I got one month, what should I do?

[byoons]

I'm from Michigan, and almost done with my first year in college. As a congratulatory gift for making it through my first year in college with good grades (thus far) and becoming a "man" after living off by myself for almost a year, my parents thought I should backpack across Europe for the month of May.

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Next.
I will be getting myself a Global Eurail Pass for one month, and I will be starting out in London. I would like to travel across Europe as much as possible and not stay at a certain location for more then a day. Only in big cities like Paris or Rome will I spend more then a day at. What would be a good pattern to travel? It's 30 days and I would like to go all across Europe.

How much do I want to spend a day? I was thinking $70 U.S dollars a day? Is that too little. I'm a college student and my parents are only paying for the tickets and I'm very willing to live as cheap as possible. And a size of a backpack would be nice.

Side note, I would like to keep updated with family and friends. Is bringing a laptop a pretty bad idea? I'm thinking it is, but I would like to know your opinion.

I'm pretty much very stoked for this once in a life opportunity and am wishing for a euphoric adventure.



-Bryant Yoon

[herrbert]

I have to agree with David on this. If you can only spare 1 day for a city, then you will see nothing of it. In a general sense it would barely be enough to see the sights a town/city has to offer from the outside. (and frankly, you can do that on internet, watching photographs.) Europe is not going to run away, after this first trip, so don't try to see everything in one go, and leave things to see, on future trip.

If you like to see the big cities, than it would be a nice idea to go and make up an itinerary with the ones you really like to visit, but do yourself a favour, and stay for at least 4 nights (=3 whole days) in these cities. Depending in your interests you could decide to stay longer in some.

You can pretty easily stay in contact with the people at home. Every town has an internetcafé, and in cities like London, Rome and Paris there will be plenty. If you want to stay in hostels, then there is a big chance that there are a couple of computers at the hostel. (in some cases you have to pay for them, in others it's free). If you don't need a laptop for professional reasons, I would leave it at home.)

[mareeclo]

I have to agree with everyone here, you can't see all of Europe in just one month and spending only one day is not going to give you much time to see it as a lot of time is spent trying to figure out your way around the city, getting to sites you want to see etc. I agree with David when he says that if you can't afford 2 nights in a city, then you might as well skip it, unless you're doing a smaller city as a daytrip and return to a major city at night.


London for example is a city that needs more than a day. I was just there last September and only had 4 and a half days there (with one day trip to Oxford that I really wanted to see) and I had to run around a lot to see most of what I wanted to see and didn't see and do all that i wanted. I think London itself needs and deserves between 5 to 7 days.

You mentionned London, Paris and Rome. I think that if you want to do these cities you should stick to those three only and then add day trips to smaller cities around. I personally think each of these cities deserves at least 5 to 7 days. So that would take between 15 to 21 days which would leave you between 15 to 9 days to play with. You mentionned you'd be travelling by train which will too take up a lot of time. You might be able to add one more major city to your itinary but probably not much more than that. Not mentionning that only seeing major cities in a country wouldn't give you a the real feel of a country.

As for your budget, i think 70$US is playing it very tight. Espacially if you plan on doi ng major cities. London, Paris and Rome are very expensive cities. Unless you stay in dormrooms with sharing bathrooms in Hostels, you will have a hard time finding accomodations under 70$us a night which means you wouldn't have any money left to eat, museums entry etc...

As for bringing your laptop, i wouldn't do it. Not only is it risky, you might not even get a chance to use it, if you stay in hostels, you most likely won't have an internet connection in your room. You will most definatly have internet access directly at your hostel or in an internet cafe close by. In London, there was an internet cafe almost at every corner, you could even access internet at Mcdonald's there. I personnally wouldn't carry my laptop with me.

[Eagle]

Bryant,

I also strongly concur with the others here! Although it might be feasible, trying to "go all across Europe" in a one month period is very unrealistic. With that type of travel, you'd mostly see Europe through a train window, with little time to appreciate the history or the people.

Thirty days is NOT a long time for travel, especially considering you'll need to allow travel time from city-to-city. I'd suggest that you choose a smaller number of countries and cities - those that interest you the most and relatively close geographically. Larger cities such as London, Paris and Rome deserve at least 4-5 days each! I spent a full week in London last September, and barely "scratched the surface". There is SO MUCH to see and do! Keep in mind also that you'll lose the first day in flight, and will be "jet lagged" for a few days so you won't be up to optimal touring speed. For such a short trip, using "open jaw" flights would be a really good idea!!!

Some comments on your other points.....

> Global Eurail Pass - as the others have mentioned, this might not be the best option. If you have an idea on which cities you'll be visiting, you could use Railsaver.com to determine which combination of rail pass and P-P tickets would be most appropriate.

> Europe on US$70 per day - this is going to be VERY challenging, given the current exchange rates of the Euro and UK Pound compared to the US dollar! That's only about £35, which would probably cover your lodgings only. You should plan for at least US$100.00 per day and undoubtedly a bit more for the UK (this doesn't include rail pass or air fares). Since your parents suggested the idea of Backpacking across Europe, perhaps they'd be willing to provide a "Loan"

> Travelling with a Laptop - I've chosen to avoid this so far, although I've been re-considering lately due to the large number of Wi-Fi hotspots around Europe. A Laptop has a high "worry factor" especially staying in Hostels. There's also the weight to consider (do you really want to haul it all around Europe?). What do you want to use it for? If you were there for study or whatever, the situation would be different. There are lots of Internet Cafes, and many Hostels also provide these (although in some cases the Hostel computers are coin-operated). There are usually other facilities in the neighborhood, so you shouldn't have any trouble "to keep updated with family and friends". I normally use my Cell phone and keep in touch with family back home using text messaging. It's easy and fairly inexpensive (however not all Cell Phones will work in Europe, so that has to be considered also - if you're on a contract plan with either AT&T or T-Mobile, that might be one option?).

> Size of Backpack - that's somewhat a matter of personal preference. I've been travelling with about a 65L. Eagle Creek Backpack (2003-vintage Continental Journey) for the last few years, and although it seems a bit "small" at times, it encourages me to pack light! If you haven't bought a Backpack yet, it's extremely important to be properly fitted, according to your torso length (any competent shop should be able to do this). Most of the weight should rest on your hips, not your shoulders! I prefer a Backpack with a "stowable" harness system (to prevent straps from being torn-off by airport conveyor systems) and a detachable Daypack (which I use for carry-on when the main pack is checked). Whichever pack you choose, it's important to try it out fully loaded for a few hours to see if the fit works for you. I prefer not to have a pack that's too large (ie: heavy!) as I'm well aware that I'll have to carry it!

Although time is short, I would strongly recommend that you (and perhaps your parents?) read the Guidebook Europe Through The Back Door. It's an essential "pre-read", especially for first-time travellers and will provide you with an enormous amount of information for planning and travelling in Europe. You should be able to obtain this at your local Library or book stores.

The month of May is not far away, so you'll need to plan very quickly!

Good Luck!

[byoons]

thanks. i have entirely changed my plans now. i have decided to skip the UK in general. I will post my itinerary very soon.

[byoons]

This is what i have.

May

2
I arrive in frankfurt and head to Bonn to visit a friend and spend a night.

3-5
Amsterdam

6-8
Brussels

9-14
paris

15-17
Interlake/Geneva

18-22
Rome

23-25
Venice

26-29
(free space) maybe add something elsewhere?

30-31
Frankfurt to head back home.