THIS SEPTEMBER WILL BE MY FIRST TRIP TO EUROPE. MY FRIEND AND I DECIDED IT WOULD BE FUN TO GO WITHOUT ANY SET PLAN AND JUST GO FROM POINT TO POINT AS WE LIKE. WE CAN SPEND ABOUT ONE MONTH BEFORE WE HAVE TO GET BACK AND CAN SPEND $3500-$5000 EACH, HOWEVER WE WOULD LIKE TO DO IT CHEAPLY AS POSSIBLE AND DON'T MIND STAYING AT HOSTELS ETC. MY QUESTION IS THIS: CAN THIS BE ACCOMPLISHED, OR ARE WE BEING FOOLISH? IS THE BUDGET ENOUGH? ALSO WHAT SHOULDN'T WE MISS???? THANK YOU FOR YOUR RESPONSES.

I can't respond to capitals.

You just did.

That's true. But probably not a very helpful response.

Oops, I did it again.

depends. should i fly to the states and just wing it? well i need to touch down so which airport? Oh my god i've got the nucleus of a plan.

i suggest you need a shape and an agreement with your friend what you like to do.

Will you waste your time? Well only if you enjoy it.

For me, i suggest have a shape and go with the flow. Bad news that will mean you miss out on good price deals as you can but tickets in the US for less than we can on the door in europe. So planning saves you money which comes to to 3500$ question.

Yes if you live like the natives not tourists. Hostels can be very high class see denmark and uk both have great systems but if you go eleswhere you will miss out

If I may make a recommendation. I haven't been "there" for a while, but I believe Lonely Planet, Thorn Tree (?) and even Rick Steves' websites would also give you good information for this kind of thing.
I think you could do it...you're young (I get the feeling). Pack lightly, a backpack ... and you'll fit right in!
Er.. um... where and what do you want to see, actually? Europe is large and diverse.

Does the 3500.00 include your airfare and transportation costs in Europe. If so, you are working on a budget of about 40 to 45 Euros per day which would include everything else.

I've never been a true budget traveler so I can't say if that would be enough. I know the average museum price is about 10 Euros so that could chew up your budget pretty fast in a large city like Paris or Rome.

I agree that you may want to go to a site like Lonely Planet where they would have a better idea of budget travel costs.

If your budget really is only $40 a day then maybe you should either bring, or buy once you arrive, a tent and camp. Then you can occasionally splash out on a real bed for a night as your finances allow. Where are you planning on arriving and leaving from and how do you plan to get around?

this is an extreme ballpark estimate, off top of my head (no research)..

$ 900 r/t air
$ 500 rail pass
$1200 cost of 1, sharing twin room for 20 nights, avg. $60/night pp
$ 800 $10/lunch, $30dinner pp x 20 days
---------
$3400 so far
add in sightseeing costs...

Sure, you can do it. Being budget conscious, my wife and I spent a week in Paris for about $2500, including airfare from NYC, and all of our transportation, lodging, museum pass, and food.

If you want to spend a month in Europe without a plan, it will cost more. If you have a plan, it can cost less.

If you are flexible, I am sure it would work.

Sure it's OK, people do it all the time. I would 1st price plane tickets first. Book "open jaw" (flying into Amsterdam and out of Paris or into Paris out of Rome, like that, so you don't have to backtrack).

You need some kind of guidebook to work from, I'd suggest Let's Go, Lonely Planet, or Rough Guides for this type of trip.

Also you need to read on The Thorn Tree which is the forum at www.lonelyplanet.com

Yes, you can do it. My sister and I just spent 29 days in Europe. I'm not sure exactly how much we ended up spending, but it was probably around $4000. WE stayed in B&B's, one hostel, and cheap 2 star hotels. We didn't eat expensive meals, but we were not starving. Check out our blog. www.1month2sisters4countries.blogspot.com. If you are disciplined and do a little planning, you can do it!! We had our countries picked out before we went, and had booked the first two weeks of accomodations.

Hi Europe Rookie
hope you don't mind, but it is very difficult to read Caps so I've reformated your post.

<<This September will be my first trip to Europe. My friend and I decided it would be fun to go without any set plan and just go from point to point as we like. We can spend about one month before we have to get back and can spend $3500-$5000 each, however we would like to do it cheaply as possible and don't mind staying at hostels etc. My question is this: can this be accomplished, or are we being foolish? Is the budget enough? Also what shouldn't we miss???? Thank you for your responses.>>

I think it's highly feasible but don't go to Scandinavia or the UK - at least not London. We found Italy really reasonable as the trains are cheap and you can get reasonable prices for food. I hear Spain and Portugal are also reasonable.

You can probably manage Paris for a few days. There are plenty of cafes and restaurants that have fixed price menus around 15E, then you can grab baguettes cheese etc for lunch. The Metro is very reasonable and there are free days at the museums. I'm not sure about accommodation costs but we spend one night at a formula one outside Paris for 23E.

Also sign up now RyanAir and Easy Jet as they have incredible seat sales. The problem with Ryanair is that sometimes the airports are long way from the city and fly at inconvenient times (that's why we stayed at the Formula One in Beauvais). However, as you have a month, I wouldn't worry to much about the inconvenience. Those prices get far more expensive the closer to the departure date, so this is one area you may not want to wing it.
This is the costing for a flight from Dublin to Edinburgh I'm making in October:

Total for 1 Passenger
Fare Price 0.01 EUR
Credit card fee 3.00 EUR
EUR Web Baggage Fe 6.00 EUR
Taxes, Fees & Charges 22.74 EUR
Insurance
Total Price 31.75 EUR

Rather buying a Eurail Pass, you may want to buy some country passes and use these flights to get from one country to another.

Again, I agree with the other posters - get Lonely Planet or Rough Guide.

There are also great free short city guides on the net at www.arrivalguides.com I find them really helpful if I'm ony going to be in a city for 2 or 3 days. They have maps and good ideas for sightseeing.

Have a great trip.

Hi ER,

We can help you improve your itinerary if you have one, but we can't help you if you don't know where you are going.

Europe is a big place.


Please don't use all caps. It is hard to read.

As others have said, I would have a rough itinerary set up ahead of time - which countries to see and about how much time in each. That way you and your friend will have a basic plan and you can avoid some of the issues with differences of opinions that are bound to come up. If you are thinking Spain, France, and Italy and your friend is thinking Netherlands, Germany, and Czech Republic, then you could run into some problems just winging it.

Totally doable. My brother is doing that right now. He decided in May to leave for Europe in June for two months. Found a decent deal for such a last minute trip, $800 roundtrip from LAX to Cologne, Germany. His budget is around $50/day. If you dig, you can find cheap ways to do Europe. I would definitely suggest getting Lonely Planet's "Europe on a Shoestring Budget". A lot of good tips. Also, check out Lonely Planet's forum, good info. As for a plan, my brother only planned the first week really and has just been selecting locations as he goes. Good luck!

This is not my mode of travel, but I know from reading backpacker forums, often you can email from the hostel you are at, to get a reservation at a hostel in your next city. That gives the best of both worlds - freedom of itinerary yet place to go when you get off the train.