Help with 10 Day Europe Trip!
 

Hello all,

I am looking for help with planning a trip. I have never traveled anywhere before, and I really would love to go to Europe. I am planning this trip with a friend. I'll have just finished a medical board exam, and this is the only time off I will have for a while!!!

I have 10 days to travel: April 20-30 (I could get in in the early AM hours of 4/31 if need be)
My budget is ~$2000/ person, including airfare. I would be flying out of LAX, but back home to MSY (New Orleans). Low cost is definitely a priority for me!

I would ideally like to see ~3 cities (+/- 1 depending on location) and travel by train between them since this seems to be the most wallet-friendly and I can see some countryside as well. Though, I am good with any alternatives, if plane rides between are better.

Background: I am 25, enjoy beer, vegetarian-friendly food, and would love to see some ancient history - I would really like to see Rome. Barcelona appeals to me as well, but mostly because I can speak a little Spanish and it would be neat to use it. Ultimately, thought, I am open to any city! I do actually enjoy art. I would love to see places where I can explore by foot, enjoy outdoor markets, see museums (preferably not too expensive). I do like the idea of quaint towns and seeing the country-side, though that is not a must. It would be fun to see at least one city with a fun nightlife scene.

Thank you all very much in advance!

<i>(I could get in in the early AM hours of 4/31 if need be)</i>

Somehow, I doubt you could.

Italy would be an obvious choice because you mentioned Rome. You could do a quick trip between Rome - Florence - Venice (all by train), if you can find an airfare that works. (If that interests you, fly into Venice out of Rome, because if you go in the other direction, flying early out of Venice require an expensive water taxi to the airport.) Try the website www.cross-pollinate.com for cheap lodgings in all of the towns, or stay in hostels to save money. In Venice, you may be tempted to stay in Mestre (mainland) to save money, but try not to - Venice is best at night and in the morning, and you would miss that if you stay in Mestre.

Or - Paris and Amsterdam by train. Or London and Paris, but those are expensive cities.

Or - Barcelona and Rome if you can fly between them.

There are many choices. Try Kayak.com to check airfares.

Although it's common to do open jaws into/out of Europe (into one city, out of another), it may be difficult to find a cheap airfare if flying out of LAX, back to MSY. You might want to fly yourself one way ahead of time or afterward to get a better round trip fare (or open jaw to/from the same US city) perhaps on Southwest.

i think you need to do a little work to try to hone in and what you want to do as the options are quite large. Pick up even a used copy of Lets Go Europe or Rick Steves or Rough Guide or... and do some reading. Budget of $2000 including airfare is not a lot of money. Might cost you $1200 just for airfare from LAX and returning to MSY. Would look at some discount carriers such as Norwegian, Condor and Icelandic for airfares. Air New Zealand sometimes has good prices to London. The trains may or may not be your best bet for travel within Europe. Low cost carriers such as Ryan and Easyjet may be quite cost competitive and can save time depending on distance. Costs tend to be higher in some countries such as Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland. Cities such as London, Paris and Venice can be quite expensive. Time is also not on your side as you only have 9 days on the ground and one of them is your arrival day. Moving to another city wastes about a half day. Trying to see three cities only gives you about 7 days outside of Travel. Moving also costs money, perhaps $100 each time. Booking trains and planes way ahead of time can save significant money. I would stick to two cities. Consider London and Paris, London or Paris plus Rome, Rome and Venice or Florence. If you get a great fare to Europe you may wish to work around that fare and it's destination(s). You will also need to look at inexpensive hotels for your possible destinations which will be difficult given you cost limits. Are you an MS-4?

Regarding trains, from Paris to Londond << You'll catch the finest charges by booking as soon as the seats are free, usually few days in advance>> - that is bad advice. You need to book these a few months in advance, not days. That's true for many trains all over Europe, in particular any long-haul onese. So if you are visiting in April and need to stick to a budget, you need to figure this out quickly and arrange your transportation.

I, too, would stick to two cities. After that, with only 10 days, you are sacrificing visiting time with packing, moving, and transport.

