Planning 50-day trip to Europe when done school

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definitely go on this trip before you start work...because you will soon realize how incredibly difficult it will be to take 50 days off at work...

 

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Originally posted by: axelfox

Originally posted by: Cookie
If you aren't going to stay in the same area the whole time, check out EasyJet and RyanAir. The sooner you book, the cheaper the flights. My cheapest of seven flights was 3 euros plus tax (20 euros) from Berlin to Krakow, booked 3 months in advance. MUCH better than the train in price, comfort and speed of travel (based on the train from Krakow to Prague a few days later). The downside is you don't see the countryside along the way.

The problem with that is that they fly into airports that are all the way in the sticks. You then have the buy a bus ticket that will take you into the main train/bus station in town and then go from there. Cheap way to travel, but you might pull your hair out if you've never experienced it before.

QFT. iirc, i flew ryanair from rome to paris. the ciampino airport took ~ 1 hr to get to from rome proper, and the arrival airport (beauvais) was about 1.5 hrs bus ride from paris proper.

the budget carriers are super cheap! but remember to always budget more (1-2 hr) commute time to get to/from the airports!

 

[AnimeKnight]

ryan air, german wings, easy jets are all nice and cheap airlines to book tickets for. If you can book them early in advance.

i don't see any wrong with minority traveling.. i am minority and i have been traveling europe for the past 3 years. I have been staying at hostels and traveling by myself.. not once i had any problems. you just have to be a smart traveler!

one warning though if you are traveling to italy.. summer is their vacation season.. so a lot of shops are closed. but then again i am not sure if it's true on the tourist spots.

enjoy!! I love traveling around Europe!

 

[cw42]

I graduate in Dec and was thinking about traveling somewhere by myself for a bit. Where are good places to travel to in Dec-Jan? I don't want to do the Caribbean because i'm going on a cruise there in May.

 

[zinfamous]

You won't be able to see everything, but you would be able to see a lot. Try and spend at least 1 week/country. Hit Germany, Italy, France. Maybe Spain and Greece. Czech Republic is nice, but on your schedule, the only place that you should spend time is Prague. Same with Vienna and Austria.

If I were you--and I'm not--I'd spend 40 days in and around Florence 🙂

 

[chcarnage]

Advice for a 50-day trip? Since you hesitate a bit my first advice is do it! The next occasion for such a vacation could be ages away! And it will be very interesting.

My second advice is: don't go location hopping. It can make your trip straining and you'll end up throwing away time in airplanes or trains that you could invest for sightseeing and exploring Europe. It's a matter of personal taste but I would travel every second day at most.

Spontaneity vs booking in advance is another personal preference issue. Once you've decided which parts of Europe you want to visit mostly, you can mix both methods, too, and just set your distant travels that probably are by plane. So you still can be flexible while traveling some parts (especially the regions with very good train infrastructure, p.e. mainland Denmark, Austria, Germany and Switzerland).

Where to go is up to you but suspected antipathy towards foreign looking people is a bad guide because this shouldn't be a problem. "Something of everything" is a reasonable start for such a long trip, in my opinion. But is this a strictly geographical credo or are your experiences meant, too? (P.e. I for one wouldn't spend a single day at the beach because you can do this in America just as well, I'd focus on the things that are specifically European: sights, cuisine etc...)

Sporadically there are some good threads in ATOT about travelling Europe. An older one is this.

If you have specific questions about Switzerland in general or plan to visit Zurich, you're welcome to drop me a PM.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I graduated from GT in December 2002. I then took a year off before getting hired in December 2003.

During that year off I spent 3 months living on a Greek island. I am glad I did and have no regrets. My career didn't seem to suffer either.

Edit: During the summer of 2002 I spent 6 weeks backpacking to 8 different western European countries (Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden). If you need any advice, please feel free to PM me.

 

[Goosemaster]

Stay away from certain Hostels 😉

have fun..it sounds awesome

 

[chcarnage]

If you don't want to base your selection of destinations solely on travel guides, the blogosphere can provide you with more personal experiences.

A starting point: Expat Blog

There is a whole bunch of blogging American chicks in my town :Q

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[Patt]

I always chime in on these threads with a push for people to visit Luxembourg ... beautiful, quiet, and not too expensive, especially in the smaller towns. Myself, I wasn't a big fan of cities, so I hitched around to many smaller, out of the way places, and had my best experiences there. If you're city person though, Prague is brilliant, Berlin has so much interesting recent history, and Rome is pretty amazing for some more ancient history.

I stayed at a ton of hostels while there (7.5 months), and can honestly say I only had one bad experience at a hostel in Rome --> dirty, loud and not very secure. Of course, I also had a tent in my pack, and spent a lot of nights under the stars.

The best advice I can give is, YES, go, don't try to see everything.