[heart shaped box]

(Original post by lmur9)
You only live once - if it is something you want to do, do it. It will be an amazing experience. I travelled alone last summer and found in a way it was better than travelling with friends because I made all these new friends along the way. You should test yourself - see what you're capable of. If you're a really friendly girl, trust me, it'll be amazing.

Cannot say it strongly enoguh: gooooo!

I really want to travel this summer too but none of my friends are up for it. It sounds like you had a really great time I just wanted to know, though, how and where did you make friends? Did you hang out with them around the cities you were visiting?

[ClaraaralC]

I think Im going for a month (like July 7-Aug 7 or afew days later), couchsurfing is really good for travellers - check out the site

[ClaraaralC]

I think Im going for a month (like July 7-Aug 7 or afew days later), couchsurfing is really good for travellers - check out the site

[tara592]

(Original post by ClaraaralC)
I think Im going for a month (like July 7-Aug 7 or afew days later), couchsurfing is really good for travellers - check out the site

ahh yeah Ive looked on that website, but got a bit confused...do you have to pay money to the website to sign up??

[ClaraaralC]

no its free ive just done it, you just have to put in afew details when you click sign up and then confirm it, Im finding it really usefull its going to save me a bomb of cash as people let you stay with them for free; I am a bit wary though.

[lmur9]

Mostly at the hostels I was staying in - there were lots of other people in a similar situation to me and there were people coming and going - so there was always someone I got along with. I travelled mostly with two people who had similar plans to me originally so we just merged our plans and went together.

Some people found if you were out there for a long time asking family / friends to visit for a short weekend helped cure homesickness etc. and it wouldn't be too expensive (am assuming you're not going too far away from home?).

Hope that helps!

[nexttime]

(Original post by ClaraaralC)
no its free ive just done it, you just have to put in afew details when you click sign up and then confirm it, Im finding it really usefull its going to save me a bomb of cash as people let you stay with them for free; I am a bit wary though.

So you haven't actually done it before?

I agree it does look pretty awesome - i heat that the people who offer it are often a bit... free willed i.e. unreliable and recreational drug users. But by all means go for it and tell us what it is like!

[ClaraaralC]

No havent ever travelled alone but fancied a challenge, interaliling and couchsurfing seem the only way to go.

[nexttime]

(Original post by ClaraaralC)
No havent ever travelled alone but fancied a challenge, interaliling and couchsurfing seem the only way to go.

Huh? You can travel anywhere alone...

[ClaraaralC]

(Original post by nexttime)
Huh? You can travel anywhere alone...

I mean travelling as in backpacking.

[nexttime]

(Original post by ClaraaralC)
I mean travelling as in backpacking.

Yes - this can be done virtually anywhere. Common destinations include eastern asia and south america.

[BellaWay]

Middle of july me and 3 friends are flying to
spain and going to the benicassim festival from the 12th - 20th July before then
starting off using our interailing passes of 10 days travel for 22 days and traveling around europe.
At first we were going to get the 30 day continuous
but then found that in fact their are so many extra costs from the trains that this would be the cheaper option.
Does anyone have any tips advice about money etc
..e.g how much you would advise taking for 22 day travel?

Also we were thinking because we would be camping
at the festival that we would just try and camp round europe. Wondering if anyone has camped while railing and whether maybe hostels best option instead?

Advice on packing and general routes anyone has experienced


All advice would be very helpful, as you can tell this is my first time traveling!

[Christo]

Hi guys.

Planning another interrail this year now that my s. america trip is off.

In Summer 08 I did:

Prague - Salzburg - Ljubljana - Zagreb - Split/Hvar - Dubrovnik - (ferry to Bari) - Rome - Florence - Venice - Paris

This year after some thought, we've come up with a similar route that starts a little further east, heads through a couple of places we'd love to go back to in Croatia and picks up a few missed places in Italy

Krakow - Bratislava - Budapest - Zagreb - Split/Brac - (ferry to Pescara) - Sorrento - Naples - Siena - Pisa - Bologna - Verona

On the last interrail our route changed quite a bit once we got on the road, so I'm expecting the Italy leg to change a bit once we get there. Going to be using the 10 days in 22 pass like last time and taking about 25/26 days for the whole trip.

For the above poster: Pack light! I took way too much stuff last time and even had a t-shirt or two that I didn't wear which is ridiculous. I'm aiming to take about 10kg of stuff this time in my backpack plus a small daysack.

