every one of us deep down has that "if I could do it, I'd take off like that and see what the world had to offer me" with no real destination other than to make memories and see some incredible things.
Congrats to you for doing so! Best of luck.
- epete220
how much would that cost for say 3 weeks in one bedroom hotels?
- marky_brown0
Yea Barcelona is meant to be a ripper.
- Rushmore0
MegE, I was thinking about hiking the Camino de Santiago during the month of June, ending in Pamplona in early July for the running of the bulls, which I do not want to miss. Sound like a plan?
mg33, Thanks for the best wishes. Shall I send you postcards detailing my adventures?
- a +700km walking plan.
http://www.caminomap…Corvo2 - Yes but people do it.Rushmore
- a +700km walking plan.
- piperboytoy0
if you have an apt then you can swap apts with people in Europe. I did it for a month last summer and was a great experience.
- rafalski0
It's easy to get to hate Barcelona if you go there in the middle of tourist season, it's so packed. Don't let this fool you, it's the most fantastic city.
- dribbles0
mooch as much free acom as you can!
- Alabaster0
I second Berlin, Barcelona and Copenhagen. I didn't find Olso to be that great, but then again I have only been there in winter. Stockholm is a better Scandinavian city. I am not discounting Norway though. I was there last summer visiting some relos in Kristiansand and had a great time.
I got a two month Eurail pass back in 06 and went all over the place, had a great time. You should definitely do that, but the ticket is pretty expensive. Just keep in mind that you still need to book seats in most cases on the trains. So you dont have to pay for the tickets, but you have to pay for the seat booking. I think the most I payed for a booking fee was about 20 AUD.
For accom Gomio.com was a good web site, it didn't charge any booking fees (unless things have changed). Its a damn awful looking web site. But its pretty good for cheap accom.
Paris is great, just watch your shit. I have had quite a lot of friends get their stuff stolen and watch out for the guys on the steps of the Sacr Cour with the string. They are always there goings straight after tourists and they will want you to like 20 Euro pay for this shitty little string bracelet thing.
- Alabaster0
Wooh. There are errors all over my last response. Sorry about that. I got distracted.