Loki79

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.

samulis

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.

falcon

iTrader: (13)

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.

falcon

iTrader: (13)

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.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

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

falcon

iTrader: (13)

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.

JennB

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.

falcon

iTrader: (13)

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.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

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."

falcon

iTrader: (13)

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.

samulis

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.

falcon

iTrader: (13)

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?

samulis

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?

falcon

iTrader: (13)

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.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

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?

falcon

iTrader: (13)

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.

pusha

iTrader: (5)

Anywhere is better than Canada, eh?

falcon

iTrader: (13)

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.

viperormiata

iTrader: (24)

Did you do this?

falcon

iTrader: (13)

I haven't left yet.