Travelling Europe for 2 Months.. Need some advice!

Hey gurus.

So I'm hard at work (NOT) during the olympics right now and my wife and I decided that it's time for us to take another extended holiday, and so we're setting our sights for Europe.

On our last trip to SE Asia we found ourselves after that in Greece, Hungary, Croatia and Germany.

This time, we want to hit up England, France, Holland, and Spain (not in this order). However the more I look at costs, the more I'm punched in the face by the reality of how expensive this could end up being for us.

So since there are many Europeans on this site, I figure you all will have some good tips or facts that may be valuable to our plans.

Primarily I'm wondering if there is a way to actually do these countries on a shoestring, and if so, what kind of quality of travel or accomodations could be expected.

Also, where would be the "must see" places in each country, and what are some ways that we could really take some of the costs down.

I'm not cheap, just focused on the cost of everything since our Canadian dollar converted into Euros just gets crippled so badly with the exchange.


Thanks for any advice given!!!!

 

Travel by train or budget airlines, I was looking at visiting some friends in Holland, you can fly from Leeds Bradford Airport (North[ish] England) with Jet2 for £10 including taxes, so if you shop around you can do it cheaply.

 

If you will visit Slovenia you will not regret it! here we have a really good standard and prices are not so high compared to the rest of the EU

 

One piece of advice ... DO NOT COME TO ROMANIA ! ... or if you do just go to SINAIA and have fun , then leave ... but DO NOT travel by train. they are horrible

 

frumos frumos, alunga turistii din tara.

do not listen to my fellow countryman,
visit Romania, we like your monies!

 

You should probably check out Interrail. It's more than just a railway company. They offer hostels and things like that too.
http://www.interrailnet.com/

30-country ticket is 150 euros, sadly they don't have four country tickets

 

Remember to speak LOUDLY and VERY SLOWLY then any person that doesn't speak English, will be able to understand you!!...lol

But seriously, just have a good time, don`t take all your cash out with you at the same time, eat and drink local soak up some culture!

 

Why not pop into Slovenija while you're at it ^^, its the neighbor country next to Hungary, Croatia, Italy and Austria,.. and the most interesting in our country has to be the mountains (Triglavski narodni park, Bohinj, Bled, Kranjska gora)

 

if you come to the uk and want to fly onwards its worth checking out our budget airlines like easyjet, ryanair etc - booking really early can save you alot of money.

UK wise, top places aside from london:
oxford(1.30hr away from london by bus - next day return costs around £15)
bournemouth (nice seaside area, not rundown like alot of seaside places)
manchester (good busy city if your into that kinda thing)
lake district (amazing vistas)
cardiff (so you can say youv been to wales)
edinburgh (so you can say youv been to scotland)

in europe defaintly spain as madrid has so much free stuff to do its unreal

 

^ I can vouch for Bournemouth, I live here

 

thanks guys!

as far as travel is concerned, we were thinking that we would fly from the west coast direct to England one way.. i found a very good price for the air and then we thought we could get the eurorail pass and go by train.
do you guys think thats the better method or would it still be more advisable to fly everywhere?

we figured it might be nice to go by train and get to see more of the countryside, but if its more expensive then it may not be the best option..

also, what would be a reasonable average expense per day.. or in other words, how much in € or £ when in the uk could we spend in a day? say for travel, food, admission to some sights etc? 100? 200?

 

hmm looks promising, i will research all this when im bored at work later today

 

£100 will be fine for a day here easily, probably about £20-30 on food, £10 on transport, then depends what you do that day.

 

Come to London.. and visit South Kilburn..

 

Don't try to see too much. Much better to see a lot in one place than trying to check off "I went to x country."
Basically, you have 8 weeks.
You really want at least 3 weeks to "do" a large country (UK, France, Germany, Italy)
2 weeks for medium sized (Norway)
1 week for like Belgium or Netherlands

Go to Norway. It is ****ing awesome. (And get the **** out of Oslo, Oslo sucks)
I really like London. You could get lost in the various parts of london for a year and never repeat yourself.
Paris is a lot more than the typical sights, but it really helps to speak French there more than anywhere else.
I think Berlin is a bit overrated. It is nice, but there are many nicer places.

Stay in hostels. Have a flexible schedule.

 

If you wanna visit Oxford just so you can say that you've been there then by all means go for it. Dont get me wrong, i enjoy living in Oxford but its not quite as "glamorous" as one might think.

Some cool things to see here wich are also pretty close to each other are:

- The Ashmolean museum
- Museum of Natural History
- Taking a stroll along the Thames
- South Park ( has a nifty view of the town )
- The Oxford Castle ( havent been here myself because the tour costs money and they wont even let you take photos, latter wich is a load of crap imo. )

Some of the bigger colleges and universities are closed from general public apart from tourist seasons in the summer and some have an entrance fee somewhere in the 3-5£ range from what i recall.

Spending wise, if you can find a bed and breakfast and dont mind cooking your own meals ( provided that you have the option ), then i'd say you can get away pretty cheap here ( 5-10£ per day for food ). Costs naturally increase if you like your drink and smokes.

Now as for Spain though... I havent been to spain myself and theres a pretty solid reason to it aswell... everyone and i mean EVERYONE goes to Spain... that and its too damn hot in there. From what ive heard and seen, the more popular tourist locations are packed with english people cos its quite affordable to travel there from here. I know im probably gonna get flamed for this but i wouldnt call spending a week or so with drunk football hooligans a vacation.

 

Yeap those places are realy nice, visited them all. Just dont travel by car on their highways, the tolls are insane . And the best of all is that Istria is just round the corner.

 

haha nice one,here is my advice..DO NOT COME TO EASTERN EUROPE!!!!I think that must seen cities are Amsterdam,London,Vienna,Rome,Venedig,Monaco,Barcelona...

 

if you go to holland, everyone goes to amsterdam, but about 19 miles away is a town called haarlem.
it is a buetifull old city and a lot more quieter than amsterdam but with all the same things, (girls, coffee shops, historial buildings) and very very nice people.

i dont know what it is by i find dutch girls so sexy// not the red light girls LOL
amsterdam airport is in between haarlem and amsterdam but a lot more laid back.

if you like the dutch coffee shops find willie woertells he has 3 in haarlem, with every 100 euros you spend you get 25 back or 25 euros worth of what your buying. and haarlem is cheaper too.
hope you enoy it.

by the way if your coming to england i wouldnt come to manchester, apart from man united theres nothin else except thieves and druggies everywhere and you will probably get robbed.
manchester isnt a holiday spot, its a HELL HOLE.

 

You not been to Southampton then?