The problem are your budget restrictions. You won't get far with $800 for 10 days, including transport.

There are four things to consider:

Firstly, the airfare.
Secondly, the costs within your destination city.
Thirdly, the costs of secondary cities in your destination country.
Fourthly, the transportation costs in your destination country.

I give you examples.

There are countries in Europe which are expensive, moderately expensive or inexpensive.

The expensive countries include:

- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- France
- Italy
- Scandinavia

The moderately expensive countries include:

- Germany
- Austria
- Spain

The inexpensive countries include:

- Greece
- Eastern Europe

This website will give you an idea about the cost of living in different countries and cities (zoom into the map):

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/

My first idea was, go to Greece, but I am afraid airfare from USA to Greece is higher than to other European countries. If you get reasonable airfare to Greece, do it. It is a fantastic country, full of history, archeology, picturesque towns and villages and, at least at certain places, nightlife. And it is incredible cheap. Imagine a double room in a good hotel for 40€, a souflaki skewer for 2€, a full meal including wine for 10€.

Then comes the question of cities. The big cities, where you will fly in, are usually more expensive than the countryside. London, Paris, Rome are very expensive cities (while Berlin and Madrid are fairly inexpensive). With your budget, you will probably stay in hostels, that makes it a bit better.

In the countryside, you will be cheaper, but then you have more transport costs. You are already too late for cheap train tickets and for the countryside you may even need a rental car or you stick to public buses which may be cumbersome to use.

So, you have many trade-offs between the above mentioned criteria.

Be aware that your budget is VERY tight. Select a destination that is affordable for you. You will find great culture, art, history, picturesque towns, nightlife anywhere in Europe.

Sorry - but I think your budget will just not do it.

The biggest item is your airfare and that can easily be $1200. You need to determine that NOW to see if this trip is possible at all in your budget. If you can by some miracle come up with air fare for $500 - you can afford the tip. If not, you just don;t have enough for lodgings, food (even picnics), sightseeing, transit within cities and transit between cities.

As noted intercity transit can usually be had at discounted rates - but at 90 or 120 days out and you re already way too late - so may be stuck with full fares - which could eat up another major portion of your budget (up to $200 or $300 or even more).

And agree that you need to avoid the most expensive countries and stick to ones with moderate to modest prices.

Suggest you spend this weekend with the Let's Go Europe book or Lonely Planet guide to see how suer budget travel will work. But IMHO you don't have enough money unless you couch surf, walk everywhere and stick to eating food from the daily markets while sitting in a park.

Sorry - for instance - the cheapest eurostar tickets available now for London to Paris on 4/13 range from $87 to $104 depending on convenience of train. As you get closer these will rise.

IMO -- if you really want to do this you need to pick ONE city . . . and select it based on where you can get to for the cheapest airfare. You simply don't have enough money for a multi-city, semi-last minute trip. Inter-city trains alone will eat up a big chunk of your limited $$. Say you are lucky and find airfare around $900 or $1000 - that leaves you less than $150 a day for everything else. When you consider that has to include food, accommodations, entrance fees, in-city transport, inter-city trains, country-side excursions, or nightlife - pretty tough.

If you had months to plan you could probably do it cheaper because you'd have time to search out deals - especially on flights.

Thank you everyone for the replies thus far! I greatly appreciate the insight on expensive v inexpensive cities.

A few of you mentioned cost. Suppose I tacked on an additional $500, would that be more feasible?

I realize that I don't have much time to plan and this is rather last minute. Obviously this is not to my advantage, but I want to see what I can do!

And @mjs, I am an MS-2. Just finished classes and have now started Step studying for my exam on April 13. MS-3 starts May 2!

@andrew, whoops. It would indeed be impossible to arrive anywhere April 31. Suppose this is what happens after taking an exam in the morning, studying all afternoon, then writing a post late at night.

Seems like you don't have the free time to research this trip -- which you'll need to do to keep within your budget. Can your friend take over the research?

