So I'm graduating and I'll have an entire summer to do whatever I want. What should I do? Where should I go?
Buy an eurail pass then go to Europe and have fun. Words don't even describe how brilliant the entire experience is.
No doubt. I took 4 months in '98 and banged around Europe (14 countries) and it was without a doubt one of the best things I've ever done for myself. Especially if you don't mind staying in hostels...not as nice as a hotel but if you're going by yourself, you'll meet some great people to hang out with as long as you're not too aloof. My favorite cities on that trip were Munich, Dublin, London, Rome, Florence (don't go to Milan), Barcelona, Madrid, Siena (in Italy...try to go for the Il Palio horse race in the town square). I just got back from Peru and that was amazing. Might be best to go through an agent to get everything set up...much less hassle. I recommend maximtours.com. But Machu Picchu is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. But there's tons to see and do there. Plus it's pretty inexpensive.
So I have a friend in England and I want that to be kind of my home base while I'm over there and I'm definitely bringing a friend with me. )I know I won't see much of Europe in a month and a half but I can always go back.) How much would it cost per day assuming that I have a place to stay? I want to hit up England, France, and the Netherlands on this trip.
What'd you do for money? Didn't you eventually run out? How much did you spend? (I have a lot of questions about the whole thing.)
I saved up big time for this thing. Then I used a credit card, and had my parents pay the balances while I was gone. Then I paid them back when I got home. Or maybe I gave them some cash, they paid my bills, and then gave me the remainder that wasn't spent. Can't remember. But no, I never really ran out. I did have an interesting experience when I was in Munich and discovered unexpectedly that I maxed my card out, had $20 in my pocket and wasn't going to be billed for another 10 days, but that's another story. I think I tallied up all my expenses over the 4 months and then divided it by the number of days and IIRC it was something like $60/day. That's accomodation (hostel usually), food, admissions to museums, subway tickets, etc. And that was not splurging very much...I look back at pictures when I got home and i was thin as a rail. If you have more questions, you can PM me.
I agreed $60 per day is about right, but the Euros are getting higher and higher each day. I was there last month.... taking the subway and drinking a can of coke were expensive experiences. A can of Coke I recalled was 2 Euros.
Curitiba, Brazil. Beautiful people, not as violent as Rio, european descendent, good museums, many parks, best transportation system in the world. Besides, since our currency is devalueted, with your money you can do and buy 3 times more stuff than in Europe. Do you believe a can of coke, with the same quality as in America, cost about 0,30 US dollars. Try to google Curitiba on the image search and you will see what I'm talking about.
I spent a month in Portugal at the Euros last summer and would tell anyone traveling in Europe to spend some time there. Incredible country-- fascinating history, beautiful settings, friendly, laid-back people, cheap to eat and sleep. Even the tourist restaurants in the big cities (like Lisbon) offer great prices on massive, filling meals. I speak virtually no Portuguese and was totally fine. People either speak English or are good-natured enough to work with you (assume you're not freaking out, obviously) and figure out what the hell you want. A wonderful, wonderful place.
I spent about $300 a month travelling in the Czech Republic and Eastern Europe. Granted, most meals were from the grocery store and I stayed at University dorms....
Those figures are probably about what I spent. It just depends on where you go. Eastern Europe was very inexpensive. I stayed in hostels and usually bought fresh rolls and meat/cheese for breakfast and lunch. I would then go out for a really nice meal at night and then stay out until 4ish most nights with the people I met. Brilliant.
join the air force,,,spend june thru july in beautiful san antonio then head off to tech school for a few more weeks depending on your job specialty. That would take the whole summer,,,,what a way to spend a summer vacation!!
Oooh, I'm not that naive. I'm going to decline just due to the possibility of being stuck at Altus for 5 months.
The Far East might be better since Euros are so high. Trust me.... you got the whole lifetime to visit Europe. I was paying close to USD200 for hotels that should cost USD40. It is unlikely to get cheaper.
if you think itd only be 5 months youre dillusional. by the way. you can see WAY more than you would think in a month and a half. way more. if you planned it right, you could feasabley start off in london, make it down through portugal and spain, over to italy, up through scandinavia and back to london, easially, in a month and a half. places to see though. go to copenhagen. go to stockholm dont go to amsterdam go to frankfurt go to köln go to trieste dont go to venice go to rijeka go to lisbon go to seville dont go to bruxelles its a lot more fun to rent a car or get on a train and go to smaller, more random spots than it is to hit up the usual paris, rome, london circuit.
Backpack in Europe. I did a bit of this in August. I only stayed a month and it was only Greece and Italy but i'm hooked. I want to go back and see the rest of it. I plan on going next year.