information on places to see in europe

[borty40]

i am wanting to see europe, the places i most want to go are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland*, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia*, Soctland*, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Wales.
i will be just out of high school and travleing alone for the first time. i have been to a few places, i went to Greece on a bike trip this last march and hope to go to Marocco, Africa this up comming march. i would love any information on what your experiences were and if you think its a bad idea to travle alone in one of the countries. i will have no time limit and i would love to know how much time you think i would need in each country. and if it's easy to travle on a big budget in these countries.
thanks for any information

[LHR02]

Hi Kate, and welcome!

WOW! That's quite a list, convers just about everything east of the US coast! I notice a few of the countries have an asterik next to them....are these particular must see's or a typo?

Couple of initial thoughts here......I think you can 'budget' travel in just about any country if you take time to do your homework beforehand and keep tight controls on your pursestrings and not allow yourself to get sucked into 'tourist' traps. Secondly, the amount of time you spend in any one place is purely dependent on what your own intersts are. I traveled for 4 months this past year and found my 'pre-trip' itenerary pretty much worthless. Once I arrived I ended up almost without exception staying longer everywhere I went. I simply kept falling in love with the cities and places I arrived in. ;D

Just a quick glance at your list looks to me like a good six months minimum....if you really get to them all and spend any amount of time there. Any chance you could break this down a bit more, into some sort of priority list? Places you totally must get to, and those you would like to get to if time and funds permit? I think it would make for a better starting part for discussion that way.

I think there are folks here on this board who have been to most of the places you asked about so keep asking questions and we'll see what we can do!

ging

[borty40]

* this means a MUST go to. and things i like to do is see the sites, but also i want to go see sites that most people miss, when i went to greece i saw the ancient theater of sparta, it had just become a makeout spot and looked as if that was the only thing it had been in a long time. i would love to learn as much as posiable about where i am and it's history..

[nitsansh]

It looks like Europe from A to Z... what countries are NOT on the list? You're not really going to do all that in one trip?

and also... what time of year you're travelling?

[Patrick]

>>> It looks like Europe from A to Z... what countries are NOT on the list? You're not really going to do all that in one trip? <<<

You read my mind... and probably others.

You should probably split this up into 3 trips, but if that's not possible and you have LOTS of time (and I mean like a year) to do this (and lots of $$$), by all means go for it.

If I wanted to see all these places I'd probably do

1. a UK / France / Belgium / Netherlands / Switzerland / Austria / Italy / Spain / Portugal type trip... you get the idea.

2. an Eastern European trip - Russia / Czech Republic / Hungary / Ukraine / Romania / Poland etc...
(would be a cheaper excursion)

3. Scandinavia... Denmark to Norway / Sweden / Finland / Iceland. I think Icelandair has some good deals. I don't know what there is to see in Greenland really unless you want to go dogsledding or if it's even worth the trip.

My 2 cents anyway...

[Kim]

We did 17 countries and that took us 7 months.

For 26 countries, you are looking at a good year and a half, at least.

Trust me, the expense will be beyond anything you can ever imagine. To travel for over 3 months is brutal, as rail passes only go up to 3 months and you have to buy a few-this alone costs thousands of dollars.

Patricks #1 trip is a good idea, although if you don't have a ton of money, give Switzerland a miss.

Kim

[Patrick]

>>> Trust me, the expense will be beyond anything you can ever imagine. To travel for over 3 months is brutal --- We did 17 countries and that took us 7 months.
<<<

What did you do Kim? Rob a bank?!

[borty40]

all these countrie are just ones that looked cool... i would never plan to go to all of them at once....
i guess i was asking a little much.. i just wanted to know where people enjoyed the most so i could maybe have an easier time picking just a few places to go......

sorry for being a little too open

[LHR02]

Okay Kate....now give us an idea of a realistic amount of travel time you are looking at, and the time of year you want to go and you'll get loads of ideas!

e.g I spent almost a month in UK.....England, Wales and Scotland only and felt like I had missed half of it or more! But as I said, I am a >>>>slow<<<< traveler! What I did and saw could be done in 2-3 weeks easily if you don't allow yourself to get bogged down in museums and cathedrals. ;D But those were the things that interested me, so I gave them lots of time.

I also spent 2 weeks in Netherlands alone.....but once again, loved it there so I hung around. The beauty of going it alone is just that....you can stay where you like and move on when YOU are ready to do so.

Get back to us with a bit more info/wish list......we all love to talk about this, it's why we are here!

ging

[borty40]

well its nice you hear you guys want to help me and not just say i'm crazy like the people on lonelyplanet

well i would prob want to be in europe for a few months like 3-4
and what i ment by big budget is the i would be on a tight budget cause like i said just out of highschool and i have to pay myself, i guess i just uesed the wrong wording...
thanks for helping me as much as you can and sorry i was REALLY open on what i was asking i'll do better next time i post somthing ANYWHERE...

thanks for everything

[borty40]

haven't picked what time of year to goo i guess when i pick which of the countries on my big list i go to i will pick what time of year i want to go but prob summer to fall if thats a good time to go

[LHR02]

Don't be sorry about being really open on plans and dreaming BIG! That's how most trips start....then reality kicks in and you start getting a workable plan.

Sounds like you had a less than wonderful time over at LP.....most folks are freindly here so stick around and keep posting.

BTW....if funds will permit, 3-4 months makes for a great trip! Not rushed and time enough to explore areas you like. Biggest chunk of change will always be airfare and railpass/travel once you get there. Food and sleeps can be done fairly cheaply.

ging

[Kim]

Summer and fall are nice times of the year to go to Europe-September is beautiful.

If I was you, I would plan for 3 months. That's the longest railpass you can get and it starts adding up fast when you tack on another pass.

As far as budget goes, plan on about $40-50 a day.
That will get you a dorm bed, cheap food (pack lunches from grocery stores), sightseeing and some odds and ends like, public transportation.

After that, expenses will be:
Rail Pass
Plane Ticket
Backpack and a bit of travel gear
Passport
Travel Insurance

...that sort of thing.

I did my first backpacking trip (Australia and the Cook Islands) right out of high school too. It was 3 months and it was a perfect length of time for my first backpacking adventure.

Now, can you narrow down your list for us?

I know you want really want to see Russia but there might be difficulites in getting a visa to travel there. Others I would eliminate would be Finland and Greenland due to transportation difficulties and Norway, Sweden and Denmark due to the terrible expense of those countries.

(For Patrick-no, didn't rob a bank-but still am paying it back!!! I guess instead of heading to Asia in a few weeks I should concentrate on that, but you only live once! Hell, I'm a government worker, I deserve some happiness! ;D)

Kim

[Patrick]

>> no, didn't rob a bank-but still am paying it back!!! <<

It's all good, might as well enjoy yourself is what I say. You can't be buried with your $$$ right!

[borty40]

the 2 places i most want to go to are ireland and scotland...... plain and simple i have wanted to go to these 2 places FOREVER i love the history that i know of and would love to learn more......

thanks again for helping me its hard just picking a few places to go......