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BelleG

Backpack ( Europe) August/ Sept O8

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Hi, Babes!

I'm planning on a trip to UK n from there maybe will travel to few other coutries like, Switzerland, France & Germany

Anyone interested to join?

Anyone can give some advice onthe lodging and also d transportation there?

Pls help..... :praisegod:

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london, paris, amsterdam, venice, interlaken is a must.

lodging wise you can book those youth hostel, transport in europe you can try to get those monthly train pass(depend on how long are you going to travel).

last time what i did was,

1. determine where you want to go, what is the route

2. get train schedule and plan what train to take at what time

3. book lodging if possible, some of them i look for it when i reach the destination

4. etc etc

if you want to maximize your time, you should take all the night train if you want to travel from 1 location to another, this can save time and save 1 night lodging, but might be abit tiring. However, this is part of the fun as well.

my rough route last time :

1. london

2. paris

3. brussel(belgium)

4. amsterdam

5. black forest(must try the authentic black forest cake, i'm 100% sure you don't know what is the real taste)

6. venice(romantic)

7. interlaken(swiss)

8. rome

9. pisa

10. nice(france)

11. barcelona

12. paris

13. london

something like that....

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Hi, Babes!

I'm planning on a trip to UK n from there maybe will travel to few other coutries like, Switzerland, France & Germany

Anyone interested to join?

Anyone can give some advice onthe lodging and also d transportation there?

Pls help..... :praisegod:

I am interested to join. How many days you plan to stay? I need to know how much roughly of this $$$ need to bring.

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london, paris, amsterdam, venice, interlaken is a must.

lodging wise you can book those youth hostel, transport in europe you can try to get those monthly train pass(depend on how long are you going to travel).

last time what i did was,

1. determine where you want to go, what is the route

2. get train schedule and plan what train to take at what time

3. book lodging if possible, some of them i look for it when i reach the destination

4. etc etc

if you want to maximize your time, you should take all the night train if you want to travel from 1 location to another, this can save time and save 1 night lodging, but might be abit tiring. However, this is part of the fun as well.

my rough route last time :

1. london

2. paris

3. brussel(belgium)

4. amsterdam

5. black forest(must try the authentic black forest cake, i'm 100% sure you don't know what is the real taste)

6. venice(romantic)

7. interlaken(swiss)

8. rome

9. pisa

10. nice(france)

11. barcelona

12. paris

13. london

something like that....

thanks hun, for the brilliant info..... how long was ur trip? n wat sort of hotel do stay in.... i'm a bit worry cos Jun- Sept is peak season, i scare if walk-in, i couldn't get any hotels/ motels..... then i'll end up sleeping at d railway station.... :lol1:

I am interested to join. How many days you plan to stay? I need to know how much roughly of this $$$ need to bring.

I planned to spend bout 3 weeks there.n hopefully can cover at least 3 country. still planning n calculating d cost. But on average u'll need bout Euro 75-100/ day(for lodging & food) it might be even lesser i guess....

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I remembered I booked the tour from London. ..and travelled to Europe. which was cheaper then...i have lots of fun, we slept in camp and we prepared and packed our meals daily. The tour provided coach and services including chef and accodamation in camp / tent. They do marketing everyday. Sometimes they cook chinese food for us ! We just sighseeing and enjoy. we of couse have to wash our dishes and to set up our tent everynight. And dont worry, the camp site provide clean hot water for shower and laundry services . Sometimes , we were able to spend some nights in a beautiful and comforble hotel.

Travelling like this save me alot. :P

And the best part is i get to know many friends over the world...from australia, new zealand, US , hong kong and others.

and mine wasnt backpack, but hopefully my experience can give you some tips.

Edited by shan shan

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I planned to spend bout 3 weeks there.n hopefully can cover at least 3 country. still planning n calculating d cost. But on average u'll need bout Euro 75-100/ day(for lodging & food) it might be even lesser i guess....

Yea... summer is always peak season. The best will be end of September or begin of fall. I will ask my friends more about this as they backpacked before. One of them ever slept at the train station coz couldn't find a hotel. It is hard to book a hotel first coz you dunno the location and how to get there will end up wasting alot of time. The best is yes, backpack, stop and get a hotel whenever feel tired or end of day. The best if can get few peoples to join coz can safe alot money in sharing.

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There do have something like hostel. I am not sure you mind or not but if i have company i don't mind. It is real cheap like Euro 7 to 10 a night. It is like a huge hall line up with beds. Alot backpackers there. One thing have to bring is bed sheets coz i heard before that one of my friend got bed buds bite.

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There do have something like hostel. I am not sure you mind or not but if i have company i don't mind. It is real cheap like Euro 7 to 10 a night. It is like a huge hall line up with beds. Alot backpackers there. One thing have to bring is bed sheets coz i heard before that one of my friend got bed buds bite.

I stayed at such hostel when i was in amsterdam, big hall with lots of double decker beds and shared toilet.

You can look for YMCA type of hostel, which is considered cheap and very comfortable, 2 or 4 ppl share a room.

