Unless you travel REALLY light (1 pair pants, 2 shirts, 1 book, plus what you wear on the plane), you might actually want a small rolling suitcase to "backpack" your way around.

If you DO decide to use a backpack, the answer as to which kind depends on how much stuff you plan to haul around.

Actually, I feel like i get a lot more into a backpack than a suitcase that would be small enough to use as a carry-on and also be small enough to maneuver around. I go places that are up lots of stairs quite often, so I like being able to carry my bag on my back.
My backpack is a dozen years old and I don't recall the brand name, but the best way is to try them out yourself--when packed. Try an outdoors shop. The mlc by Patagonia gets good reviews, as do eagle creek and osprey.
On a trip this long, you go to laundromats, so no need to pack that much.

We have a list of countries that we want to see and are planning on taking the eurail around>

some superb web sites for planning a European rail trip and about various passes - www.budgeteuropetravel.com (check out their online European Planning & Rail Guide that IMO is a great primer for learning about trains and has lots of rail itineraries; www.seat61.com and www.ricksteves.com.

For 1.5 months I might consider a one-month Eurailpass, if traveling around enough and spend the other two weeks in the U.K. where the Eurailpass simply does not pass - Britain having their own BritRail Pass and not part of the Eurailpass scheme. Fly into London, work your way to Italy or Greece and fly back home from there for example - the open jaw thing.

Hey guys- thanks for all of your helpful suggestions! I spent about 2 hours today with my boyfriend writing up a sample itinerary. It's kinda lengthy but I'm gonna post it here to get some feedback. Keep in mind that I went through and changed all the dates, we are actually going this spring but for privacy and stalker reasons I changed it to next fall- so disregard the actual months. Like I've mentioned, this is the first time I've done this so please bear with me with this itinerary.. Be nice ok!? :)

Also- I know that getting all these overnight trips is highly highly unlikely so I have added five days onto the end of the trip to account for random times we need to stay somewhere.

Example leave date: August 22. All times and dates tentative to when we want to leave/when we want to return.

Spain August 22-24
• Barcelona
• Fly into Spain- after Spain either take the train across bottom of France to Italy and down Italy, OR fly from Barcelona to Rome (it takes a long time to get from the top of Italy to Rome so if we start at Rome it will be easier)
o Flights from Barcelona to Italy www.ryanair.com
• 3 airports in Barcelona- all fly to either Pisa or Rome- easier to fly to Pisa and take the train to Rome than to go from the top
• Flights start at 19.99 Euro ($26) one way per person
• Stay in Barcelona for 2 nights (Novemberbe 3- pending on what time we arrive)
• If we take the train across through, we will activate the Eurail pass on the last day and take the Eurail to Italy

Italy August 26-September 3
• Eurail from Barcelona to Florence (approx 20 hours)- leave Barcelona in the afternoon/evening and spend the night traveling- pay approx 8 dollars per person for a sleeper car or just sleep on the normal seats while traveling (August 24-25)
• 3 nights in Florence (August 26-28)
• Eurail to Pisa (1.5 hours)
• Visit leaning tower of Pisa, other tourist attractions
• 2 nights in Pisa (August 28-30)
• Train to Rome (3 hours)
• 4 nights in Rome (August 31-September 3)
• Eurail from Rome to Ljubljana, Slovenia (17 hours)
• **Best option would be to fly into Pisa or Rome and then go UP, since it would waste almost two days traveling to go all the way down to Rome and then up to Slovenia)

Slovenia September 4-6
• Ljubljana
• Where/cities we stay in Slovenia is up in the air depending on where long lost relatives are or long lost family friends ☺ BUT will stay in Ljubljana if there’s no where else to go
• 2 nights in Ljubljana (September 4-6)
• Eurail to Salzburg, Austria (4 hours)

Austria September 6-8
• 2 nights in Salzburg
• Sound of Music tour
• Mozart’s birthplace
• Eurail to Prague, Czech Republic (7 hours- overnight train September 8-9)

Czech Republic September 9-12
• Prague
• 4 nights in Prague.
• Eurail to Krakaow, Poland (10 hours- overnight train September 12-13)

