anyone backpacked through Europe?

[svandamme]

can't offer any lodgings in Ypres, cause i don't have a place of my own there, but if you would come round there, and i know in advance, if possible i could get there and show you around the Battlefield..

i want to visit more things myself in my home town , stuff you overlook when you grow up there... so wouldn't mind driving to some of the historical sites...allready offered type550 a guided tour , he might be in the area as well this summer...

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by AFC-911
I, too, thought about the NYC stigma...I haven't met a rude Parisian (or a New Yorker for that matter) yet. Although, it could be because they're usually on vacation here in Florida.

I most likely will not make it to Greece this time around (though a lot can change 'til '08). I'll probably bypass Rome, even London if it came to that. It just depends on the finances. As much as I'd love to visit all these places, I'm not made out of gold!!

Which reminds me, would online banking and a debit card be sufficient? Just taking out cash as needed?

Coldstart (and everyone else),

*Just remembered, where do you go for those tube slider things that I once saw a pic of here on Pelican?

Take two or three credit cards with ATM ability. Was just overseas two weeks ago and the replacement guy put his ONLY ATM card in the machine in Dubai and it ate it. He was SOL until he could FedEx a new one there. Take more than one with you.

Have no idea what a "tube slider thing" is...

[Rick Lee]

Before ATM's were widely available in eastern Europe, a casino in Krakow was the only place to get a cash advance on a credit card. My friend and I each took out $100 for the trip to the Ukraine the next day. We pissed that money away in the slots at that casino in a few minutes and had to take out another advance. We ended up buying a few cartons of Winston cigarettes which we had to use for bribes in several places, most importantly with border guards on the way out of Belarus. We each had $26 USD left by that point, with which to get back to Trier. We made it as far as Berlin and then had to use credit cards again on a train. We smelled like farm animals and were so hungry when we stumbled upon a dining car in the train that took credit cards. Never been so happy in my life. When we got back to Trier, we had a 10 min. walk to get to our bank and in those days, ATM closed at 7:00pm. We got their at 6:59 and were able to get cash out for the weekend. All our other American friends had gone to the Olympics in Barcelona or to Paris or London. When they heard about our adventure, they were so jealous. And we each had gone through about $300 in three weeks of pure adventure.

[Dan in Pasadena]

I did it way back in the summer of 1976. I used hostels and a Eurail pass. I had separated my shoulder pretty badly less than a week before leaving. The doctore said I needed surgery but I already had tickets so instead of "backpacking" I was carrying a huge suitcase....very cool of course! That ended up hurting my "good" shoulder and I never did have the surgery! Still,I was with my then-girlfriend and her brother, my future brother-in-law and had a great time.

I was in Geneva the evening of July 7, 1976 when I saw a then-new '76 911S in light yellow rolling slowly down a boulevard. I was hypnotized by how great it looked and vowed to get one as soon as I got home, finished my last semester in school and got my first job.

I got married instead and it took 30 years and a divorce from that girfriend to get it but I did! See? happy ending!

[LakeCleElum]

Spend as much time as you can in the Alps and Dolimites (Italian Alps)....Best part of Europe in my book....

[AFC-911]

Ok, so I've added Geneva & Verdun to the list...

London
Bruxelles
Paris
Lyon
Bordeaux
Mont St-Michel
Verdun
Stockholm (and wherever else I end up in Sweden)
Geneva
Milano
Barcelona
Sintra, Portugal
Prague

Still, have to look up Budapest...more & more, it's looking like I won't find the time to go everywhere I want to, let alone do everything.

[svandamme]

why Brussels ? anything special you want to see there??
it's not a touristic or even nice town to visit imho.. won't hold up one bit compared to Paris...

might as well visit Ghent then ,which is a student town, with a middle aged fortress and cathedrals and nunnery... great pub town

[AFC-911]

Not really about Brussels in particular...Just wanted to visit Belgium. Not to mention that it's not too far from Cologne (actually, anything from Belgium is not far).

Just looked up Ghent. It sounds perfect! Thanks for the suggestion.

[svandamme]

it is the better option for a fun time and to get some Belgium Beer down...
don't get me wrong, Brussels has it's plus points, but it's city of compromises... it's not as big or arty as Paris
and it's not touristic or party hardy as Amsterdam
it has a unique character, but it's not so easy to find the uniqueness below the layers outer skin...it's an older city with an older mentality

Ghent is different, it's Flemish, it has a young mentality despite it's age old history , visit 't Gravensteen, the fortrest of duke of Flanders..it's not big compared to a sky skraper, but in the old ages, it was big , has a torture dungeon... and about 300 pubs in about a mile radius ... good fun

it's not far from Ypres , so if you want to visit some WW1 related stuff, it's only 45 minutes by train... Bruges which is very touristic, is only half an hour or so... (i recommend Ypres over Bruge, it's smaller, but has more educational value, it's very deep/heavy )

[Don Plumley]

I've traveled pretty heavily through Europe, spent 10 days backpacking with my son this past summer.

Books - get, read, digest. I'm a big fan of the Rick Steve's series - informative, good tips, tells you what is touristy and what is cool. Also explains how to pack light and travel like a native. There are some college age specific series, I think the "Let's Go" series that might be relevant.

France is neat. Germany is cool. Spain is great. Did I mention Spain is great?

Bruges, Amsterdam (maybe stay in Haarlem) all good. Bavaria, Austria good. Did I mention Spain?

I'd head into Hungary (Budapest), Slovakia and Croatia. And your dollar will go farther. And look at some of the pics of the girls from that area.

Irish breakfast after a raging Guinness induced hangover is well worth it. I'm not much of a London fan though.

Sounds like a lot of fun...

[ckissick]

I spent one summer with a Eurailpass for 2 months, and saw a lot of territory, from Sagres, Portugal to Narvik, Norway. The next summer I brought my bike for 4 months. The biking was way more enjoyable, however you can't see as much just on bike. So what I would do is mostly go biking, then pay for a long train ride to get me to another area for biking. And I always stayed in hostels. They're cheap, and a great place to meet girls.