Hey trackster, welcome to eurotrip. As far as the pass goes you should go to www.railpass.com and fill out the information on there and it will tell you the best eurail pass that fits your needs. Some people like just buying tickets point to&nbspoint, but I think the majority of people get a eurail pass. I suppose you could hitchhike but I would really discourage you from doing so. It might be safe, it might not. Plus, there isn’t any guarantee that someone will give you a ride and you may be stuck in the countryside with nowhere to sleep. A lot of things will also depend on how much you are going to stick to an itinerary and how much you will just go with the flow. Good luck and happy travels.

The Let’s Go guide books have information about hitch hiking.  One thing, in many parts of Europe hitch-hikers are expected to share the expense of the ride.  In Eastern Europe, hitch-hikers are expected to pay roughly the cost of a bus ticket on the route.

It’s hard to say whether or not you want a railpass.  If you’re visiting lots of different cities in an organized route so all of your trips are relatively short you’re probably better off without a railpass.  If you’re just hitting the major tourist destinations you’ll probably want some kind of railpass — perhaps a select pass for France, Germany, Austria and Benelux to use on the long, expensive trips and point to point tickets for the rest.

You’ll have intercity travel expenses in addition to your railpass.  Your travel in UK and Czech Republic won’t be covered.  You’ll probably want to take advantage of a cheap flight or two and you’ll probably end up on a bus or ferry that isn’t covered in Ireland and Greece.  Plus you’ll have to pay a few euros for reservations and perhaps a supplement on express and special trains.

Have you worked out the visa issues for your 3 1/2 month trip?  You can only stay a total of 90 days in the Schengen area.

thanks for the help. I am planning on taking more small trips around and not too many long haul journeys, although there still will be some. I guess than maybe it would be best to buy a flexipass for 10 days or so, or maybe just go with point to point and fly on the longer journeys. I know that flights can be really cheap in Europe, but are they a hassle and are there a lot of hidden fees? Also, I plan on visting the UK, and Switzerland, and some Eastern European countries that are not on the Schegen Agreement so I should be alright with limiting my stays inside those EU countries for 90 days.

There are hidden costs with flights — taxes, expense to get to and from the airports and charges on checked baggage over 15 kilos.    However, you can still find flights that are as cheap or cheaper than the train on some routes.  I’d think you might use a 15 day flexipass.