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The title pretty much says it all, and I'm super pumped. I'm going for two months starting at the end of June so I'll be coming back at the end of August (everyone will probably be pro at sc2 by the time I get back lol!).
Anyways, has anyone backpacked through Europe before? I was wondering if the people that have gone backpacking can give a few pointers from their experience to help mine to go a little smoother. (I know that question is veryyy general, but any advice that you can give would be great).
Also, if anyone that has been to or lives in Europe can share with me some cool places to see (I'm more interested with the places off the beaten track that I wouldn't get from your average guide book) I would be highly grateful.
Honestly right now I have no schedule on what to see and where to go. I'm basically going to let the wind take me and hopefully (well, I'm banking on it) I will have a great time. My only two plans as of now are to see a buddy of mine in jolly ol England, and if there is a European country in the World cup finals, I will go there and rock out with them (hopefully they win so I'm at a crazy jam and not at the biggest buzz kill ever lol.
Anyways, thanks for reading!
quick notes: -plan on staying at hostels -planning on getting an unlimited eurorail pass
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Awesome man, I'm planning on going too as soon as I can find the time.
Feel free to pm me if you're coming to Switzerland. I'll be gone from the July 18 until (at least) the middle of August but if you come before that I'll be happy to have a drink and show you around Zurich a bit.
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oh and Oxygen was kind enough to compile some info for me about backpacking in Europe, I'll pm you what he wrote.
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start off in amsterdam, and grab alot of weed. trek out thereafter!! lucky sob.
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Nice! An extended backpacking trip is on my short list of vacations. Perhaps next year. I'll be in Peru during the latter end of your trip :D
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That's the magic story you tell when you want to have sex!
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I backpacked round Spain a few years back with some friends, which was pretty fun.
Main advice I can give is:
1: Make sure you have more money then you think you need. You might have a dream of always paying the average price for a youth hostel, but often you will have to search a place for hours to do that, and life would be much easier and more fun if you just pay more now and then.
2: Carry the absolute minimum of stuff. We thought we'd save money by camping occasionally, and it just really was not worth it.
3: Just go and talk to random people as much as possible. Almost every good experience comes from doing that, and you've got nothing to lose.
If you do go to Spain, I'd say Madrid was the best place. Great great nightlife and atmosphere.
In England, if you aren't just going to London, I can recommend Brighton and Bristol for cool night-life, and York and Canterbury for being old and beautiful.
Oh, and if you make it to Scotland, Edinburgh is amazing - you could go and see the Fringe festival which has great comedy/music/everything between the 6th-30th August. Staying during that time would be a bit pricey, but well worth it.
Good luck
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I recommend getting a Euro rail pass if you haven't already. Check out couchsurfing.com you can save a lot of money and meet a lot of interesting people. If you don't do couchsurfing make sure that you book rooms in advance in July, they fill up pretty quick once the season really gets going. Also, you may want to look in to ryan air, you can usually get .99c flights which after taxes/fees end up being about $100 but save a lot of time and hassle. Places you should DEFINITELY check out are Interlaken (Switzerland -- go canyoning or rafting), and any part of the west coast of Italy or the north eastern coast of Spain.
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at least give a rough idea of where you want to go and I can maybe give you some info. I went to Spain (Pamplona and Madrid), London, Amsterdam, Rome, Palermo and Hios, Greece, so I can tell you things about those places and just general tips. IE. while you definitely could get by without any kind of plans at all, you probably want ballpark dates on how long youre staying in any given place. Summer is the high season there, and some places get deserted while others get LOADED with tourists and it's impossible to move and terribly expensive. Lots of random (and fun) festivals and stuff.
i got to do some shit today, so i'll pop back later, but if you search you can probalby find shit I've posted already!
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