What to do, where to go in EU
 

So I've decided to go on a trip. Not sure how long, or where but in the general vicinity of Europe. I'll be starting in Germany for Oktoberfest but after that it's fair game. Places I'd like to see would be the French Riviera, Monaco, Northern Spain (Bilbao, Bisque area?) Austria, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Switzerland, Paris, London and who knows were else. Perhaps Rome. I will be buying a Eurail Pass so transportation is not a big issue. Thinking about 6 weeks.

Any EU counterparts on here that can give me an idea of what to see in certain cities? I don't want to just walk around taking pictures the whole time. As much fun as that can be. I am going alone FYI too...

Speak to TrickerZ, he took a eurotrip about a year ago.

Go visit Oscar.

Yes. We can play big spoon and little spoon.

Lol... Well it would be cool to meet up with some mt ers along the way... Maybe then I could see some actual cool shit rather than all the tourist trap stuff.

So I want to rent a car to drive the ring.. any other places than here that are not all super expensive?
http://www.rent4ring.de/en/info/rent...dschleife.html

This is the only one I've found with average cars. All the rest are like 911's, exiges etc. which I can't afford.

Silverstone?

What about Silverstone? I don't want to do a whole track day since that would cost a lot... just a few laps around the ring. Get the sticker/t-shirt and be on my way... lol. I want to go to the Ferarri and Porsche factories.

hehe... any EU members have any enduro races in Sept/Oct they need another driver for :p

So I think I've settled on doing this tour. It's on sale... lol

http://ca.contiki.com/destinations/e...european-vista

Then afterwards seeing which places I wish I had a bit more time to stay at and go re-visit and then stay for a week in Germany and visit Berlin and Munich or something for Oktoberfest.

What I will tell you is to NOT take a tour. You won't get your money's worth and you'll feel rushed. What I've always done when I've traveled is fly to my furthest destination and worked my way back (i.e. I flew to Prague and worked my way back west after fooling around in Eastern Europe for a few weeks).

I've got a definitive guide to Dublin because I lived there. PM me if you think you are capable of following my instructions and want to get laid.

The best thing to do is to rent a car and get into the mountains (France/Switzerland/Italy)


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Your list of places do look good.

Yeah I've done some research now and seems like the Contiki tours are basically just a party bus. Which is not why I want to go to Europe. I am thinking of doing a short Germany and surrounding area tour with Gap Adventures which has much higher ratings (like 5-6 days and only 2-3 cities). They also only use public transports (IE: trains) which is way more appealing that sitting on a bus. Then spend a few weeks on my own with a eurail pass and my backpack. I will be starting either way in Frankfurt and Lake Constance to drop my brother off at a school where he will be for 8 months. Well not really "drop off" since he is 18 but go with him and then trek out from there.

I would really like to see Prauge, Budapest, Venice, Munich, Amsterdam, Marseille and a few others. I wasn't thinking of going to England or Ireland/Scottland but I'm open... Is it worth it as a acutal location to visit other than the portion of getting laid? lol.. I also may hit up Greece. It would be cool to roam around Athens and perhaps hop a few islands.

Any other cities you recommend?

If you do, let me know. I can hook you up with a 5* hotel for like $100 per night and we can go for some driving on some beautiful backroads, and do some photography.

:D I'm down. $100/night for 5* is cheap but I think a bit over my daily budget so far. We'll see how it goes. I may be able to pamper myself for one or two nights. Realistically I'm going to be staying in Hostels and cheap hotels/bed and breakfasts most of the time.

I don't post too terribly much on here but the few folks here that know me know how much time I spend on planes. I'd be glad to help you out. I've been to most of the cities you list, never on a tour, always booked everything myself and am usually alone (I work for a European company so I get sent over there for work a lot. According to my passport, 7 times but I can't keep the trips straight since I also do a ton of domestic).

Getting around Europe is very easy. I wouldn't do any sort of organized tour for any of the travel. It's too easy to grab train tickets and go. Hotels are not hard to find, most people are friendly.

So you're going to get started in October? It does get decently cold in many parts of Europe and even some of the places that look warm in pics, aren't.

Any specifics I can help with?

