Q. I have decided I want to live in europe for a year...only problem is, is I don't have the slightest idea where to start. I don't want anything fancy...I just want to go from country to country...working as I go. Learning new cultures and figuring out who I am and what I want to be. Any advice would be fantastic..
Answer
One good resource is Lonely Planet (dot com) - tons of info there by and for budget / backpacker tourists. Check the "thorn tree" forum - they have "branches" for different countries, long-term, etc.
Learn about youth hostels - there are some sites that rank youth hostels and allow people to write reviews - some are "party", some are "quiet", some are nice & clean, others nasty, etc.
Next, you need to learn about visas - you are only allowed so much time in each country in any given year. Learn what the Schengen Zone is - you can stay only 3 months in this area (either in one of the countries or in more than one), and then you must leave for 3 months before you return. During that time, you could go to non-Schengen countries like UK, Ireland, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, etc.
Some countries are expensive (Scandinavia, Britain and some others - Russia too, I think), some are cheap(er) - Portugal, Croatia, Berlin, eastern European countries in general...
What's your nationality, by the way? And do you have dual-citizenship? Do you have an Irish-born grandparent or Italian, Greek, or Spanish ancestry?
You can answer by "edit" > "add detail" to your question, and I will get back to you again by editing my answer...
One good resource is Lonely Planet (dot com) - tons of info there by and for budget / backpacker tourists. Check the "thorn tree" forum - they have "branches" for different countries, long-term, etc.
Learn about youth hostels - there are some sites that rank youth hostels and allow people to write reviews - some are "party", some are "quiet", some are nice & clean, others nasty, etc.
Next, you need to learn about visas - you are only allowed so much time in each country in any given year. Learn what the Schengen Zone is - you can stay only 3 months in this area (either in one of the countries or in more than one), and then you must leave for 3 months before you return. During that time, you could go to non-Schengen countries like UK, Ireland, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, etc.
Some countries are expensive (Scandinavia, Britain and some others - Russia too, I think), some are cheap(er) - Portugal, Croatia, Berlin, eastern European countries in general...
What's your nationality, by the way? And do you have dual-citizenship? Do you have an Irish-born grandparent or Italian, Greek, or Spanish ancestry?
You can answer by "edit" > "add detail" to your question, and I will get back to you again by editing my answer...
Backpacking through Europe.?
fallenfrom
I am planning to go backpacking through Europe in May.
I'd like to go for a month.
I want to see the following cities...
Amsterdam
Prague
Berlin
Vienna
Brussels
Bruges
Paris
London
Geneva
Any advice on where to eat, stay, drink, party, sight see, ect...?
How does the Eurail pass for youths work?
Thanks, but I'm looking for more personal experiences...
I will be living in Italy, so that will not be on my itinerary.
Answer
EU Rail is a nice option for some types of travel, but not all. Let me explain based on my experience with it.
You have two types of EU Rail pass options to choose from, one allows you unlimited travel for a given period of time. The other allows you X number of travel days in a given period of time (usually in 2 months if I remember properly).
It's easy to figure out your cost per trip for the X days in 2 months deal. But note that it is often more expensive to take the EU rail pass if your destinations are linked together reasonably closely.
I have found that the hassle of trying to only use the rail pass on long trips, and making sure that I exactly use the number of days I purchased was a royal pain in the butt. However my trips are usually pretty casual and unplanned. If you like to plan your trips carefully, then you can probably figure out if it's worth it.
Another option for travel is Eurolines bus service. They are cheaper, but buses fill up, and they have fewer options to travel from one place to another. Again, if you want to plan everything down to the day, you could get reservations early. If you want to go at it without many plans perhaps no pass and going on a combination of Eurolines buses and trains as situations demand.
As far as where to stay. I have been very happy using http://bookings.com (I've been in the EU traveling for the last 3 months). They include both hostels and hotels, and the hostels are often cheaper than the same listings on hostelworld.com (the standard for hostel searches).
You might also be interested in http://couchsurfing.com. I haven't used them but came across a traveler who had rave reviews for the site. The site has a system for setting up travelers and hosts, so you stay for free and can often see a lot more of the local scene and meet the locals. Really cool idea, and they have a system of implementing it that focuses on safety for both host and traveler.
Enjoy!
EU Rail is a nice option for some types of travel, but not all. Let me explain based on my experience with it.
You have two types of EU Rail pass options to choose from, one allows you unlimited travel for a given period of time. The other allows you X number of travel days in a given period of time (usually in 2 months if I remember properly).
It's easy to figure out your cost per trip for the X days in 2 months deal. But note that it is often more expensive to take the EU rail pass if your destinations are linked together reasonably closely.
I have found that the hassle of trying to only use the rail pass on long trips, and making sure that I exactly use the number of days I purchased was a royal pain in the butt. However my trips are usually pretty casual and unplanned. If you like to plan your trips carefully, then you can probably figure out if it's worth it.
Another option for travel is Eurolines bus service. They are cheaper, but buses fill up, and they have fewer options to travel from one place to another. Again, if you want to plan everything down to the day, you could get reservations early. If you want to go at it without many plans perhaps no pass and going on a combination of Eurolines buses and trains as situations demand.
As far as where to stay. I have been very happy using http://bookings.com (I've been in the EU traveling for the last 3 months). They include both hostels and hotels, and the hostels are often cheaper than the same listings on hostelworld.com (the standard for hostel searches).
You might also be interested in http://couchsurfing.com. I haven't used them but came across a traveler who had rave reviews for the site. The site has a system for setting up travelers and hosts, so you stay for free and can often see a lot more of the local scene and meet the locals. Really cool idea, and they have a system of implementing it that focuses on safety for both host and traveler.
Enjoy!
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
Title Post: I want to "backpack" across Europe. Where do I start?? ?
Rating: 95% based on 981 ratings. 4,6 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
Rating: 95% based on 981 ratings. 4,6 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment