Help! traveling in Europe stuff

hey!

i heard that it is possible to save lots of money while traveling in Europe by buying a pass on a rail system and using the train as a way to sleep somewhere for free... is this true? which rail system would be the best? is there one that has benches or beds for use/rent?

is there a good resource for hostels and camping sites? any recommendations for hostels/nice views in europe?

are there any cool festivals or shows between july 18-august 10th that i should not miss? i like belly dancing, circus arts, fire dancing, and loud bass.

is the queen of england a satanic reptile like alien? or was the movie just really weird?

you should come to the big falmouth meet the weekend after ubderpoi seeing as i'll be mising you at that...

as for rail travel, you can purchase something called an inter-rail card which allows you travel between all the countries for a few months or something. more info at the link...

there are many other cool festivals on including sonica for trance, which i really wanna go too if i have any money which i probably won't...

there are also youth hostels all over europe and so many cool places to go i can't think of any in particular right now...

no idea bout the queen but i've heard she might like a belly dance...

good luck!

From what I've heard, it's actually cheaper to not purchase the euro-rail passes, but instead to purchase what you need on an as needed basis if you prefer to travel by train. That being said, many countries have sleeper cars or couchettes as they are frequently called. There are different types of these as well. On some trains, you can get a sleeping compartment where it is just you and one other person. On other trains, you can get a sleeping compartment for 6 people. This means there are 3 bunks up one side of the compartment and 3 bunks up the other side. There frequently isn't room for your luggage on the floor, so you must place it on the rather small (and I'm a little girl) bunk next to you. You also have no choice in who you bunk with (unless you are traveling with 6 people and all get your tickets at the same time), so you may have to share with a smoker or a heavy smoker. You also pay more for a sleeper car than a regular train seat.

That being said, have you considered flying to some places? there are many discount airlines in Europe that make getting from place to place much cheaper than say flying on Southwest here. I know you can get to many places from London for around 19 euros (the same goes for Berlin and several other). Of course, these flights are usually at the crack of dawn and arrive at the lesser used airport in a city if there are multiple, but it is something to consider as well.

As far as hostels, there are plenty in every european city. It being the middle of the summer though, I do not know what their availablity is though. That's when most american college students are off backpacking europe and frequently occupying the most popular ones in the best locations.

If you have a set iteniary, it should be easy to accomplish what you'd like fairly cheaply and easily find a cheap hostel to stay at. If you want to wait and see how things go in various places, then a train might be your best bet.

www.hostelworld.com is where I check out hostels. it has ratings and you can book beds.

as for trains, i am personally taking a hop-on hop-off bubs around europe. but thats for security reasons as a young single female.

where you headed? I'm headed everywhere!

`If you come to London, then be there for a Clapham meet! (Check the thread for dates) If you pm me to say you are close to London then I will try to get my H.I. Europe book to you. It has loads of details on hostels throughout europe and was invaluable on my wanderings. I think I have a spare too.

Places I recommend, with good, clean hostels...

Pula (Croatia)
Bad Gastein (Austria)
Praha (Czech)
Maribor (Slovenia)

Spritie is right... Interrail passes are not that good value, though they are convenient as you do not have to worry about having the cash on you to pay for each ticket. Remember though, that some train operaters do not actually accept these passes for overnight journeys. So sleeping is out.

Have a great time, and just ask if you have any more questions.
R.e. the Queen... No.

Yes... but the person who knows the details is on california time. I can't ask them right now for you. But the information is out there!

yay! info is good.

i've gotten the lowdown on some cool dance clubs, too.

looking forward to your further responses, and thank you so far!

as for "where am i going?", i would say... where the faeries will it. i wanna see lush old growth forests, bellydancers, beaches, and lots of bass heavy dance gatherings and i wanna meet as many people as i can. but who knows, i may fall in love and stay tied up in an apartment for the whole 4 weeks.

things that sound fun... amsterdam, czhech, slovania, india, germany, switz., greece, london (yes, i think i may end up going after all), ibiza, france, scotland, ireland, wherever...

if you fall in love i will come over there and kill you.

no falling in love in europe. tis a silly thing to do. just ask me or bobo!

you gotta come to London tis an excelent place

Rouge Dragon - What if you take your love with you? Is that a stupid thing to do too?

just dont cry about the fact that its over
Smile, because it happened in the first place

?
sounds like there's a sad story somewhere in this. for rouge

btw glad to hear about the queen. i had a feeling the lady was a bit "short on marbles"

i'm not planning on falling in love but my venus line crosses through EU. no, not uranus line.

i'm glad. I was worried you were implying something about the size of my arse...

