Fellow Travelerslanning a trip to Europe.What countries worth seeing,best method of traveln own vs Tour vs Barge vs train ect.Costs on own vs tours.Other ideas. Maybe only trip needs to be all encompassing.Thanks.

Monique, first of all, you're going to have to pass along a lot more information before anyone can help you: How long will the trip be? What time of the year? How much do you want to spend? Etc., etc., etc. <BR>Next, your inquiry is so broad and vague, it's kind of difficult to offer any advice, since we know nothing of your interests, age (that could influence any advice), etc., etc., etc. <BR>I would further suggest you do some reading of travel books and other research.

I haven't yet found a European country not worth visiting. <BR> <BR>I prefer on own v. tour. <BR> <BR>I prefer train to barge. I've never travelled on a barge, but it sounds unappealing. <BR> <BR>Other ideas would be going to library or bookstore & doing lots of reading before booking passage. <BR> <BR>Have a great trip, <BR>j.

Monique, congrats on planning your trip. First of all, as suggested above you need to go out and buy a few good guide books, Fodor's, Frommer's, Eyewitness guides, Rick Steves etc. Then sit down and draw up a list of things you A) Might like to see if you have time B) Really want to see or C) Gotta see or you are gonna scream. Prioritize from there. Sadly I just hate to tell you this, but one trip to Europe, IMHO, Can not be "all encompassing" impossible to do... a lifetime in each place could not be all encompassing. I suppose if you have a month and zip at light speed from train station to trainstation, you could cover most of the big cities and countries, but what is the point of doing that? <BR> <BR> After have read up on your guide books, and made your lists, sit down with a nice map of Europe and plan a rout that makes sense to you.Consider budget, some countries are relatively inexpensive (Greece for example) however Parts of Italy are REALLY Pricy and Denmark or London can be pretty high end too. Also consider climate, you may not want to be in Sweden in February, or Paris in August when most of the locals are gone. <BR> <BR>Once you have a general idea of where you are going figure out the best way to get there, personally I recommend training it between the majors (Rome, Paris, Florence, Munich etc,) and then getting a car for a day or two here and there to explore the countryside, (Tuscany for example or the Rhineland) <BR> <BR>Then find out how many nights you can stay at each place given the sights you want to see there. <BR> <BR>Then pick out hotels based on your guide books and this forum. <BR> <BR>Lastly meals..(obviously this isn't cut and dried but this is the method that works best for ME, you need to find what works for you. It's pretty easy all things considered, though it may seem daunting at first. Bon Voyage

It depends on the country, and your interests. <BR> <BR>Barge not so hot in Andorra or Monaco. <BR> <BR>Train not so great on the Faeroe islands. <BR> <BR>And the best way to make your "only trip" to be adequately "all-encompassing" would be to sell your house, car and all other possessions and plan on never coming back. <BR>

We looked at a Rick Steve's tour, tailored the itinerary more to suit our flight plans and interests (fewer stops, more days in each), built a spreadsheet that calcualted hotel costs, estimated meal prices, car rental, etc. Our price came out at about 65% of the RS Tour. Took our amazing trip and loved every minute. Hit our budget almost precisely (and we really didn't keep track day-to-day, either).