I'm leaving on the 22nd of Sept. The idea is to travel the more northern places first and then work my way south near the end. At this time of year, what can you recommend to bring (the small things you wouldn't really think of).? I'll be basically bringing one large backpack with a daypack integrated (removable). Would you recommend a HiHostel card or similar? Or just wing it and find independent places. Is the cost much different from Hostels to lower end hotels? And is a Eurail pass worth it, or should I just pay as I go?

Those are the basic questions I have so far...

I can't be of much help with hostels, I've never stayed in one. Hotels are all over the place. I've spent anywhere from 65 Euros on the coast of Italy to 400 GPB in London. The range is just amazing. If you plan on taking trains everywhere, the pass would be worth it but there are different levels and types so you'll need to somewhat pre-plan where you are going and how often you'll change cities to make sure you don't over buy or under buy.

I will say that some of the places that a lot of people overlook have been some of my favorites. Finland, I can't tell you how much I love Finland. It's safe, clean, even the most frail Finn can drink you under the table and it's just friendly and beautiful. I know that if you hike in Finland, there are a network of trails that have free sleeping huts built along them. Another fabulous place is Slovenia. It's a way to see the mountains and coast for a fraction of the cost. Croatia (which is right next door) also has an amazing coast.

The most valuable thing in my bag is my travel adapter for my laptop and phone charger. Not one that is huge and bulky, mine is this odd contraption that all plug together to form a cylinder and actually holds 5 or 6 different ends.

Oh, and a few noob tips. Do not every change money at the airport. Watch out for gypsies, especially in places like Paris. Tourists get robbed there constantly. Be on the lookout for free stuff. Pretty much all museums, attractions and even transit has reduced rates for younger people or free days. Almost all Museums in London are free. Don't step in puddles in Paris.


Also, I see you mentioned doing some factory tours. I've done Porsche and if you're in Stuttgart, make sure to tour Mercedes as well. Even if you may not love everything they have on the road right now, trust me on the museum. Just go. Porsche is awesome. Hell, even their little cafe was ridiculously good and had cute little Porsche napkins.

Thanks for the tips. So would you suggest Slovenia over Coratia? I think it may be a bit too cold for Finland given the time of year. Any other secret locations? Even small cities in major countries... places that arent going to be such a toursit trap.

So far my list goes, land in Munich.. train to Friedrichshafen to drop bro off at school. Ferry across Lake Constance, train to Geneva VIA Zurich. Geneva to ..... ?

I have a money belt which will hold all my valubles. For electronics I'll have my phone, ipad and camera. Why avoid changing money at the airport? And why skip puddle jumping in Paris? :D

As for my eurail pass, I can do 5 countries so I'm thinking Germany, Italy, France, Austria and I haven't picked the last one yet. If I want to see one city out of that 5 I can always get an individual trail ticket. I may use Greece as my last one and ferry from Italy to Greece. Check the islands out and Athens (visit Reverant)...

From Geneva you have lots of options, short hop to Stelvio, Monaco or the Italian Riviera (Cinque Terre is pretty cool).

Slovenia and Croatia are both gems. Slovenia is very diverse but Croatia might be warmer in september/oktober. In Croatia Split is a nice starting point. Pretty cool city center and ferry connections to just about every other place in Croatia and Italy. Easy to visit some of the islands.

Yeah I think Croatia is on my maybe list. I've heard a lot of great things about it. I think I am going to try to visit all the northern places first so when it gets into November I'll be in the south. I have family in Hamburg I am going to visit for a bit so I have to work that in somehow.

My 5 country eurail is now, Germany, Italy, Austria, France the last is Greece or Croatia/Slovenia (counts as one). Any other places I want to go to I can always get a cheap 40-70euro flight. Hell.. I checked... a flight from Helsinki to Rome for instance is 60e. Munich to Athens on one site was 9e. Once you add teh tax and whatnot it was like 40-50e for the 9$ one. But still not bad...

Be careful with Geneva, it's insanely expensive. Most of Switzerland is quite pricey though. I've been multiple times. It's best to do a day trip to Geneva and sleep in a surrounding smaller city, even if it's in France, unless you can find a good hostel. Geneva is small though and I haven't found a ton to do there other than just be in awe of how beautiful it is. The train from Geneva to Milan is amazing though. There are a lot of scenic train trips in the area.

