Planning a two month trip to Europe in October

[phazan]

I need help...
So I'm trying to plan a two month long trip to Europe in October. However, I might not make it because of my lack of money. I currently have $2,300 in the bank, and I am estimating I can get at least $5,500 by October. My plan was to tell my work about my plans one month before hand and ask them if they can still promise me full time hours for my last month working there. At that time, I would book my flight, and buy my 5 country rail pass. That would leave me about $3,500 for two months of europe, and would equal to about 48 euros a day to pay for food, hostels, whatever else I need. I am pretty good with my money, however I am concerned about this budget. I have read some places that I could get by with this, but is this a realistic budget? I have also read that I need to pay for train reservations, in addition to my already purchased rail pass.
My options are:
---Do this 48 euro a day budget (possibly more though, if I can find a way to get more money)
---Wait to travel a month, leave in November (winter trip) and move it up to 75 euros a day
---Wait alllllllll the way until next spring, and get to travel in the spring/summer and basically have a more-than-enough daily budget (however I will have to wait almost a year longer in addition to the time I've already been waiting)

So, with me being young and new to traveling (I am also traveling by myself) I would like advice on what to do in this situation. Any help is appreciated!

[herrbert]

How long you can last with your budget largely depends on where you are planning to go, and how are your spending habbits. The west is more expensive than the east, and the north is really expensive.

with 48 euros a day, and no reserve on your bankaccount you have enough reasons to get nervous. You left out one option in my opinion and that is to shorten the trip to around 6 weeks. This also give you an uplift to a budget of around 75 euros a day. Of course it means that cost of the ticket is still around the same price, but 6 weeks is still a pretty long period in which you can cover a long list of cities and sights. (and maybe for a young/new traveller long enough.)

One tip to lower your cost on the road, is to be careful with booking hostels. Check out the ones that have a kitchen you can use. This way you can really lower you daily costs. Yes, it will take some time to prepare you meals, but in a lot of cases it is fun, as the kitchen is the perfect place to meet other travellers (and try eachother cuisine.)

[phazan]

Thank you for the reply, herrbert.
Shortening the trip to 6 weeks was something I had been thinking about. I could have a better amount of money after I'm done getting my passport, and flight and everything but I won't find out untill I book my stuff in September...I have a few more questions, though..

As for the booking of hostels, and traveling around Europe..I have heard that a lot of people don't really plan out their trip before they leave? I don't know a lot about Europe, though I am reading about it everyday. I don't really know exactly what kind of places I'm looking to stay in. If I were to book my first hostel only, would it be somewhat easy and realistic to show up to hostels and decide which cities to travel to while I'm already there?
Sorry about the simple questions. I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm trying to figure all this stuff out. Thanks for any help

[seanmtl]

Hey Phazan,

Because you're traveling in October, you shouldn't have to worry too much (actually not at all) about booking hostels ahead of time (unless you're visiting small towns with only one hostel). I've been to Europe in the July/August and was still able to find hostels in the major cities (Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam) with only a few days notice. Although it was a pain. Same thing for trains and buses, everything is kinda dead so no need to reserve anything more then a few days ahead of time, unless of your course you're trying to save a buck or two, in that case booking ahead of time could definitely help you out.

Which countries do you plan on visiting?

[phazan]

Jul 10, 2010 20:08:39 GMT -5 seanmtl said:

Hey Phazan,

Because you're traveling in October, you shouldn't have to worry too much (actually not at all) about booking hostels ahead of time (unless you're visiting small towns with only one hostel). I've been to Europe in the July/August and was still able to find hostels in the major cities (Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam) with only a few days notice. Although it was a pain. Same thing for trains and buses, everything is kinda dead so no need to reserve anything more then a few days ahead of time, unless of your course you're trying to save a buck or two, in that case booking ahead of time could definitely help you out.

Which countries do you plan on visiting?

I would like to start out in London, possibly (Just to minimize culture shock I guess) then travel down through belguim/amsterdam, through western Germany, through Switzerland (see the Alps) then down to the Clinque Terre in Italy, maybe down to Rome and Florence, then travel through Austria and then up to Berlin.
Also, I may just shorten this trip to ONE month, though it's sad to say. I want to have money to do stuff, as much as I hate to shorten it like that. I could easily make a $90 a day budget.
However, there is always the option to be patient and wait it out untill next spring when I can travel with a global pass, instead of a 5 country pass and stay even longer...I just worry about spending a lot of time in my life saving up just for one trip, and also I am not even sure I want to be gone for 2+ months on my first time leaving home, by myself...Any thoughts?