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Itenerary - Greece? - Bus About??
Mon, 03/31/2008 - 01:41
jarrod
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Hi, this is my first post so thank you in advance to anyone who can help me
 
Myself and my girlfriend are travelling Europe (from Australia) for 3 months from mid May onwards. We are starting from London where we will later be living.
 
Our plan is to do Bus About (www.busabout.com) for our transport through central Europe. I also want to do Greece (islands) and also do some sailing through Croatia.
 
At the moment, my plan is to Fly from london to Greece to start our trip, then from Greece fly back to Paris to start our backpacking through central Europe, Our rough itenerary is:
 
London – fly to Greece then fly back to Paris
 
Paris -> Belguim -> Amsterdam -> Berlin -> Prague (all these are included in Bus About)
 
Then travel through Slovakia -> Poland -> Hungary to Croatia (train)
 
Then Austria -> More of Germany -> Italy -> Switzerland -> France and Maybe spain depending on funds (Bus)
 
Couple of questions:
 
Does anyone see any major problems with this proposed trip?? I really want to do Greece but I couldn’t find many other options rather than flying (ie train).
 
Does anyone have details of transport through Eastern European contries (ie Hungary, Poland etc) ???
 
Also, I havent really seen anyone on this website talk about Bus About. What are peoples thoughts on this type of “tour”? From what I have researched, it seems fairly cheap (compared to train) and pretty flexible.
 
Thanks

Mon, 03/31/2008 - 12:15
#1
oldlady
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Quote:
Does anyone see any major problems with this proposed trip?? I really want to do Greece but I couldn’t find many other options rather than flying (ie train).
  You shouldn’t have any problems although busabout may cause some logistical issues.  There are dozens of trains to choose from every day between major European cities, but busabout only has 1 bus a day, or maybe  every 2nd day which greatly limits your flexibility — party too hard one night and you may be spending two extra days someplace.  Flying is your best option for getting to Greece.  You can take the train to Greece from Croatia, but it will take 44 hours or you can take a ferry from Croatia to Italy and then another ferry from Italy to Greece, which also shoots at least a day and a night.
Quote:
Does anyone have details of transport through Eastern European contries (ie Hungary, Poland etc) ???
  This is easily doable by train.  You can buy point to point train tickets at the station or even buy an Eastern European railpass.  Use the German rail system website for schedules anywhere in Europe. http://reiseauskunft…

Fri, 04/04/2008 - 09:03
#2
Sophsicle
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I agree with old lady.  Busabout is good (I’ve done them before) but even though they boast about being ‘hop on hop off’ there can be problems with bookings and logistically it can be difficult sometimes.  If you don’t want to do the train thing and find your way from stations to hostels and so on, Topdeck Tours is a great way to go too.  Even though some of their trips are quite extensive, they also offer shorter sections of their trips that you can do if you prefer.  The trip you have in mind is kind of like their Soho to Boho trip which is a section of their European odyssey holiday.  They go from London to Prague via brugge, Amsterdam, berlin and Dresden.  That could be good fun.  Their website is www.topdecktours.co.uk
 
Good luck!  Both independent and organised travel are great options, it’s just a matter of what suits you.