I wanted to also say that I would like to travel on a budget staying in hostels, eating light etc…. I am okay with leaving some countries out or even recommend me another. Like I said I want to enjoy my trip and would like to go to some of the off the path type places where it might be cheaper and not a lot of tourists. I do not want to rush and am very flexible and definately do not want to be stuck in the most expensive places for too long.

So you will be flying to Europe from Hawaii?
I like your historical slant. There is some fascinating history in the Languedoc.
Unless you definitely want to meet up with family, I wonder if maybe you could start out in Scotland and loop south? It can sometimes be cheap to fly into Glasgow.

That would sound like it makes more sense. I will check out some ticket choices. I also found cheaper tickets to dublin and I might be able to pull some contacts in ireland but apart of me wonders If I should save Ireland for another time. I will just have to narrow it down. Oh yes from Hawaii I would be stopping in the states than to europe!! Langeudoc is one place I feel being pulled towards, like you said so much history. thanks

Gday,

I would also agree starting up around Glasgow and working your way south. Stopping through your main points of interest. Edinburgh has a really nice medievil feel to it which you might be interested in, i love that place! I would pick up a Eurail train pass for the main countries you are going to be visiting beginning in France. As i dont think eurail passes conect with britain. I personally used a eurail pass for Spain and France and it worked nicely. Didnt use one of the 6 trips i had but still saved a bit of money. Just remember that you have to pay the reservation for the seat ontop of what you have paid for the ticket. Can be around 6-17 euro each trip depending on what class and if its a cabin or not. Thats my experience anyways.

Try base your itinerary around the main spots you want to visit, and try make it flowing so that your not wasting your time or money backtracking. If your staying in hostels you will save a bundle, plus they can always tell you where cheap eats are. If your not drinking you will save heaps too! that was my downfall in some areas hahaha. aka oktoberfest and pamplona = $$$. So I think 8k should be a solid amount for 2-3months. You will get better at budgeting as the trip goes on. My best tip for booking hostels is before you leave one place jump on the net and go to http://www.hostelwor… and book at the best value for money hostel. Never had to worry about where i was gona sleep once i got into a new town.

I dont have much advice for places that i think you should visit. Except for personal opinions on places ive been such as in the area of Languedoc the town of Montpellier was really nice, friendly locals and such. If you do make it down as far as Greece check out the Santorini sunsets, simply amazing. And while your that far south catch a plane from athens to cairo for next to nothing and be amazed by the culture change. Egypt will save you heaps of pennys too. Your dollar goes a longgggg way!

Thats all i can think of for now, hope it helps, let me know if u have any questions.

Cheers,
Dale

dale! Thanks for the tips. When you say that you pay for the reservations on top of the ticket that does not apply for a pass ? Or do I still get charged for a reservation with a pass? I am going to have to figure out what pass to get because I know I will be checking out a lot of smaller towns and am not sure if the rail goes through smaller towns? I am working on it. Yes If I can get a cheap ticket from athens to cairo than I will indeed see those pyramids : )

with the eurail pass, you pay for the ticket before you go to europe, then once you get to the train station, (i usually booked the train out as soon as i knew when i would be leaving) You have to pay a reservation price for the train. It sometimes usually isnt much at all. A few dollars, but if your going for a sleeper then i think its around 17 euro for the reservation. This cost surprised me when i got over there and did for a lot of other people i met. I thought once i had the eurail there was no more payments but i was wrong. If you are getting a eurail make sure you dont go overboard because if you dont use it all or close to all of it you may loose out money. With rail to smaller towns, if you can get your hands on a eurail timetable book. They put one out each year im pretty sure. its probably online too if you look for it. The times are set and dont change. So you can plan days or even months ahead what time you will leave from where and be able to check if it passes through the small towns. If you dont go to cairo this trip, plan the next one to go in the middle of summer if you dont mind the heat, (roughly 40 degrees celcius & hotter if you go further south) because its so worth it. Me and my mate went in July and you could count the tourists on one hand. Got into the great pyramid with just one other person and I was standing in the 2nd pyramid (i think its called Kharfe if i remember right) all by myself for about 10 minutes. Was the most amazing feeling I have ever felt. It was so empowering to think that a humble 19 year old would be standing in such a historic sight and have it all to myself. The excitement was overwhelming. So theres a thought if you dont get there this trip.

