It sounds like you are visiting some great places. If that’s the order you’re planning on going, I might recommend a little bit of change in the order as you’re crossing over yourself a couple times in the order you listed.

As for how much money you need, it really depends on your spending habits. If you like to go out to clubs and enjoy the nightlife, you’re going to spend more than someone who wants to have early nights.

Hostels are a great way to conserve money and meet great people, especially if you’re travelling alone. I would budget between $20 and $30 a night for hostels, perhaps even more for some cities (the dollar is a bit weak and all). Also, be sure to make reservations for your hostels before you get there, even if it’s just a couple days prior. Summer is high season, so you don’t want to be stuck with no place to sleep.

Budget for your meals depending if you plan to eat at restaurants or cook for yourself. If you’re staying in one place for a couple days, ask where a local grocery is that has good prices, get together with some other people and all chip in for a meal together, makes things cheaper. A lot of hostels also have “free food” baskets of things left from other travellers. It may not be the best, but hey, it’s free!

Don’t forget souvenirs that you might be picking up. I used to decide on one thing I wanted from each country (a keychain or a patch, something small since I was backpacking and cheap because I didn’t have a lot of extra cash). But also keep in mind that you might find something you never expected but can’t imagine leaving behind! Have some extra money set aside for a big purchase that you might never make, but if you find it, you’ll want it!

As for if a Eurail pass is better or Ryanair, Easyjet, etc, see my response to kelsijo a few posts down. It really depends on your personality and what you like. I prefer Eurail (and I personally think it ends up being cheaper), but that’s just me.

Feel free to give us a call at STA Travel in Dallas at 214-363-9941 if you have any other questions or want to look into some prices!

Freya

Hey DJ Protek,
To add to what Freya said:

In the summer – you most defininitely have to budget closer to $50 a night for hostels in London, Amsterdam and Rome. you also don’t want to wait until you arrive in each city to book your hostels, because the summer is so busy, you might run the risk of places being booked out. if you only have 3-5 days in each city, you want to be centrally located for two reasons. 1) you want to be close enough to all of the culture to make the most of your time 2) youdon’t want to have to spent extra money on taxis and subways to get to your accommodation 30 minutes outside of the city. I have a lot of clients who get nervous about committing their whole trip, so if you are that type of traveller, i usually recommend booking 3 nights in each of their top cities at the hippest most centrally located places, with blank space around those 3 days, so they can decide to stay longer or head out early. And if you have to stay on the outskirts of town for a day or two, you will already have a good sense of the city and where everything is. As far as Eurail Vs. easyjet or ryan air. Railpasses are much much more economical. PLUS you get to see the unbeliveable vistas of europe form the ground. If you skip out on using the trains, you are missing a huge part of European culture, and all of the unique landscapes that make Europe what it is. Futhermore, what ryan air and easy jet won’t tell you, is that their airports are usually really far away from everything. and it is an additional expense to get to and from these ports. In London for example – the stanstead EXPRESS, takes an hour and 15 minutes! it will also cost you 15 pounds ($30USD)... plus you have to somehow get to the rail station that will take you to Stanstead (4pound 50 = 9.00) and then when you land in Madrid you have to take a taxi for 40-50 Euros… or when you land in Frankfurt Hahn, you have to take a bus for 2 HOURS to get to the actual Frankfurt. once you add up all of the extra expenses and extra time (typically 6 hours in transport and security/check in, plus flight time) you could have taken a nap or read a book or struck up a conversation with some locals on the train.

Give Freya or myself an email and either one of us will be happy to help you start planning!

Cheers,
Farah

hvn@statravel.com