>>A few of you mentioned cost. Suppose I tacked on an additional $500, would that be more feasible?<<

Sure, $2500 is better than $2000, but whether it is doable <i>entirely</i> depends on what airfare you can find.

With $2500 you can make it, maybe even with less, but be prepared to make some compromises. And better forget London, Paris, Scandinavia and Switzerland.

I suggest you look for flights first and then come back to ask about destinations.

As others are getting at, it's your airfare that's going to make or break this.

Then I suggest doing only one city, rent an apartment, and stay there the entire 10 days. That way you can keep costs on the ground lower by walking and using public transportation, shopping at the grocery store instead of eating out, finding free things to see and do, etc.

Paris would work well for this. But so might Rome, Amsterdam, Barcelona, etc.

I would start with pricing plane tickets and see what you can find, for your dates, from your already specified USA destinations... for round-trip to various European cities. If you can bring that in for under $1000, you might have a chance to make this work (allowing you only $100 per day on the ground for everything else, which is tight but possible).

Adding $500 is good.

Shortening the trip to 1-week is another way to "increase" your budget (same budget for 7 days gives you $142/day rather than $100/day for 10 days).

I too agree that less will be more cuz I have a feeling you will catch the travel bug and will have many more trips ahead of you.
Rome is an excellent choice. I would emerse myself deep. Rent apt for your 7-8 nights. I suggest near Campo de Fiore.Visit all the sites that interest you. Spend time in cafes watching the world go by. Take local buses around the city.
Absorb. Observe.
Take a day trip to countryside or the sea.

>>And better forget London, Paris, Scandinavia and Switzerland.<<

I wouldn't necessarily forget about either London or Paris. It is very possible you can get flights into London or Paris cheaper than other destinations. If flying to London is $300 or $400 cheaper (which it sometimes can be) then That is where I'd go. In London most of the museums are free -- they would adds a lot to the costs in other cities. There are some good Hostels in London - all in all one can have a very budget-concious trip to London.

But EVERYTHING hangs on what airfare you find to where.

Portugal is pretty cheap and full of fascinating places to visit. You'll do well in Lisbon or Porto and even the train between is cheap.

Some tips that apply to pretty much all your choices:

- scout out all outbound airports within driving distance. We saved more than half off our airfare by driving 5 hours to Toronto, even when we added in fuel and parking costs.

- use several websites to hunt up good airfare (vayama, hipmunk, kayak, etc) but beware third-party airfare companies

- stay in youth hostels (your budget will only afford a bed in a dorm, but that's OK). Look for hostels that offer a free breakfast and accept the fact that you'll be gorging on that breakfast and then skipping at least lunch.

- DON'T get a rail pass. Prebook specific trips (limited and necessary only) and walk everywhere else. It's the best way to really experience a new place.

- hunt up free or deeply discounted attractions in whatever cities you're going to. We rarely pay admission, and if we do it's normally at a substantial discount.

IF the budget goes up to $2500/per person & the friend will split the rent on an apartment & you only go for one week & to only one city... this becomes totally easily doable.

I am going to take a slightly different tact and tell you to try to come up with a little more money to make this trip. Take out a slightly larger loan for next year?
Over the long haul time is your most precious commodity. The extra $500- $1000 will be insignificant in comparison to the cost of your education. I think $1100-1200 will probably be about as good as it gets for you for airfare. This leaves you only $1300 for everything else for 9 nights if you budget $2500. If you don't eat in restaurants you can feed yourself for about $25/day or ~$250. One move will cost you $70 -$120. This leaves you about $950 for housing, local transportation, bars, museums etc. Look into Airbnb for housing. I have not used this option but many people I have met recently in Europe seem to like them. Hostels are cheap but I have never been a fan even at $25/night. You can find inexpensive hotels even in London for about $50/person a night in a twin. Staying in an apartment in one location will save you money but at the expense of seeing more of Europe for your first trip. I would recommend London /Paris or London/Rome. Lots to do and see rather than just one cheaper location.
Westwood or South Central?