Changing money at the airport gives you terrible rates and usually a fee as well. The best way to get cash in Europe is to simply withdraw from ATM's. Obviously don't do it every day, get enough to last you for a bit because there will be a small fee but it will never be as bad as the airport.

Puddles in Paris - if I told you how many people and animals I've seen peeing on the streets of Paris..... yeah.....

Which Greek Islands are you aiming for? Some of the smaller islands practically shut down in the off season and it could be hard to find a place to stay. Some of the natural parks on Crete that are really worth checking out are not open in winter. You should be early enough to catch them though. (Samaria Gorge is open May to October, not sure of exact dates though).

If you do go North, I suggest Talin Estonia as well as Stockholm and Helsinki. You can take a ferry between Tallin and Helsinki. For Italy, personally, I greatly prefer Florence to Rome. Cique Terre is definitely cool as is the Amalfi Coast.

Getting around Europe is easy. I've seen so many people buy all of their train tickets online, over plan, over spend and not even realize it. As long as you have read up on where you're going and have a general idea, it's not difficult. I do always book hotels in advance but I tend to buy train tickets the day before or even day of but I do glance at schedules ahead of time just to be sure I don't decide to sleep a little late and miss the most direct train. BTW, the fastest trains are the ICE in Germany and TGV in France, from what I've seen. The high speed TGV is amazing, make sure you find one. It can be easy to spot them on time tables because they get there fast and have few stops, it's noted sometimes that they are high speed as well. 150mph+ on a train is awesome. It's so smooth.

Keep in mind though that some tourist type things are worth it. I hate crowds, hate them, but things like Musee D'Orsay in Paris, going to the top or Tour Montparnasse and the London Eye have been some very, very nice experiences for me. BTW, I love London. Love it. I've started stopping there just about every time I cross the ocean because I enjoy it so much. I should be back in Europe in October and have to do my own round of figuring out where to go next as well. May end up in Spain or Scotland, haven't done either of those just yet.

I'm here at the moment:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6186/...67155539_z.jpg

Here is where?

Thanks for the info Jenn. I'm going to sit down today and try to do some general planning. There are a few days I will be in Hamburg so I am going to schedule around that. What kind of weather could I expect in Stockholm and Helsinki? I imagine it's starting to be in the consistent sub 10*c. I am only taking a backpack and only have so many warm items of clothing.

As of today the tentative flight back is on November 17 from London Gatwick which can always change if needed. I'm flying Air Transat so I am limited to London as my only return flight location. I'll be flying into Munich on the 23rd of Sept.

Nurburgring :)

Around 10c would be right for the farthest north of Europe at that time. It can get quite cool at night in other places too. I would suggest something warm to wear under your normal clothes. Like a thermal undershirt and pants type things. Good for sleeping in as well. You can find very thin, light ones at outdoor stores. Ones that can be rolled up into very compact sizes so as only to take up a small corner of your bag. A fleece jacket as well. By light layering, you can avoid carrying a bulky coat. My trips to Europe are usually about 3 weeks and the biggest challenge is packing enough but not too much. I do a lot of laundry in hotel sinks.

Oh, it you're interested, I can post a link to my Flickr for thousands of pics of various places.

Yeah so far I have my trusty North Face summit series soft shell, a North Face rain shell and a technical long sleeve fleece type thing (fleece I think it too thick so I got the underarmour type stuff) and pajama pants which will double as a long john type thing. Other than that I'm really only bring one pair of regular pants, 1 jean, 2 shorts, 5-6 shirts a few pairs of socks and underwear maybe one button up shirts for the nicer places and that's about it. I'm torn on the shoes thing though. I bought some nice goretex solomon shoes yesterday but I think they are too bulky for the times I want to wear sandals in the southern areas. I am thinking of getting some lower profile shoes that arent hiking/walking or anything like that...

I'd love to see your pics.

I do something similar. I have a North Face fleece that snaps into a rain shell or either can be worn on its own. Works like a charm. When I'm over there in December - March or so, I wear a hat as well because the air is quite crisp and cold in most places.

My pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99188754@N00/sets/

I have a couple of pages of sets and then just a lot of random in my photostream that may or may not be in sets. I don't take pics everywhere I go. I take them mostly the first time I go somewhere and then it tapers off after that. Sometimes I like to just walk around and be normal and comfortable without a huge camera bag. My little G11 or Panasonic camera are usually in my purse though.

You seem to have a pretty good handle on this so far though. I've heard so many people practically freak out when I told them I didn't have train tickets or didn't book all of my hotels. It's like they don't realize that people use the train systems every day as their primary transport and that it's actually quite easy to use. Europe is so small too and so dense. You can't go to far without bumping into something.

Yeah I think the fact that I have no real direction is the fun of it. I bought the eurail pass today and sprung the extra $100 to get the 15 days in 2 month for anywhere in Europe rather than limited to 5 countries. I also bumped my flight to the 25th of November so that gives me an extra week to visit Stockholm and Copenhagen at the beginning when it's not too far into October yet.

Also just got back from exchanging my pack from the Osprey Farpoint to the Osprey Waypoint 65. (actually 68L) http://www.ospreypacks.com/en/produc...oint_65_-_mens

Bought a few thermals, and some packing cubes to help keep things organised.


So aside from big obvious cities, any small jems you can reccomend? Mostly in the Swiss, Austria, Germany (black forest region) area? Or even some in France/Italy... I'm very open to options.

As for camera I'm just bringing a point and shoot. I think I would be too worried about my SLR. I'm bringing my ipad instead of a laptop. It can double as an electronic GPS based map and I can brows WIFI if I find any.

I would skip the upper north outside of summer. You'll have to do a lot of travelling and somehow those places always seemed a little depressing to me in autumn/winter. MUCH better in summer and spring when the cities regain a little temperature and color.

Germany can be pretty cool... Nurburgring region is worthwhile, even without the ring. Make sure you have a cheap rental and hit up small cities in the region like Monschau, Cochem at the Mosel river etc. Particularly nice on a bike if the weather holds.

Lake Constance can be cool if you manage to avoid the droves of old people. Best chances of that happening are Lindau and Konstanz. The castles over in Füssen are surprising, quite new, built by a pimp and it shows.

Austria is all about the passes. The Grossglockner Hochalpstrasse if opened is...well...something special. Fucking amazing road, dropped onto the top of the alps. Just because they could. You'll see more fully rigged test cars around this beauty then near Stelvio.

Ok, so maybe skip Stockholm/Helsinki... but I would guess (and based on looking at average temps) that Copenhagen would still be tolerable? I don't plan to stay more than 2-3 days.

I'm actually starting in Lake Constance dropping the bro off in Friedrichshafen. Might hang there for a day or two and take a ferry across to Switzerland and visit Zurich or Geneva.

I`ve been told the whole black forest region (southwest germany) is really nice.

Instead of trains that are expencive you should buy fly pass to main cities and from there do and see what ever you want want.

I would search mx-5 frum UK for 1500£ or less (start's from 400 or so, look from mx-5nutz, pistonheads, autotrader and gumtree) and drive around.

Go for London, Amsterdam, Paris, old east Germany and Berlin, Auswitch (theres camps in Germany too), Scotland, autobahns (promise you'll love having WOT and only thing annoying are the faster cars or like I had, a van at +120mph) alps and tracks (nurburgring, spa imola etc). Monaco is horrible place so half a day will do it. Remember, rent companies wont allow driving in nurburgring so you arent insured and crashing there can be most expencive thing in your whole life.
If you want, here's contact for cheap'ish caterham in Nice for great, great fun in Alps!

Dont plan too much, I've done my best trips without planning.

What ever you do, have fun and if you end up in Finland, let me know.

If you're going to Stockholm, I would suggest taking a trip into Norway too.

