Overplanned 8-Month Europe Trip , Please Poke Holes in It

One or two nights in 50+ locations for the better part of a year? So far removed from anything I can relate to (not that its a bad or a wrong thing) that the only help I can offer is maybe to say that you are going to some pretty amazing places. A half dozen on your list I have spend days if not weeks at and still ran out of time and had to go back. So we are different enough for me to say, please, please do a trip report. I would love to hear about this one.

You are spending just a couple of days at most. Why not spend more time and take in places well?

When do you do laundry?
Travel by train is good. Still, some places are better done by car.

For Greece, you need 4-5 days in Athens and more days for Delphi, Corinth, etc.
For the islands, consider taking a cruise.
Istanbul needs five days.

Have you already been to Rome, Florence and Venice?

that's the longest OP I've ever seen!! you must have huge energy.

Sorry there's too much in one question for me to get my head around

Welcome to the forums.

You should definitely include Turkey and Greece.

Traditional Australian Walkabout, eh? To me it's too much travel time. I'd suggest skipping the Aachen-Bonn Amsterdam detour as its backtracking, or do Amsterdam earlier in the trip.

Flexibility never hurts

Daniel,
Won't you be over the 90 day maximum days in the Schwengen countries? Your plans are more than I can comment on. And I have done (with hubby) a full four months in Europe, but mostly with a car and before the Schwengen limits, so the situation has changed from, lo, those many years ago.

@ Judy- I believe he will be fine with his Irish Passport in the Schengen zone. Daniel, please correct me if I am wrong.

This sounds like an amazing adventure and, as James pointed out, pretty far removed from how I travel. I am very excited for you to have this opportunity. I'm confident that since you have expressed a willingness to be flexible that the issue of 2 nights in one place won't actually become an issue. If you discover that it is too fast for you, you will simply adjust as you go. Give yourself permission to change things up as you need to as you go along and then simply enjoy.

I like that you had a road trip with a friend in there and are mixing things up a bit. I would not miss Turkey.

First I was wondering the same thing myself about Schengen. I know you said your itinerary was not set in stone but have you planned for the 90-day limit in the Schengen countries in Europe?

Edit: After I wrote this, I went back and looked and realized that you're an Irish citizen.

And I'm another one that if I had that much time to spend, I would not be moving every other day. I would be exhausted by the end of it. I'm sure you're younger and much more active than I am but still, there's something to be said for staying in one place for at least three to four days.

I would really suggest looking at your schedule again and figuring out what you could do as a day trip instead of actually traveling to that place and then having to switch hotels or hostels or wherever you're staying. Keep in mind that every time you travel, you lose at least a half day depending on the distance; which is time that you could have spent exploring the area more. That said, your trip looks amazing!

Won't you be over the 90 day maximum days in the Schwengen countries?

The man has an Irish passport which means he can do whatever he likes. Irish passport holders are exempt from Schengen, EU and UK travel requirements. It's the best passport you can have for unrestricted travel in Europe.

Wow. That is some serious planning - and some serious hiking! It looks amazing.

I think you have spent some research time on your routes, so I won’t try to comment on that. You are going to some pretty great places.

Just wondering: could you stay in either Bruges or Ghent, since they are so close? Save yourself one change of location (and maybe time to do laundry).

And I am sure you have checked the possibility of the Theth-Valbona hike in mid-Oct. However, you have plenty of time to flex if it snows early. I love that you’ve included Montenegro and Albania. Are you sure you don’t want to spend a day or two on the coast of Montenegro? It IS better than Ksamil (especially in Nov).

Even with 6 months, it comes down to choices. LOL.

I don't have too much to add here except for the end part. If you like hiking, definitely add in Madeira. I only did small little hikes but there were so many more, longer hikes to be had. It's a beautiful island.

And, is there a reason you are spending a few days in Verona? It's a fine enough town but I found other towns in the area more interesting and more geared toward the 20-something set (ie: any town on Lago di Garda or Bolzano.) But that's just a personal choice, nothing particularly wrong with it.

Please drop a Trip Report when you are done. Would be interested to hear how it went!

My compliments to you on including Grenoble and Lille in this itinerary, both university cities as well as history depending on what your depth of interest is in the subject.

If you're into the history beyond the superficial overview, I would suggest arranging with the Tourist Office in Grenoble located in the centre-ville for a ride out to Laffrey, ie, to see if that's doable.

I liked them both having visited Lille more than a few times, especially that of last summer

Wow Thankyou to everyone That took the time to reply to my post, I've taken onboard a lot of what you've all said Especially @Mr É 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇭🇺 @geovagriffith @Carol now retired @TexasTravelMom @fred

I'm unsure how to respond individually to each reply as this was my first post but Thankyou again!

