4 Months in Europe
 

Hi,
I am a student from India and will be spending 4 months ( Jan - April) in Europe on an exchange program, specifically France. I have a few questions before I start my planing.

1. Should I buy a Eurorail Ticket for 3 months? Or is there a cheaper way to travel in Europe? I plan to visit all the countries and don't want to miss a single one.

2. There are a lot of things on net which claim to be ' Don't Miss'. Should I go with that list, or should I make my own? I cant possibly cover all the cities in all the countries on Europe.

3. I am a vegetarian ( No Eggs, No Meat). Will it be difficult for me to find food there or in any country specifically?

4. What would be the cheapest way to stay while I am travelling other countries? Should I plan for an over night train or should I stay in the country?

Thanks

1. How many days will you actually have available for traveling? Depending on how many travel days you'll actually have, a rail pass might not be the most cost-effective way to travel. For example, inter-country bus tickets can be had very inexpensively.

2. Pick your countries, then see what is available then YOU decide what YOU want to see.

3. It won't be a problem at all. Worst case scenario is that you have to go to an Asian, Indian, or Turkish restaurant. Plus you can always get food from grocery stores.

4. Overnight trains are a great way to ensure that you are too exhausted to see everything you want to see. Look into couchsurfing and hostels (although in some places, a hotel may be priced competitively with a hostel).


I presume your school visa will cover you for those three months?

Usually people on exchange programs are busy during the week and can travel mostly only on weekends. A rail pass doesn't pay off unless you travel more frequently than that, even if you're under 26 and eligible for the youth pass.

Once you're in France, you'll find information about lots of special offers than make train travel cheaper. There will almost certainly be special prices for travel on the weekends, and for filling up trains at other periods of low demand. There are always discounts for advance purchase (at least two weeks in advance, better three or four.) There may be a youth card that would be worth your trouble purchasing. Here is a page that I found on the sncf (French Railways) that has a box you can click to get an alert for special offers:

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/lespetitsprix

Whether an overnight train is a good idea depends on the person. I've taken overnight trains on numerous occasions and I can always get a good night's sleep on a moving train, so it doesn't exhaust me. Some people are kept awake by the sound of the brakes screeching when going around curves or coming into stations.

I would suggest that you not try to visit every single country in Europe on this trip. I assume you're young, and will be back other times. Try to decide which places you really want to see most, and read up about them, rather than relying on the recommendations of people who may not share your interests at all.

The first time I was in Europe I was fairly young (and had two children). I had never traveled outside North America before, and wanted to see everything. However, I was working (in the Netherlands) and so was only able to travel on weekends and on public holidays. I began a plan of visiting something nearby most weekends, and planning longer trips for the times where a holiday gave me more than two days off work in a row. I really wanted to visit both Spain and Italy, but these were rather far away (before the days of cheap inter-Europe flights), so I reluctantly decided I had to pick one. I chose Spain and went there over the long Easter weekend. I regretted not seeing Italy, but I soon got another chance and now I live in Italy!

If you'll be staying near Paris, London is an easy destination. If you buy the tickets well in advance, you can get good prices on the Eurostar train to London. Other easy destinations are Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands. Try to sometimes pick a smaller city rather than the capital city in these countries, for example Lucerne or Bern rather than Zurich in Switzerland; Antwerp or Ghent rather than Brussels in Belgium. (I'm not suggesting these cities, just giving you examples. You should read about the countries and decide which places would interest you the most.)

1. I will have weekends off. Plus there will be 2 short term breaks of 7 days each.

2. I will have the visa for the duration of 4 months.

Where in France? Your location will make a difference in what you can do on a weekend and the cost required.

1. Should I buy a Eurorail Ticket for 3 months? Or is there a cheaper way to travel in Europe? I plan to visit all the countries and don't want to miss a single one.>

Not a 3-month consecutive pass but yes probably to the Global Eurail Youth Flexipass which gives you 10 or 15 days of unlimited travel in most any country except the UK - flexible days use them when you want - need not be consecutive.

Point is if studying in one place you may only have weekends to travel and a consecutive-day pass would be a waste of money if you could not use it much of the time.

But on weekends hop an overnight train to practically anywhere across Europe - say Paris to Munich or Berlin or Spain or Nice, etc - spend the weekend there and night train back. A night train only uses up one day on a flexipass if you leave after 7 pm as most doe the next day is your unlimited travel day - meaning leaving Paris on a night train to Munich and your pass will still be valid the whole next day to go anywhere. (So-called 7 pm rule on night trains with passes).

Eurail (Youth if you are under 26) Flexipasses are valid at most however for a 2-month period and you'll be traveling 3 months - well marshall you longer train trips into the two-month period.