A few pictures from the western part of Norway:

Atlanterhavsveien (The Atlantic Road):
http://moreposten.com/Atlanterhavsveien.jpg
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5YxQc7asHt...lanterhav1.jpg
http://www.askeladden.net/reiseweb/t...avsveien-1.jpg

Trollstigen (The Troll Road):
http://reiseliva.wikispaces.com/file...reidde-web.jpg

Geirangerfjorden (The Geiranger fjord):
http://www.norphoto.com/r/images3/ge...en20060050.jpg
http://www.bjorkhaugen.net/bilder/Ca...gerfjorden.JPG

Prekestolen (The Pulpit/The Preachers somethingsomething):
http://home.online.no/~joeolavl/natu...len_profil.jpg
http://www.photoseek.com/81NOR-08-14...rekestolen.jpg

Wow that looks amazing. By the looks of it I could spend a lot of time there. As for thr trains, I'm not a big flyer and I think taking trains is going to be part of the experience.

I'm thinking to maybe skip stockholm and do copenhagen and oslo... I don't want to gery too north. How is the weather and daylight in oslo in early october?

The weather in October?
Well, bring warm clothes :P

You can expect temperatures between -5 and 5 degrees celsius, and it could be snowing if you're unlucky/lucky, depending on what you prefer.
The western part of Norway is about 8 hours of driving from Oslo though.

If I was you, I'd save the money and travel in Europe during the summer. Autumn north of Spain is pretty shitty to be honest.

And Stockholm is south of Oslo btw :P

(If you go to Copenhagen, it's just a short partyboat trip to Oslo or Kristiansand. Norwegians use it to drink they're fucking heads off during weekends. It goes from Fredrikshavn and Hirtshals if I remember correctly. There's also a cruise ship that takes you from Kiel to Oslo with more luxury and the same attitude from the passengers. Both boats offer tax free shopping and a 2-3 day binge drinking period if wanted.)

Can't. Its now or never. I can always skip the north. The beauty of out all is I can do whatever I want. Depending on my mood. ther idea was to check out places in the south of sweden and denmark and when I strart getting too cold, hop on a train and head for the mediterranean

Flights from NY to Oslo are said to be pretty cheap, but I guess that's because your so called "money" isn't worth jack shit outside your borders :P

It sounds like a good plan though, and I gotta say I envy you doing such a trip. There's just a MASSIVE amount of stuff to be seen, and if you skip London you're a proper fool.
Just seing the Tower of London from the outside was worth the trip there.

You'll need at least a couple of days there to just "take in" everything, and it's recommended deeply.

Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, HMS Belfast.. The list keeps going.
And if you go there, trust me when I say: If there's one sentence you'll be sick of, it's "Mind the gap".

Exactly. I wouldn't write off any part of the continent because it might be a little chilly. You might enjoy it or it might not be as cold as you think. The daylight in Stockholm and Helsinki will be quite tolerable at the time you're there but the days so get shorted very quickly. The sunset gets earlier and earlier by I believe an hour or more just in one month. I've been in the middle of summer with sunrise at 3:30AM and sunset after midnight and I've been there when the sun was gone by 3PM. I enjoyed both. Of course I enjoy the warmth more but the experience of the climate and the difference in home and there is worth being a little cold. If you don't like it, just leave but at lest you can say you tried.

I wish I could do the same. One day!


And I agree on trains. It's nice to see things from the window of a train, plus you can book overnight trains and sleep on them sometimes. In the US, we have so little rail travel that I love riding the trains over there as much as possible. No security lines, time tables are more relaxed. There are some insanely cheap air fares to be found though for long distances or places surrounded by or cut off by water. I've flown from Greece to Italy for something like $80 before.

I'm Canadian ;)

My flight back to Canada at the end is out of London so I will have some time to check it out.

+1 on crazy King Ludwig's castles in Füssen area, Neuschwanstein Castle and Linderhof Castle. You can take a day trip from Munich on one of the Gray Line tour buses that leaves from in front of the Munich main train station (Hauptbahnhof) that hits both of these castles quicker than trying to get there yourself and is pretty reasonable for a full day trip.

You can also get tourist discount cards from the Munich Tourism office at that same train station that will give you unlimited local transport (trams, buses, etc) in Munich for a couple of days which can save you a ton of money getting around.

Trains can be expensive at times and can take a lot of time if you are going far compared to a discount airline hop. The slower local trains stop every ten to fifteen minutes if you get stuck on one. Getting a Eurail pass or one of the variations of them makes sense in many cases but many of the countries you expressed interest in aren't included and there may be upcharges for certain types of faster trains.