Arashi, you should really check out this festival in Budapest! It's just your run-of-the-mill music festival, but good fun nonetheless, and you can get a day ticket for just 20 euros, and the full week (i.e. including camping) is only 100.
Then there's Teknival, but not quite sure as to the where & when of that though....
And for cheap sleepovers - find hoppers with a couch to spare!
If you're going to be in Holland, warn us here
and a meet will be organised in your honour! .... i think i'm out of the country for most of the time you're travelling, but there's bound to be a few heads here...

have fun!

ok man - so heres my advice. forget about the rail pass. its very very expensive and its determined by zones which you have to pay for, so you could end up paying for more than you want or need. there are some sites on the internet which advertise poeple travelling by car from one place to another who need someone to pay for their share of the fuel. this can be very cheap. i will try and find the name of a website off my mate, but if not, try a standard search. bus travel is cheap but time consuming, but in terms of overnite trips and getting you to where you want to get to, ive used it loads.
book travel in advance whereever you can. it will save ytou loads. especailly on filights because youre going to be hitting eurpoe about peak season by the looks of things. the budget airlines usuially up the price the closer yo get to the filght date. sometimes it is even cheaper to fly BA than the budget airlines; ie wizz air, (even thought they sound dodgy, therye ok ) ryan air, and easy jet. as mentioned previously, they will take you to airpots miles from anywhere. bus travel may well be the wallet saving method of travel for you.
hitchhiking, well, in the uk i wouldnt recommend it but in other places, especially eastern europe you cna get lucky with the truckers. my girlfriend has hitchhiked round poland with no worries, but shes polish and speaks the language. hostels in eastern europs can be really (and i mean really) bad. certainly in poland its safer to go with a hotel. in the big tourist places they are mostly fine. in france they are cool, and in the uk where ive stayed has all been cool. be sure to have ready cash on you coz lots of them (well, the cheaper ones) dont take cards.
the uk generally sucks for everything - its all expensive, it takes ages, and its usually late. in terms of coountrywide excursions bus travel is the way forward - www.gobycoach.com. it does take bear time tho. france is ok, and the trains are super quick. eastern europe is cheap but the transport can be terrible. personal experience; two blown out tires on one bus journey.
enjoy the ride
peace
ps the queen is pure lizzard. but she gives us something to talk about when all other avenues of discussion have been explored

Written by: mr squirrel

---

"in other places, especially eastern europe you cna get lucky with the truckers"

---

now THAT'S a good way to make money on the road...

fine rabid dog - i am overjoyed you found so much humour in but a few words. the thought of my choice of words bringing tears of joy to your eyes is a thought that i shall carry with me till the day i die. i will try to steady the welling feeling of pride by remebering that simple things please simple minds. however, ill have to dissapoint you. although it grieves me to say it, chavs are not on hop. and if they are, i aint one of them.

and arashi, believe me - getting lucky with a trucker is a FAR FAR better fate than getting UNLUCKY with a trucker. (fast forward to the joke about a guys first ride with a trucker/first night in prison - "so do you want to be mummy, or daddy?" if you havent heard it, well....)

Clear! *applies shock to thread*

Was just doing a bit of research and thought into traveling Europe this Summer and was wondering if anyone had any particular thoughts or advice on must-do and must-visit places and cities.

At this point in time I'm embarrassed to say that my list of places to terrorise is shockingly short, although the gem that Eurorail pass isn't (or wasn't when the thread of made) the most efficient travel method does help greatly

I think Eurail is actually quite good, but it depends on how far you travel at a time. Some long trains can cost about 100-200EUR sometimes, which is about as much as a Eurail Regional or Select pass for 8-10 travel days (depending on the country).

Since I was mainly travelling really long distances, the Eurail passes I had were really useful. In England I found out coaches are cheaper than trains, even when using Britrail. But I think they're still more expensive in other places.

A friend of mine was mainly travelling short distances, so a Eurail pass was actually a bad idea for him, since the tickets he needed were always pretty cheap.

As for places to go to - Munich has EJC in August, UK will have PLAY festival this summer, those 2 are a must.
Other than festivals I really recommend Berlin, Finland, Ireland, and Switzerland (I was in Biel, but the entire country is beautiful too)
I also wanna visit Norway. And I love Sweden despite not exploring the place enough.

Enjoy your travels!