European Extravaganza

Also the cities we want to go to are: London, Paris, Amsterdam (we are all in our young 20s), Holland, Berlin, Florence, Venice
Holland is a region in the Netherlands. And what do you mean by "London, Paris Amsterdam (we are all in our young 20s)"? - These cities offer something of interest for anyone between 0 and 100 years of age.

How much time will be lost in travel?
See [www.bahn.co.uk]. This is the website of German Railways, but it has timetables for about every route on the continent.
Add at least 1-2 hours to times shown in the timetables to allow for travel to/from the train stations, waiting time, delays enroute etc.

are hostels readily available
Summer is high season, so it's wise to call a head a day or 2-3 in advance. If you show up somewhere and can't find a place to stay, there's usually a tourist office inside or near the railway station that can help you out for a small fee. This may be a bit more expensive than staying at a hostel, but it's better than sleeping in a park.

Also are we allowed to bring girls back to the rooms because my mates and I (fingers crossed) will be partying and picking up girls
In general, hotels never allow visitors after a certain time of the night. It's safe to assume hostels have the same policy. That said, whether or not you get caught if you bring in a visitor is a totally different matter.

At the BARE MINIMUM how much do you think is necessary to have. Currently everyone seems to be able to commit to about 5000 dollars which would also have to cover air fare and the eurorail
First of all, you don't mention what type of dollars your budget is in, and either way it's more practical to calculate your budget in the local currency. Prices in euros tend to be more stable than the euro-dollar rate.

Bare minimum for survival would be around €50 (that's in euros) per day for a bed in a hostel dorm or shared double without bathroom, supermarket food or the cheapest sitdown meal you can find, one or two bus/tram/metro rides and entrance to one tourist sight.
Long-distance transport and booze all cost extra.

if we have never been to Europe would it be best just to have it all planned out for us in advance?
There's no reason to go for an organised tour unless having it all planned our for you is your major priority. The major downside of tours, as far as I'm concerned, is that you don't get to choose yourself what places you visit, how long you stay, what time you leave your hotel etc.

P.S. assuming you have 3000 US dollars, that's currently € 2080; if you travel around for 28 days, that comes down to €74/day - doable, but still quite tight.

P.P.S. make sure you check in advance what extra surcharges apply for Eurail pass holders on the routes and trains you plan to take, by the way. London-Paris is not covered under the pass, for example.

Like many, you are consistently using a term Eurail or Eurorail or similar and propose using a rail pass. Strongly suggest you read this - http://tiny.cc/cy3y9 and this - http://tiny.cc/b45ix

as usual, way too much to cram into a month, you'll spend all your time moving from place to place which means no time to see anything, let alone picking up the local tarts:-) If you do get lucky, keep the noise down.

cut down the itinerary to four stops. If you just want drinking and sex, don't waste your money on airfares!

the more blokes in a group, the harder to find accomidation in the same place. Sounds likle super expensive pub crawl. with accidental museum visits. Save your money and just go to the buncha, in Sydney.

I know it is a lot to fit in but we want to do it big the first time so we won't feel like we missed out on the hot tourist attractions. I laughed at the accidental museum visits @gawkabout that was hilarious. And the currency figures are in US dollars. I think I want to just do a planned trip because honestly I don't know what I want to see besides the big hitters like the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, The Louvre, and all that stuff. Maybe after this trip my pals and I could do it by ourselves.

I really don't want to think about having to conserve money though. Aribo said €74 a day is tight and I don't want that to be a factor. So perhaps I should shorten the length of the trip to maybe 3 weeks in order to be able to do everything we want because money isn't to much of an issue

Brad, 74 euros a day is tight. An example in Paris: Hostel accom - 25-30 euros, Metro - 5 euros, Food - 10 euros (self serving meals), Eiffel Tower - 15-20 euros, Louvre - 15-20 euros. I'm not too sure on the museum/tower fees. But as you can see a day/night in Paris on a budget is tight. With only seeing 2 attractions half your budget is blown. Add your accom and then you've only got about 10-20 euros for food and drinks. These places can be done on a budget but if you want to actually go and visit these attractions (most cost at the minimum 10 euros).

If you shorten the time period up, like you said, you still need to cut down on places to go to. Its still a cramped trip. Spend the 3 weeks going around Italy. You can do the big hitters (Rome, Napoli, Firenze, Venezia) in 3 weeks. Trains are cheap (if you take a regional train) and accom is a fair bit cheaper.

As far as a rail pass goes, head to seat61.com and there is a brilliant article on point to point tickets vs a rail pass. Sometimes its better not to get a rail pass and to just go point to point. If you have a detailed itinerary - then buying point to point is generally cheaper if you book well ahead.

Thanks Trent for the train site I will for sure check it out! Time to show my mates these comments and make a decision! Thanks everyone!

As I said, generally point to point is good if you have a good detailed itinerary and can book it well ahead. Don't book with rail europe but with the countries own rail websites (rail europe charge ridiculous fees).

Passes are good if you want more freedom.