If you want to narrow down the scope of where you will be training to at most 4 countries then the Eurail (Youth) Select Flexipass lets you chose any 4 countries and if a much cheaper rate for the same number of days as is the Global Eurail (Youth) Flexipass.

Or if spending time traveling around the UK then if you have bought a Eurail Youthpass of any kind you can qualify for 50% off a BritRail Youth Pass - making train travel around the UK very cheap (and a pass there lets you hop on any train anytime).

For lots of great info on European trains and passes I always spotlight these IMO superb sites: www.ricksteves.com; www.seat61.com (emphasizes more discounted tickets over passes) and www.budgeteuropetravel.com - download tha latter's free and superb IMO European Planning & Rail Guide for lots of suggested rail itineraries in all countries.

Grenoble.

Yes where in France will you be based studying? Does make a big difference in what is available for weekend jaunts and overnight trains.

You have many, many options.

Just a few weekend examples--Grenoble by rail is roughly 3 hours to Paris, 2 to Lyon and one to Geneva. From Lyon, you can easily connect to travel on to the Riviera/Côte d'Azur. From Geneva, short rail trips take you into the heart of Switzerland--imo Geneva is boring and expensive but you willl find most of Switzerland expensive.

In addition to researching PalenQ's suggestions, check idtgv fares on voyages-sncf. These are very good value and come on sale three months' out but remain available usually for several weeks.

Vegetarians usually have few problems--large cities will of course have the most options including many ethnic restaurants--Chinese, Thai, Indian, North African which almost always have great vegetarian choices.

Some vegetarian options may include cheese, don't know how you feel about that, but certainly not all.

Your school might have good info on student discount and "deals" so check with them before you get there.

Thanks all for the reply. What warm clothes should I carry with me? Or should I go with the basics and buy stuff there? Which would be better? There would be price restriction and also the luggage restriction in the flight.

I would bring your clothing from home. Wear your winter coat on the plane. Think of it as having enough to get you thru 7-10 days in a cooler climate. And know you'll need to do laundry. Don't take a huge, heavy suitcase. There's no reason to.

From the U.S., the exchange students I know travelled to a europe with one large suitcase ( checked luggage), one small rolling carryon or duffle bag and one backpack for their laptop etc. The carryon is used for weekend trips within Europe and backpack is used for transporting laptop and books to class. The only time the large suitcase is used is for travel back and forth to home.

Bookmarking

Bring anything you can from home IMO - things across the board are much more expensive in most European countries IME.

Virtually all countries understand the idea of eating veggie, even the most meat focused like Slovenia will comprehend it. But just take care that no one offers you "gravy with that" for instance or assume that pastry has only butter in it not lard. France should be ok and is a good place to start, worse case you may need to eat egg. The ones I worry about (and only in a small way) are
Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and ones you should avoid anyway like Ukraine and Moldova.

What I've seen is a samll card with the word transalated into a bunch of local languages just to make sure people understand.

Ukraine: where even the 100% vegetarian borscht is made with beef stock. That's why it's so delicious.

A quick advice guys : visit to 20 countries in small duration or a proper detailed visit to 5-6 countries?

It's not clear if you are vegetarian (fairly easy to deal with, although most French restaurants focus on meat) or vegan (no eggs or cheese or milk, etc) which can be much more tricky.

Definitely research restaurants in advance in Grenoble - if that's where you will be staying.

And agree you can't begin to see every country in europe in the time you have - and you might want to consider ranking them be expensive (Switz and Scan are VERY expensive, central europe and Portugal/Spain less so) or based on the sights that are YOUR must sees. Then look at the weather- to see the best time to go where. And don;t forget that holidays can affect not only travel but what sights are open.

Grenoble doesn't appear to well served for veggie or vegan food. However, there are a couple of restaurants and some health food stores that appear to be able to accommodate you.

http://www.happycow.net/europe/france/grenoble/

Don't forget that if other students have similar dietary requirements to yourself, the campus itself might have relevant information for you.

There are several Indian restaurants listed for Grenoble that might be of use on www.indiandinner.com:

Bombay 7687 7180 60 cours Jean-Jaurès Grenoble
Indira Gandhi 7648 5680 152 Cours Berriat Grenoble
Namastay 7654 2989 2 rue Renauldon Grenoble
Punjabi 04 7625 3588 6 Rue Renauldon Grenoble
Rajah 7647 6803 3 Blvd Gambetta Grenoble

Grenoble doesn't appear to well served for veggie or vegan food. However, there are a couple of restaurants and some health food stores that appear to be able to accommodate you.>any sizable French town with have at least one FLUNCH if not several - these cafeterias offer all you can eat veggies and non-meat dishes at a great low price - self-service.

http://www.francetravelthemes.pro/en...h-restaurants/