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backpacking europe
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| OrangestO |
It's been quite a hectic few months and I'm ready to GTFOH. Being that I currently have a job where I work from home, I think this is as great of a time as any to do it.
My father lives in Poland and I'm debating about getting a ticket to fly there at the end of next month to stay for 3/4 weeks. I'm definitely going to visit the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland and a few other sites, but otherwise I would like to hop a train and bounce around.
Of course Poland isn't part of the eurail system, which makes matters a bit more of a pain in the ass :mad: I'll be staying in Poznan, though, so Berlin would be my headquarters. I would love to visit Amsterdam and Rome (along with Germany during my transfers), if nothing else.
This is a pretty spur of the moment decision for me, but I feel it's a good time to go.
Has anyone else backpacked in Europe? Any advice?
I'm debating whether to buy the eurail global pass or not. Also whether I should sleep on the train to avoid shelter costs, although I would like to stay in hostels along the way, too.
Is it best just to pack a bag and go (like I want to), or do I really need to plan and prepare for traveling in Europe?
Help a brother out! |
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| EarnYourKeep |
i've done it many times and to be quite honest, the whole 'EU' rail thing is kinda of 'luxurious'. I equate it to having time and money to just go as you please and it's extremely doable. What I've found to be just as effective is to hop countries by air. You spend half the travel time which allows you more time to roam each country.
Airlines are quite cheap within the EU so adding a combination of rail and air may require a bit of planning, but the time savings is definitely beneficial. A buddy of mine wanted to take the rail from berlin to amsterdam, i think it cost around 50-60eu with 10hrs of travel (overnight CNL), i found a flight for 45eu and was 1hr (3 in total with transport to/from airports in berlin/amsterdam). To me, that trip was a week long trip and wasn't worth 10hrs of train for a city to city connection.
Also, since you have a home base and you're traveling to/from the states, you should consider packing a LARGE check-in bag and leaving it with a friend/family and then pack a smaller travel pack while you go abroad.
I found coming from the states to fly RT to a major city (like berlin) and then doing your tour which will help with the check bag idea.
Just one thing, don't give up on the planning its part of the whole experience. It's also nice to build a light structure and then go as you please, if you have a month plus then don't plan at all but be cautious as rail passes can get pricey but researching air alternatives with a pass can be affordable to maximize your tour. |
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| srussell0018 |
lol it's funny how you switch back and forth between ebonics and English.
If you have that much time, just travel by rail. A lot of the cheap European airlines that he's talking about are very unreliable and use really ty planes. It gives you a lot more of an "experience" too, since you're able to see where you're going on the way there, and not just flying where you see nothing.
Definitely plan out the route you'd like to travel, but other than that, hostels are easy to find and what you do while you're there is entirely up to you. If you're unsure, just go to an internet cafe and look up a few places to go.
I'd definitely recommend Barcelona for your trip. It's a really awesome city with a million things to do. Dublin is also a fun place to be, and you can take a train through the Chunnel to get to England, and then cross over to Ireland on a ferry. You'll have to go to France to do that, and I highly recommend going to Normandy if you're an American who has served in the military. It's pretty impressive.
A side note on the ferry from England to Ireland. I'd recommend renting a car, and using the car ferry to cross. Ireland is a very small country and you could drive around the countryside (the most beautiful part) in just a few days. |
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| OrangestO |
Yea, EYK, you're not so bad when you make a decent contribution to a discussion.
Thanks for the input :D |
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| EarnYourKeep |
I did Germany last year, I'll be there again this year. Amsterdam is DEAD, don't go there but if you do, plan to stay at a maximum 2 days you'll be bored by then, a good alternative to Amsterdam is Prague or Berlin, everything you want to do in AMS you can do in those other countries for probably half the money. Berlin is cheap the coffee cost more than beer. Rome is nice, probably spend a good 4-5 days there (lots of walking lots of cobble stone, not much air condition if you go in the summer). Barcelona is GORGEOUS, go, stay, eat, drink, party, beach, live the catalan lifestyle (everything closes from 1-4pm). I'm making my home base Berlin as my friends live there, then probably doing Split in Croatia then over to Ibiza.
I'm sure the rest of the EU users will chime in on their own views, but that's some of what i've seen so far.
BERLIN HAS THE BEST PAINT ART SCENE OUT THERE HANDS DOWN! |
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| EarnYourKeep |
| quote: | Originally posted by OrangestO
Yea, EYK, you're not so bad when you make a decent contribution to a discussion.
