Is 5000 miles realistic in 14-16 days?
 

Basically my gf and I want to go on a trip across Europe visiting a select few football grounds but I'm not sure it'll work out as we've planned it.
We plan to start in Rotterdam, then go into Germany, down to Rome, over to Turin, across the border into France and follow the coast into Spain, up to Madrid and into Portugal. Porto being the last stop then heading straight back across to Paris where we'd spend a couple of days and then back to England.
5000 miles is what we have worked it out to be stadium to stadium. Is this realistic as we have never done anything like this before.
The only other thing that is concerning me is sleeping. We were planning on finding hostels but they don't appear to be as cheap as I was hoping.
Any thoughts welcomed.
THANKS.

It's a great trip if you do not intend to stop and see anything.

It takes less than 14 HOURS to fly 5,000 miles. Of course it's easy to travel 5,000 miles in two weeks.

Assuming you're driving, that averages 400 miles a day: on empty motorways, stopping only to refuel and pee, about 6-8 hours' driving, which is less than most lorry drivers do 300 days a year.

In theory: realistic, and if all you want to do is look at football grounds, possibly feasible. Only you know whether they're all visitable (the first one I checked - the Stadio Olimpico that Lazio uses - is accessible only for matches, and IMHO anyone who treks to Rome just to stare at yet one more pointless Olympic stadium from outside is certifiable)

But a glance at a map will show you the other big flaw: Madrid, Rome and (worst of all) Porto or the other Portuguese stadia are hundreds of miles from anywhere else.

Draw a line from Barcelona to Milan (on a good day, a just-doable drive) to Munich. Go no further east - and roughly half the world's best players play for teams between that line at the Channel, or in Britain. It's easy to do, by road, at least 14 grounds of teams regularly getting into the Champions' League in two weeks if you restrict youirself to the geographically very small global centre of football excellence.

Start faffing about with its periphery (like Madrid or Rome) and you're spending huge amounts of time. Save them up for Ryanair-based daytips or weekends, in conjunction with matches.

My penultimate para should have started:

"Draw a line from Barcelona to Milan (on a good day, a just-doable drive) to Munich. Go no further east - and roughly half the world's best players play for teams between that line AND the Channel, or in Britain."

Stadiums are all you plan to see? Are you driving, flying, taking trains? Does your GF fully understand this trip? If your GF goes for this, she is either crazy or you are one super lucky guy.

It is simply a football stadium trip for my 30th. We're not doing the whole sight-seeing tourist thing. My gf is happy with this!
flanneruk thanks for the Lazio bit. Granted certain parts are quite distanced, all part of it I guess!
Can anyone help with the accommodation bit? I'm now wondering whether taking the tent might be the best option. What do you think?
THANKS.

When are you going and from where are you starting? That affects the feasibility of a tent. If you are from the UK, and it's no later than September then a tent makes sense perhaps. Consider AirBnB and couchsurfing also perhaps.

De Kuip offers tours, which you need to book online. There is a real chance they are in Dutch only, since the website seems to be only Dutch. http://www.dekuip.nl.blisservices.nl...ap-rondleiding

If you want to see a match there then go to www.feyenoord.com but avoid a match against ADO or Ajax.

The ArenA offers tours in English: http://www.amsterdamarena.nl/Tours/T...adium-Tour.htm

Neither is that cheap.

You said hostels are too expensive. My nmpression was that they were bargains. Exactly how much per night did you plan on spending - and is that per bed or for both of you?

If your budget is super low you may have to try for couchsurging - not easy for two people.

Not sure how much cheaper tent camping will be.

Assume you are driving your own car. Have you figured out the cost of tolls and fuel - as well as the cost to use the campgrounds?

The problem with a tent is setting up and taking down and buying something to eat while still doing 400 miles a day.

From mid-France south, expect shops and cafes to close from half past one until at least half past four. Shops are usually closed on Sundays after one.

If I were turning 30, I might give it a shot, but it could cost you your gf.

