Travelling/backpacking UK and other Euro spots

[Canada 02]

looking for known (or obscure but useful) weblinks you may be familiar with to help plan for a trip.

regional discount airlines you've used
euro rail and passes
hostels or other forms of accomodations
things to see and do
sights off the beaten path
etc

thx much

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

looking for known (or obscure but useful) weblinks you may be familiar with to help plan for a trip.

regional discount airlines you've used
euro rail and passes
hostels or other forms of accomodations
things to see and do
sights off the beaten path
etc

thx much

PM Aeneas, who has lots of great info on sites off the beaten path.

[@theCBE]

www.kayak.com or www.kayak.co.uk for flights... The second one includes airlines that the .com one doesn't

If you want to check discount airlines individually check:
Ryanair
Easyjet
Jet2.com
Whizzair

check out lonelyplanet.com .. especially the forums for things to do and see.

www.hostelworld.com ... Had great experiences booking hostels on this site. Read the user reviews about a hostel they usually get you a pretty accurate description.

www.eurail.com for the train pass (I know it sounds expensive at first but it saved me TONNES of money in the long run)

[rockstar]

4X4 will help you with all things Rome, if you're planning on going there.

[Bill Bumface]

If you're doing Switzerland or Portugal I can help you out. (Portugal is a really good option if budget is a concern when travelling in Western Europe).

[Canada 02]

^^ Rome, Swiss, Portugal are all possibilities. I'm just in the contemplative, "it would sure be nice to go on a vacation" phase of my planning

I will pm the individuals suggested once I have a few moments.

Thanks for the suggestions so far

[Bill Bumface]

If you go at the end of June you can catch Euro in Switzerland/Austria (which could be a good or a bad thing depending on what you're after).

[SarichFan]

Euro in Austria/Swiss is going to make it impossible to find accomodations and if you do, it'll be insanely expensive.

[Cowperson]

The Rome thread:

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...highlight=Rome

I found Venere.com and tripadvisor.com to be helpful in researching and booking accomodations.

Otherwise, google your brains out.

Cowperson

[4X4]

-make a list of places you want to go. NOT AN ITENERARY
-budget an amount of time (1 month, 2 months)
-research hostel prices for the time of year you'll be there
-your 3 biggests costs will be transportation, accomidation and food. If you're sneaky, you can drastically reduce these costs and significantly increase your liquor budget.

[howard_the_duck]

^^^ great advice 4 X 4......having an itinerary definitely is not a good thing to have. Leaving my trip wide open was the best decision I made. And in Europe alcohol is dirt cheap......enjoy that because not much else is.

If you're in Portugal I'd highly recommend Spain. Weather should be getting better now and there are some world class cities, as well as some lesser known places that are splendid.

I've heard Portugal is spectacular, though.

[Canada 02]

can i use my Cingular GSM cell phone in europe - use a pre-paid SIM, or is it locked to Cingular?

[4X4]

You'll probably want to buy a sim over there. There's a good chance you'll also have to buy a new phone as well.
If you buy a Vodafone sim card it'll cost you peanuts. You can recharge it in almost any country. But you definitely don't want to be using a mobile unless you absolutely have to. They're insanely expensive. Use internets cafes and call centers as much as possible.

[Matata]

www.hostelworld.com - worked like a charm in 7 different countries, Scotland had the best hostels, hands down.
www.easyjet.com and www.ryanair.com are the best way to travel on the fly, tickets stay pretty cheap up to a week untill departure. Only get the rail pass if your willing to sit down and crunch numbers and plan your trip way in advance.

I used the Lonely Planet Europe guide for pretty much everything

I enjoyed doing things on the fly, I showed up in Europe with no plan and ended up having the most enjoyable 6 weeks of my life.

Every time you end up at a new hostel, go buy some groceries asap, it saves a ton of money if you make your own breakfast/lunch everyday.

Don't travel with a wife/gf, couples are social pariahs at hostels. Other than that, its rediculously easy to meet people at hostels, everyone likes a canadian.

My cell didn't do a loving thing in Europe.

[4X4]

Heed Matata's advice. All of it. Especially about rail passes.
Of all the people I met in Europe (ran a hostel in Rome for a year), the ones having the most fun were people without iteneraries, people that were travelling with same sex friend, people that travelled alone.
People having the least fun were couples (though not unilaterally true), large groups (hard to find on the fly accomidation), people who over planned and tried to cram too much stuff in, people who travelled with an organizational freak that insisted on leaving a fun place because they "had" to stick to a schedule.

Once you've seen a few churches and castles, let the rest of your trip revolve around having fun. Backpacking europe is not about seeing stuff. It's about experiencing different cultures and meeting people. Overplanning Europe is like those vacations you used to go on with your parents. They made all the decisions and you were along for the ride. Let loose and just go where you hear is fun.

[Cain]

I'm going to europe in about 3 months for 2-3 months...I have no itinerary, and have planned to just go wherever seems to call me.

However, I've been looking at rail passes and flight costs...and I don't see the benefit of going by air. You have to book a fairly long time in advance to reap the cheap costs, and by doing that you are essentially limiting yourself if something else that it is interesting comes up. If you go short distances by plane on shorter notice, you still pay a large premium.

Granted the rail passes are not cheap themselves, I just don't see a huge monetary gain by avoiding them, while you have less paranoia when it comes to finding a cheap flight, booking far in advance etc...

Anything I am missing?

[4X4]

In alot of countries, the eurail pass only gives you a discount and sometimes is not honored at all. It seems to be better for people that have an itenerary and do all their research.
Nothing wrong with travelling by train though. It allows more spontanutiy. Plus alot of hostel dwellers will travel that way so if you meet some people you like and want to hang out for another city or two, chances are that they'll be travelling by train.

The biggest drawback to train travel is the risk of your stuff getting stolen while you sleep. I hear most countries aren't too bad. I know Italy is bad. It's not other backpackers, it's locals (local to europe).
The other thing about train travel is that it takes alot longer. But that is mitigated by the facts that you dont have to get to airports and that you can capitalize on sleeping and reading your travel guide and just relaxing a bit.
If you're going for 2-3 months, the trains wont bother you as much because you're not under time pressure to get to all the places you hope to get to.

[Delthefunky]

I'm a member over @ travellerspoint.com

It's kinda like the CP of Travelling

[cheevers]

The best deals i find to london are at canadian-affair.ca . Highly recommend it, mainly uses thomas cook and air transat.

[Dodsdomd]

Poland is a bit of fun.