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Backpacking Europe


Armada

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Anyone ever done this before?

My friends and I are going to Europe in Early July to mid August for 5 weeks. Planning on going through Germany > Austria > Italy > France > England > Ireland > Belgium (For Tomorrowland) > Holland > back To Germany. I've been to Europe 15 times with my parents to see family but this is a completely new thing to me.

How are the trains, lodging (Hostels or cheap hotels), things to see and do and budget we should bring.

Most excited for this. Tomorrowland in Belgium on July 27th, 28th and 29th.

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I did a Europe trip 2 summers ago with my wife and while we had planned on taking the euro rail around or renting a car, we found it much cheaper to fly to the different countries. With airlines line Ryan-Air, Air Berlin, Easy-Jet, the most we paid for a flight was $100 and that was from Romania - Germany. We found flights as low as $9.... Same with hotels, whenever we were waiting for our next flight, we would go online to a 'last minute' hotel site and book a room. Most rooms were $40-60 a night instead of the usual $100-120.

While taking the train may be scenic in some areas ( we did take it a few times) spending 8 hours in a train or 1 hour on a plane and getting to the city faster was a better option for us.

http://www.ryanair.com/en

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I did a Europe trip 2 summers ago with my wife and while we had planned on taking the euro rail around or renting a car, we found it much cheaper to fly to the different countries. With airlines line Ryan-Air, Air Berlin, Easy-Jet, the most we paid for a flight was $100 and that was from Romania - Germany. We found flights as low as $9.... Same with hotels, whenever we were waiting for our next flight, we would go online to a 'last minute' hotel site and book a room. Most rooms were $40-60 a night instead of the usual $100-120.

While taking the train may be scenic in some areas ( we did take it a few times) spending 8 hours in a train or 1 hour on a plane and getting to the city faster was a better option for us.

http://www.ryanair.com/en

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Can't imagine it costing much more than 7k.

Its approx. $1500 for flights round trip.

Approx. $50 a night for 5 weeks is like $1750, and thats on the high end of hostel costs.

Food is approx. $40 a day, $1400.

Entertainment could run around $100-200 a week, so say $1000.

Throw in Tomorrowland tickets, and other necessities needed (backpack, train pass, etc.) would probably run around another $1000.

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Yes, they are cheap but there are a few catches to beware of...... you need to check in online ( even if you do it at the airport internet pay sites) otherwise they have a service charge and they will also charge you for extra bags. It can be really cheap and easy to get around using flights but just check every small print because the airlines are all different.

We also went off our original path because we found the flights to be so cheap to different countries. Our final trip was England - Scotland- Ireland- Austria- Romania-Germany...... was an amazing trip :)

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Munich is amazing. But expensive. Definitely worth a visit and cheap visit is still possible if you budget right. Salzburg is beautiful. If you can check out Rome, and while you're there head down to the Amalfi Coast. It's one of my favourite places in the world (avoid Napoli though - crime ridden and pretty dirty).

I'm not a huge fan of England, but London is pretty fun and there are a few cool places up North. Edinburgh is fantastic (and I'm not just saying that as a Scot) so if you can make it up here try to.

In terms of travel, Ryanair flights are really cheap between different places in Europe, although the airports are always slightly out of the way and remote. But it's worth it for the savings.

If you need any more advice just PM me. Or ask and I'll reply in here.

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Yes, they are cheap but there are a few catches to beware of...... you need to check in online ( even if you do it at the airport internet pay sites) otherwise they have a service charge and they will also charge you for extra bags. It can be really cheap and easy to get around using flights but just check every small print because the airlines are all different.

We also went off our original path because we found the flights to be so cheap to different countries. Our final trip was England - Scotland- Ireland- Austria- Romania-Germany...... was an amazing trip :)

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Can't imagine it costing much more than 7k.

Its approx. $1500 for flights round trip.

Approx. $50 a night for 5 weeks is like $1750, and thats on the high end of hostel costs.

Food is approx. $40 a day, $1400.

Entertainment could run around $100-200 a week, so say $1000.

Throw in Tomorrowland tickets, and other necessities needed (backpack, train pass, etc.) would probably run around another $1000.

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Munich is amazing. But expensive. Definitely worth a visit and cheap visit is still possible if you budget right. Salzburg is beautiful. If you can check out Rome, and while you're there head down to the Amalfi Coast. It's one of my favourite places in the world (avoid Napoli though - crime ridden and pretty dirty).

I'm not a huge fan of England, but London is pretty fun and there are a few cool places up North. Edinburgh is fantastic (and I'm not just saying that as a Scot) so if you can make it up here try to.

In terms of travel, Ryanair flights are really cheap between different places in Europe, although the airports are always slightly out of the way and remote. But it's worth it for the savings.

If you need any more advice just PM me. Or ask and I'll reply in here.

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Have heard the same thing about Napoli, but it may have to be done to go visit Pompeii.

Rome is definitely going to happen, can't go to Italy and not stay in Rome.

Only London and possibly Birmingham look like places we may stop by in England (likely just London), then just over to Dublin.

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Yeah, I've been to Pompeii. It's pretty much in Napoli itself, but you don't have to stay there. I'd recommend basing yourself in Sorrento for a couple of days. It's pretty central and there are plenty of hostels/hotels etc.

I'd do Vesuvius too. It's pretty cool up at the summit.

I guess the sort of trip you take depends on whether the group are more nightlife people, or culture/sightseeing people. Or a bit of both?

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