We are planning for May next year. We'll be starting in Rotterdam before heading down into Germany.
We too were under the assumption that hostels would be the cheaper option but many were coming up at ridiculously high prices. £70 was around the average!
We have looked at the options of hiring a campervan, flying from city to city aswell as taking our own car and it appears that driving our own car is the best option. We have an estimated fuel allowance of around £900 and this is definately the cheapest option so far.
Why on earth could it cost me my gf?!

If this isn't a troll post, moving around 5000 miles looking at things which basically are the same and staying in a tent, it should be one.

Why don't you shorten the trip so you can afford to stay in hostels?

This is definately a real post thank you Dukey1

Well I thought about shortening the trip or even spreading it over a couple of trips but it's not something we are going to do again so that's why we decided to do it in one big trip.

If you mean 70 euros for the two of you - I can't imagine you will find anything much cheaper than that except free (couchsurfing?).

Not sure what campgrounds would cost.

You are finding out that Europe is not a "bargain" destination! Your trip sounds like something my husband and I might have done in our 20's (but we didn't start our twice-yearly trips to Europe until much later in life). If your gf truly understands what you are planning, you should be fine. If she is hoping to see some sights, I'm afraid you are not allowing much (if any) time for that. All of that togetherness (and possibly in a tent) could be stressful on both of you.........(maybe). My husband and I are approaching our 50th anniversary. We could have survived this sort of travel at your ages. Not everyone can!

If you are in your own car, in May, then take the tent. Campsites will be easy to find and not expensive for a small tent and two people. Added advantage s you can do supermarket shopping and not have to eat out every day.

I say go for it, but be prepared to be a bit flexible about things, and maybe just slow down a tad so you can enjoy the scenery, not just the football stadiums.
You need to be aware of what vignettes and tolls you will pay. I expect the AA or RAC websites can tell you all of that.
Make sure you have your EHIC cards too.

You only live once, give it a go!

Planing a Top Gear challenge?

simpsonc510 - my girlfriend does fully understand the trip, it isn't a sightseeing trip! I appreciate what you are saying though.
hetismij2 - thank you. Yes we already have EHIC cards and having done a trip across France down to Val Cenis a few years ago I now know just how many tolls there are in France :-)
ribeirasacra - a top gear challenge eh?!

. We have an estimated fuel allowance of around £900 and this is definately the cheapest option so far>

cheaper than an Inter-Rail Pass - I doubt it - check that pass out - issued only to European (including Britain for the moment) residents - car costs can add up - parking can be $20-30 a day some places (like Holland) in cities and many cities do not let you even drive in their congested city centers - public transit is excellent.

You can sleep on overnight trains too - save on the cost of a hostel or campsite - camping sites are everywhere but ubiquitously on the remote edges of urban areas and cars going into city centers again is a bad idea and an expensive proposition. Camping makes sense for exploring rural areas but for large cities like that you'll also have to pay to commute longer distances to the city centers.

See www.seat61.com for lots on European trains with a British connection.

PalenQ - thanks for your advice. The inter-rail pass I shall look up. I'll be honest it isn't something I've heard of before. I'm not sure that's the route we'd like to go down but I won't rule it out. As for the city centre bit, I shall be intending to keep away from them if possible anyway.

Rail is probably a no-no if you are thinking of caming as you'll never manage to carry all the gear....

I think food from grocery stores & tent camping is your only hope (if you can't afford ~40euro per night per person for a hostel stay).

Tent camping can be cheap but if you have a camping car it will be much more expensive, still less than hostel prices for two but not as cheap as tent camping. A regular car and tent camping may be the cheapest of all options - camping car the next but rail the fastest and transportation-wise perhaps the cheapest.

Holy moley!

Thank you PalenQ I think tent will be best.
Holy moley why?!

You should get down on your knees and thank god for your girlfriend.

