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Need ideas to visit Europe (cities only) in 15 days 15 cities?? :)

Need ideas to visit Europe (cities only) in 15 days 15 cities?? :)

Old Jan 14th, 2013, 01:04 AM
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Need ideas to visit Europe (cities only) in 15 days 15 cities?? :)

Dear fellow travelers!

Need help. We love travelling and this time we have a 'rush trip' planned covering Europe - only to get a 'snapshot' view and following this trip we will do a more 'concentrated' trip later.

We live in New Zealand, Auckland

I have a friend in Hetherw ( England) .

My daughter (15 yr old) and I ( mid 40's) love travelling. And she got only 14 days high school holiday in winter in NZ ( when it is summer in Europe) in August.

And we got limited $ and time to spend so we need advise/tips to travel cheap and thought backpacking in cities ( preferably near train stations) and spend there around on a quick city tour rather ( possibly spending only a night in a backpacker place you advise visiting one city or 2 x cities if they are near by each other ) during our first holiday in Europe. We are aware we only may get a quick snapshot of visit to cities, main places or so there around and then back to sleep to prepare for the following day .

A) How do you think if this is possible/practicable

Of course, it's not quite a 'holiday' but first need to get a quick 'impression' of cities and then on our second round we'll choose cities we'd like spending a 'holiday' and will take few days to spend.

B) Is Euro rail the cheaper way to travel on Global pass for 15 days in Europe and cover as many as countries ( heard it takes us to 24 countries ) in our first trip?

C) Anybody traveled Europe ( covering many cities/countries) in 15 days, if it is not possible to do all 24 countries in 15 days ? Where what cities/how did you do it / what was the transport?/where did you spend night, anyone has a blog 'travel blog' with itinirary for us to use as a 'guide' to visit as many as cities possible?

D) How would you suggest to start /end ?. We are flexible!

E)We are very excited and would like knowing where what we can do/where to stay and and how much approx etc ietc, if any youth hostels or similar 'backpacking' places near by train stations, if we backpack how much we need to spend?
F) after buying Euro rail pass, it says 'reservations' attracts another fee ?
G)Could you advise us a suggestions preferable route to take to cover 15 days travel ie, cover as many as cities we can ( no matter where/when as we have not been anywhere) and places to stay etc (near by stations) so we can save money on bus/train too.

So ours will be like a oneway trip but round the Europe starting and ending Hethrew if possible? If it's not we can start anywhere, France/Italy or so, we can do it

We really appreciate your time and if you can shed/ send us some helpful suggestions/tips/hints too that'd be great.
nzsl is offline  
Old Jan 14th, 2013, 01:38 AM
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nzsl - have you thought of travelling around by bus?

It sounds as though you'll need to be spending a great deal of time on transport; perhaps you can take the night services that will cover your accommodation cost as well as transport in the one hit.

Companies such as Eurolines (see www.eurolines.com) might be a viable alternative for you.

I would really question how well you would be able to get a feel for so many places in such a short time. It's not something I would ever contemplate, so I'll leave it for others to make concrete suggestions for you.

To me, it sounds like the people who plan travel to Australia from the other side of the world, then think they can see it all in 2 weeks!

Good luck with your plans, Di
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 03:58 AM
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Sorry - this is going to be an exercise in frustration. Moving every day (esp by bus which is interminable) will take up almost all of your time. You will have - at most a couple of hours for each city - so perhaps time to see one sight.

You will be spending your entire vacation - and a significant sum of money (esp in Switz and Scandinavia - which are all VERY expensive) and probably get very little in return.

So - while you may be able to get to 15 places in 15 days (but if there are strikes or some other problem not) there will be no point in it. Better just to get some videos.

If you tell us which countries ar must sees and provide a specific budge tin euros - people may be able to make recos.
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 04:05 AM
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Think this might be a troll - it is unusual for a NZer to have such limited English, and really, would anyone actually ask such a question?

Also bear in mind that the daughter's 14 days winter holidays will also need to allow for the best part of 2 days each way for flights and transfers at Auckland and Heathrow.

Perhaps connecting Express buses from capital to capital, with possible "drive-by" photos out the window is the best that could be hoped for on such a schedule?
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 04:41 AM
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Unless you take a tour ("If it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium"), you cannot hope to visit even half that number of cities in 15 days. Or as bendigo observes, in about 10 days onace you account for travel from NZ.

So, choose your top 5 or 6 "must sees", look at tours to see if there is one that hits most of them and consider that you can cover the most territory in the least time with a tour of this sort even if you don't really see or do much of anything but ride a bus.

Good luck.
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 05:08 AM
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Did not notice the 14 days - agree that it will take 4 to get to and fro NZ - so the OP only has 10 days really - so at a huge rush see 6 or 7 places on drive throughs - or do 3 places and actually see something.
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 05:12 AM
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Hostels will be near stations.
27 no, you might get a fair hit at say 7.
August is the most expensive time to come on holiday to Europe as this is the peak period.
Some reservations are mandatory, others merely ensure you get a seat. look at seat61.com for advice
Sleeper trains might be of interest to save on a hostel and get you to the next place.

