3 months in Europe...please help!!!
 

The wife and I have decided that before we have kids (and have no time for ourselves) we better have one more travel adventure. Therefore, we have decided to take a 3 Month "leave of absensce" from our jobs and travel through Europe. Since we are far from rich we are looking for advice on the best way to do it somewhat economically.

- Does anyone know of any books on traveling in this capacity. (being married we are trying not to stay at youth hostels).
- Anyone know of places/towns where you can live and work for a weeks at a time??

Any advice from someone who may have done something similiar would be appreciated!!!

Thanks!

Well I've done it for three months a couple of summers and for 4 or 5 months at a time several other summers.
I don't know about books. And I didn't "work" any of the time, so can't help you there. I do know that it's pretty hard to work in Europe without a permit which is pretty involved.

We approached the whole thing as any other trip, just with the luxury of having more time. Unlike what many people would do -- staying in one area or concentrating on a given country -- we opted to cover more territory.

We have learned that it is generally cheaper to rent apartments for a week than hotels. And if you do a little cooking (I very rarely have -- OK, so honestly, never have) you can save a little money there too. In addition it's nice if you have a washer and dryer to save on the laundry bills.

Depending on whether you want to concentrate on cities or towns, how you travel is a good question. The expense of a car will add up (including fuel, parking, and tolls) and if you are staying mainly in larger towns and cities you can easily do without one. But if you want to drive be sure to look into a lease plan like with AutoFrance (Peugeot).

Our first five month trip we did a three month Eurail pass in the middle and covered a lot of territory, staying put or using a car during the months at the two ends of the trip. If you want to experience a variety of cultures -- Spain, Greece, Italy, Scandinavia, for example -- a Eurrail pass will work out great, especially if you stay mainly in cities or towns with good connections, and you can still do day trips at will using the trains.

How low is the budget? There are hostels with private rooms for married couples, and there are convents as well -- but I have no experience at either of those.

Any questions as you get more organized and more specific on goals, just ask. This is my kind of travel -- not being rushed!

Some people do a "house exchange" with others to help with lodging costs.

Working legally in Europe is no easy task. Although some countries easier than others (Switzerland is next to impossible, for example).

Staying in each location longer and moving around less is one strategy to save money.

www.lonelyplanet.com has a BB similar to this one called The Thorn Tree with lots of budget travelers posting.

Don't discount the possibility of youth hostels because you are married. Almost every hostel my wife and I stayed in during our early travel years in the early 90's (when we had a lot less money but more time)had double private rooms available. These were in places like Frankfurt, Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, various other places in France and Switzerland. In most cases, we had to share bathrooms "down the hall", but in all cases the rooms at least had a sink. In southern Europe, we found hotels cheap enough that we didn't bother with hostels. You can get really inexpensive hotels in cities like Florence, Rome, Bologna, etc.

Out of 3 daily meals, usually breakfast was either included with the room or you could get it really inexpensively at a street corner snack bar (as in Italy). We would eat our big meal of the day at lunch time since restaurants frequently have special bargain 3-course lunch menus. For dinner, we would eat picnic style or head for some type of cafeteria, often located in large department stores (very common in Switzerland and Germany).

We walked a lot! I mean we really walked a lot! We were both in good shape physically (this was pre-children).
We used public transportation occasionally.
We always had a railpass to get from city to city.
We always travelled in the off-season(ie November to April).
We regret not taking a leave of absence like you guys are planning to do. The longest we could get away from home was 3 weeks. But we often went to Europe twice a year.
I would consult books like Lets Go Europe and Lonely Planet and Europe Through the Back Door by the famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) Rick Steves.
I hope you can pull it off. You will never forget the adventure!

Thanks for all the great advice. We are EXTREMELY encouraged by the responses.

PATRICK....do you have an email address? It sounds like you have a lot of knowledge on this kind of trip and I would love to ask you some specific questions. We haven't set a budget yet since we are still doing our research. What do you think a safe budget range is? We are looking at May - July since we have to be around for my sister's wedding in April. We are still in the infant stages of places to go. We want to visit as many different places as possible, but not be in too much of a rush. (more eastern europe - Ireland, england, Germany, Czech, France, Spain, etc.) We've been to Italy, but wouldn't mind going to Greece/Turkey if time permitted...It sounds like a lot, but could be done in 3 months..I think

Sure: [email protected]

For a number of years now we budget $10,000 a month for everything. While that seems a lot, don't forget you'd be spending a good part of that at home -- food, entertainment, and regular expenses you'll avoid when gone. But with the falling dollar that goal has been a little harder to keep each year. On the other hand, we travel pretty well -- stay in nice places, really enjoy good restaurants, and generally travel first class more than second.

London is always by far our most expensive destination -- only in part because we do a lot of theatre. Turkey is a real bargain. And if you travel outside the main season (avoiding July and August in particular) you can also save money most places.

If you choose hostels, my experience is that double rooms are booked up far in advance. No doubt someone has exceptions, but I wouldn't count on conjugal privacy if you don't make advance reservations.