One of my special experience in rome, we saw flyers at the train station after arival around 6,7 am, the accomodation is near train station so we go ahead and see if we can get a place to stay. we found this interesting place where the owner converted his own flat into a place for backpackers, where she rent out all the rooms. morning she will prepare light breakfast in kitchen area and all backpackers will eat there, very homely kind of feeling :-)

*do remember that normally the train will arrive at 6,7am and you won't be able to "check in" after 12, so a lot of time we just get a place, leave our backpack there or train station, then go walk around first in order to maximise the time there.*

What i can say is, europe is very backpaker-friendly, you can always find accommodation easily using information provided at the train station. if you really can't book certain place in advance, that shouldn't be a show stopper for that trip. when i was in brussels, got an euro cup soccer match during that day, all hostels are fully booked except expensive hotels, so we actually sneak into one of the small hotel's conference room floor and slept a night there. Not a good sleep, but definitely something more memorable than seeing a Colosseum.

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woww.... quite a number of interesting experiences there..... Thanks for sharing. i'm so excited bout d trip, feel like wanna go there next mth... :lol:^_^

Juz luv those experiences cos it's so precious n it's really a worth trying trip to backpack n explore

when i was in UK also i stay in one those motel wit pods bed, n i really hv tat refugeee feeling...... something like this website

http://www.piccadillyhotel.net/hostel-lond.../pods-beds2.jpg

N i started to appreciate malaysia more....

Language is also another issue tat i'm worry bout, esp in country like france....

Wish i can find someone which hv been to Europe to join us..... :P

Edited by BelleG

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If you are under 35 yrs old, try the Contiki Tour....The tours are fun and you get to know ppl from different part of the world

The one that shanshan mentioned is similar to Contiki Tour but not sure if it's the same

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I know about contiki but that't not backpack anymore. It is like a group tour. Group tour is fun but sometimes very troublesome.

I agree with BelleG about backpack kind of experience with just 4 or 5 peoples. When explore ourselves it is really difference. You'll learn more coz everything need to search and ask by yourself.

I have friends in London and Spain. I doubt they will join. But place to stay at their place should be no problem ;)

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actually there are many youth hostel that are affordable, try to book online first, but sorry i only know swiss lolz .... france transportation isn't a problem, it isn't that pricey, UK don't think is a problem too. However, for Swiss LOL ... you gotta really plan from where to where coz it is so gonna cost you $$$ for their transportation

For language, don't worry about it, you can survive with English in France, be happy LOL ... it isn't like what people had said about French people ... they are actually nice and are willing to help even if their English is really bad ehe

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Txs all for sharing ur opinions n advise....

I heard bout contiki, it's someting like to group trip.... not sure it's a good idea to join tat. Cos i'm into photography, so i will like to travel at my own leisure esp to those outskirt towns in Swiss & france, whereby d view r juz like heaven. if i go in a big group, then everything will b quite rush n diff to enjoy it. if backpack we can juz stop by for a cup of coffee and do a lil' bit of reading b4 we continue our journey

In swiss, i personally think we need an itinery. cos it's a bit expensive there. but luckily i hv some frens there. i can tumpang their house.... he he he at least save a bit on accomodation. Spain sounds interesting! i wish i'll hv xtra time to drop by there, for 2 or 3 days..... do you mind to pass me ur frens contact?

Txs a lot for all d advise......

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well personally i don't find contiki/topdeck like a group tour cuz most of the time it's free and easy. they let u go on your own and meet up at some point after certain time. i used to join topdeck camping tour for about 15-16 days around europe. it's pretty fun cuz u get to mix around with ppl from all over the country and play some games together. some of the time, we even decided to venture some of the places by our own, we just asked for our camping ground address and let our tour guide know that we will be coming back by ourselves. so we just walk around on our own ;)

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BelleG,

i m ineterested on the plan ...but may i know how much i should prepare if i wanted to join the trip??

If you're backpacking, its hard to estimate roughly how much the price. The thing with the train and coach tix at UK is they are very inconsistent. Some can go as low as 1 pound to as high as 60 pound depending on your booking manner. Early bird, online all have more advantages. The last time I went for a Euro trip I joined a tour. Cost me around 650-680 pound for two weeks. The routes of my journey is almost similiar to FRED excluded Barcelona. I went to 8 countries for 14 days. Its much more convenient with everything prepared. Hotels and main meal included. But the downside is I felt that the trip is way too rush. We travelled by coach and most of the time its only journey inside the coach. Sit until my butt also aches. :lol: Probably we covered too many country in a short period.

Backpacking sure is fun but you have to do a lot of research before hand. When I was at UK last year, we rent a few cars to drive to Scotland and camp there for around 4 days. Although we had a car yet it is very tiring coz of the inconsistency of the journey. Planner must be very good and there must be a high flexibility and tolerancy among group members. Backpacking are not for the weak. You must be able to rough it out. Not to dampen you babes spirit but I think its important to have a rough idea what is it about especially if some of you who have not experienced backpacking or even camping before. Remember, you're now at a totally foreign country. And I wouldnt even want to start about the communication problem especially with a few Europe country who detest English speaking foreigner.

Anyway, all the best to all babes who is ready to take the challenge and haf fun. Beware of your safety at all time especially pick pockets in a few highly rated dangerous city like Italy and Rome. It is a really really great and good experience so enjoy yourself to the max. :thumbup1:

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