Young couple/1month eastern Europe/Jan 2012

[leahfacebook]

My boyfriend and I are planning our 1st trip to Europe together for the entire month of January 2012. We would appreciate any and all advice!
We would love to visit the following places:
-Dublin
-Londonderry (a must, friend lives here)
-London
-Paris
-Brussels
-Amsterdam
-Berlin
-Munich
-Salzburg
-Zurich
-Venice
-Florence
-Rome
-Nice
-Barcelona
-Ibiza
-Madrid


Shew! Ok, so now, I know that these are not going to all be possible on such a short trip and thats where your help comes in!
Here are some details on us:
We are both 24. We love to go out for dinner and drinks. We are foodies, love to try new food, experience the local culture. We have a lot of energy and can handle a bit of walking We love house music, trance, electronic music. We appreciate seeing not just the typical "tourist" sites, but also the things that locals like to get into! (I stayed with a friend in Derry for a few days a couple hrs ago and enjoyed seeing how the Irish really party so much fun!) Not to confuse, however, we would like to see the must-sees, Eiffel Tower, Colosseum, etc. We like to have a romantic evening. I was thinking that dinner in a quaint restaurant in Paris or Itay (think Lady and the Tramp haha) would be ultra romantic (don't judge me, I'm a girl lol). We enjoy having a meal in a nice restaurant and sleeping in a comfy hotel bed, but we have no problem with slumming it every once in a while to make room in the pocket book to pay for those nice things. That being said, I will not sleep in a place with cockroaches. I do have a sense of humor and i use it, but seriously when i say "slumming it" I mean sleeping on a fold-out couch quality bed, not a broken down cardboard box. We are summer people and are well aware that we are going to be facing cold weather, but appreciate advice on avoiding blizzards. We love to see beautiful sites. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants the movie pretty much instilled in me an insatiable desire to see the beauty of Greece firsthand
We plan to use Eurail and the list above is in the order that we believe may be best suited to our needs. We are flying from LAX on standby (I worked for an airline, can buy our tix to and from the US and change them according to our needs, yippee!) and can leave from Madrid.
Map we used to devise this genius plan- www.Eurail.com/planning
We plan to stay in hostels a majority of the time but may opt to get a hotel room in some cities, depending on the nightlife, and your suggestions of course!
We have about a $6-$8k budget for the month, excluding the cost of our plane tix to and from the US.
So, we need help deciding, based on our interests, which cities would be best suited for us. We'd love to hear any suggestions you have on the tentative route we have come up with. We are also open to any suggestions about restaurants you think we just MUST try, hostels/hotels you think we MUST stay in, you think we sites we just MUST see, clubs we MUST grab a few drinks and dance the night away at , or anything else you think that two 24 year olds would enjoy or need to know
Let me know if Ive missed anything!
Thanks so much for your help and happy traveling everyone! I hope you see EVERYTHING you want to see!

[Eagle]

leahfacebook,

First of all, welcome to the Boards! I have several comments to start the discussion.

As you've mentioned, you won't be able to visit all the cities you listed in a one-month time frame. It might be more appropriate to narrow down the list based on two criteria:

1) Which cities are you most interested in seeing?

2) Which cities fit most efficiently into the overall travel route?

I assume you're planning on using open-jaw flights - inbound Dublin and outbound one of the cities in Spain?

As you've noted, this is not the best time to see Europe so you'll have to prepare appropriately in terms of clothing. As you may have seen, some of the weather conditions in Europe this past winter were extreme, with flights, rail and roads all shut down at times. Is there any possibility you could travel at a more "favourable" time?

I'd suggest using a slightly "broader" range of planning resources than only the Eurail site. Just to clarify, Eurail is a marketing arm of the European railways, so you'll actually be travelling on differently rail systems in each country. As they're primarily concerned with marketing, they are not always the best source to use for information.

For planning rail journeys, the best website to use is www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml (the German rail site).

For information on Hostels, you may want to have a look at www.hihostels.com/dba/continent-Europe-EU.en.htm for information on reliable Hostels. As they're a "chain", I've found the facilities fairly consistent from one location to another. You might consider getting an inexpensive HI membership, as that will provide preferred rates. One point to note is that some properties have private rooms available (often with ensuite), however these are often not much different than the cost of a budget Hotel room. Also, since Hostels just about always charge "per bed", there will be two single beds in the room. If you're planning to stay in Dorm rooms, some of these are segregated by gender, and some or co-ed (will that be a problem for you?).

I can't provide any information on "clubs we MUST grab a few drinks", as I'm a bit older so "clubbing" is not something I do.

As this is your first trip to Europe, I would highly recommend that you read the Guidebook Europe Through The Back Door before you get too far in your planning. It will provide you with a lot of good information on "how" to travel well in Europe. You may also want to have a look at some country-specific Guidebooks.

One minor point to mention regarding your visit to Londonderry. Depending on "which side of the fence" your friend is on, you may be politely reminded to refer to it as "Derry".

Finally, you mentioned "instilled in me an insatiable desire to see the beauty of Greece firsthand". As there were no stops in Greece mentioned in the list, I assume you're not planning to visit there on this trip. I wouldn't recommend it for two reasons - it's somewhat "distant" from the other locations so won't fit as efficiently into the travel route, and also the islands are pretty much shut down at that time of year so not really a good time to visit.

Hopefully the others will have some comments as well.

Good luck with your planning!

[leahfacebook]

Thank you very much for your input very much appreciated!
And, I do say "Derry" normally, maps said "Londonderry", thanks for the advice!
I'll def be getting the guidebook!

[madamtrashheap]

leahfacebook, to add to Eagle's substantial and excellent advice, until you decide which cities you are going to keep in your itinerary, it's difficult to recommend any must see/do/visit bars/restaurants/museums/areas. Hopefully you post back with your latest itinerary and we can fill in the blanks for you.

Some of the places you've mentioned aren't really great in the Winter months - eg Nice, Greece, Ibiza - in terms of lots to see and do. They are more lively and come into their own in Summer, so save them for next time. You've already noted that it will be cold, and if last Winter is anything to go by you'll need to schedule a coat and boot shopping trip in London when you arrive! We had A LOT of snow and some very cold days, so if you're not used to it you'll need to rug up, and buying the equipment once you're there is easier than hauling it over, plus you'll get a better choice than in LA I'd say.

Once you've sorted your cities of choice, let us know and we'll see what else we can recommend.