I am planning a trip to Europe in April/May 99. I want to see as much of Europe as possible in 2 months, but I also want to remember where I've been at the end!!! <BR>Plan to see France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Austria, Germany, Netherlands. <BR>So the question is should I go on a TOUR (if so WHICH ONE) or BACKPACK it and go by Eurorail?? <BR>I have a good but modest budget. <BR>Any help would be fantastic

Dear Cathy: I had to ask myself the same question when I made my first trip abroad in 1957. I wound up combining some of each (with the help of a British travel agency called the Workers Travel Association--an off-shoot of the Labour Party but one which I don't think exists any more). With their help I did Paris on my own;went by train to visit friends then stationed at Orleans; went by train (and by myself) from Orleans to Nice where I hooked up with a local hostess connected with the WTA; traveled by bus from Nice to Genoa where I joined a two-week tour of Italy run by Globus; left them in Venice and proceeded on my own to Vienna where I joined a number of day tours around the area. I could go on but I trust you get the picture. I found numerous advantages to this approach but the biggest one was that I met a lot of very nice people--but wasn't stuck with any of them longer than I wanted to be. The fact that it was unusual to meet single American ladies traveling at that time made me seem more interesting to the people who shared my compartment, I'm sure (I always traveled second class; my fellow passengers were very chatty). I also had made a point of brushing up my French before I left home. I wasn't fluent--but I wasn't afraid to try either and Europeans admired that. Single travelers may not be as unique now as we were in 1957; but I still think if you're friendly, polite, and interested in the place you're visiting you'll be well received. Have a great trip--and if there's any other way I can help drop me a line. Joan

Cathy, <BR>Do it yourself and backpack, in the end I think you will get much more out of your trip. Get Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door, it is an excellent guide for first time travellers. It also has a chapter on women travelling alone. You may want to check out eurotrip.com, they have an excellent bulletin board for backpackers.

Cathy, <BR>Do it yourself and backpack, in the end I think you will get much more out of your trip. Get Rick Steve's Europe Through the Back Door, it is an excellent guide for first time travellers. It also has a chapter on women travelling alone. You may want to check out eurotrip.com, they have an excellent bulletin board for backpackers.

Cathy: Go on your own! What this means is more planning on your part, but the trip can be so much better. <BR> <BR>If you are going on April/May 99, the decision has to be made SOON, as you need to start planning your trip PRONTO! Start drafting an itinerary, so you'll know where to arrive/depart. This forum is a good start for ideas. Get guidebooks and read to get ideas of what you are interested on seeing. <BR>

Do it on your own, for sure. I did my first trip at 20-21, for nine weeks with my best friend, in April/May 95. Now that I've done a bit of travelling, I look at tour itineraries and can't possibly see having fun on one. They move too fast... and that's saying a lot coming from someone who rarely spends more than two nights in one place whilst traveling. <BR> <BR>Here's our itinerary: <BR> <BR>London, York, Edinburgh, Lakes District, Cotswolds, Cardiff, Bath, Paris, Colmar, Interlaken and Jungfrau region, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Rome, Sorrento and Pompeii, Athens, Santorini, Florence, Venice, Salzburg, Munich, Fussen and Neushwanstein, Romantic Road, Rhine River cruise, Hamburg, Amsterdam, back to London, Winchester, and back to London again. <BR> <BR>We spent almost a week in Greece for a 'vacation from our vacation'...wish we'd skipped it and gone to Sicily instead. It takes two full days to get from Rome to Athens by train and ferry. Rick Steves explains this in his books. Wish I'd believed him. If you go to Greece, fly there and save yourself four days en route. It's well worth the money! You can go free on the boat with Eurail, but you have to stay on the deck (for eighteen hours) and believe me, it's cold overnight at that time of year!! If you absolutely MUST go to Greece, and can't afford to fly, get a state room! <BR> <BR>On a subsequent trip I returned to Italy and elsewhere, but added Lucerne, Zurich, Halstaat and Vienna to the list. If you want help with your trip, email me. I once put together a six week budget itinerary for a friend, who now can't afford the trip, so someone may as well benefit from the hours I put into it!!

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