Help with Europe Budget..

My Girlfriend and i are setting off around Europe in March for a month starting in Greece our itinerary looks something like this...

Athens 2
Naples 2
Pompeii
Rome 3
Florence 1
Venice 2
Geneva 1
Munich 3
Berlin 2
Prague 3
Vienna 2
Budapest 2
Zagreb 2
Dubrovnik 2
Istanbul/Gallipoli 3

My Questions are
1) Would a interail pass be a good idea for the 2 of us (under 25), because the according to the rail pass it wont go to all these citites, will we end up paying through the nose to travel in between major cities?
2) im budgeting around 2500 Euros Each for roughly 30 days, is this enough?
3) is there anyway i can do this smarter? and save money?

As you can see I'm a complete novice when it comes to these things so any help would be great...

Cheers
James

Edited by: Brannibus

Why would you spend that much, on a plane ticket, just to ride trains. With only a month, you can only see (and see only) half of your itenerrary.

The point of all this bp thing, is to get a taste of life elsewhere, and the mind boggling history and prehistory.

And best of all, to hang out with folks of different cultures. Hang out = take time for decent in-depth conversations. You have friends out there, you haven´t met yet.

And wisdom comes from i
unexpected places.

The sights are numerous and weren´t arranged in "top three" specifications.
You´ll get hip to certain eras and may decide to follow its karma.
I never book ahead any more.

For your own sake pleeeze slow down.

Well you have some high hopes for TONS of travel. First off you have 31 days on your list and you have not accounted for travel time. You will lose a day getting there and leaving plus you would have to spend just about every night sleeping on a bus or train just so you don't have as much time loss to travel and jet lag which with that many citys you are going to need 2 weeks when you get back to catch your breath. I would suggest cutting out the citys on the outskirts and places not on the eurorail (Berlin, Turkey) so you don't have to spend long periods on trains unless you want to spend the night on trains.

Good point 1. Except you don't see much view at night from trains. Still won't know what kind of terrain is where. There are spectacular bluffs and things but they'll be waaay off from that train.

The land between Madrid and Bilbao is spectaculr. But way off... I wouldn't have had a clue.
I flew up there, so I couldn't get the drift, Battle field country, through the centuries. Sho' ain't the same as reading only about it !

And you'll need decent rest. And time by yourself, away from your room, just to chill and digest all the sensory overload. Its o.d. constant. (and sneak a good cry, which I bet we all have to do occasionally.) Its all wonderful, but exsausting.

The turns of fraze, of different English speaking cultures etc.. I've travelled boocoo countries or at least shippingoutwise. But on my 2nd bp trip, I discovered I'd made some misconceptions.
Hmmmmmmmm.

And you'll need a vacation from the vacation. Eat carefully for vitamins etc. Yes, mom!

"Ohhhh, mommm!"
ç(;0{D>

Bring several tail ends of soap bars. Or all your parent's hotel soap collection. One in daypack.
Few public toilets have men's room soap, let alone toilet seats.

Thanks guys,

I'm only flying from London to greece so its not that much of a ticket...
After your response we have decided to fly a but more to save some travel time...

OP you are from Australia? You cannot get Interrail passes, you ahve to buy Eurail.

Both passes are for ALL trains in those countries it covers - and all the cities you mention have train connection. (But you will need to fly Athens to Napoli unless you put in lots of time for that trip.)

Your trip should be given 3 months IMHO.
Remember that as an example "Florece 1" should read: Arrive Florence in the afternoon -get to hotel - 1 night, see Firenze in a rush in one day, stay overnight aging, get to railway station in the morning and take train to Venezia - in train most of the day = in other words: "Florence 1" is eqaul to two nights and 2 days. This means that your rushed city-to-city hopping still will take 47 days + a few to get over jet-lag.

And you are still (mainly) hopping from one big-city to another big-city far away not seeing any of the countries.

But remember flying will not really save you that much time given you have to get to/from airports, check in, hang about etc. You can just about guarantee a 1 hours flight will translate into at minimum four hours from leaving one hotel and booking into the next.

Here's a rule of thumb: for each of your travel days between locations figure one whole day of travel. This is basically what the responses above are getting at.

Read Europe Through The Back Door and visit Rick Steve's website.

Look at the many guide books available at your local library or bookstore.

Visit www.onebag.com for packing tips.

Have a great trip.

Badger

Thanks guys...

I think it was a bit naive to cover so much territory, will change some plans and post them on here!
Cheers
again!