trying to cram in as many countries as possible with an interrail card

"i want to see lots of things now!"

How to get the message across? Stezbot, the point people are trying to make is that you WON'T see lots of anything!

The two commonest mistakes that first time travellers make is trying to cover too much ground in too little time and packing too much stuff. People are advising you that this is the case and you are ignoring the advice of EXPERIENCED travellers! Why bother posting at all if you aren't open to listening?

You see MORE by going slowly over short distances than you can by rushing around all over the place. Here are two rules of thumb that will serve you well if you listen.

1. Use the rule of 3's for packing. Three tops, three shorts, 3 underwear sets, 3 pr. shoes, etc. Things like a rain jacket, little black dress, etc. obviously only 1 is required.

2. Us the rule of 3's for stays. NEVER stay in a place for less than 3 days unless it is just an overnight stop enroute to somewhere. Staying less than 3 days (4 nights) does not allow enough time to see enough of anything. Also, remember that every time you move even if it is only a 4 hour journey away, you effectively use up a full day moving. Use this rule to figure out how many places you can actually expect to visit in just 30 days. With travel days, it is less than 10 places. It doesn't matter whether it is a city or a region, less than 10 per month. What does that do to your plans?

If you persist in wanting to rush around everywhere using a rail pass to the maximum, all you will do is learn a lot about trains.

i am actually open to listening. i have in fact done some. but going back to my original questions, i asked if there were anything in particular of interest in the balkans so that i wouldn't be travelling from western europe to eastern europe and i could just stick to one area then maybes pop over to denamrk for the festival. i am an organised person. this time last year i was in paris and managed very well to manouvre myself around. plus i'm a fashion student so i know practicality - i'm not gonna pack loads, i learnt from the first ever festival i went to not to pack loads. i asked the camping question in order to save myself hassle looking into hostels and not camping [and vice versa for not camping]. i was given a train timetable link which i've looked at and i will be making a proper itinerary and i know where i need to spend longer in because i know there's more i can do there. which brings me back to saying that my original questions were to do with what there is of interest in other countries so i can definetly rule them out [or not] so i don't get myself in a twist. thanks to the people who have helped or tried to help, and sorry to those who think i've been wasting their time by apparently not listening, i'll make an ear emoticon so that you know next time.

oh and the best way to learn is to just do something. so if something happens not to plan while in europe, then in the future when i'm an 'experienced' traveller i'll be able to help others whether they appear to be listening or not.

Move when and where the spirit moves you. Don't spread yourself too thin. Or put your self on a bogus schedule.

I never book ahead anymore. A result of mileage on me bp.

One thing bp'n has done for me= its made me a better listener.
We can't learn anything, when our mouth is running.

And ain't that really why we go?

Fit the train pass to the assumed trip. Not vice versa.
The point of all this is to, take time, enjoy, and have fun learning.

That takes time and lots of it.
BROCHURE GLEENING IS a waist of valuable time and far too much money.
Nobody will want to see you pix, let alone brochures to prove you went there.
Chill.
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It taKES HALF A DAY JUST FOR YOUR FREE BREAKFAST AND LOGISTICS.

This thread is a good example of why it's a bad idea for some people to buy a rail pass. If you want to see Europe through a dirty train window, do as you propose in your original post. If you want to make some contact with the places and the people who live there, heed the advice of those who are effectively telling you that less is more.

i asked if there were anything in particular of interest in the balkans so that i wouldn't be travelling from western europe to eastern europe

There are dozens of things of particular interest in the Balkans - I've been going back to that part of Europe for years and still haven't seen everything I want to see. What's more, you could probably fly to/from Greece or Croatia and spend a month travelling around the Balkans for far less than one of those horribly expensive interrail passes. Not that I'm saying that you should pick a region purely because of cost. But really, almost everywhere in Europe can be interesting depending on your tastes, so we can't tell you "stop worrying about X, Y, and Z because there's nothing there to see".

Apart from that, I think you've got the general idea of what people are saying so I won't repeat what everyone has said, except to say that I agree very much with Bjoern (#7) - you'll often get more variety by visiting two regions of the same country than by visiting two capital cities in different countries. And you are more likely to be able to visit the capitals some other time on weekend breaks on budget airlines.

So far as a map and rail travel in Europe is concerned the Thomas Cook rail map of Europe is great. It has enabled me to plan sensible, logical routes around most of Europe avoidind back-tracking and finding the most direct routes.

Yes: use your rail pass in whatever way gives you the most pleasure. It IS possible to cover a lot of ground, and get superficial impressions of lots of places. You will revisit some of those places later to get the in-depth experience.

Remember that trains in Eastern and Southern Europe are dirt-cheap anyway. It makes no sense buying an expensive rail pass and using it mainly for the Balkans: just buying tickets when you want to travel would cost much less.

i've looked into the thomas cook rail map and found some on amazon but will look closer to the time again incase there's a 2007-8 revised edition, but thanks for the tip.

we've decided to stick to western europe and scandanavia this time round as these are the places we're most interested in at the moment and like a few people have mentioned, it is cheaper further down so if we wanted a quick/cheap holiday then we can do that [especially with the ridiculously cheap flights at the moment]. these leaves us with less countries and with an added festival at the end in either belgium or denmark means that we have a couple extra days to look round that particular country.

we're also gonna stick to the spontaneous idea - make a basic route and place ideas, map out hostels etc but only book a few days ahead - this may cause hassle but at least we're not making decisions to early on to then need or want to change them, this of then also gives room if we find out about somewhere else on our travels.

thanks for everyone's help, even though some times it was rather pretentious...and hopefully this trip goes well!