Trip to Europe?

Question

I plan on taking a trip to Europe in the next year or so, and i'm just wondering what the best way to go about it is...i don't want to be all tourist-like when i go...i want to "experience it"...any suggestions on how much planning i should do?

Answer 1

Buy Yo'self a book called "Let's Go Europe" and they give great advice and they suggest itineraries.
Look up train schedules and prices on wwww.raileurope.com
I'd say if it's your first time to Europe, I'd recommend:
Amsterdam, Berlin or Munich, Prague, down to Venice, Florence, Rome, Napoli, up to switzerland, and then, if you must cut it short, Provence, Paris and home.
I hope you have tiime for Spain, though, and it you have to cut a little off somewhere else it's great, but big, so you have to research more and figure out your priorities.
You should also go to Greece and Portugal. But if you only have a few weeks, you might have to cut out some countries.

As for flights, I like to go to discount websites like expedia or travelocity and get a flight that goes TO one city and returns from another. They're often cheaper than a roundtrip to either place.
Also check flights on budget airlines in Europe like
ryanair.com
and easyjet.com
and trasavia.com
and germanwings.com
and airberlin.com

If you only have less than a week, take night trains a couple of times and take a couple of cheap flights. Or, just pick a plce or two you love and stick around there.
Myself, I had trouble leaving Amsterdam and Mykonos

Answer 2

I was in Germany with family a couple of years ago. As we drove through some of the little villages we spotted normal homes with rooms for rent. "Zimmer Frie" if I remember right. They were a great place to stay because you got out of the touristy stuff and into the countryside with real people and they were relatively cheap! Also, public transit (trains, subways) were the way to go.