Ive been doing some research and Im looking to get a rtw ticket to travel too egypt, nepal, and than to thailand after europe. My itenerary is going to look something like this please make suggestions.
Fly from Hawaii into London- stay 4-5 days with family friends.
Make my way to scottland by train or flight I want to do a wwoofing volunteer program in the highlands for 2 weeks- And than explore some of the william wallace sights after for 3-5 days

-After Scottland I am thinking of buying my own flght aside from the rtw tickett flying from glasgow to Madrid where I will spend some time working my way to portugal doing a loop eventually getting to barcelona. I am also going to try to do another volunteer program for 2 weeks somewhere in there in spain to give me some time to get into the cultural side. Also Ill get free board and food in exchange which will save me money while I still get to experience spain. – Or I could instead of flying from scottland to madrid fly I could fly into portugal working my way through to spain up the coast and skipping madrid.

- After Barcelona I want to work my way to languedoc or carcassone in france where I would like to check out the cathar ruins and history for a week or less.

Now I would work my way to italy I would like to go to rome of course for 3-5 days but would like to spend some time in less touristy spots in italy. I have been reading about the dolomite mountains and would like to check that out. Total time in italy would be around 2-3 weeks, I also might have a connection there again saving on room.

- Im thinking of making my way to switzerland where I might have another connection for 5-7 days.

Now the problem is the rtw ticket I am looking at will fly out of london to athens than to cairo. So should I from switzerland work my way back to london hitting paris for a couple days or just fly back to london with my own tickett from switzerland. Or somehow work paris into the begging of my trip. Or switch the whole trip up??
I am going to try to do as much couchsurfing as possible along with wwoofing and staying with family friends I am hoping that about 60 days or so of my 3 month trip is not in a hostel saving me around 1500-1800.

please please comments.

The european rail system goes just about everywhere — even most of the smallest towns in Western Europe. You can look up schedules for anywhere in Europe using the German rail system website: http://reiseauskunft… It’s the most complete and user-friendly in English.

Whether or not to buy a railpass is a financial and convenience decision. Whether pass (or passes), point to point tickets or a combination of pass(es) and point to point tickets is best depends on your specific itinerary. Some sort of railpass will probably save you money on your trips in France, Germany and Switzerland. Rail travel is less expensive in Spain, Portugal and Italy so a pass might not save money there. A eurail pass is not honored in UK, but a Britrail pass may be a good deal if you’re doing lots of traveling as train tickets can be expensive. Bus (maybe a bus pass) may be a good choice from a cost standpoint in UK. Bus (again, perhaps a bus pass) is also a good option in Ireland. While you can get to many places by train the bus system goes more places. At any rate, I would use the cost of the 3 month railpass as your estimate of what city to city transportation will cost — you’ll probably spend that amount on some sort of railpass(es), a few point to point rail tickets, a couple of cheap flights, and some buses and ferries.

Ok would this itinerary wrok
London 4 days
(train or bus to scotland) I would do scottland first but to fly into london is cheaper
scotland 17 days
(flight to paris or rail)
-paris-2 days
(night train too madrid)
madrid 3 days doing day trips
(Madrid to portugal)
-Portugal 2 weeks
(Make my way up the coast through sevilla into barcelona)- stops in between-
-Spain total time in spain 3 weeks
Barcelona to carccassone- 1 week
Carccassone to switzerland- 1 week
Switzerland to Italy- rome- amalfi coast- Stops in between – 10 days in italy

****I am open for flexibility, I like to spend time in places and not always on the move so giving myself longer periods of time I have more options to cut out areas or stay longer in areas I like***** I am thinking about cutting madrid****please comment, suggestion****switzerland seems to be a little out of the way but have to go there.

Out of rome I will fly to athens onto the next part of my trip.

If your going direct from Scotland to Paris. Ryanair does cheap flight’s from Glasgow Prestwick to Paris. Prestwick’s an easy airport to get to with a direct train ling from Glasgow Central.

If your interested in the whole William Wallace battle for independence kind of thing then spend a good bit of time in Stirling, loads of history relating to that there. Wallace monument and Stirling castle and hardly surprisingly the site of the battle of Stirling bridge to give Scotland there first major victory over the English in the wars of independence. Stirling’s not far away from Edinburgh and Glasgow so if you have a bit of time can see all 3 city’s.