Budget-wise, I'm hoping to get a 20euro average on accomodation as we'll be staying mostly in hostel double rooms, though this could be less since there are loads of nice camping places outisde cities in Italy, where you can get a mini-cabin for < 15 euro pretty easily. Including food, travel extras and sight-seeing, whole budget will probably be 40-45euro a day. Although having cheap days is great, I'm warying of missing out on stuff. In Florence we didn't set foot in a single museum because of money, which I definitely regret now.

[ClaraaralC]

(Original post by BellaWay)
Middle of july me and 3 friends are flying to
spain and going to the benicassim festival from the 12th - 20th July before then
starting off using our interailing passes of 10 days travel for 22 days and traveling around europe.
At first we were going to get the 30 day continuous
but then found that in fact their are so many extra costs from the trains that this would be the cheaper option.
Does anyone have any tips advice about money etc
..e.g how much you would advise taking for 22 day travel?

Also we were thinking because we would be camping
at the festival that we would just try and camp round europe. Wondering if anyone has camped while railing and whether maybe hostels best option instead?

Advice on packing and general routes anyone has experienced


All advice would be very helpful, as you can tell this is my first time traveling!

What do you mean additional costs from the 30 day continuous and where did you find it out?

[ClaraaralC]

(Original post by Christo)
Hi guys.

Planning another interrail this year now that my s. america trip is off.

In Summer 08 I did:

Prague - Salzburg - Ljubljana - Zagreb - Split/Hvar - Dubrovnik - (ferry to Bari) - Rome - Florence - Venice - Paris

This year after some thought, we've come up with a similar route that starts a little further east, heads through a couple of places we'd love to go back to in Croatia and picks up a few missed places in Italy

Krakow - Bratislava - Budapest - Zagreb - Split/Brac - (ferry to Pescara) - Sorrento - Naples - Siena - Pisa - Bologna - Verona

On the last interrail our route changed quite a bit once we got on the road, so I'm expecting the Italy leg to change a bit once we get there. Going to be using the 10 days in 22 pass like last time and taking about 25/26 days for the whole trip.

For the above poster: Pack light! I took way too much stuff last time and even had a t-shirt or two that I didn't wear which is ridiculous. I'm aiming to take about 10kg of stuff this time in my backpack plus a small daysack.

Budget-wise, I'm hoping to get a 20euro average on accomodation as we'll be staying mostly in hostel double rooms, though this could be less since there are loads of nice camping places outisde cities in Italy, where you can get a mini-cabin for < 15 euro pretty easily. Including food, travel extras and sight-seeing, whole budget will probably be 40-45euro a day. Although having cheap days is great, I'm warying of missing out on stuff. In Florence we didn't set foot in a single museum because of money, which I definitely regret now.

Hi, firstly where did you find out about ferries from croatia to Italy;im aimig to go Split to Venice but cant find info anywhere. I'm also planning to do my route alone (Im an 18 yr old girl and have never done this before) do you think its safe? Which are the most amazing cities to visit? Did you Couchsurf? And finally, what do you think of my route:

Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague-Budapest-Zagreb-Split-(Rijeka)-Venice-Salzburg-Munich

[Christo]

(Original post by ClaraaralC)
Hi, firstly where did you find out about ferries from croatia to Italy;im aimig to go Split to Venice but cant find info anywhere. I'm also planning to do my route alone (Im an 18 yr old girl and have never done this before) do you think its safe? Which are the most amazing cities to visit? Did you Couchsurf? And finally, what do you think of my route:

Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague-Budapest-Zagreb-Split-(Rijeka)-Venice-Salzburg-Munich

Are you getting from Split to Venice via a ferry from Rijeka? If so, I'm not sure if there is one. Croatian ferry schedules are reasonably sparse and dependent on the season. For example I just found out there are no ferries from Split to Pescara until the end of July.

You can get from Split to Venice by train, but you'll have to go back through Zagreb and take an overnight to Venice I think. The fastest one I found takes about 7 1/2 hours (for the Zagreb-Venice leg. I think Split-Zagreb is about 4 1/2 hours on the fast tilting train If I remember correctly). It goes through Ljubljana too which I think is worth a stop. (p.s. I'm using bahn.de to check for trains - a good site) I would definitely recommend Split though. I only spent one night there and loved it which is why I want to go back this year.

