Hello! I am a seventeen year old female, based in Michigan and attempting a summer trip with two friends to Europe after graduating from high school this spring. I’m still very much in a preliminary planning sort of stage, but I have quite a few questions, and I’ll probably be back with more at a later date. I’ve lived in the UK and Australia and go back to England every summer to see my dad so I do have some limited traveling experience, but I feel totally clueless about most of what I’m attempting to plan. I’m hoping we can make this a month-long trip, although it may have to be three-weeks-and-a-bit (we’ll see). Not a whole lot of time, but I’d like to see a fair amount of stuff without making it completely hectic and not in the least worthwhile. I’m hoping to cut down on costs considerably by staying with various relatives and friends, and possibly camping.
I’m a bit verbose and have quite a few general queries, so I’ve tried to sort out the mess below into general categories in case anyone is a particular expert on any of them and wanted to cut straight to the chase:
Firstly, though: I am utterly confused about Eurail passes. After reading around, I’ve seen people that absolutely loved them and couldn’t recommend them more, and people that say they’re a total rip-off. I suppose it depends on how much traveling you’re going to do and where, but how do you know when a Eurail pass stops being a rip-off and becomes a bargain? I’m a bit nervous about buying point-to-point tickets everywhere, but I’m also nervous about forking out for a pass and then having to pay even more to reserve seats. I am on a very VERY tight budget.
Which leads me to the money thing… I suspect that I could probably come up with $2000 (I earn my money teaching piano and accompanying, and I’m not going to be able to take more students or take a “normal” job until my auditions are over in February) not including potential graduation money or whatnot… And who knows, maybe some incredibly nice parent will help me out if I finagle myself a full-ride to college. Is it ludicrous and stupid to even consider going to Europe for a month on that (keeping in mind I’m going to try and stay with people I know.) At any rate, we figured we could pack a crazy amount of home-made heavy-duty granola bars with us just in case we run out of food along the way…
My extremely rough and vague itinerary (if you can call it that) currently looks like this… I’m only dreaming, here.
Hungary (use Eurail Select Pass)
Austria (no one to stay with here) (Eurail)
Switzerland (Eurail)
Italy (no one to stay with) (point-to-point tickets? I’ve heard it’s incredibly bad value to do eurail in Italy)
Germany (Eurail)… then some budget airline out of Berlin
Scotland (camping)
Also: Anyone have experience with camping in Europe? We’re hoping to do it in Scotland, not sure if it will work. It’d be awesome to do some cycling and camping, but I’m not sure how the whole carrying camping gear thing goes when you’re on a bike. Originally I was thinking we’d get around by car in Scotland (not willing to spend my money on British Rail passes), but my mother did not express a great enthusiasm for three kids who’ve only had their licenses for a year driving in a foreign country. Understandable, but it seemed like the most convenient and cheap way to get around when wanting to experience the outdoors. Anyway, I’d only be able to do the camping/driving/biking thing if relatives in either Newcastle or Manchester or St. Andrews loaned me some gear. Also possibly a car…
Hmm, which brings to mind: In your experience, what is the most tactful and polite way of asking friends and family whether you and two (very polite, chipper, and well-behaved) friends can come and stay for a few days? I know as a younger kid I always loved it when my traveling cousins came and stopped by, but I don’t know how anyone else feels about it.
Anyhow, I would GREATLY appreciate any advice, answers, general criticisms and/or wisdom anyone has to offer. It would help me get my serious planning and decision-making really started, and perhaps stop me from freaking out about the feasibility of this trip (either that, or make me freak out more)… This is something I’ve been dreaming about and saving up for since I was twelve, so I’d really like it to happen. Sorry for the extreme length of this post, but I just need some fears assuaged and some things cleared up.