Since you don't mind which city and to keep the costs down I'd stay in the North of Europe and avoid capital cities so maybe

Heathrow to whichever London airport flies to Liepsig or Dresden airports, Train to say Pilzen then Nurembourg, Strasbourg, Reims, Gent, Amsterdam and fly back to Heathrow. I've not checked trains and there may be better cities to visit have a look at bahn.de for general europe train timetables. That gets you to Germany, Czech, France, Belgium, Holland and UK.
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 05:12 AM
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Obviously it's up to you what you do, but if you're on a budget then more time in fewer places will definitely be cheaper
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 05:49 AM
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) Is Euro rail the cheaper way to travel on Global pass for 15 days in Europe and cover as many as countries ( heard it takes us to 24 countries ) in our first trip?>

If you go at that pace a Global Eurailpass for 15-consecutive days is IMO a no-brainer - lets you just hop on any train anytime in those countries except in France you must have a seat reservation - usually 3 euros - and yes I have traveled many times like that - I prefer it but most do not and I'm sure many will tell you it is too rushed to see anything - but that's a personal opinion -

check out these fantastic sources IMO for planning a rail/railpass trip - www.ricksteves.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com(download their free and superb IMO European Rail guide for lots of suggested itineraries - http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id2.html and www.seat61.com - good info on online discount individual tickets which however often have to be booked weeks in advance as they are sold in limited numbers and often cannot be changed nor refunded.
finally keep in mind that a Globaal Eurailpass is first class travel and for a family especially there are significant benefits in first class - in many ways a much more relaxed ride for the trip of a lifetime - so compare first class fares to the cost of a first class pass IMO!
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 08:34 AM
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I'm with bendigo - this can't be for real.
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 01:12 PM
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C) Anybody traveled Europe ( covering many cities/countries) in 15 days, if it is not possible to do all 24 countries in 15 days ?>

Well I once travelled on night trains from city to city for about a month but would not recommend it to the average traveler - that said you do not seem to be average so taking some night trains can help you cover ground - but all 24 countries - I think there are more now would be impossible unless you are trying to set a Guinness Record or something.
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 04:11 PM
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Troll alert.
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 06:43 PM
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I like your sense of humor!
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 07:29 PM
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Don't do 15 places in 15 days!!!!!! It will not be worth it to say the least. I did a trip with friends last winter and we took the train to London, Paris, Bordeaux, Berlin, and Amsterdam in 15 days and realize that I had been o those cities before. You always discover something new whenever you go. We tood the train and it was great and so much easier than flying. We spend 2-3 days in each city and you need it to really get a flavor. Trains are fast but you will be using time each day to travel. We had a great time, but if you are trying to do so many cities in 15 days you will need a holiday from your holiday. Europe is always there and you will have a much better time ad save a great deal of money if you take your time. Get a supersaver rail pass for 5 days of travel and don't get the Eurrail pass for 15 days. 2-3 day in a city and then travel to the next place will be just fine with a 5 day pass.Remember that you still need to pay for your seat reservation and some are not cheal even with a pass. Europe is to be enjoyed and savored. Your daughter will fall in love with Europe and let her take in a bit at a time as it is just packed full of treasures and it will serve as a baseline for future travel.
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 08:57 PM
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I think you should add Johannesburg to the trip-by burro.
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Old Jan 14th, 2013, 10:16 PM
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don't do that! the only way that wouldn't be awful is if you picked only 1 country and went to 15 cities/towns in it...and even that seems a bit pointless. Pick a few spots and stay in them longer.
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Old Jan 15th, 2013, 07:35 AM
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F) after buying Euro rail pass, it says 'reservations' attracts another fee ? >

In most countries you can still hop on any train anytime - but in France, Italy and Spain and on a few trains like the Thalys trains between Paris and Brussels and Amsterdam/Cologne you must pay for a seat reservation or supplement - usually this is just a few euros in France - always 10 euros in Italy and about the same I think in Spain but on the Thalys is a whopping $30-40 - the only train I know of with such a steep surcharge.

So for most folks the added fees will not be significant though making a seat reservation before boarding is a hassle - but in countries like Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Blegium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Eastern Europe amongst others you can still hop on virtually any train anytime and the flexibility this provides to chose which trains to take as you go along to me and others is priceless.
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Old Jan 15th, 2013, 08:06 AM
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this is a VERY ambitious plan!! good luck. i would LOVE to see this trip report. if you wanna save money though, skip going to Europe and just check out Busch Gardens in Williamsburg VA. You can see 5 European countries in 1 day ;-)
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Old Jan 15th, 2013, 08:20 AM
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Rent a small plane and just fly over cities. I bet you could do 100 cities in one day.
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Old Jan 15th, 2013, 12:24 PM
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Or do as my son once did when he and his gal went to Rome - I asked if they saw the Vatican, the Colosseum, Forum, etc - they said yes they saw postcards of those places in the train station bookstalls and that was it!
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