Very first trip to Europe

I am not really sure where to go from here. All I know is I want to include The Netherlands towards the end before heading back to London to catch my flight home.

Any suggestions?
I am pretty much up for anything, just want to get out of here for a while.

K I just came up with where I would like to go. Now I just need to come up with what I want to do in each place.

Or if there are some better places to be, in the same countries, I am willing to switch the times.

I am starting and ending with London because that is where I have decided to fly to and come home from.

You have a good budget – can you spend more time traveling? No problem if not – we can help you plan an awesome trip!

Do you have your flight yet?

You have a good budget to start with. For a 2 week trip, I think 4 to 5 cities is fine, but any more would be too much. One concern I have is how far out of your way you’re going to get to Rome. Being on a train straight from Amsterdam to Rome is no picnic, and would take you an entire day. Unless there’s a specific reason you want to visit Rome, I suggest sticking to the northwest since that’s where you focused the rest of your itinerary. A good alternative could be Brugge, and would save you almost two days of travel. Otherwise, it’s a great start

I have been watching my flight go down in price and I have decided to wait until another paycheck or two before I purchase it. So before the end of January.
Right now, round trip from Ottawa is $921. It started off at $1056.

My budget does not include money for my flight, hostels, or my rail pass I was thinking of getting. Those are all going to be paid for before I leave.

Also about switching my destination of Rome to Brugge. The only real reason I wanted to go to Rome was to see the Coliseum. (I don’t know if I spelt that correctly, but you know what place I am talking about.) If I do cut that one out – I want somewhere as equally spectacular as visiting the Coliseum. Without looking into it myself – what does Brugge offer?

As for the travelling bit I was thinking about doing overnight trains to my destinations. If they aren’t within a 5 hour distance.

Thanks for the comments/suggestions guys!

K I took out Rome right now.
Hoping for some other ideas!

The only way I could see you fitting in Rome is if you took a budget airline flight (Ryanair or Easyjet). And, while the Colosseum is really cool, Rome has much more to offer…

Is there anywhere near where you will be that’s as “spectacular” as Colosseum? I don’t know — it all depends on your taste. Brugge doesn’t have many well known attractions or sights, but the city is beautiful and enchanting (see photo below).

Wow that is beautiful!
And that is closer then Rome then? Maybe I should fit in Brugge instead!

yep — inbetween amsterdam and paris

We also have videos of Brugge and other places here: http://www.eurotrip….

My guy friend really wants to go to Spain. So I am trying to fit that in now too.
This is going to be difficult! Maybe once I get to London spend a day, before moving to Spain. It’s going to be tight.

Not impossible. You’ll have to take a cheap flight from London to Ibiza. flights.eurotrip.com is showing a roundtrip fare for those dates at around $100. It’s about a 1 1/2 hour flight.

Wow thanks!
Should I have all those flights inbetween destinations booked before hand?

Yes definitely.

Okay once I know where I am going for sure I will have all those things booked.
Transportation
Places to stay
etc

So this is what we planned upon. It looks pretty good I think!
We aren’t really spending that much time in Florence but we are going to be travelling around in that area, so I just named it Florence since that’s the only thing that isn’t totally thought out yet. Spur of the moment when we get there and that kind of thing right?!
My budget has gone down a bit but that’s not the exact amount I am bringing. I will be bringing a bit more then that!

Looks great!

Have you booked hostels yet? We added a pretty nifty feature where you can book hostels right in the itinerary. We don’t charge a fee either

Have you heard about that new couch surfing thing? I don’t if it’s called that really but that’s what we are looking into doing. Staying on people’s couches.
If not we still have to books our hostels.

I have heard good things about couchsurfing, but I have never done it. You can check out our podcast with them.

I am sure I have recommended this before, but the Archi Rossi Hostel in Florence is awesome. Check it out…

Yea, Archi Rosa rocks.