A Realistic Budget

The following is a budget for a typical two-month trip to Europe, for someone moving around quite a bit and seeing the sights. As you can see, it comes to about USD 4730/5180 (depending on age - see below), which is a realistic number to start with, with some of the inevitable budget bloat included. Note that the daily total, without transportation, is about USD 55.

You could certainly do it cheaper than this if you tried, but when I say realistic, I mean that this is a good framework to start planning from. I don’t want to give too low a figure, and even this budget will take some discipline. Increase all of these budgets by about USD 15 for every day you plan to spend in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The budgets below are split for those under and over the age of 25. Those below that age are eligible for student fares and for cheaper rail passes.

Walking

If you are a dedicated walker, you are in for a treat. There are tens of thousands of miles of recognized trails in Europe, especially in the main mountain ranges of the Alps and Pyrenees, and in Britain and Ireland. In the United States and Canada, long-distance walking usually means hiking through the wilderness and camping. In Europe, on the other hand, it can simply mean walking on a trail from cabin to cabin, or hostel to hostel, without the need for tent, groundsheet, sleeping pad, stove, and so on. In England you can easily hike from pub to pub over some truly beautiful farmland and end up gaining weight after walking eight hours a day. I’m sorry to say I’ve managed to do just that.

If you plan to do a walking trip, the first step is to write or call the tourist information offices listed in Basics #3 and request specific information on walking and hiking trails. Don’t be surprised if you get more information than you can handle, particularly from Switzerland. Good maps are absolutely essential if you plan this sort of trip. It may not be as tricky as hiking in Alaska, but getting lost on the moors of England or in the mountains of France, Switzerland, or Italy, can be dangerous, especially considering the weather. After you arrive, excellent maps, some designed specifically for the walker, are available in most countries in Western Europe. If the local tourist office can’t supply you with them, they can send you to someone who can. Invest in some even if you only plan a short hike.

WARNING: If you are planning on hiking in the woods of Eastern or Central Europe, see the health warning on tick encephalitis in Chapter 9, “In sickness and in health.”

Bicycles

If you haven’t done a bike tour or two at home, I would strongly recommend against doing your first on your first trip to Europe. If you’re going to pay the kind of money it takes to get across the ocean, you should make absolutely sure that you like pushing a bike around for six or eight hours a day.

Bike touring is one instance where an organized group trip, at least for first-timers, might make sense. Certainly the support that a company can provide, such as vans and repair facilities, can let the rider concentrate on biking rather than logistics. The classified section of any bicycling magazine (such as Bicycling) will have a number of ads for European trip outfitters, and the Web of course has dozens of tour operators. One warning, though: as with all types of tours, seemingly similar operations can have dramatically different levels of competence and professionalism. The best information you can possibly get on a company is a first-hand report from a rider who has recently taken a tour. A notice posted in a bike shop requesting first-hand accounts of European trips will probably get you more good advice than you can use.

Another option you might want to consider is a train/bike trip. Bikes are welcome on trains throughout Europe for a varying but usually small charge. By combining the two modes of transport, you will be able to cover much more ground than by bike alone. Remember that the train system in Europe goes nearly everywhere; if you get sick of riding or of headwinds, the nearest train station will often be only a few kilometers away. On your return you can astound your friends with the number of countries you covered. Some tips for the prospective biker:
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Driving

A car is best for getting to out-of-the-way towns the train doesn’t go to and for seeing the truly rural parts of a country. Towns and villages without train stations, at least those some distance from big cities and the highways, are bound to be quieter, more traditional, and see far fewer foreign tourists than rail towns do. I have traveled in some very out-of-the-way places, in both Europe and the Middle East, and the people were generally more friendly (or curious) and certainly less jaded. The downside is that traveling by car can insulate you from your surroundings: you don’t meet people in the same way you do getting around by train, and you can end up feeling as if you’re traveling in a bit of a vacuum.

If cars and the countryside go together like bacon and eggs, cars and cities go together like Twinkies and Tabasco. If you are interested mainly in rural areas and camping, think about a car. If you are going exclusively to major cities, the problems with parking, theft, and driving in traffic may not make it worth it. The expenses of renting a car can be horrific, especially if only paid by one person: generally USD 200-500 a week, depending on the country, for a car that moped riders will laugh at (easyCar - ®www.easycar .com - is a cheaper alternative, if booked far enough in advance). Add to this the cost of gas (roughly the cost of champagne in most European countries), a hefty tax, a collision damage waiver fee, parking fees, road tolls, etc. All this makes renting only an affordable option for groups of two or more. Also, remember that every company has a minimum age for renters - either 21, 23, or 25.
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Buses

Unlike the United States, where riding Greyhound is like a sentence in a mobile prison, buses in Europe are generally clean, safe, reliable, and fast. In some countries - Greece and Portugal for example - express buses are faster than trains for some trips. This is also the case in Ireland, and, to a lesser extent, in England. If you plan on spending most of your time in these countries, then a train pass may not pay for itself. This is definitely so if you won’t be traveling much.

