Don’t get too caught up in seeing the sights. Yes, you need to see some of them, but what you will remember more than the sights are all the people you met and the good times you had with them. Be spontaneous- when someone invites you along, go! Don’t think you have to schedule something to do every day. Go to the park or sit in a cafe and people-watch. Meet the locals and talk to them. Almost everyone smokes in Europe so an easy way to strike up a conversation is to ask for a light. Have fun!

Be sure to make an itinerary. It feels awesome to toss it out the window. That’s freedom.

- I don’t really want to stay in a hostel. I rather rough it out like a friend of mine did. Any ideas?
– Trying to get about 6 people to come along, but only 4 are a definite. Good idea?

1st thing – read up on the places you are going. You won’t know the places you want to see or you will miss cool places without this.

6 people? Too many. Anything more than 2-3 is probably too many. You will have a tough time making decisions with that many people.

What do you mean "rough it out?"

A friend of mine slept in abandoned wings of train stations, hotel hallways, etc…

OK…the fourth person will already be in Spain, so he is just going to meet us there. So I’ll keep it at 3.

Awesome, I take it he made it back in one piece? I was thinking about trying this method a few times when I go over. Wouldn’t wanna do it the whole time, but seems like we’d have a little more in the way of memories if we were hiding in churches and sleeping under the stars a few times

chrys!!!!!!…what u doing getting young kids into smoking>? lol
u should see the oldies now ..the ex smokers
they re the ones who cant make it up the stairs in delphi or olympia or even the acropolis..theyre the ones with bad circulation who have to spend three hours recovering after a morning bus tour

if u wan2 start a conversation round smokers ask them if any of them knows the spanish drawback

( u know the one: they say "no" so u ask if u can show them…u take a puff and then throw it to the ground.,,stomp on it and say OLE!… throw ur hand up like a matador/ toreador/ rolladoor and then run, of course.. ull have a bunch of ‘new friends’ all visiting u in hospital then! )

quote:
Awesome, I take it he made it back in one piece?

Yea, he made it back in one peace. He was actually going to school in Spain at the time and had two week breaks every so often. In those two weeks, he would go backpacking; Italy to Germany, England to France, Morocco to (can’t remember where), and thats how he slept, every night. He said in Italy, he has been kicked out of hotel hallways a like 3 am because house keeping came by early.

quote: He said in Italy, he has been kicked out of hotel hallways a like 3 am because house keeping came by early.

haha, that’s great

Question, are there any place where we can pitch up tents to spend the night? My girlfriend is not big on the whole, rough’n it out idea, so that sucks…but anyways, we first thought about pitching tents instead of staying at hostels. Ideas? Locations?

quote:
Question, are there any place where we can pitch up tents to spend the night? My girlfriend is not big on the whole, rough’n it out idea, so that sucks…but anyways, we first thought about pitching tents instead of staying at hostels. Ideas? Locations?

I can’t speak from experience, but I hear camping in Europe is great, and a VERY affordable option to staying in hostels and hotels all the time. I know the Scandinavian countries where I’m going allow you to basically camp ANYWHERE for free, with no repurcussions; that is, provided you’re not within 100ft of somebody’s house and you don’t make a mess, there’s no law keeping you from being there unlike in the US.
One time when I was living in Connecticut a friend and I walked/camped our way up to Massachusetts for a few days (distance of about 60 miles), but the whole way there we had to be REALLY careful, because Americans are much more territorial, for lack of a better word, than people in other countries, as far as I can tell. (Think of all the "tresspassers will be shot!" signs you see once you get out of the cities )

ANNYHOWWW, as for England, France, and Spain, like I said, I don’t know from experience, but I’m sure you can find local campgrounds for a small fee, at the VERY least. Try looking up camping on some backpacking europe sites online. I’m sure you can find a nice list of ‘legit’ campsites, as well as tips on how/where to camp for free without getting in trouble