First trip to Europe itinerary - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

phud418 · 07-19-2010, 12:04 PM

Hey all, I was hoping to get some feedback on my itinerary. I am currently studying abroad in London and am planning on traveling for 2-3 weeks when my classes are finished in mid August. I want to see as many places as I can in these few weeks but also don't want to feel like I am rushing through cities and not getting a true feel for them. I would like to visit the following cities:

Berlin, Prague, Munich, Amsterdam, and Paris, in this order.

Is 3-4 days in each city enough? Does the order I listed make sense? I haven't done much traveling except for this past weekend when I went to Edinburgh so I'm trying to figure out how to set this whole thing up...Also I will be traveling alone

**marc873** · 07-19-2010, 12:22 PM

Actually, it does sound pretty good!!! Its always good to have atleast 3-4 days per city, so that perfect and with the train system in Northern EU, you will have no problems at all getting from place to place... And traveling solo is amazing, just make sure you let your guard down and be social in the hostels, and you will meat amazing people and have an amazing adventure!!!!
On some of the long train trips, maybe consider overnight trains to save days and money on lodging!!!
Safe travels!! And give us updates or feel free to ask more questions as to hostels, trains, etc...

**agriadam** · 07-19-2010, 12:30 PM

I agree with marc, It is quite the relief to hear someone asking an itinerary question that is NOT trying to cram 37 cities in 3 weeks.

Stay flexible though as you may decide to spend more time in one city and less in another.

Safe Travels

**travelpunk** · 07-19-2010, 12:44 PM

Dude, for a first time traveler, you nailed everything about your itinerary juuuuuuussttt right. 3-4 days in each city is perfect.

Agreed with Marc on everything too!

And when you're taking that overnight train, put your backpack (however big it is) on the luggage rack directly above your seat and not by the train car door.

I saw a backpack get stolen in the wee hours of the morning as 2 guys carried 1 backpack (each one holding an end) and carrying it really low so it wasn't obvious. The thing is, I only realized it was stolen later in the day as I kept replaying what I had seen over and over in my head of how strange that looked in the wee hours of the morning when everyone was still asleep.

You don't need 2 guys (moroccan looking) to carry a backpack through a train car very low key. Any owner of a backpacking backpack would almost immediately strap it on so their shoulders take the weight.

The owner of the backpack could have easily put that above their seat.

Anyways, welcome to the boards

!

phud418 · 07-19-2010, 01:13 PM

well I guess I'm off to a good start

"Stay flexible though as you may decide to spend more time in one city and less in another."

-This sounds like a great idea because I could definitely see myself deciding to spend more or less time in a city depending on who I meet and how I like the city. My only question though is wouldn't this mess up the rest of my trip? Like if I've got all my hostels, trains/buses booked I can't really take an extra day anywhere or leave early b/c then I'd get charged for a train I didn't take or show up somewhere and not have a hostel to stay in...right? Or is it better to just leave it open and get tickets/reservations on the spot?

Thanks for the tips

**agriadam** · 07-19-2010, 01:23 PM

I booked hostels and Trains for the next city the day before I would leave my current city.

Day 3 in rome - buy ticket to florence and book hotel in florence
Day 4 in rome - leave for florence

phud418 · 08-08-2010, 06:37 AM

"I booked hostels and Trains for the next city the day before I would leave my current city."

-Has anyone else been able to do this? I would love to have this kind of flexibility but I also don't want to have to stay in shitty hostels b/c the good ones have already been booked. Is it possible to book decent hostels a day or two in advance in the cities I'm going to?

phud418 · 08-08-2010, 06:38 AM

By the way I'm traveling from 8/14 to 9/1...yeah I know I need to get this all figured out ASAP

**travelpunk** · 08-08-2010, 10:10 AM

It's a busy time of year and those are extremely popular cities that you're visiting.

You can do likewise and book right before you leave but it's just like it is in the US or any city, you'll risk the good hostels being all booked up (if they aren't already)

Do a search here for tentative dates- TravelPUNK.com- Cheap Europe Hostels, Hostals, Eurail Passes: book worldwide

You'll see that some popular hostels like "3 Ducks in Paris" or the "The Flying Pig Amsterdam (not the beach one)" "Bulldog hostel Amsterdam" most likely won't come up because they are booked solid.

You can always walk into the the hostel in the morning and get on a waiting list for people who don't show up, but you risk waiting there for hours with your backpack next to you and the possibility that there are others ahead of you and perhaps there will be no availability after the long wait.

Personally, when it comes to accommodations, that is the one thing that I don't care to wing during the busy travel season or a weekend event that draws in a huge crowd. I like to know that when I come into town, I can go right to my private room (dorm bed in this case), shower up, and crash in peace for a couple of hours.

I think you'll have more flexibility if you don't mind staying outside the main city centers, but you'll just have to deal with the transportation aspect of going back and forth from the outskirts to the city center (for example, the The Flying Pig Beach hostel).

phud418 · 08-08-2010, 01:18 PM

cool thanks for the response tpunk. I think I'm gonna sacrifice the flexibility and just make reservations in advance