Keep in mind that it's a long swim from Athens to mainland Europe. Just trying to help.

No real helpful suggestions except to have fun, learn as much as you can, don't get robbed, see the sights, party, and develop short term relationships with a lot of exotic women with certain moral flexibilities.

There are also some rather informative websites:

www.backpackingeurope.com

www.backpackingthrougheurope.com

www.bugeurope.com

www.eurotrip.com

www.oldcontinent.com

www.thebackpacker.net

... and so on...

barcelona, milano (or rome), paris (or berlin), london (each 9-10 days at least!). that should have you set!

maybe athens, if you're into the whole "olympics" stuff!

yeah that was my starting point last night...
...i guess i just want to hear some real life stories of any of your experiences...
something a bit easier to relate to..
thanks

I totally forgot about the olympics!
that could be interesting for sure!...if not a little commercial...
EDIT: actualy i just looked into it, and I dont think my trip will overlap with the olympics...
oh well

I must disagree, staying for more than 3 days is pointless and boring unless you want to get involved with the people living there.

And come over to belgium and taste our beers

heaven forbid no!!! don't get involved with the people there...somebody might think you're not a tourist...

haha, as a good canadian beer drinker, do not doubt that I'll tast the finest beer of each country i visit!

if you are into soccer at all, the european championships are in portugal this summer as well, starting the 12th of june.

Really you DO NOT want to get involved with the "Parisiens"
They are, let's say, noisy...

Youth hostels are fantastic because you get exposure to many different people and they usually enjoy conversing. Sometimes you even get a travel companion or two for the day.

We really enjoyed the hostels and backpacking around Italy.



wolfen

in your experience were the hostels relatively safe to leave a bag at?

Assuming a tight budget, get a Eurrail pass and join the Youth Hostel Association. Cheap, and a good way to meet people. It's probably not a bad idea to bring a small tent as well.

Finally: when you get to Europe, buy a Trangia. It's a lifesaver.

Here's my recommendation - skip Greece in '04, gonna be way too crowded and overpriced. If I were you, I'd go for a nice mix of partying, culture, urban and countryside.

Fly into Spain or Portugal and start from there, then make your way along the mediterranean coast for about two weeks, end up in Italy, travel up north to either Austria or Switzerland (both are beautiful) make sure you see the Alps, make two quick stops in Germany. Then travel up north - Kopenhagen is great and a must-see (should you have any time to spare by then, visit Sweden!). After that, slowly make your way towards England with a quick stop in Amsterdam (do not miss this!!) - and finally, London's always worth a couple of days visit.

Spain/Portugal

• Lisbon
• Barcelona

France

• Mediterranean coast
• Nice
• Cannes

Italy

• Rome
• Florence

Austria

• Vienna

Switzerland

• Zurich

Germany

• Munich
• Hamburg

Denmark

• Kopenhagen

Netherlands

• Amsterdam

England

• London

beauty, thanks!

Let me add Carcassonne and the area to that list. Not as tourist as Nice and cannes, yet..

I'd skip Greece as well, especially this year ... in part because getting there overland is a minor pain in the butt, given the current political situation in the Balkans.

If this is your first Europe trip, I'd use London as the starting (rather than ending) point -- it'll be less of a culture shock initially since the people around you will be speaking English. Then you can work your way into progressively more challenging countries. A good choice would be to buy a return ticket home from Rome ... but if you're feeling brave, my recommendation would be Istanbul!

Otherwise, my main advice is to *not* just hit the major tourist cities of western Europe -- try to get off the beaten track just a little, to see some countryside and interact with a few of the locals. So many Americans/Canadians seem to just go from one big-city youth hostel to the next, and don't really interact with anyone except fellow backpackers. Not that there's anything wrong with that (*g*), but you'll have a much richer experience if you don't limit yourself that way.

As for places to go, well ... six weeks is nowhere enough, so you'll have to pick and choose. Personally, I think both England and France are a bit overrated ... if I were doing the trip I'd probably skip London entirely and start my travels in Amsterdam. I really love the Benelux countries and Scandinavia; Italy is wonderful, too. And you should absolutely try to spend at least a little time in eastern Europe, behind the former Iron Curtain -- it's cheaper, often less touristed, and in many ways far more interesting. In that arena, I'd *definitely* recommend a few days in the Czech Republic.

Finally, if you're feeling a bit more adventurous, the countries of the former Yugoslavia are truly fascinating ... and Turkey is just an amazing place to see.

Have a great time ... I'm jealous!

I think that I will use London, or rather the UK as a finishing point because of family connections and I'll probably have the least amount of money by then...

I may venture off the beaten tracks to go see some WWII battle sites, but I would very much like to see the BIG sites, you know?

Man, I would join you, but I have bigger plans.

That's my goal for when I can get enough money.

Good luck. A friend of mine did it alone at 18, so I'm sure you'll be fine.

In general I absolutely agree with the "off-the-beaten-path" approach to traveling. But since this is going to be brapper's first trip to Europe (and he doesn't have enough time to see all of it) my suggestion would be to primarily cover the "major" places and plan for a few "un-tourist" activities along the road.