For an overplanner - assume the currently advertised train service to St Bees is what you will get, as a worst case scenario. However everyone is hopeful that a normal hourly train service will have been restored by then.
Currently in the Whitehaven area there is long term emergency engineering work, leading to a reduced rail service on the southern end of the route. By May that work will be 9 months in, so the hope and aspiration is that the work will be finished before Easter.

Also the first few hours of the first day of the C2C walk out of St Bees, as far as north of Fleswick Bay is currently closed due to a cliff slide, with an unofficial diversion inland via Rottington.
No promises, but very hopefully by May, the route will have been moved inland on the cliffs and re-opened. We live in hope.
If not, and you wanted to keep the miles up and to have a cliff start my suggestion would be to do the ceremonial start at the sign by the Lifeboat station and then take the hourly bus into Whitehaven, and walk the cliffs south to St Bees lighthouse to rejoin the route. It's a variation Wainwright would certainly have approved of and much the same mileage. Dare I say it maybe a more interesting version than the original.
The C2C cycling route starts in Whitehaven so you could have a 2nd ceremonial start at that sign!
By the Whitehaven sign there is a very good coffee truck!!

If the route is reopened in some form out of St Bees it will be posted on this forum.

The note of appreciation really did a guilt thing on me, because I didn’t help you at all. So, to make up for it (because half the people that post here never do say thank you when they really do get help), here are a few thoughts.

You said you were over planning. I think you haven’t begun to plan this trip and most of my comments below will reflect that. The places I will comment on are places that I know, so if you want particular help, just ask.

28th-29th: Olomouc
30th: Train/Bus to High Tatras, (6–7h)
That is a broad statement. Large area in two countries. You need to refine what you mean and what you are interested in.
31st: High Tatras
More of the above.

AUGUST
1st-3rd: High Tatras
And yet more of the above. But I like it as it’s one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I could easily spend 3 days.
4th: Train to Košice, (2–3h)
Train from where? When? If you arrive by let’s say 2pm, then I would skip the next day in Košice and instead take a late train to Budapest. But it’s a great stop.
5th: Košice
See above.
The 15:42 train to Budapest arrives 4:05 later (19:47) for 21 Euro. This gives you the morning in Kosice and gets you to Budapest at a reasonable hour.
6th: Travel to Budapest, (4–5h)
See above
7th: - 8th: Budapest
Now you have 6,7,8 in Budapest and that’s a nice visit.
11th: Travel to Podgorica
Unfortunately you have picked the day of the week that Wizz does not fly to Podgorica. You will have to take Air Serbia and that changes a 80 minute direct flight for as little as $40 into 6-hour odyssey that will cost not less than $115. Move your start date until this hits on a day of the week that is a direct flight to Podgorica (9 or 13 August).
12th: travel to Plav
If you need help getting to Plav, I can get you a ride and maybe a ride with some stops as you are passing up a lot of good stuff. If you can pull a day out of your Albanian hikes (and still do it all) it would be worth it.
13th: - 19th: PoB Hike
More power to you. If I were still young this is exactly what I would do.
20th: - 22nd: Theth
I did a tiny part of the Valbona to Theth walk. I wish I could do the whole thing, but I am an old fart.
23rd: Valbona
Beautiful country. You choose well.
24th: Travel to Tiranë
No, go straignt to Berat. Here is that day you can put in Montenegro. Look at the Tara River Canyon in Montenegro. Tell me you don’t want to explore it. LOL
25th: Tiranë
Skip this and go straight to Berat. You aren’t missing anything. Do a bus or if you want to splurge a bit, I can probably find you a driver. Nothing in Albania costs much.
26th: Drive to Berat(1-2h)
27th: - 28th: Berat
29th: Drive to Gjirokastër(2-3h)
30th - 31th: Gjirokastër
I didn’t comment much on your trip through Albania because I like it. Again, being an old fart and being able to afford maybe 150 euro a day, I would hire someone with a car before I would do busses.
1st : travel to Ksamil)
I assume you know why? But if you need help, I have a tour guide / transportation friend in Sarandë that can help if you need it.

So, moving on from Ksamil you will need to return to Tirana or Corfu. And while you can throw a rock from Ksamil to Corfu, I think you have to go to Sarandë for the ferry unless you found a private transfer (that would be fantastic). My friend would know more about this. But lets say you end this part of the journey in Corfu for two days. Now from Corfu you can reach a lot of places, including Istanbul (my first choice).

Okay, my guilt is rectified.

You said you were over planning. I think you haven’t begun to plan
this trip and most of my comments below will reflect that.

Having gone through the whole thing in detail, I was wrong. You have a great handle on a lot of it. Well done. I love much of it. Maybe not some of the stuff early in the schedule, but we are all different.

On going to Olomouc: Hopefully you have the time to do this.

My suggestion deals with any interest you have in history. If so, then see the chateau, Schloss Olmütz as it was known in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was the Russian Army's General HQ in Nov and Dec 1805.