Thanks for the input :D |
mothaaz sleep on me, i been around the world on my poor ass ghetto dime and i still kill it just s like srussell put a cheap word trying to hold a nigga down
like jenny said
The most satisfying thing about having srussell on ignore, aside from not having to read his posts, is seeing just how many times he's posted in a thread and that nobody responds to him. |
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| itsamemario |
| quote: | Originally posted by OrangestO
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end of next month + 3 to 4 weeks of travelling = you're there from late april throughout most of may, correct? |
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| OrangestO |
| quote: | Originally posted by srussell0018
If you have that much time, just travel by rail. A lot of the cheap European airlines that he's talking about are very unreliable and use really ty planes. It gives you a lot more of an "experience" too, since you're able to see where you're going on the way there, and not just flying where you see nothing.
Definitely plan out the route you'd like to travel, but other than that, hostels are easy to find and what you do while you're there is entirely up to you. If you're unsure, just go to an internet cafe and look up a few places to go.
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Yea, I agree.
I'd much rather take the train, since I have the time to do so. Meet new people, see the countrysides, etc. I guess finding the right pass or planning the best routes to the destinations I want to visit is the biggest question, right now.
I'm pretty set on Germany, Amsterdam and Italy, at the moment. |
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| OrangestO |
| quote: | Originally posted by itsamemario
end of next month + 3 to 4 weeks of travelling = you're there from late april throughout most of may, correct? |
Yup.
My father has been here visiting for the past few weeks because of my sister's wedding and says it's the best time to go. Spring is in the air and the tourists aren't there in packs, yet. |
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| srussell0018 |
| quote: | Originally posted by OrangestO
Yea, I agree.
I'd much rather take the train, since I have the time to do so. Meet new people, see the countrysides, etc. I guess finding the right pass or planning the best routes to the destinations I want to visit is the biggest question, right now.
I'm pretty set on Germany, Amsterdam and Italy, at the moment. |
Amsterdam is pretty overrated. Try Prague instead. Also make sure you get to the Vatican, it's pretty stunning. |
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| EarnYourKeep |
i'm pretty sure if you fly you can save money as a 3 wk eu rail pass may run upwards to 400EU where you can one way flights as low as 16-23EU which will allow you to add probably 5-6 more cities onto the 3. There's paris, barcelona, tuscany, cyprus, turkey, denmark, croatia, prague, london i mean a 3 wk trip with 3 cities could be maximized 100x. don't get me wrong, i'm all for the rail but you could def see a lot more then having a 14hr rail experience, i'd rather be in a pub getting sloshed meeting people then sitting on a train getting sloshed watching the country side. i've done it before so i'm not saying its bad, i just found flying to be just as effective and allowed me more time to see the city. granted you can fly to berlin and train to prague so there are combinations that don't rely on an eu rail pass.
there's something that just yells marketing when i see the eu rail pass being sold by weeks by countries as packages that has me thinking if i did a little bit more research i could probably do all of that for less money and time but that's just me. |
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| OrangestO |
| quote: | Originally posted by EarnYourKeep
I did Germany last year, I'll be there again this year. Amsterdam is DEAD, don't go there but if you do, plan to stay at a maximum 2 days you'll be bored by then, a good alternative to Amsterdam is Prague or Berlin, everything you want to do in AMS you can do in those other countries for probably half the money. Berlin is cheap the coffee cost more than beer. Rome is nice, probably spend a good 4-5 days there (lots of walking lots of cobble stone, not much air condition if you go in the summer). Barcelona is GORGEOUS, go, stay, eat, drink, party, beach, live the catalan lifestyle (everything closes from 1-4pm). I'm making my home base Berlin as my friends live there, then probably doing Split in Croatia then over to Ibiza.
I'm sure the rest of the EU users will chime in on their own views, but that's some of what i've seen so far.
BERLIN HAS THE BEST PAINT ART SCENE OUT THERE HANDS DOWN! |
Good stuff. I hadn't planned on spending more than a few days in Amsterdam, anyways. Maybe I'll use that direction to get up to London before heading south to Italy. Come to think about it, maybe I shouldn't head that way to begin with, lol. I heard Prague is great, too.
France and Spain would be nice, but if I'm going to go to Europe on the solo I need to take my girl into consideration and leave one destination for us explore together one day (Paris). And Spain seems way the hell out of the way, if I go toward Amsterdam. |
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