Rome and the Amalfi will dig into the budget. Be prepared. Switzerland is phenomenally expensive too. I would suggest that you cut your week in Switzerland to a couple of days in the Alps – the Bernese Oberland is spectacular. Spend the other 5 days in Germany, as you originally planned, which is far cheaper and perhaps more interesting.

After Paris, head east to the Mosel River and the Rhine for some walking, biking, and castle-poking-around:

www.mosel-reisefuehr…
www.burg-eltz.de
www.marksburg.de

The area is riddled with hostels: www.diejugendherberg… . Bacharach’s is a castle hostel; the one in St. Goar is cliffside beneath an old ruined castle and looks out on 2 castles on the opposite riverbank.

September and early October are good for wine festivals in this area (mostly weekends.) If your interest in religions includes Christianity, there are some excellent cathedrals – Gothic, Romanesque – that may interest you in Cologne, Mainz, and Speyer, all Rhine towns.

Then head to Switzerland for a couple days, your French destinations, and the Iberian peninsula. After that, get a cheap flight over to Italy and proceed from there.

The US dollar is doing better against the Swiss Franc than against the euro. Switzerland is not cheap, but in the current economic climate I doubt it’s any more expensive than the rest of western europe for Americans.

oldlady and color:

I just returned from a trip to Germany – flew in and out of Zürich, and I looked up some prices before I left. Right now, $1 = 1 Swiss franc. Hostel beds in Zurich are pretty much impossible to find under 45 SF, and they seem to average closer to 60. By contrast, I was able to find B&B single rooms on my recent trip to Germany in the 16-20 Euro range. On my final night, it was cheaper for me to stay in a German border town and purchase a train ticket to Zurich than to stay in Zurich.

I don’t think my experience is exceptional. Here’s an excerpt from a pro-Swiss travel site that warns about the basic costs of food and shelter:

http://switzerland.i…

“It’ll come as no surprise to learn that Switzerland is expensive. In one recent survey, Zürich (which even the Swiss shake their heads at) was assessed to be twenty percent more expensive than London across the board and almost double the UK average, while another survey found it to be pricier even than Tokyo. However, this gives a somewhat slanted view, since you’re unlikely to be spending like a local, and most places in the rest of Switzerland aren’t very much more expensive than you’d expect for Western Europe. However, Swiss food prices are notoriously high, for no readily apparent reason, and this translates into higher-than-normal restaurant prices. Accommodation costs can go through the roof, but careful choices will keep per-night rates affordable.”

Except for London and Copenhagen, Switzerland’s big cities – Zurich and Geneva – are the most expensive European destinations:

www.cafebabel.com/en…

Hey russ!
Thanks for the info, I will be saving on hostels because I will be doing couchsurfing and also might have a connection in switzerland. I would not stay if I had to pay for hostels at that price thats for sure. thanks

So, have you decided on a more finalized itinerary yet?

I bought my ticket yesterday into ireland which was hundreds of dollars cheaper than into london. I leave on september 2. I made a few contacts through couchsurfing so my itinerary so far looks like this
-Dublin-2 days max (have contact)
(train or bus up to portrush in northern ireland, check out the Giants Causeway)

Portrush area 2-3 days (have contact)

(make my way to larne to catch a ferry to troon in scotland, spend the day sightseeing the area than train or bus too falkirk)

Falkirk Have a contact here- 3 days or so (time to check out the area and make day trips around the area)

-From Here I am planning on doing a wwoofing program for a week or so somewhere in the highlands so I can experience the beauty while working in exchange for food and housing)

Train or bus to London 2-3 days will have a contact here as well (check out museums and what not)

Rail into Paris 2-3 days max

(any suggestions on stops in between that I should not miss?)
Train into Carcassonne area I Have a contact for a small village near Rennes Le Chateau where I will have to hitch too. I am planning on staying for 5-7 days so I can explore the area and do day trips. I am very interested in the area and cathar history.

From Here I am still planning- I will make my way into spain than into portugal working my way back up the coastal areas all the way to hopefully switzerland than down too italy. I am not too sure on my route from carcassonne yet. I was thinking of going to madrid first into portugal than back up the coast. I am planning on another wwoofing program in spain somewhere in the countryside fairly remote to take in the beauty.

Any suggestions for a route from carcassoone to spain to portugal? thanks shawn