Hello. I am planning to back packing to Europe in July 23,2015 with my 2 daughters ( 14 yrs and 20yrs old ) I have three week for this trip. never being in the Europe. we try to save money for this trip. should we buy ticker now or wait until all the Holidays over. Also someone say that to start London is inexpedience than Paris. we are live in San Francisco,California. Thank you
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32201 posts
kims,
It would help to have some further information on your trip plans. For example.....
- which countries and cities do you want to visit during the three week trip?
- what type of a budget are you working with (London is expensive)?
- are you planning to stay in hotels, hostels or ???
Could you clarify your statement "London is inexpedience than Paris". Either place would be a good location to start your trip, depending on what you want to see.
Do NOT buy your air tickets until you have your Itinerary somewhat finalized. It would be prudent to use open-jaw flights as that's usually the most efficient method.
As this is your first trip to Europe, I would highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door prior to the trip, as that provides a LOT of good information on "how" to travel well in Europe. After you have an Itinerary worked out, use the country or city-specific guidebooks to plan hotels, sightseeing, transportation, etc. You should be able to find lots of guidebooks at your local Library.
Finally, you may find it helpful to take a drive to Sacramento at least once, to confer with the well-travelled RS group that meets there once a month (usually on the third Saturday of the month). I'm sure the helpful and experienced group there will be able to help you sort out your travel plans. The meeting details will be announced in the "General Europe" section of the Forum.
Here's a link to their last meeting......
Good luck with your planning!
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
As said.. your information is a bit confusing and incomplete.
I know that for some inexperienced Europeon visitors they like to start in London because the first few days...they don't have to worry about language difficulties. Do you speak some other languages?
It doesn't matter if you don't , millions of visitors visit the big cities of Europe with only English and manage fine in the touristy areas anyways.
London is expensive..not the museums,, many are free.. but I found finding accommodations that were cheap,,but central to be more difficult then some cities.
Most hostels charge per person, not per room.. so sometimes hotels are just as cheap as hostels.. unless you are willing to share in large dorm rooms.
Can you tell us what you think is a realistic budget for you for each night for sleeping arrangements.
Also..since you posted this question under the France category are you planning on visiting Paris? If so.. its easy to travel from London to Paris on the Eurostar.. and if you buy your tickets months in advance they can be had for a reasonable price.. and its only 2.5 hours city center to city center,, so no extra time or money spent in commuting to and from airports.
What other cities do you want to visit?
Posted by
OP
2 posts
Thank you for reply my question. Is fly from SF to London is inexpensive than fry From SF to Paris ? someone tell me "fly from SF to London is inexpensive ".I do not know it is true. we like to visit to London, Paris, Germany and Rome for this 3 weeks trip. I was star to research for air ticker price in November ( yapta .com ) I saw 1 stop from Sf to London (LHR) is $ around $1400.00 .yesterday I check it was all most $1600.00 . I do not know should I buy now or wait a litter more? some one tell me after Holidays is over it will be cheap than now but the person is not work on the airplane company. I am a litter nervous now because the ticket price every day going up. It"s some one know or have had like my situation.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
The prices you mention sound like typical summer prices. Nobody can predict if they'll get much better or worse but I would not worry about waiting a month. Flying to London is not necessarily cheaper due to airport fees, and flights on British Airways rarely seem to be cheapest. Do fly to the first city you want to visit. It sounds like flying into London and out from Rome (a "multi-city" flight search) could make sense for your plan, but as Ken recommended, work out the plan a little more before committing to flights.
See an overview of train travel time (in hours) and regular (full-fare in dollars) ticket prices on Rick’s Train Travel Time & cost Map. That can help you pencil out your travel days on a calendar. Don't worry too much about the cost, yet; after you've set an itinerary it will be easier to compare more ticket or pass prices. You may also want to fly one or two longer legs.
Even before you get Rick's Europe Through the Back Door book, you can see some of his route timing ideas as they apply to guided tours for multiple countries: http://www.ricksteves.com/tours/europe. Remember that you won't travel as fast on your own, when you have to spend more time navigating and planning logistics, and need to follow the train schedule.
Posted by
2081 posts
kimsarahmichelle,
When it comes to $$$, to me its relative. Some people will pinch a penny to death, while others will not.