This way, he gets the best overview of a relatively large number of different countries/cultures without just rushing from one country to another - the laid back mediterraneans, the crazy Romans (I swear, you have never seen that many people talking on their cell phone as you will in Italy), the comfy "Alps" folks, the stiff and always stressed-out Krauts, the cool Danes as well as the liberal Dutch and the completely whacked out Brits.

After gathering a set of initial impressions, he can then go ahead and plan for a more in-depth second (third, fourth etc.) trip which should take him "beyond tourist lines". 6 weeks isn't even close to seeing a quarter of Europe - heck, you could probably spend three weeks in Rome (not in summer, though) and you still wouldn't have seen all the sights and tried all the foods.

Of course, there's a ton of great stuff to see - from the French Atlantic coast (Bretagne) to Hungary (Budapest, Balaton), to the Fjords of Norway (Oslo's way cool as well, btw) back down to Turkey (Istanbul) - but to include all of these in a round trip, you're gonna need a hell of a lot more time than 6 weeks.

So, this Old European™ recommends a round trip with a nice variety of all the "big sites" with a couple of "off-the-beaten-path" mini-trips sprinkled in.

Cheers,

eff

P.S. Let us know when you have a good idea of what places you're going to visit and I'll see that I can help out with a few "off-tourist" suggestions.

P.P.S. I forgot Paris in my list above - you could alter the route in my previous post like this "Kopenhagen" > "Amsterdam" > "Paris" > "London". This will give you a very nice impression of the contrast between two of the major European cities ...

P.P.S. "culture shock" is for babies you just gotta take the plunge.

(edited, because I still can't spell worth a doo-doo)

actually i should clear this up...
I've actually been to Europe when I was 13.
I went to Wales, London, Paris, and Amsterdam. Though, as I was 13 at the time, so I was really just swept away in it, and dont remember a whole lot, nor did I appreciate it for what it was worth.
So, hopefully this time around I'll do it right.
Also, not being there during August should really help because I'll remember about Paris is spending the equivalent of about $30 CDN a day on water....and being very disgruntled about it.
Thanks for all the advice so far...and I'll keep you updated as to what plans I come up with.

Why don't you visit the great famous tourist places like Rome, London, Paris but also see the smaller cooler ones (literally) like Oslo and Reykjavik?

- - e r i k - - and I went to Rome this summer, and wow!!! But still Oslo, Norway is a place I guess you wouldn't easily visit anytime.

actually, my dad and i were just talking about visiting the scandinavian countries should i have the chance. Apparently it's a regret of his, having never done so.

thanks...I've bookmarked them all..

If you can go to Prague and Budapest go there. Vienna is beautiful but you can skip it. If you truly want the cultural BAMB with the old world architecture these two cities are it.

I lived in Budapest for four months and I lived like a king. Eastern europe is great and cheap. And for parties, well, I like the French, Spanish and Italians for that, but Eastern Europeans are amazing! And don't worry about the language.

As for traveling, get a europass and use erasable ink when marking the dates.... bad, yes it is, but when on a budget and press for time, it comes in handy.

When in London, stay at the "The Generator," reserve your ticket in advance, this place has it all, bars, internet, storage, free all you can eat breakfast, and every night it's a party so you dont' even have to go to bars, the party is always down stairs. They even give you two drinks per night that you stay there. You'll love it for all that it offers at Normal Brit prices (Which watch out for, the Pound will kill the dollar, so it maybe look cheaper, but it twice as expensive).

Good luck,
bon Chance
Buena Suerte
and in broken Hungarian, Vizson Latasara

So I've found a buddy to come along with me and we've worked out the countries that we're for sure going to visit.
Starting in London (airfare is the cheapest..) then to the north of france, the netherlands, germany, czech republic, austria, switzerland, italy, south of france, spain (hopefully seeing the running of the bulls, and then to Ibiza), west of france, and back to london.
We still need to decide the specific sites and cities we want to visit, but that's our route.

When in the UK, don't just stick to London like everyone else seems to. Check out some of the other tourist goodies on offer further up the country (i.e. Warwick Castle, Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge, York, Chester, Ironbridge, Blue John Caverns, Snowdonia, etc., etc.).

Oh, and Lisbon's worth a day or two too if you're considering Iberia.

Second the recommendation for the Eurail pass. The trains go EVERYWHERE. It's the best way to travel.

We actually skipped the hostels and found inexpensive hotels and pensiones all around. It really wasn't that costly.

And DO get off the beaten path. The big cities (Rome, Paris, etc) are cool but after a few of them they get a bit tiresome because, well, they're big cities.

In Italy try to get to the Cinqueterra. It's a well known travel destination outside of Florence but it's classic italian coastline and hill towns. Beautiful. If you hit Portugal, head to the south and the beaches. Cheap, good food, wine, and beautiful women. And many pink British people on vacation.

For starters, you may have problems with a one way ticket to Athens. When you get to Greece, customs are not going to be very excited that you have no return ticket from Greece, and they will ask what you are doing in the country. Make sure you have your return ticket from Heathrow (or wherever you're flying home from) to show to customs to prove that you are, in fact, leaving the EU before 6 months.

Bring stuff to read, you'll need it.

Don't give money to beggars.

Book accommodations in advance.

I think finishing in London is smart. There's nothing like being back in an English speaking country after a trip to the wild, and weird, continent. It's like being back in comfortable, familiar New England!

Have fun. Maybe I'll bump into you on a train somewhere.