Summer Trip For College Students

You and your friends need to sit down together one night and really talk this over. Everyone contributes ideas and then narrow it down to top choices. Then you have to map out these sites. Some will have to be eliminated as they will be " out of the way" , try and plan route so no back tracking etc. Try not to plan more then one city/country a every 4 or 5 days. Travel in itself adds to prices so less movement will cost less.
Try and go for as long as possible.

Personal favorite from my trip when I was 23 and did the travel around europe thing with a friend ( for two months) were the Greek islands( we only did two weeks with I wish now we had stayed longer) , Switzerland( so clean) and Paris. I also liked Amsterdam but couldn't get over the huge fungus growing in our shower which grossed me out .. LOL

Travel with three is a little harder,, you have a tie breaker,but then triples are sometimes harder to find,,,

Greetings

I would recommend looking at the 'Let's Go' series of guidebooks. They're written specifically for college students and 20-somethings, and have good listings for inexpensive accommodation/food/sights that other books don't.

Also, invest in ISIC cards (ISIC.org) in 2009, as there are great discounts for students in many parts of Europe.

As far as cost, Switzerland, UK and Scandinavia will be the most expensive. Other than Eastern Europe, nothing is likely to be 'cheap' by US standards unless the US $ gets much stronger in the next year or.

Have fun!

Kate
Have fun!
Kate

Hello Heather. Buy the book "Europe Through the Back Door" by Rick Steves. You did not say what is the amount of money that you can spend for the trip. Airline tickets for flying from the U.S.A. to any airport in Europe or Britain in the summer are a very very high price. I flew to Europe several times, but never in the summer. Travelling in Europe for one month this summer will be extremely expensive. There are camp grounds in Europe. A traveler could bring a small tent and sleeping pad and sheet sack and sleeping bag. The fee at a camp site is much lower than the cost of sleeping at a hostel. Some camp sites have lockers. For most young people going on their first trip to Euruope : if they do not speak French, I recommend first go to Germany and Austria. Fly to Frankfurt or Munich. Germany and Austria are great !
And travelling in trains in those countries is easy to do. If you go to Italy in the summer, reserve a room that has air conditioning !

Along with reading "europe thru the back door", go to your local library and get Rick's travel videos and watch them with your friends. It may help you to decide where you want to go.

Heather, the most important "wisdom" that I can share from the same type of trip I took in my college years. Europe is not your 3-month long kegger. Be respectful of the people who live there, and they will treat you (and other Americans) a lot better.

Otherwise, everyone else has given you great advice.

For airline tickets, I suggest STA Travel (recommended in Rick Steves' books). My son and a friend (both graduating from college) are flying from Chicago to Frankfurt, then to China and back to Chicago. Literally around the world for $3600 for both of them.

The previous poster's recommendation of Rick Steves travel DVDs is good, but supplement this with the Globe Trekker DVDs as well. They get more in-depth as their shows are usually an hour, and they are geared more towards the student/young adult traveller.

You can get Globe Trekker DVDs from your local library, or if you belong to Blockbuster by Mail, you can rent episodes through them. You might also catch a few episodes on The Travel Channel or your local public television station.

Then head over to your local Barnes & Noble or Borders with your friends and leaf through the travel guides for the countries you think you might want to hit on your trip.

Sign up next year for membership with Hostelling International (you'll get cheaper beds and some discounts at attractions), and look into cheap accommodations at European universities as an alternative to hostels-you can get bigger, more comfortable rooms and all the same perks (laundry, internet, breakfast) at many.

I traveled for a month around Europe after my semester abroad in London five years ago. I was 20. My favorite places from that trip were Spain (Madrid and Barcelona) and Italy (Venice, Rome and Florence (although I didn't really like Florence)).

I would definitely recommend those two countries, although they will be quite hot during the summer. They had great hostels, cheap places to eat, and plenty of things to do for cheap.

I also loved Switzerland, but it was pretty expensive for a 20-year-old.

Definitely stay in hostels. If you're thinking of staying at any of the cities I mentioned, I can give you recommendations.

Also, look at www.studentuniverse.com for discount fares for college students. My daughter was always able to get great prices for flights through them.

Don't forget to schedule in "down time" during your trip. I don't mean time that you actually just lay around and do nothing (though you are certainly welcome to), but try to mix in some smaller, more intimate places or plan low key days inbetween your big-city-gotta-see-it-all days (i.e. Paris, London, Rome). Spending a couple of days to recoup in the Cinque Terre after four days in Rome and before your three in Florence, for example, can help you do two things: take a breather from the break-neck speed of museum/landmark dashing and also introduce you to the culture of a country rather than just its iconic sites. I just got back from a month-long trip in September/October and by the end of it, I was too tired of traveling to care about some of the absolutely amazing things I seeing. A few easy, relaxing days is just as important as scheduling in those crazy-hectic-let's-see-it-all days.