hi all--
planning a 7-week whirlwind trip thru europe for september/october, and i need advice on budget and itinerary.
- budget: my boyfriend and i will be traveling together, spending as much time as possible staying with friends and couchsurfing. we've both done a bit of budget traveling, but not in europe. after paying for our eurail pass, we're looking at about 50 euros a day. i've figured that, if we couchsurf half the time, it'll leave us 40 euros a day to eat, sightsee, etc. is that reasonable, or will we be dumpstering our food? (it wouldn't be the first time...)
- itinerary: tho i prefer traveling slowly, europe's rather cost-prohibitive, so we're gonna cram a whole lot in. generally, we're thinking of starting in paris, going north, then east, then looping down south. we really want to hit: paris, brussels, amsterdam, berlin, prague, venice, florence, sienna, rome, naples, the south of france and barcelona, and my boyfriend really wants to get up to norway (black metal stuff). is it doable, or will we be spending most of our time on trains??
thanks!!
One time I took the train(s) straight through from Barcelona to Stockholm. It took most of two whole days, so if you want to do that route, that is about what you can figure if you make all the connections OK and don't have to layover anywhere. It helps to have a comprehensive rail guide like the Thomas Cook, if they still make that.
One comment I'd make is that a whirlwind trip through Europe will be much more expensive because of all of your transportation costs. Basically, domestic transportation in most countries is usually pretty reasonably priced. When you start taking international trains, the prices go up significantly. (I've heard you can buy domestic train tickets to the border, and then get out at the border and buy domestic train tickets for the next country, though I've never tried this in practice.) Point is, though, trying to cram everything in will definitely result in spending more money.
I have traveled for several weeks and crammed a lot in, covering a lot of territory. And I've also gone much slower, getting to know a country a bit more and taking my time. Either style can be rewarding -- I guess it depends on your traveling style and how much chilling out time you want or need.
Are you talking about 40 Euros per person, or 40 Euros for the both of you? If it's per person, you'll be fine.
If it's for the both of you, you will be at about the minimum for getting by in Europe. (Especially in expensive places like Germany, Amsterdam, Norway, etc.) At that budget, forget about paying for admission to many museums or sites, and forget about splurging for even a cheap meal out.
Dave
trusted partner
