David, you've come to the right place. Well first we need to know a few details:
What is the duration of your trip?
Countries planning to visit?
# of people coming with you?
Your interests and places you wanted to visit and etc.

Once you have those down you can start planning the trip.

First, the transportation. I recommend freedom of a car especially if you are planning to go to secluded areas with luggage. Depending on the # people I recommend getting an SUV like Renault Dacia Duster very similar to our Grand Cherokee.
OR, Kangoo is also very nice for trips like this, reminds me of an old VW Bus.

For longer trips 3 weeks or longer I strongly advise a short-term lease, which is basically a tax-free rental they do in Europe, it comes fully insured like no other rental, I mean everything is covered, even windows and tires and your luggage. This is kinda important when you go on a back-packing trip.

I've used http://RenaultUSA.com they are really good and there is also a new one for Volkswagen, http://VWcarsineurope.com

Waiting for your reply... and good luck!

thanks paul

well im not quite sure what countries will be on the list yet as this will depend on budget and how much im looking to set aside for the trip and also im planning to do it solo and see who i meet along the way and i dont mind my own company so it wouldnt be an issue, 1 original way of travelling i had in mind was cheap coaches, how does that sound to you?

There are some websites geared towards that kind of travel where you can read hostel reviews and generally more tips specifically for backpackers and forums.

try
www.lonelyplanet.com

www.bugeurope.com

www.eurotrip.com (one of my favorites)

Pickup a copy of Let's Go Europe. This guide book is geared toward budget travelers and backpackers. There's tons of info in this book to get you started.

Figure out how much time you have to travel and then decide what countries you most want to visit. Don't over schedule. Changing location frequently takes lots of time and requires more money than staying in fewer locations since you have to pay transportation fees.

Staying in hostels and couch surfing are ways to maximize your money and meet others. Using buses/coaches is usually cheaper than taking trains.

This is not primarily a sight for backpackers - and they generlly can;t afford the cost of a car - but do budget flights, advance purchaase low cost train fares or buses.

Assuming you are in a backpack age range I suggest you get hold of some of the Let's Go student guides as well as looking at the Thorn Tree section of the Lonely Planet web site. this has a tone of general information as well as specific recos for low cost travel, lodging (hostels and modest pensions) and eating.

If I'm incorrect and you have a larger budget - do let us know and we can provide more info.

Also - you don;t say where you are from, but assuming you are an american you are limited to 90 days in the Schengen zone (which doesn;t include the UK) on a regular tourist visa. If you are planning on traveling for longer than that you have a lot of work to do figuring out how to plan the trip without being illegal (whihc can result in significant fines and immediate deportation.

well ill be 23 or 24 when i travel and also im english so i presume ill be able to pass through basically everywhere as and when, my budget will be around 3000 pound and ill be looking to spend 2 and half months maybe 3 months travelling.

one thing i am interested in doing is voluntary work en-route which should give me a place to stay along the way

Renting a car will be expensive if you're under 25. Look at www.eurail.com for info on rail passes.

Get a Fodor's guide to Europe and read it. When yo determine where you eant to go, then get a detailed guide on those countries and start looking on the internet.

Great sites for planning the rail portion of the trip - www.ricksteves.com; www.seat61.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - check out the latter's free and superb IMO European Planning & Rail Guide for loads of answers to your questions (http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/rg011210.pdf).

If you spend a lot of time in each area then check out regional or country railpasses - if traveling more than a few times on the train in each area - these passes are much cheaper often per day than a classic Eurailpass - there are one- two and three and four and five-country passes - amongst zillions of various passes.

Don't count on getting free places to stay by doing volunteer work. That's largely a myth, I believe, and where would you do this volunteer work? Many organizations that handle volunteers have the volunteers pay something for the arrangements (a small stipend usually, but smething) and they don't want people except for long-term commitments as it is too expensive to train and supervise them.

But TMK grape-picking during the vendages in France is still common for anyone to get -stoop labor for a few weeks - at least was but not sure if non-EU persons could do it legally at least.

You might get some ideas from this (Transitions Abroad is a well-respected source of info):

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/work/internships/students_recentgrads_short_term_paid_work_abroad.shtml

Sorry - a car makes sense only if you already own it and so will have only the cost of fuel.

We have done numerous rod trips in europe - and do love it and the freedom it gives- but we travel at a completely different budget level, and frankly don;t care how much the car costs us (rental, insurance, fuel, tolls, parking and drop off fee).

When my 19 year old daughter and two friends went to europe last summer for 5 week she spent about $9000. this included all of the intercity travel (plane or train) and a share in a triple room in a modest hotel (but all with AC), travel passes in cities, meals, sightseeing and entertainment (modest, student type) and not really any shopping.

I suppose if you stick to less expensive countries (avoid Switz and Scandinavia) you might be able to see parts of europe - but I wouldn't count on earning much on the way.

to travel around 1 year in Europe I would recommend a car as well - and of course at least $20,000 minimum for expenses.

One way of cutting overnight expenses with a car is to go camping - lease or buy a camping car and use campgrounds - everywhere to slash your overnight costs - can even park many times right inside cities on streets - like recently in Paris I heard about folks camping in cars at the Chateau de Vincennes on the outskirts of Paris - free.

Cars are a hassle in cities so leave the van in the camp and take public transit into towns, generally unfriendly to car and it can cost $20-30 to park.

Who said he was traveling for a year? He said 2, maybe 3 months.

In any event, the Paul person who keeps posting the same thing about Renault leases over and over is getting tiresome. Shill for the company.

Oops I read first sentences wrong thought a year was too long - for 2-months consider the Eurail Select Saverpass - a flexipass good for a 2-month period - use it for fully flexible travel over longer distances (or overnight trains) and then base in cities or do short day trips sans using a day on the pass. And there is currently a special deal if you buy such a pass before May 30 you get an extra day free and you have six months in which to actually activate the pass in Europe and then use it for its 2-month period. (Where I saw this - http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id3.html). If under 26 you can get a 2nd class pass if over 25 has to be first class and IME of riding European trains for years 1st class in many ways is a much more relaxed journey and in many countries where you can just hop on any train anytime you can always IME find empty seats - not so in 2nd class. So the complete flexibility of a pass can be priceless - at least is to me.

If he's from the UK can he buy a Eurail Pass? Admittedly, I know little about them, but I thought if you lived in Europe you couldn't buy one.

someone recommended couch surfing and I would recommend you check out CouchSurfing.org.