Your plan is perfect, have a nice trip.

I guess its what you want to read.

As I read it, the OP wants advice only from others who have "underwent" such a grand "euro" trip.

Sorry, OP, they are actually probably more appropriate than you realize, but your choice of words makes me smile.

@ Sassafrass: ;-)

I don't think the OP is coming back, guys. That was their first post on the forum as 'cameroncassidy' but likely not their first troll.

Fun thought experiment, though.

Wow, I really am not impressed with the amount of unnecessary rudeness and disrespect here. I was not trolling, I have already traveled the majority of these countries and I am fully aware of the rigor and extensive effort and energy this trip contains. However, I did by no means in the question ask for such advice as received by many on here. You know who you are. I figured, have a few nights in each city as now the trip has turned into a 40 day trip. I am very experienced with European and train travel and I do not respect the amount of people on here being so hateful towards such an adventure. Maybe this trip is not for you but for someone who has already had a taste of the majority of these cities and wanted to take my adventurous and eager wife along the ride for a whirlwind of a month or so, this trip was what I envisioned and what I wanted to embark on. For anyone that disproves this or condemns it for its insanity, you can take your clos-mindedness and shove it, for this trip isn't typical nor common but it is for the traveler like myself and my wife who are willing to do something crazy. Have a wonderful day.

>> I do not respect the amount of people on here being so hateful towards such an adventure.<<

Who was 'hateful'? No one called you close minded, nor advised you to 'shove' it. The only overly rude person was . . . <i>you.

The hate was very much implied and obvious to be frank, through all of the sarcasm and churlish comments submitted by several people on this thread. And yes, no one directly called me close-minded but yours was very much evident in your response.

"Not at all realistic."
"Barely have one day in each city"
"Why even bother?"

This trip is realistic. The travel time in total is 5.8 days- not ten- we would have plenty of cities to stay in for 2 or 3 nights in fact only 4 cities would be stayed in for one night/day (Prishtina, Bratislava etc..). And yes, bother because I give a damn, and this is something I want to do. If you can't respect that then your opinion is invalid to me.

My best wishes to your wife.

<through all of the sarcasm and churlish comments submitted by several people on this thread. >

This is what Fodor's Forums have become. New posters should just go elsewhere, this place isn't worth the bother.

"this place isn't worth the bother."

Then please leave.

"The travel time in total is 5.8 days."

A genuine question: How have you confirmed this? It seems awfully optimistic, to my mind at least.

Note that the time lost to travelling will not just be the transit time of the train/bus/plane. It will be the period from checking out of one hotel to checking in to the hotel in the next place. This will include the time it takes you to get from the hotel to the station/airport, wait to board, get off at your destination, get your bearings and get to your next hotel. You should also consider that if you leave a destination before 11am-noon or arrive at a destination after 4-5pm, that day will effectively be lost.

Even removing Istanbul (due to the current lack of visas, assuming you're an American) you're still left with 21 cities on your list.

Does your 40 days include travel days to get to and from Europe? Depending on where you're starting from, it generally takes roughly a full day each way.

For giggles I threw your cities into the magical interwebs to find transfer times. I used train times when reasonable, but used 5 flight times when the trains were insane. That gives you an actual travel time of around 81 hours. That's not including the time getting to/from the airport or train station or waiting at the airport ahead of time. Most of these are between 3-5 hours of actual travel time which can really take up a good chunk of your available daytime depending on the train times available.

With a single day for travel on each end, that gives you 38 days for 21 locations, and 81 hours of actual travel time. Even adding just an hour for getting to the train station/airport and through whatever security adds an additional 20 hours. You're looking at a trip with over 100 hours of just transit time.


If it's something that you want to do, then do it. You're unlikely to hear many responses from people who have done such a trip because few people would want to do a trip like that. I've pulled some fast paced trips before but that sounds like sheer hell to me. I think you and your wife need to sit down and discuss what the goal of the trip is. Do you two want to see these places or just check off a box that you've been there? If it's the second one, then sure this will accomplish that, but unfortunately not much more. If it's the first one, then I would strongly suggest dropping the list to about half of the cities. It will still be a quick paced trip and will take you two to many amazing places, but you'll actually have a chance to see more than the inside of a train.

I think the guy was pretty clear what the trip is about:

"This trip is more for me to do the feat of seeing most of continental Europe in a little over a month."

Well good for him. Some people climb mountains without ropes. Some people race cars. Some people spend 24/7 on travel web sites. Whatever.

Good luck to the OP. I think our chances of a trip report are approaching zero. As DT would say - sad!!

""This trip is more for me to do the feat of seeing most of continental Europe in a little over a month"

Even if he is just checking off countries on the basis of visiting one city, it still does a pretty poor job of covering Euope. Skips Ireland, the UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for starters and more in the east and south.

""This trip is more for me to do the feat of seeing most of continental Europe in a little over a month">

by all means then get a one-month Eurail Global Pass as you'll be on trains about every day and I've done that when young - especially overnight trains.

<"this place isn't worth the bother."

Then please leave.>

Thanks for proving my point! The moderators seem to have no interest in deleting and banning rude posters such as yourself, but make no mistake, you and your kind are ruining these boards, all the while imagining yourselves to be oh-so-clever.

Fortunately for me, I find myself caring less and less. The spam, the junk, the trolls, the rude Fodorgarchs...drip drip drip.

Nothing rude about my remark, it even included "please". If you don't like it here, why are you still sticking around? Because you enjoy annoying people, perhaps?

Yes, that's her only purpose here, and elsewhere. Has absolutely nothing, zero, to contribute to the Europe discussion, only shows up to be rude and annoying..

massimop's twin sister, only massimop occasionally has information, not NewbE, who has nothing.

<i> Wow, I really am not impressed with the amount of unnecessary rudeness and disrespect here. </i>

Few people would be impressed with rudeness.

I was provocative, which is a poor policy.

However, you come across as demanding and curt: your first post starts with an intimidating list of 22 different places, each of which could be a thread in themselves, and you finish with an <b> order </b> demanding: "what are your thoughts." Aside from being abrupt, and lacking in courtesy (a please would go a long way) you do not specify, thoughts on what?

Next time, start more slowly. Break up a project into bite size pieces. Avoid negativity along the lines of "don't give me this, don't give me that."

Encourage more responses by acknowledging those you get, even those you decide aren't useful. This is a volunteer board, with people who will be bound to make mistakes. Just as you want patience for your mistakes, so should you display patience with others. This does not include implying that your respondents were being impertinent or nosey "in case you were wondering."

When you assume the worst of people, it can be a self fulfilling prophecy.

Next time, start more slowly.

Please.