I am seriously thinking to put together a group (like minded) for a backpacking tour of Europe next summer. May be for 2 weeks. Fly to Europe and then travel by Train between the major cities. Some of the cities include Rome, Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, etc. Overnight train travel between the cities so that day time can be sued to go around. Food should not be an issue, we can get veggie stuff everywhere in big cities. I am not into barhopping etc, would rather see places in the time available.

I don’t know if the group thing works or not. I am just throwing the idea. Any input is most welcome. Anyone gone to Europe like this, please share your experience, good and bad.

DIO

DIO,
I was considering this too. It will be just myself and want to do it by Christmas vacation time or in May 2008. I am also trying to get like minded (desi) people . Also it seems that there are some very good deals with the train which can work out very cheap.
People told me that it is better to rent a van and drive, each driver taking turns at driving. I have some relatives in London and hence I can accomodate people in London free of charge. Also we could sleep either in the van or in a motel.
It would be nice if other people shared their experience.
Send me a PM with details (if needed)
Let us form a group to see if we can work this trip out.
TK A

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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.

ahh.. Europe...I am enchanted by everything abt europe. If only they spoke English and were welcoming to immigrants, I would have hauled my ass to Europe long time ago. but sadly that is not the case.

Anyway, just did a London, Amsterdam & Berlin trip abt 2 months ago. enjoyed like hell.From my experience, for a 2 week (15 days) trip you should plan only for a max of 3-4 cities. Min 3 days in a ctiy and a couple of days for travelling and recovery. The cities I would sugges for 2 weeks with minimum travel are

1) Amsterdam, Brussells, Zurich or Geneva or Interlaken, Paris
2) Munich, amsterdam, brussels, Zurich or Geneva or Interlaken

I would not suggest you combine italy with any other city as Italy alone will take 2 weeks. You have rome, venice & florence. You can probably combine Vienna with Italy. that would make 4 cities for your furute trip.

When u say backpacking, you mean really backpacking like live out of a backpack and stay at cheap youth hostels and eat forzen food or you mean to do a comfortable trip. It all depends on your budget as well.

anyway.. aks me if you have any specific questions.

cheers
rsk

It is good proposal from DIO to tour Europe. Unfortunately I do not have a Canadian Passport to avoid visa procedures and easy custom clearances. May be after I receive Canadian Passport I am interested to join the Desi World Traveler Group. Those who are traveling Bon Voyage for them.

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I am new

I did that in '97 when I was in India. We landed in Belgium from where many Greyhound bus tours start. SITA travels arranged everything for us. It was for 15 days and around 7 countries. Any mind you Europe is one continent to travel in.

My area of interest is mainly in :
Fly to London. Stay there for some days and see the local attarctions. Rent a car/ van. Ferry it to France and go to Paris. Then from there to Germany (Frankfurt and Bonn) and then to Italy to see Rome, Vatcian and Venice. On the way visit Switzerland (People told me that it is on the way) and then return back to London and fly back to Canada.

This is my "must do " Itenary. Based on the my travel mat's inputs, I will work around this.

I was in Rome and Vatican in 1981. It was very difficult for us to communicate anything to the Romans. No one knew English and to top it all, Rome had a water scarcity at that time and there was limited water to bathe.

The only other thing that I am scared of (if I am driving) is the parking, the traffic signs/rules and locating attractions to see within the city (how do you communicate with a bunch of people who donot know / hate english?). I had the same problem even in Montral, where I could not locate the attractions that I found on the Internet. Also I would have been involved in atleast 3 crashes (and I did numerous red light jumping and twice I entered a one way lane in the opposite direction) b'cos I was looking for attactions while driving.
Could anyone who had done their travel by Van / car answer to this?
The other option is to park the vehicle in the city of the country being visited and then travel within the city by Bus/ Subway.

Which would work out cheaper for the trip? (4 people max.) Van/ Car rental or Bus/Train?

TK A

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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.

Wow Gr8 guys,
I am so happy to see some of our CD's are interested in backpacking.
I am making this plan for the past 3yrs and i was searching folks all over "Redflagdeals.com" and researching locations and deals.

i was postponing this international backpacking trip since 10yrs due to family/financial/career restrictions.

I did these trips in india when i was in engineering and enjoyed the golden moments..still i get dreams of those days.

So guys, pls count me in ..weather i am in canada or india..i will join u guys..

Btw..I would recommend/suggest the trip after sept..as u will be enjoying the canadian summer and will enjoy the mild temperatures in europe as well.

Ofcourse i am little selfish for that proposal as i will be getting my candian passport during that time frame :-(

What ever may be the plan...let's first make a group and will meet some time personally to get to know each other...as we really need to be in sync as team while going on these kind of trips (believe me...)

rgds

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MK