Backpacking/Country jumping advice please!

[Ash]

My plan all along has been to travel, but with the thoughts of my temporary income (up til christmas) I'm seriously considering taking a short backpacking trip over some of europe very soon indeed.

It's about 5/6 years since my second trip to France/Belgium, a year since I went to Italy, 3 or more years my trip to Greece (most of these were organised trips with a subject from school/college). So I've done some of europe. I'm not sure there's much to Germany that I'd like to visit, but I would like to do as much of Europe to have a nice round trip under my belt. My other thoughts were Russia/Poland/Eastern Europe, which really interests me


Who's done the whole backpacking thing? What are your thoughts, and I know there are hundreds of sites devoted to it, but they aren't exactly a direct and human source of info, being made for a mass audience.


I'm planning on doing it as cheap as I can, I could save a huge budget and travel in class, but by the time I save that money my youth will have gone. Typical sleeping bag, a few tshirts, 2 sets of trousers, and shorts, jacket, camera, films yadda yadda
Depending on cost, either channel tunnel to France, or ferry, or flight to a cheap destination, then public transport and hostels. I'll have done all necessary research, printed my sheets of phrases etc so I'm not stranded... oh, and my travellers cheques/internet cafe's/bank account too!! 😉



Enough rambling! Any thoughts on locations? Any warning for those who've done it? Before you say it, I'm no stranger to sleeping rough in a foreign town 😀


any help or thoughts would be appreciated 🙂

thanks all


Oh! and if any of you RFF people over europe are up for it, then I could possibly meet with a few of you on the trip, especially those of you in eastern europe if I could ever get that far!

 

[BJ Bignell]

Ash,

The first piece of advice that I can give is this: take half the stuff and twice the money. 😉 Make sure your camera bag has good padding, and buy shoes you can stand to wear for 16h every day.

I visited a lot of cities in Europe, but a few quick recommendations in no specific order:
- Bruges, Belgium
- Amsterdam, Netherlands (of course!)
- Cologne, Germany
- Strasbourg, France
- Bern, Switzerland
- Vienna, Austria

If you are going east, Prague is also pretty cool, but it's surprisingly expensive. I wish I had had the time to explore further east: I had dreams of visiting Poland, the Baltic nations, Hungary, and more... perhaps another time.

Once you have a better idea of where you might actually go, let us know and I can maybe(?) make some better recommendations for parts of it.

BJ

 

[mervynyan]

Turkey.

Took 20 days solo crossing from istanbul to kars in later May this year. It was one of the best trip I've ever had. Travel by bus, pensions/hostels are cheap, I paid no more than 20USD per night. Don't have to book in advanced, there are just so many of them, no sleeping bags.

I had every provisions I need packed into a 35L bag, few t-shirt/shorts, first-aid kit, my MP, films and E-1. Travel-light to the true form. Turkey is such an amazing country and well supplied, so you don't have to worry about where to find cheap places to stay or what to eat.

The transportation is also accessible, point to point mini vans are easy to find. Then between larger cities, you can find a coach bus night schedule.

I can go on and on... But you should go find out yourself-🙂

Cheers,
Mervyn

 

[Jocko]

Wherever you go, always remember that no gentleman knocks his pipe out on his Leica. An ilford Sportsman or small child should be kept for this purpose.

Also, when in France, police officers are addressed by snapping one's fingers and shouting "oi, garcon". In Germany it is considered polite to open one's umberella whilst dining in a restaurant and in Poland the red light at pedestrian crossings means "tourists cross now".

Knowledge of such picturesque customs adds greatly to the enjoyment of one's holiday and leads to many unexpected photo-opportunities.

Yours helpfully, Ian

 

[Ash]

I forgot to mention I've ben to amsterdam, oh and venice too 🙂

Sounds like good advice so far, thank you 🙂

I'm thinking eastern europe including hungary and poland, I really want to see as manyas possible, maybe one or 2 days max in most places, have a bit of a fast trip through (majority of money will be on transport)! 🙂

 

[Ash]

jocko, you're a swine. 😀

 

[Jocko]

jocko, you're a swine. 😀

A favourite compliment in Hungary!

 

[35mmdelux]

Geneva, Paris, Florence, Rome, Athens, Venice. Take the best walking shoes and a Lowepro mini backpack. Enjoy - Paul

 

[Ash]

Rome, Athens and Venice are all ticked off Paul 🙂

I'm leaving Paris til last - for when I can spend a little longer there. Maybe even spend a few weeks around France.

 

[BJ Bignell]

If you're planning on heading to southern France (Marseille area) let me know in a PM; I know of a little place outside of town that's very cool to visit...

 

[nico]

hi Ash,
did you think about portugal or Spain?
I've been there and they're both beatiful country, you can also have good food and meet friendly people.
They really worth a visit!
bye
Nico

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Good shoes.

Night bus or train, sleep on board and save the cost of accommodation.

How about a ten quid plane ticket to as far away as you can find (Casablanca or Ankara or Budapest maybe) and then back to Britain by bus and train with big big detours.

Winter in eastern Europe is likely to be foul at the time you're planning. Extra-thick jacket, hat and gloves may be needed. Flooding is not at all uncommon in winter time.

 

[tkluck]

Good shoes. Buy them well in advance and break them in. Spend freely on good socks too. and carry extra shoe laces. A sewing kit with a few extra buttons and some safty pins.
Dedicate a weekend to shaking down the outfit on a local trip, even if you sleep in the yard. It's amazing what you find out you don't use, and what you wish you'd thought of.
Tell people you're Canadian, wait that's not a problem unless you're an American.

 

[Ash]

Thanks everyone so far, any more advice I should have? 😀

 

[fishtek]

Ireland's a wonderful place! Lots of great scenery, the Irish are famously hospitable, then, there's the Guiness...

Slainte'

 

[rxmd]

If you happen to come through Berlin, which I don't recommend in winter, I'll buy you a beer.

Philipp

 

[reagan]

A friend has been begging me to come to Nice. She says, "The tourists are gone and the weather is great." Haven't been yet, but her pictures are sure inviting. Have a good trip ... be safe!

 

[CDL]

If you fancy Eastern Europe, Prague and Budapest are beautiful, Bucahrest is big, imposing and extremely interesting. If you go to Romania, then get the overnight train to Chisinau in Moldova and continue though to Odessa, Ukraine (which is on a visa-free trial). Then Kiev, through to Krakow, Poland, across to Berlin . . . the world's your oyster!

 

[CDL]

Odessa is a bit like Brighton, but instead of a nice pebble beach, its got a massive industrial pollution-belching port with massive boats coming and going 24hrs a day.

 

[CDL]

Kiev, on the other hand, is awesome. Its like a Western-Euroepan capital. Lots of people, good for street photography. I was in the main sqaure on a sunny day this August and saw Michael Palin and a film crew walking by. A friend saw Palin in Macedonia a couple of weeks after. Apparently he's doing a new series on the New Europe. Its a good place to see at the mo.