What i have found out from my planning and traveling so far is that #1 cost is usually transportation. that will include airplanes, both transatlantic and puddle jumpers and trains. Usually my #2 cost that is sometimes close to #1 is Lodging. #3 is Attractions and way down the list for #4 is food. Sometimes souvenirs can be close to #3, but that will depend on where i go.
I travel solo and from PDX so my experience costs are based off of that and are reflected in my replies. since i have been flying in/out of PDX to Amsterdam (AMS) for 3+ years now i have a "feel" for the cost.
What you can do is to pick a fictitious date next week and when you are going and see how they differ. Then look at prices every day or every other day and see how they again, vary. I choose to buy my tickets, both train and plane, as soon as i have my itinerary nailed down. Sometimes i will not book a small commuter train if its going to some backwoods place where theres no chance of it being booked when im there. But i will try to book intercountry trains since i usually have reservations from place to place. I will say assume that you will have way more choices to get to Europe than i do and as such prices maybe more to your liking. However, you wont know until you do some homework on that. Also, i choose to try and fly non-stop and direct to AMS to cut down on my airport seat warming time, but thats just me.
London can be expansive, but again, since i fly solo, i can put up with less than the top of the line lodging. I have stayed in dorm rooms in the heart of London (near Kings X station) (note to you Londoners if it isnt the "heart" sorry) for < 100 US Dollars.
You can stay at hostels as mentioned, but i dont use them since they are usually setup for multiple bunk type rooms.
For food, you can eat expensive or on the cheap. There are alot of good small shops that sell "to go" food that will hit the spot and keep you running.
To me, if you want to go to London, go.
happy trails.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area
5697 posts
You say you want to "back pack" to Europe -- do you actually mean to carry a hiker-style back pack with sleeping bag or do you want to use a carry-on-your-back soft suitcase like Rick Steves does in his shows? Good advice from everyone about reading Europe Through the Back Door, flying open-jaw into one city and back from another to minimize back-tracking, and checking out the monthly travel meetings in Sacramento on third Saturday (there's possibly another group in San Rafael on second Saturday.)
Happy planning !
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32201 posts
kims,
Thanks for the additional information, but I still have a few questions.....
- Which cities in Germany are you most interested in seeing?
- Which sights in each city are you most interested in?
- Are you planning to visit only one city in Italy?
- What type of budget are you working with?
- Are you planning to get from city-to-city by train?
- Are you planning to stay in hostels or budget hotels?
In order to get the least expensive flights, you might find it helpful to try a couple of other search engines.....
One of the forum members in the San Francisco area should be able to offer some tips on which flights will be the lowest cost from your area. You also may find it helpful to speak with a travel agent.
As this is your first trip to Europe, there's a lot you'll need to learn. It's great that you're getting an early start on planning.
The date for the next RS group meeting in Sacramento has just been announced. Here's the link.....
If you can get there on 20 December, I'm sure you'll get lots of answers to your questions.
Posted by
San Francisco
14507 posts
Hi,
You have 3 full weeks to do this trip with the girls and presumably a budget trip. Assuming the itinerary includes big cities and Germany as well, you'll find that Paris, London are pretty expensive. That applies to the hostels, relative to other hostels. Berlin is the one city that is by far the cheapest for what you pay for. Some of the German cities have accomodations for budget travelers who prefer not to stay in a hostel with its school groups. They are a bit more expensive than a hostel...these Jugendgästehäuser cater to families and older folks. You might consider this if you go to Berlin.
If you're going to London and Germany too, do an open jaw flight, ie fly SFO to London LHR, then Frankfurt to SFO. That saves you from backtracking all the way back to London, which isn't all that bad if you have time not to be rushed (I've done it both ways rushed and not rushed). It all depends if you intend to spend a day or two in London before returning to SFO.
Which other towns/cities are you planning on to visit? Which country will occupy most of the 3 weeks? Three weeks from London to Germany without an open jaw flight and just taking trains can be taxing and stressful, since you are brand new to this type of traveling in Europe. This type of trip takes careful planning, including the "down time " factor, going from place to place, aside from financial considerations. If you know what you're doing, it's a snap. Still, it's matter of pacing yourself relative to the itinerary and its geographic extent.