22 days of Europe August next year

[alphamoth]

Im finally in Germany and living the dream, next year in August before I come home I want to go around Europe for about 3 weeks. I need to start budget and money planning, I have a few things I want to get, e.g. finish off my sleeve tattoo and I need to know how much I can spend roughly.

I'll be a European resident by this time, so I can use interrail and not eurorail and save a bunch. 22 days of train travel will cost 309€.
How much am I looking at per night for a hostel? With breakfast it costs here in Germany 15-20 € a night or so. My idea of enough food is maybe a light meal like some bread pieces for dinner and maybe an ok meal during the day, looking about 10€ or so a day on food. So far that's 30€ a day. How much would I need for each city I stop in for local transport to get me from sites? Im looking to spend 40€ a day not including hostels. Just for food, site seeing and maybe a few drinks here and then, Im not a big drinker, does 40 € sound about right?

Now my bank account will be about 1800 euros at that time, minus 309 for train and 420 or so for hostels, so about 1100 € for 22 days of eating, site seeing, buying little shit and having a nice time for an 18 year old. will i be able to do that with 1100? am ipushing it?


I have no idea where I want to go, exclude Germany and probably austria from my list, ive seen enough of these counties already. Im thinking so far rome, paris, prague, great britain and ireland dont interest me, scandanavian countries, what else is a must see? im young and only 18 and i want to come back with experiences none of my friends wont have till in their 20's!

[crystal]

OK if you are excluding Rome, Prague, Paris, UK and Ireland I would have 2 suggestions

1. Do a Scandanavian countries tour if they interest you. They are reputably very expensive so you would have to consider your budget with this option.

2. Do an eastern European tour. So Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia ect This would be a cheaper option as cost of living is cheaper here and easier transport links to Germany.

I am not sure how these options fit into your rail travel price. Others may be able to advice further on that. Remember though 22 days is not a lot of time so I think you would be better sticking to one area than jumping about too much. Gives you an excuse to come back and do the parts you have missed.

[madamtrashheap]

To add to crystal's two excellent suggestions, you could also consider a Greek Islands trip. Not sure if Greece/beaches interest you, but the time of year you're planning to travel is certainly the right time of year to visit that area - hot, sunny, people, lots going on. Of course, that doesn't help with your train travel plan, but check out the ferry costs between islands or a cheap flight to the outer-most island you want to visit and boat your way back to Athens from there.

Or, you could look further afield at places like Egypt, Morocco or include Turkey in your trip on the eastern part of the Med.

[alphamoth]

oh i just meant UK and ireland dont interest me, the rest for sure do.

[alphamoth]

Hi again, just going to bump.

It's a few months before I go, and 1800€ still sounds about the right amount of money I will have. I want to try and go for a month instead of 22 days, but we will see. I have a few more connections from friends I've made, and I can get some Euro rail passes for much cheaper, but I'm not too sure about that yet.

I just need help deciding where I should go. I am tossing up so far between 100% Scandinavian (I'd like to practice my language skills too, I've been learning Norwegian.. I can speak German and English so I'd like to have a 3rd language down) and seeing mostly Norway, and a little bit of Denmark and Sweden and maybe Iceland if it's not too expensive to get there. I'd really love to spend my time in nature if I go there.. I know of the fjords around Bergen in Norway, but other than that is there anything else like that anyone can tell me about? I'd only be going to Scandinavia for nature and maybe a little bit of the big cities there. Is there any nice nature tours or groups going through the mountains with hiking, rafting, etc that would be appealing for me? I know people are saying these counties are expensive, but I know a girl from Norway and she said I can live off the same amount of money as I do in Germany...

The other option is to do a rush city trip of Western Europe, a few days in Rome, Paris, London, Scotland, and all the other cities everyone else usually goes to see..

Also concerning my budget, is 1800€ much to little? Would I be pushing it? I'd have around 600€ emergency funds, but I'd rather not spend that.