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Eurotrip Aug 25-Sept???
Fri, 03/28/2008 - 15:24
eslobode
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Me and 5 of my friends are planning a trip starting August 25th. One of my friends will only be with us for 1 week, and 3 of them will be with us for 2.5 weeks, and me and my buddy are gonna go the rest of the trip after that and sortof freelance from there.
 
Since we have such a large group initially, going on a whim will be too difficult, so we are planning the first 2.5 weeks. Our initial plan is to fly into Amsterdam, than travel to paris, from there to Barcelona, and then to Madrid, and Ibiza. Either the first group will fly back from Barcelona or Rome, depending on how we schedule the days…
 
Is there a better city to start the trip from? and more importantly what’s the best route we should take with regards to transportation? eurail pass? Point-to-point? bus, plane, train? There are so many options, and since the dates are still so far away, it’s hard to figure out the costs of the fares…
 
Thanks for the help!
-Eugene

Fri, 03/28/2008 - 16:50
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oldlady
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1.  You’ve picked widely scattered destinations
2.  You have a very short time frame
3.  You’re traveling at the absolute height of the European tourist season.
The combination of those three things makes free-lancing next to impossible unless you have a very large budget so you can afford things like last minute plane tickets.  Not having an exact itinerary makes the railpass vs. point to point vs. flights vs. bus decision impossible.

My suggestion.  For the 1 week part or the trip, choose one of the three:  Paris/Amsterdam, Spain, or Italy.  Fly into the the city with the cheapest flight from your starting point (R/T for the 1 week traveler) and use the train to get around — use point to point tickets unless you hone your itinerary enough to know a railpass will save you money.

For those of you continuing the trip, pick a second of the orignal three.  Find a cheap flight that will get you from part one to part two. Again, use the train (and flight or ferry if you go to Ibiza) to get around that area.  Check into open jaw flights (e.g. into Paris, out of Madrid) to see if you can avoid going back to your arrival city.