Winging it in Europe for 2 months?

[innohurry]

I've been reading a lot of the threads on here, and everyone seems incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. So I trust your advice here: Please let me know if I'm setting myself up for disaster . . .

I am planning to backpack through Europe this Summer/late Spring, and am curious about how much advance planning/booking I really need to do.

I would really like to avoid having to stick to a strict itinerary, that's just not how I like to travel. And since I've never been to Europe before, I feel like my time would be best spent just wandering, staying for a week in one city if I like it or taking off the next morning if I hate it. And since my idea of exploring a place is just hanging out in the parks or wandering the streets (as opposed to hitting every tourist attraction in the guidebook) I figure this won't be too difficult a goal.

So here's a rough outline of where I'd like to try to go (my main interest is the places around the Mediterranean):

I have a friend in London, so I figure I'll fly in there, since the flights are cheap, then:

-Paris for a few days, then up to
-Amsterdam for a few days, down to
-Prague for a few days,
-Berlin for a day or two, then
-Austria for a day or two, then maybe
-Hungary for a few days, then
-Italy for while, maybe taking the whole length down into

-North Africa (Is this too difficult? Too pricey? Too dangerous?)
-cross through Tunisia and Algeria to
-Morocco for a week or so, then up to

-Spain (and maybe Portugal) for a week or two, then back up through
-France to
-London, then crash with my friend until I can get a cheap flight home.

I realize this sounds terribly flaky, but my thinking is that if I have enough money (I should have around 7 or 8 thousand dollars saved), and live dirt dirt cheap, that should balance out the fact that some of my travel expenses might be higher since I'll be buying tickets last minute.

Again, I don't plan to eat in fancy restaurants or stay in hotels or take expensive tours too much. I'm up for any forms of transportation: buses, planes, trains (I'm hoping for a combination of all of those). I also plan to travel as light as possible, hopefully just one medium sized backpack. I'm 29, a fit and healthy male, so I'm not too young and inexperienced, and I'm used to roughing it.

I know that I'll obviously have to shore up certain parts of this, that some countries will require more diligent planning than others. I guess what I'm looking for is advice on how I can best compromise this plan to be cost effective, safe, and feasible. My time and financial goal would be to spend about two months or less over there, and spend less than 6000 USD, including a round trip flight from NYC to London (again, preferably booking that return flight once I get back into London).

Any help on this would be amazing, as I'm kind of unsure what my next planning steps should be.

Thank you!

[herrbert]

Are you setting up for disaster?

Well if you have enough money to get into a hotel, at the moments you can't find a hostel, then finding a place to sleep will not be so much of a problem. If you rely on a cheap bed, than there are a couple of places you mention, that you need to pre-book in peak season. London - you've got covered, but Amsterdam, Paris and Rome are places you really need to pre-book, or you will find yourself losing a lot of money due to staying in a more expensive hotel. And I wouldn't be suprised that you will find yourself, out of luck in a few other cities as well. (some hostels however, always keep room for on the day arrivals, like the Oasis hostels in Granada and Sevilla). I wonder if you would mind to pre-book a couple of these hostels, but leave out blanks, in between. (e.g plan 1,2,3,4 May in Paris, and 9,10,11 in Amsterdam. leaving 4 days to improvise).

One other point I need to raise, is you plan to go to North-Africa. It is possible to travel there, but the time-slot you choose is very poor. Late-Spring/Summer is too hot for travelling. It would be much better to go there in February. So I would choose to see that as a future-trip, rather than taking this on-board now.

A similar point I can make about Spain, but the temperatures are not that extreme, as in Africa. I would try to hit Spain in May or possible June, but places like Madrid, Toledo and Sevilla are best avoided in July and August. So I would do the trip the other way round than you described it, go to the south first, and come back through Central Europe.

The 6000 US Dollars you mention, can get very tight if your expenses get too high. For backpackers a 100 dollars a day is normal. But the exchange rates (USD to Euro) are not helping a lot.

[francefiend]

To answer your question: No, I don't think you're setting yourself up for disaster. It's bold and spontaneous. It's freer. It allows you to take chances. I like that!

However, you'll have to make up for spontaneity in research - and you've already started that by reading posts on the forum

Well if you have enough money to get into a hotel, at the moments you can't find a hostel, then finding a place to sleep will not be so much of a problem. If you rely on a cheap bed, than there are a couple of places you mention, that you need to pre-book in peak season.

I did manage to find a cheap bed in a good hostel on the day of arrival in Paris, but it could have been even cheaper if I had booked earlier :S Even planning your itinerary in weeks will help. You don't necessarily have to be early, but you must be informed of your options. Gather a list of lodging options and sample prices in each city.

Speaking of cities, you'll need to pick some! Countries like Spain and France have endless opportunities. Continue researching each country. Roam the boards, read guide books, scour the web for helpful tidbits...eventually a pseudo-itinerary will manifest itself. Allow for changes, of course, but use a rough outline. You've already begun to form one - which is good - but keep going.

Remember - the Euro gets stronger every day. If you can help it, get the major expenses out of the way in advance. Main ones: flights and Eurostar. If you leave these until later, they will decimate your budget.
I love how you say "for a few days, for a while" - marvelous.

[MuvverRussia]

Need to take into account visa/immigration issues too. A return ticket is needed for UK immigration, plus you'd need to have prebooked accommodation and transport for many of those countries listed, especially in North Africa.

[googleygoo]

I agree with Francefiend- you should do more research and figure out where you might like to go. Research doesn't necessarily mean the opposite of spontaneity- having at least a rough itinerary can help when budgeting transportation costs.

As for lodging, you should probably make reservations a day or two in advance, if only to avoid what Herbert pointed out.

[innohurry]

Thanks everyone for the advice, I think it's pointing me in the right direction.

I think I'll start with a pretty well planned first half of the trip, in the more expensive places like London and Paris, and then let the itinerary get looser as I move further and further out.

Also, I'll probably leave Morocco and the rest of North Africa out for right now, and maybe make that a separate trip in the future.

And since I'm getting a late start with booking, I may push the whole trip back a month or two as well.

Thanks all!