Anything over 4 hours deserves consideration for going by dirt cheap discount airlines. Some times of day and night can get you on flights for 1 or 2 Euros plus taxes. Some notables are Easyjet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Air Berlin, German Wings, Condor, TUIfly, etc. See WikiTravel info on discount airlines in Europe.

Here's a copypasta from TripAdvisor:
Cheap airlines- RYANAIR, Wizzair, Myair, easyjet, berlin air ”
Jun 30, 2009, 4:39 AM

Ryanair is usually the cheapest option. I mean cheapest travel method possible. It is cheaper than trains, buses, boats, and cars. If I were to plan a Europe trip it would be based on Ryanair's airport locations. I know you think trains are a nice way to see the country, trust me, you will pay more to look out the window for an hour and then read a book or sleep the rest of the way. After taxes and with one bag you can fly almost anywhere they fly for 25 Euros all included. Sometimes you can find a cheap flight for 3 or four euros! I suggest looking for a flight from 2 - 10 Euros instead of 0.01. The 0.01 flights are attractive but usually have a lot of tax added whereas the 2 - 10 Euro flights don't have any because they are on sale. Keep in mind that this airline is frustrating to fly the first time. Your bags have to be light weight, you have to sign in AND PRINT your own boarding pass online. You have to do everything yourself. Do not expect that they will do anything for you. After you have traveled with the once and figured out the system, you will have no problems. OH! Also never plan to speak with customer service or solve an issue. The customer service lines charge you per minute or you can send them a fax. This will be replied to in a month or so. Ryanair tends to be good at being on time. Keep in mind that their airports are often obscure and in the middle of nowhere so transportation to cities is a cost to be factored in.

There are other options that fly to different airports. Sometimes better airports.

Easy jet I have heard saves money by being bumped to the back of the line at the airport. Translation - you may sit on the tarmac for a long time and be late arriving. They do have some better airports though. My wife also said that you may be blinded by the bright orange interior of the cabin. Maybe take sunglasses :)

Wizzair, myair, carpatair, and berlin air are also worth checking out.

If you are flying from another continent to Europe I suggest finding the cheapest flight to an airport that one of these airlines fly to. Then continue to your destination from there. Heathrow may be a good travel hub but it is very expensive to bus or train from Heathrow to the cheap airports. 20 - 30 pounds one way. Return trips are cheaper.



Since you are planning on using hostels I highly recommend you spend some time reading on the forum- The Backpacker's Ultimate Guide to Budget Travel in Europe - http://www.bugeurope.com/ because they have reviews and tips from people who have done and are doing exactly what you are planning to do. You don't want to end up in a bad hostel (bedbugs anyone?).

Don't you still get those backpacker train tickets to Europe?
They were very popular for a while, and sold like kebabs on a saturday night.

Not sure about the "in" factor on backpacking nowadays, but I'm pretty sure you can get some "travel as much as you want with trains for a month or something" tickets.

And good, you're Canadian. "out" sounds weird even to me, but at least your money works :P
And you're used to the nordic climate, it's probably not that much different from Canada. Could even be slightly warmer in Norway, since we have the Golf Stream heating up the oceans.

Ryanair is the mc donalds of air business so dont expect service or any luxuries, they'r getting ready to charge of using toilets :lol: But to be said, its cheaper to fly Finland to Spain and back than traveling to next big city and back on train. I paid under 80€ for 4 flights I did some years ago.

If you go to UK, remember to check at least 4 times before you cross the streets. I've almost killed myself at least once on every trip. "Oh, no ones coming" moment before step on the road and someone coming from totally wrong direction just misses of hitting and killing.

Yeah it's called the Eurail pass. And I have one. 15 travel days anytime in 2 months in 22 countries. Yeah, I can't really see it being that much colder than our October and Novembers. It's not a freezing cold but usually pretty brisk. I get away with jeans and my North Face jacket most of the times. I can get accustomed to cold pretty easily.