I'll put in my usual two cents about how this PUBLIC forum works so well because ifo is shared here PUBLICly.

While you might have some privacy issues over a few subjects, in general, what you have to ask - - and what Patrick has to answer - - is why this board exists.

Its success would be seriously hurt if it were to be reduced to an e-mail "hook-up" website.

Best wishes,

Rex

As a post-script, I must be growing increasingly conservative and old fogey as I age - - but I say three WEEKS now - - and "productive" (gainful) time (and putting your financial house in the best possible order) for he other nine weeks, lays a much better foundation for REPEATED travel, for decades to come.

Hi the,

>The wife and I have decided that before we have kids (and have no time for ourselves) we better have one more travel adventure. <

Have you ever spent 3 months on the road before? It gets old.

You are unlikely to find legal employment.

Check on visa requirements.

Are you sure that you want children? It is possible to raise them properly and take them with you.

Good advice from Rex.

Ira says: "Have you ever spent 3 months on the road before? It gets old."

Gee, not for some of us, ira. Each year at about the end of our three or five months we both look at each other and ask "are you ready to go home?" and each year both of our responses are the same, "NO!" It never gets old to us!

One hint: over three days in one place and our rule is we unpack everything. That avoids that "living out of a suitcase" feeling.

I had thought about mentioning the same thing as Rex regarding the "private" emails. I suppose if you have more "private" questions, like specifics of your own finances that you might not want to post, then I understand asking in private emails. But generally, I agree that nearly anything you ask can come in handy to other posters as well and most of the information is best shared on this public forum.

I appreciate the affirmation that my thoughts on his are not too far off base.

I don't question how well three months works for you, Patrick. But I wonder if you are in a different stage of your life, financially and otherwise.

I wonder if "thenathans" know what a Rumbleseat is!

I applaud your plan to travel with your spouse before kids. It certainly doesn't indicate you're not ready to be good parents, as someone else implied. I think it indicates you know that with kids your travel adventures are of a much different sort. So go for it! Take your three months and enjoy every day. I wish my husband and I had done that 20 years ago, before our kids were born. Now, we can do it soon, as empty-nesters-- but that's a whole different story!

If you HAD taken three months, twenty years ago - - are you saying that you would still not have traveled again until you became empty nesters?

My point is that three WEEKS now, will better prepare them for a week every so often for the next twenty years.

When are you going? If you're going in the fall, I have heard of vineyard usually hire a lot of extra worker during harvesting. Countries like France, Italy and Germany have many small vineyard all over. A lot of people just go help harvest and get a big meal in a big party at the end of the day.
As for books, I think 'Lonely Planet' has good guide books. They have more cultural details than other books. Check out your local library, they may have different books that you can compare.

Not sure I understand your question, rex. We have traveled with our kids, lots and lots of two-week vacations with them, at least one each year. And lots of long weekends in between. And those were great travel times, don't misunderstand.
My point is that traveling after the kids are born is a completely different experience, whether they go with or stay home. Once you're parents, your priorities and your responsibilities shift-- no two ways about it.
That's why the freedom of three long months in Europe pre-parenthood sounds like a good idea to me. At the very least, that dream will be out of their system.

Yes, rex, I am at a different stage of my life, especially financial wise. I'm no longer working, not yet on any retirement or SS, and have less income than I have ever had since I was 22. I've given up many of the more expensive pleasures I used to enjoy so that I can concentrate on my travel instead. And not being a family man, my case may be totally different from other cases, but like so many who used to think I'd go to Europe every year -- it just kept getting put on hold year after year. And people with kids they're sending to private schools and dance lessons, etc, know how easily that can happen once you have a family!

I don't think it's a question of someone depleting their meager life savings to do a three month "blow out" trip to Europe. But as a 50 something year old, I'd rather look back to that "unbelievable 3 month trip we did to Europe when we were first married" as opposed to "do you remember when we went to France for two weeks?"

Probably the two single greatest regrets of my life are that I didn't do a one year foreign exchange in high school as I almost did, and that I never spent a summer backpacking Europe as so many of my friends did -- instead I was too busy working, doing summer theatre, or teaching programs to go have that kind of fun. Why didn't I take just one summer off?

I totally echo what Maureen says.

I may have misunderstood this statement

<<Now, we can do it soon, as empty-nesters-- but that's a whole different story!>>

If going for three months now, pre-children will not set them back from further dreams over the next twenty years, then I retract my advice. It would make them the exception, though perhaps not as rare as I imagine.

What a lot of young Australians do is come to the Uk, buy an old campervan, travel round Europe in that & sell it on at the end of their trip. Since you are left hand drivers, presumably you would be better off buying a van on the Continent.

Oh Rex, I think you ARE getting old. How often in life, dragged down by work commitments and mortgages, do we all get the opportunity to take 3 months off and REALLY soak up a place, rather than rush through on a schedule.

Nathans, good for you, you'll LOVE it. But working may be an issue, unless you're prepared to take illegal, poorly paid cash in hand work.