If you are planning on visiting only major cities in a large number of countries, and are on a very tight budget, you might want to look into Busabout, a long-distance bus company based in London. The buses travel a set route around Europe, hitting about seventy cities in a series of loops and spurs. Buses stop for the night at hostels that are affiliated with the company. Busabout is a viable alternative to a train pass, but a couple of warnings are in order here. The first is that a long-distance ride on a bus is much more uncomfortable than on a train. The second is that a standard Busabout pass does not cover Greece, Ireland, Hungary, or Scandinavia, as a Eurail pass would. A two-month unlimited-travel Busabout pass for those under 26 is USD 669 - cheaper than a train pass, though of course only good on the Busabout system. If you’re interested in checking them out, Busabout has a fine website with an excellent description of their service at ®www.busabout.com. You can also get hold of them at Busabout, 258 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V IBS, England (©020/7950 1661, ©020/ 7950 1662, ©info@busabout.co.uk).
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Boats and Ferries

If you are planning on taking a boat to Europe, have your butler return this book for a refund, as you don’t need my advice on saving money.While in Europe, however, there are numerous ferries, lake steamers, and riverboats for those in the mood to set sail, many of which are cheaper with a Eurail pass. These discounts are listed on the back of the free map that conies with that Eurail pass. If you’re visiting the Greek Islands, you’ll undoubtedly travel by ferry at some point, and you probably will if you’re traveling from London to the rest of the continent (although there’s also the option of the Channel Tunnel). One “cruise” line that might interest budget travelers is the Norwegian Coastal Steamer Route, or “Hurtigruten.”

AWord about tours

There is a tendency among travelers to look down on tours, as if it’s “wrong” to see Europe that way. That is nonsense. If a tour is right for you and you enjoy yourself, who cares what anyone else thinks? Though I encourage independent travel, if it’s not for you, then it’s not. Don’t let anyone make you feel like less of a traveler just because you’re not sleeping under bridges. I will say, however, to be wary of tours that promise you “All of Europe” in two weeks. I strongly recommend that a two- or three-week tour take in a maximum of three countries, with two being preferable. See the section “Shorter Trips” (p.33) for more thoughts on this subject.

There are literally hundreds of tour companies competing for your travel dollar, and each has a different approach and level of service. The best way to choose among them is to contact two or three travel agents, get a bunch of brochures, and winnow them down to the best few prospects. Then talk to people who have taken those tours. If the company can’t or won’t provide you with names and numbers of satisfied customers, hold onto your wallet. The major complaint I hear concerns hidden costs on supposedly “all-inclusive” tours. Watch for these. Good luck, and remember to read the fine print.

These boats leave Bergen and arrive six days later in Kirkenes, well above the Arctic Circle, having cruised through some absolutely spectacular scenery on the way. Fares are very reasonable, especially for Norway, since these are working boats and not meant specifically for tourists. Off-season fares (from September 1 to April 30) are extremely reasonable, and anyone in Europe at this time should consider this trip. The Norwegian Tourist Board can give full details - see Basics #3 for their address.

Airplanes

One of the best things to happen to European travel in years has been the recent explosion of low-cost no-frills airlines operating out of Britain. For decades, most air travel in Europe was controlled by national airlines who, because they were virtual monopolies, could effectively charge what they liked, and the customer could either take it or leave it.Well, those days are over. Along with competition from the low-cost carriers, the plunge in air travel after the September 11 attacks was too much for the weakest national carriers. Sabena, Belgium’s national airline, actually went bankrupt, and Swissair quit flying entirely (though a new national airline, Swiss, was set up a few months later).

Other carriers are fighting to survive against the smaller, more responsive no-frills airlines; British Airways has even dramatically slashed its European fares in a bid to recapture some of the market from its rivals.New no-frills airlines are starting up all the time, but some of the longest established are listed in Basics #4 on p.229. Some pointers on these airlines:

. The vast majority of their flights are from smaller airports, such as London Stansted, or from smaller cities, such as Bologna, Lyon or Faro. Check out exactly where you’re flying to, as some airports served by the no-frills carriers are a long way out of town: you might think you’re flying to “Bologna”, but in fact end up landing in Forli, 60km from Bologna. The extra money (and hassle) spent on transport from Forli to Bologna may or may not be worth the saving you make on the flight.

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Warning

Eurail and other train passes should be purchased before leaving for Europe. There are a few major cities (London, for example) where some types of passes may be available if you can prove that you have been in Europe for less than six months, but they cost several hundred dollars more than if purchased outside of Europe. It is far easier to buy a pass before you leave. If you are already in Europe, as a student, for example, you can have a pass bought for you and sent out with a moderate amount of difficulty. Contact any pass vendor {listed in Basics #2) for specific information.

Trains

For most people budgeting their way around Europe, there is a simple answer to the transport question: buy a train pass in some form, or just some train tickets, and hit the tracks. There are good reasons for this: European trains are generally fast, convenient, reliable, and they seem to go everywhere. During the summer, they are full of travelers from dozens of countries, and you can meet some very fun people. They’re a great way to travel.

If you only want to see two or three cities, then you should probably buy individual train tickets between those cities, rather than a pass. If you want to go to more than four or five cities, especially if they are in different countries, then consider a train pass. The most popular kind of pass, at least for visitors from outside Europe, is the “Eurail” pass, which comes in a number of forms and covers from three to seventeen countries. These allow either unlimited travel over a period of time, or travel on a certain number of days within a given time period (say, five days within a month). You’ll find more information than you thought possible on train passes and their various validities and restrictions in Basics #2 - there’s too much to put in here. Take some time with it, even though the material is a bit dry. Remember also that any good rail agent can quote you individual point-to-point ticket prices, to help you decide whether or not you need a rail pass at all.Citizens or subjects of EU countries are ineligible for Eurail passes, but get an even better deal with InterRail passes, also discussed in Basics #2.

Finally, even if the train is your transportation choice, don’t skip the rest of the information in this chapter. You may find a situation where some other way of getting around will work for a side trip, or when your pass runs out.

Planning how to Get Around

Once you’ve got a rough idea of where you want to go and what you want to see, the next step is deciding how to get around to all those great places and things.

Planning this step is kind of a chicken-or-the-egg situation, in that you won’t know what’s the best way to get around until you’ve tried it, but you have to plan (and buy train passes if necessary) before you head for Europe. This next section will discuss the options available that require planning before you leave. Other options that don’t require as much planning, such as hitching and ride-share, are covered in Chapter 6, “Getting around.”