So right now the travel itenirary is land in Munich. Travel to Prauge, Prauge to Berlin and then fly to Bergen.. or direct to Bergen from Prauge, train to Oslo, train down the coast through Goteborg to Copenhagen. Stop off a few days. Train to Hamburg where I will visit some relatives for a few days. From there to Rotterdam, then to Brussels and then to The Nurburgring and after that travel down the Rhine through the Black Forest Region. Once I get to the south of Germany, train to Saltzburg, then from there to Innsbruck, then to Zurich or Bern. From there I have not decided whether to go east to Spain/Portugal or west to Italy and from there to Greece. I would like to visit Athens/Santorini but Portugal is also very appealing. And it's cheap in Portugal too from what I've heard.

I will fly from either Greece or Portugal back to London at the end of my trip to fly home.

Amount of days are not set in stone but I think it's a decent idea. Fly to the furthest place and work my way south. Bergen to Oslo on the Bergen line is supposed to be an excellent ride.

Vienna was pretty damn cool and better than Zurich, imo, and is on the way from Salzburg to Budapest, Croatia, Greece, etc., FWIW.

There are no cheap flights to Bergen. Which sucks. I'd like to take the Bergen line and the Flam line (supposedly the best train ride in northern europe) but I don't want to take them twice. It's too far and would take too long.

Don't skip France, the smaller cities and of course Paris. Some people love it, some people don't but it's very much worth experiencing.

As for Greece, I thought Athens was pretty boring. Acropolis.... that's is. Santorini was amazing but it is very small and it's quiet as can be in the off season. Crete would be a good place to check out.

Yeah I know... I'm thinking maybe fly to Paris as at the end and then take the chunnel to London for my flight home. Are there any inland cities in France you recommend? Other than the Mediterranean coast cities... My travel agent mentioned Santorini pretty much shuts down but Crete runs all year round.

If you are a history buff and Canadian,

"The Bény-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery is a cemetery containing predominantly Canadian soldiers killed during the early stages of the Battle of Normandy in the Second World War. The Cemetery is located in and named after Bény-sur-Mer in the Calvados department, near Caen in lower Normandy."

Well I leave in a little over one week. First few weeks of the itenerary is set for the most part but I've also changed plans a bit. I obtained a youth travel visa from the local German consulate and after I am done backpacking I am going to attempt to find work in a ski resort for the winter season. Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Oberstaufen to be precise. Hopefully all works out. It would be a great adventure I think.

Right now I am flying into Munich then to Friedrichshafen, Baden Baden, Nurburgring, Brussels, Bruges, Amsterdam, Hamburg (vist family) Berlin, Krakow, Prauge, Vienna, Innsbruck and from there I am going to take some trips to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberstaufen in an attempt to secure a job for the end of the following month (Nov).

After that it's up in the air. South of France is a likely place and then perhaps down Italy. One of the plus of having a visa/residency permit it will allow me to open a bank account and transfer all my funds to Euro in one shot rather than using my Canadian bank every few days to withdraw.

Sound's great. Lot's of Finns go there to live as ski bum's. Also there's huge amount of skiing place's so dont let those place's rule, altho their most know'n they aint the best ones.
Just came back from Nice yesterday, weather was sweet and roads offer so much more fun than anywhere else where I've driven.

Any other decent ski areas in Germany you can recommend? I don't want to live in the worlds smallest town. Something of decent size and the riding has to be good. I think the two I listed are the biggest ski areas in Germany?

Way too many to list/remember. Google alps ski bum/ski forum. There's also alps in Austria, Italy and France.

Dont worry aboit living in small town, it's Germany, theres cities next to each other and autobahns between. You can do day/weekend trips with car to any where mainland europe.

Now if your staying longer you might want to buy a car?

I thought about it but based on all the places I want to go gas prices would kill me. And as for towns my work visa is only good for germany.

The Winklemoos / Steinplatte ski area actually straddles the border - you can ski from Germany to Austria or vice-versa. If you ski here, you take a bus from the parking lot to the slopes, ski all day, then you can ski a couple miles of trails back to your car.

So you are going to work there? Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Thanks for the tip. Yes the idea is to find a nice town that is worth living in and find a job but it also has to have some epic riding. I can speak enough to get by until I pick up more. I cant write it for the life of me though.

Anywhere is better than Canada, eh?

I dunno man... I've been to some pretty shitty american cities ;). I actually love where I live and know this is where I will plant roots one day... I just want to go out and see the world as much as I can.

Did you do this?

I haven't left yet.