first timer - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!



Go Back   TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards! > Backpacker College Student Travel Message Boards > Where ya going? & Specific country info! > Europe: Western

Europe: Western Cafés, castles, architecture, art, wine, the Euro, gastronomy, let´s meet up, and pub crawls.! Oh oui, backpackers paradise...

Raileurope.com: See Europe by train
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 02-24-2006, 01:32 PM   #1
Wayner
Members
 
Wayner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 40
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

I'd like to go to Oktoberfest in Munich either this year or next (most likely next year if I decide I'm set on Oktoberfest). I have traveled extensively in the US and to hawaii, but I've only been out of country once (to mexico on a cruise) and to puerto rico. I have never really traveled overseas before and just recently decided to backpack in Germany, France and maybe Austria. I have read a lot of posts and stuff on backpacking through Europe websites, but I feel a little overwhelmed and would like some help. Ultimately, I'd like to get over to Europe as cheaply as possible and see as much as I can in 7-10 days and head back to the US.

So, first things first, should I try to go to Oktoberfest as my first trip over? I don't know much about it or Germany and don't want to get in over my head the first time.

Do you guys have any advice on a cool, cheap first trip to Europe? I only have about 7-10 days and approx $1.5K-$2K, but I'm pretty open to whatever although I'd like to hit germany and france. I have a unique situation that I can fly out of any city in the US (although I live in st louis) to make the flight over cheaper. if flying to Frankfurt or somewhere like that is cheaper than Berlin, than I'm all about it.

I realize this is a long post and thanks in advance to anyone that can help me out.

PS - I don't think I can get the money before October at the absolute earliest, so better times to go definitely plays a role here.
__________________

Wayner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-24-2006, 01:39 PM   #2
beergal
TPunk Emeritus
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Leigh On Sea, Essex
Posts: 3,331
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

ok personally if you only have a maximum of 10 days i would just reccommed 2 countries as to really get to know a country you need at least a minimum of 3 days in a place, as well as the fact you are planning on going to oktoberfest which im understang that copius amounts of alcohol will be involved and so on some days you may not even want to get around and explore. You could have a great 10 days in Germany...if you want to get out and explore another country i suggest checking out some of the cheaper airlines that we have over here in europe such as airberlin, easyjet, skyeurope etc
__________________
I have two skins, one to lie on and one to cover myself with; the earth and the sky. (Masai proverb)


FANCY A READ...TPUNK BOOK CLUB CAN BE FOUND HERE



what goes around comes around
beergal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-24-2006, 01:49 PM   #3
McHopsky
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 51
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

A St. Louisan! Me too!

I dont have much experience in Germany nor do I know much about the Oktoberfest so I can't speak much about that. From what I've heard, and experienced, 7 days in Europe might not be enough. When flying overseas, 2, maybe 3, of those 7 days are spent traveling. If you leave on the 1st, you wont get over there until the 2nd... Then, when you get there you'll be pretty tired after 10 hours in planes and want to relax all day. So, your trip is reasonably cut down.

If your heart is set on going for 7-10 days then I'd recommend you just stay in 1 or 2 places. Again, traveling takes up time, so if you're traveling to 3 differant countries it's going to cut down again on your traveling time. For 7 days, just fly there and hang out and relax in a city or two in Germany (or whereever) and I think you'll enjoy it alot more than having to run around all over the place trying to cover as much ground as possible in 7 days.

I'm sorry I dont have much advice for a "first trip" in Europe. I personally recommend Switzerland (I'm a citizen ) but Germany, from what I hear, is a lot of fun. Hopefuly some others will have some fun ideas.
__________________
McHopsky


McHopsky is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-24-2006, 04:38 PM   #4
U2fan
BONO'S LOVE SLAVE
 
U2fan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Unfortunately, currently not in Sydney
Posts: 1,639
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

Hi and welcome! I agree with all of the above; since you haven`t travelled much you don`t know how jet lag is going to affect you. Some people are completely fine but I think most would agree it can be the 5-7 hour differences in time zones that really affect you the most, as opposed to going really far away to say Asia/Oz and have 14-17....so expect that you won`t be 100% for the first few days.

And I would also say that I wouldn`t want my first big overseas trip to be Oktoberfest, but maybe that is just me. You won`t see much AT all and might not remember much either.... Why not get a feel for Germany this trip and go back next year for that if you`re really taken with Germany?

__________________
Flight to Tokyo: 92,000 yen

Metro to Ginza shopping district: 160 yen

Watching middle-aged Japanese woman dance to U2: priceless
U2fan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-24-2006, 05:59 PM   #5
Wayner
Members
 
Wayner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 40
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

well, I have taken several long flights (8+ hours to hawaii) and I'm not really affected that much by jetlag. My dad is a pilot for american airlines so I fly a lot.

I'm beginning to think maybe I should just plan a starter trip with somewhere easy so any suggestions for a 7-10 day timeframe that's really cheap would be great. I would like to make this kinda trip at least bi-annually so I'm not deadset on seeing germany if there's better starter trips to take. I'm more interested in seeing the mainland europe than the UK although a day spent in london while on the way to somewhere else would be cool.
__________________

Wayner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2006, 04:24 AM   #6
beergal
TPunk Emeritus
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Leigh On Sea, Essex
Posts: 3,331
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

Ok if you want somewhere really cheap your best bet would be Central and Eastern Europe especially the Baltics and Balkans. As your planning on going in late sept/Oct the weather will be great! Others may also suggest hitting Spain. To be honest it depends on what your budget is and if your gonna be staying in hostels. You could have an amazing & days in Poland for £750 ( i take it this doesnt include flights from the US), hell i found it really hard to spend £100 in 4 days and ended up buying new trainers, books everything i could think of!
__________________
I have two skins, one to lie on and one to cover myself with; the earth and the sky. (Masai proverb)


FANCY A READ...TPUNK BOOK CLUB CAN BE FOUND HERE



what goes around comes around
beergal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2006, 07:31 AM   #7
Wayner
Members
 
Wayner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 40
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

by the baltics you mean Greece, Romania and places like that? Sorry, but my geography is kinda shaky.

The $1.5K-2K includes flight to and from the US and everything. I'd like to see at least 2 countries, so transportation to and from the second destination is also included. I think Greece would be cool - is Athens the best city to fly into?
__________________

Wayner is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply






Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
first timer emfitz06 Europe: Western 2 06-30-2006 02:51 PM
Another first timer Lost_Youth Traveling Alone or Family Travel 6 12-29-2005 09:24 PM
First timer dontresist Introductions and Announcements 5 12-23-2005 08:17 PM
We got a first timer here. Michelle Foik Introductions and Announcements 22 11-24-2005 03:06 PM
first timer jas_the_ripper Traveling Alone or Family Travel 8 08-10-2005 02:20 AM


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:47 AM.



 

Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.2.0 (Unregistered)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121