My 1st Backpacking Trip - 2 Months. Help!!!
 

A good guy friend of mine and I are going to be taking a 2-month backpacking trip through Europe between Sept 15th and Nov 20th. I am familiar with Europe as I have traveled there a couple times before but I have never backpacked. We are flying into Frankfurt and are basically winging it from there.

We will most likely be purchasing a eurail pass to get around but I had one question about it. For example, if we purchased the youth global pass for unlimited travel in a 2-month period, is there still a cost per train ticket? Or is that eurail pass fee the only cost for transport, as long as its not a special/night train, or bus/ferry transport?

Also, I need suggestions on a good backpack that is also economical in price.

Please help! Thank you! Candice--

See www.ricksteves.com/rail/usepass.htm.

You need to have some idea of your itinerary to be able to evaluate if a train pass of any kind will save you money or not.

There's nothing magical about packing in a backpack. You can use a duffle bag or small roller suitcase just as easily and still have a fancy-free unplanned trip. It's not about the luggage.

What a coincidence! My friends and I are going on "backpacking" trip from Sep 15-Nov 20 as well. I'm not sure if it would be backing though. However, we are flying into Spain-> France-> Italy-> Greece. We've mapped out the cities that we plan to travel. Also, After doing some research (through Ryanair and Easyjet), we found it less expensive to fly into the countries instead of purchasing the Eurorail pass.

Does anyone have "must-do" and "must-see" recommendations for college graduates on a budget in these countries?

Discount airlines often make their money on overweight baggage fees. Make sure your backpacks or whatever are well under their maximum.

In Rome, you have to go through the Vatican. Get there early as the line can get kinda long.

I am planning a backpacking trip to Europe and have been using www.backpackeurope.com for most my research. They also have a nice bulletin board where you can ask questions at http://cybermessageboard.hypermart.net/kaaryn/index.php where people that backpack can answer your questions.
Doing research I found the eurail pass to be a good deal in Germany (not sure where else you plan on going) and the only other fees you might pay are for night trains and then sometimes they have manditory reservations for faster trains.

www.eurtrip.com

Outstanding site for backpackers - great forums and lots of other info. There are lots of great tips here too, but the average poster here stays in higher end accomodations, eats at nicer restaurants, is older, and won't be seeking information like "what are the best nightclubs in _____"