Hello!
I haven’t posted in awhile but I’m still planning a 3-month backpacking for Spring 2008 and have been re-working my itinerary with all the advice I’ve been given through this site. It’s completely different from where I started haha but I guess thats half the fun of planning this kind of trip … Any advice/criticism would be appreciated.
 
Sat. April 26th – Arrive in London
  ~ Spend 5 nights/4 days
Thurs. May 1st – Fly from London to Edinburgh
  ~ Spend 2 nights/1 day in Edinburgh and 6 nights/6 days on tour   
Fri. May 9th – Fly from Edinburgh to Dublin
  ~ Spend 8 nights/8 days on tour and 2 nights/1 day in Dublin
Mon. May 19th – Fly from Dublin to Lisbon
  ~ Spend 4 nights/3 days
Fri. May 23rd – Bus from Lisbon to Lagos
  ~ Spend 3 nights/2 days
Mon. May 26th – Bus from Lagos to Faro/Fly from Faro to Madrid
  ~ Spend 3 nights/3 days (Day trip to Toledo)
Thurs. May 29th – Fly/train from Madrid to San Sebastian
  ~ Spend 3 nights/3 days
Sun. June 1st – Night train (1) from San Sebastian to Barcelona
  ~ Spend 3 nights/3 days
Thurs. June 5th – Train (2) from Barcelona to Nice
  ~ Spend 3 nights/2 days (Day trip to Antibes or Monaco?)
Sun. June 8th – Train (3) from Nice to Interlaken
  ~ Spend 3 nights/2 days
Wed. June 11th – Train (4) from Interlaken to Venice
  ~ Spend 4 nights/3 days (Day trip (5) to Verona)
Sun. June 15th – Train (6) from Venice to Florence
  ~ Spend 4 nights/3 days
Thurs. June 19th – Train (7) from Florence to Cinque Terre (Stopover in Pisa)
  ~ Spend 4 nights/3 days
Mon. June 23rd – Train (8) from Cinque Terre to Rome
  ~ Spend 5 nights/4 days
Sat. June 28th – Train (9) from Rome to Naples/Bus or ferry to Positano
  ~ Spend 3 nights/2 days (Day trip to Amalfi or Capri)
Tues. July 1st – Bus from Positano to Sorrento
  ~ Spend 3 nights/2 days (Day trip to Pompeii)
Fri. July 4th – Train from Sorrento to Naples/Fly to Munich
  ~ Spend 4 nights/3 days (Day trips to Fussen and Dachau)
Tues. July 8th – Train (10) from Munich to Salzburg (Stopover in Innsbruck)
  ~ Spend 3 nights/2 days
Fri. July 11th – Train (11) from Salzburg to Vienna
  ~ Spend 4 nights/3 days
Tues. July 15th – Train/Bus from Vienna to Prague
  ~ Spend 4 nights/3 days (Day trip to Kutna Hora)
Sat. July 19th – Trian from Prague to Dresden/Train (12) to Berlin
  ~ Spend 4 nights/3 days
Wed. July 23rd – Train (13) from Berlin to Amsterdam
  ~ Spend 4 nights/3 days
Sun. July 27th – Train (14) from Amsterdam to Bruges
  ~ Spend 3 nights/2 days
Wed. July 30th – Train (15) from Bruges to Paris (Stopover in Brussels)
  ~ Spend 6 nights/5 days
Tues. August 5th – Fly from Paris to Vancouver
 
Notes:
1. We decided to do tours of Scotland and Ireland as we’re more interested in seeing the countryside, learning about the culture, etc. than touring it’s largest cities/towns. We figured that they could show us more than we could see touring on our own … I was told that I should re-arrange my itinerary so that I was doing the warmest countries first to avoid the rain in the spring and the heat later in summer, but I had already figured out how to factor in the back to back tours and traveling days with U.K. and Ireland so that part of the itinerary is pretty much unchangeable.
2. I’m a little unsure about the Spain part of our itinerary – it feels rushed to me. We had originally planned on taking the night train from Madrid to San Sebastian but someone mentioned that it stopped often and wouldn’t allow for a very good sleep. I’m also having trouble finding information on the night train from San Sebastain to Barcelona. San Seb. is high on my list to see but I’m getting discouraged about traveling there and needing to cut days out of Madrid to do so. Any advice?
3. We’re planning on purchasing the 15 day/2 month rail pass. The numbers in brackets correspond to which routes we’ll use the rail pass for .. the rest of the time we plan on cheap flights.
 
Just a litle bit about us incase it helps … my boyfriend has done quite a bit of traveling (England, Scotland, Wales, Austria, Romania, Hungary in Europe) but this will be my first trip. We’re both interested in art/history and look forward to seeing some of the major sights of Europe (i.e. the Eiffel Tower, Coliseum, Pompeii) but we’re also mainly looking forward to just touring the towns, taking in the people, food, drink and experiencing the culture. We’re also fairly fast-paced but I know the biggest mistake we could make would be to rush through Europe without really seeing it … I feel fairly good about the time spent in places, there’s no one day stops, but I’ve also taken into account that we’ll get tired so places like Cinque Terre, Interlaken and Sorrento/Positano are all for relaxing purposes.
 
Sorry this is so long but again, thank you for any advice!