Poland September 13-14
• 1 night Krakaow (arrive in AM, 1 day in Krakow) , then sleep
• One day go to Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Oswiecim, (1.5 hours from Krakow)
• Overnight train to Berlin (13 hours) (September 14-15)

Germany September 15-19
• 4 nights in Berlin/rest (September 15-19)
• Visit Friend.
• Eurail from Berlin to Amsterdam (9 hours- overnight train September 19-20)

Netherlands September 20-22
• 2 nights in Amsterdam
• Eurail from Amsterdam to Paris (12 hours- overnight train September 22-23)

France September 23-31
• 4 nights in Paris! (September 23-27)
o Take a day trip to Versailles
• Eurail to lower France (Marseilles, Avignon, Arles, Toulon, Aix-en-Provence- to be decided later)
• Rest of France- 4 nights (September 27-31)

Just a thought... Check out skyscanner if you haven't yet. Shows all the flights and you can do flexible times. I've been using this to find cheap flights to Munich. :)

"One Bag" is a good site for helping you decide which type of luggage for your excursion ..... http://www.onebag.com/bags.html

Your itinerary is still stretched very thin. You'll spend almost as much time getting from one place to another as you spend in that place. I suggest that you keep a journal and use a digital camera (reset the time/date) so you'll know where you were.

For an illustrated introduction to train travel in Europe see http://tinyurl.com/eym5b. Part 3 discusses night trains. Couchettes and sleepers are unisex so you will be split up unless you want to pay top euro for a 1st class T-2 sleeper. For train schedules, route maps, and details for each train see the German Rail site at http://tinyurl.com/c9jp54. Dates should be entered as dd.mm.yy.

Young people are always thinking backpack as if they were hiking over the Himalayas. Most travelers in the civilized world use a 22" soft side roller bag. Go to Staples, Office Depot, or Office Max and see what is available. There is no reason to be a pack mule when you are out having the time of your life.

Kayak is a search engine for airfares. I always start with that because it shows which airline has the lowest fares, usually, and then I go to that airline and start searching for specific flights. In my experience Delta/KLM/AF has the lowest transatlantic fares for me in mid Michigan. From ORD you may have to change in MPS or DTW with Delta. That is a slight detour but it will probably save you money. For your European gateway try Amsterdam first and then Paris. I think it is way too early to be booking a flight for March. If you can go that early the cheapest day of the year to fly is always Christmas Day. The winter weather in most of Europe is much milder than in the Windy City. Open jaw was suggested several times above. I prefer to fly into AMS, make a round trip of Europe, and fly out of AMS. It is an excellent airport and has the best duty free shopping of any airport in Europe.

BTW, 2 nights in Amsterdam is a sin. Make it at least 5.

Just a couple of comments to keep in mind. Ryannair is not very expensive, but you do have to pay for your baggage even if it is carry on and that can be quite expensive. A friend flew from Paris to Barcelona when they were taking a cruise and ended up pay $700US for 2 people (one checked and one carry on per person). I have no idea what they packed, so the weight might have been some of the issue as well.

Also Amsterdam to Paris by train is only about 3 hours.

If I were doing this trip I would spend more time in less places. You have the rest of your life to travel. Bouncing from place to place just so you can see the highlights can be less enjoyable because you are always on the move, packing up and settling back in to the next city.

Amsterdam to Paris yes now just a tad over 3 hours by high-speed trains going nearly 200 mph at times - but they have a Byzantine fare structure with many tiers - just show up and you pay hundreds of bucks more than by booking something far in advance - but those cheaper tickets are I think non-refundable non-changeable so be sure of your date and time. www.thalys.com and www.voyages-sncf.com for Thalys tickets.

A coupleof notes - do check these overnight trains. Some of them actually have several changes of train and no time to sleep. Also some sleeper trains have only compartments - no regular seats at all. Don;t know where you saw a compartment for $8 - that defitely doesn;t sound right.

And overall you are bouncing around like a ping pong ball - will spend a huge amount of time and money getting from one place to another - versus actually visiting most of these places.

I think you need to cut at least half your destinations.