If a boyfriend had proposed this to me he would have been out the door - IMHO sounds fatal (rushed, uncomfortable, boring and nothing any fun)

Can people stop putting their opinions about how I should be thankful that my girlfriend is up for this and "does she fully understand".... To set the record straight it was my girlfriends idea!
I'm asking certain questions about your opinions on travel/accommodation, not whether I'm lucky or my girlfriend is a saint!
Everyone likes different things!

I would do it if DH proposed the idea. Not the tent part, too old and creaky for tents, but heck, yes a road trip around Europe, even if it is visiting football grounds, why not?
Go for it, have a terrific time, remember to be flexible, and keep your sense of humour.
Do come back and tell us about it, please.

>>Rail is probably a no-no if you are thinking of caming as you'll never manage to carry all the gear....<<

Many thousands of Inter-railers over the years would disagree with that. I inter-railed around Europe several times in my student days. First trip I stayed in hostels but on seubsequent trips I took a small tent and basic camping equipment in a rucksack. I used to leave the main rucksack in station lockers and just carried a small daypack while sightseeing. Between two able-bodied young people this shouldn't be too difficult and could be an option if you really wanted to keep the costs to an absolute minimum.

Thanks hetismij2 and Gordon_R much appreciated feedback.

My younger days I also did exactly what Gordon R did - train and camp - all cities have camps rather easily accessible by public transport or even a minor train station - Paris, London, Florence, etc all - right in or near the city limits and this could be, with an Inter-Rail Pass, the cheapest way to go.

Do not dismiss that idea but do pack as light as possible.

Grab your tent, a couple of sleeping bags, a few days worth of clothes and GO!! It will only get harder as you get older - embrace your youth and do it!

What's the worst that can happen? After a week you discover you don't like all the driving, so you camp in one spot for the rest of your vacation, or you drive straight back home.

Even if it goes terribly wrong, it will be a great story to tell when you are older.

But, I would cut out Rome, to save some miles, and go back to that amazing city when you have a little more time. :-)

Thanks PalenQ it is definately a possible option.
Getting bored of driving is something that concerns me slightly so these are some good ideas :-)

I like this whole idea of this trip, but do think 5000 miles is a LOT with only two weeks time. As I believe one or more already suggested, would you maybe want to cut out a couple of the destinations (cross off the ones geographically furthest away) to reduce the time in the car somewhat?

Cheers suze, yeah to be honest I'm thinking of cutting out Portugal for a start. I am thinking it will be too rushed now.

Even if you did 3000 miles in two weeks... would still be quite the trip! Less miles covered also would cut down on expenses a small bit, besides freeing up a little time to do something besides drive most of the day every day.

Not that I have much interest in football, or that I personally would want to move around that much, but I think a road/rail trip around Europe sounds like fun! Are you actually planning to go to any games or just checking out the stadiums?

Another option for lodging is to look on VRBO and Airbnb. Since you're not necessarily interested in staying in the city center anyway, I bet you could find places for 80 euro (or less) per night in some of these cities. We found an apt through VRBO for an upcoming trip to Rome. Just do your due diligence when picking a place. Might be a good way to break up the camping.

No we aren't doing games, just stadia! Ok I'll check those two out thanks

I think this sounds like fun. But I'd have a plan B for when it stops being fun. You could get pretty strung out with so much driving and the stress of finding your way to the stadium and finding a new place to stay each night.

To get lower prices for lodging, don't stay in a city or even near one. The countryside is where the bargains are.

Our friend stayed in a hostel in a very small town. I just checked their 2014 prices--8 to 16 euro per person plus 4.70 euro if you use their sheets.

Also, there are municipal and private campsites just about everywhere in France.

You can camp on farms. See the Bienvenue a la ferme website.

http://www.bienvenue-a-la-ferme.com/

If you have a camping van, you can camp free at a network of farms and vineyards. One night only, which should suit you.

https://www.france-passion.com/

When we camped in France a long time ago, several of our campsites were at the town's football stadium. These were a far cry from the Camp Nou or the Stade de France!

I hope you write a trip report when you get back. Have fun.