Your route looks good. How long do you think it will take? Plenty of cool places but you've left places to go back for (Vienna, Bratislava etc). I didn't couchsurf because I went with my gf, but I would consider it if I was travelling on my own. I'm sure you'd meet some awesome people.

I think everyone can be safe travelling as long as they use common sense. Just get yourself out of situations if you feel uncomfortable, use a money belt and split up your valuables and don't bring anything you would be really gutted to lose (expensive phone, watch etc.)

[ClaraaralC]

(Original post by Christo)
Are you getting from Split to Venice via a ferry from Rijeka? If so, I'm not sure if there is one. Croatian ferry schedules are reasonably sparse and dependent on the season. For example I just found out there are no ferries from Split to Pescara until the end of July.

You can get from Split to Venice by train, but you'll have to go back through Zagreb and take an overnight to Venice I think. The fastest one I found takes about 7 1/2 hours (for the Zagreb-Venice leg. I think Split-Zagreb is about 4 1/2 hours on the fast tilting train If I remember correctly). It goes through Ljubljana too which I think is worth a stop. (p.s. I'm using bahn.de to check for trains - a good site) I would definitely recommend Split though. I only spent one night there and loved it which is why I want to go back this year.

Your route looks good. How long do you think it will take? Plenty of cool places but you've left places to go back for (Vienna, Bratislava etc). I didn't couchsurf because I went with my gf, but I would consider it if I was travelling on my own. I'm sure you'd meet some awesome people.

I think everyone can be safe travelling as long as they use common sense. Just get yourself out of situations if you feel uncomfortable, use a money belt and split up your valuables and don't bring anything you would be really gutted to lose (expensive phone, watch etc.)

I'm going to spend a month getting to munich then spend a week in munich so 5 weeks overall. Is there anywhere you would really reccomend not to miss if my route changes?

[Christo]

(Original post by ClaraaralC)
I'm going to spend a month getting to munich then spend a week in munich so 5 weeks overall. Is there anywhere you would really reccomend not to miss if my route changes?

I haven't been to Amsterdam, Berlin or Budapest yet, so I can't really comment on them.

Croatia was one of my favourite countries on the last trip, so I'd definitely recommend not missing it out. Good value for money and some awesome places and scenery.

Salzburg was a cool place, but I didn't think it was great for the budget traveller. Day trips and sound of music tours were 20/30 euro plus, which was just way out of our budget. We also stayed in a pretty crappy hostel which never helps with your impression of a place.

[PGtips92]

Hi, just wondering how feasible this route would be, how long I'd need and how much it might cost. I'm clueless!
(London train to) Paris-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague-Budapest-Zagreb-Venice-Pisa-Milan-Monaco-Marseille-Barcelona-Valencia (ferry to Ibiza, stay for a week, one way ticket back to London).

Could that be done with a 10 trips in 22 days ticket if we went to a couple fewer places?

Also, what on earth do you actually do when you're in these places? Sightsee? Hit the town in the evenings? (isn't each night just the same..?) Yeah sorry for the questions!

Please quote me!

[miml]

(Original post by PGtips92)
Hi, just wondering how feasible this route would be, how long I'd need and how much it might cost. I'm clueless!
(London train to) Paris-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague-Budapest-Zagreb -Venice-Pisa-Milan-Monaco-Marseille-Barcelona-Valencia (ferry to Ibiza, stay for a week, one way ticket back to London).

Could that be done with a 10 trips in 22 days ticket if we went to a couple fewer places?

Also, what on earth do you actually do when you're in these places? Sightsee? Hit the town in the evenings? (isn't each night just the same..?) Yeah sorry for the questions!

Please quote me!

I did the bold + Split (instead of Zagreb) + Vienna in 25 days. An extra 3 days in Venice after that. That's 4 weeks exactly, and it was more rushed than I would have liked. There is almost no way you could do that in 22 days. Drop the last 4 and fly to Ibiza if you want to go there.

There is so much to do it is unreal. You could spend your entire lifetime interrailing and you wouldn't have seen a fraction of the things that are out there. Go and talk to the people in hostels, walk around the town, speak to locals you'll soon get an idea of what is there to do (obviously the tourist things like seeing a museum can be done in a day - and are fairly dull IMO, it is infinitely better to get off the beaten track, and I'm not saying in any way that 22 days is enough to do that)