BUS FAIR- TRAVELING EUROPE CHEAPLY-ON A BUDGET

I am not sure you can do this. 18 countries in 60 days is just a little over 3 days per country. $40 per day for sixty days is $2400.00. If you spend $25.00 a night at hostel, that leaves $15.00 for food. Then you do not have any money for any attractions, the bus fare, etc. I think you are trying to too much with too little money. Could you cut back and do 30 days instead with idea that you will go back?

You don't have a prayer. You might squeak by for one month if you skip Turkey and Morocco (study up on how much it takes to get back and forth to each). My guess is that between the third and fourth weeks you'll be broke.

There are dozens of bus lines in Italy. It's not likely that you can get from Venice to Pisa on one bus line but you can take the Eurolines bus (www.eurolines.com)from Venice to Florence for 21Euro. It takes 5.0hrs and there only seems to be one bus a day. For Florence to Pisa, learn to take the Regionale class trains. This class of trains is like a bus on train tracks. It makes every stop and is the cheapest form of train travel. Don't use your pass on these trains as the are very cheap. The train fare (not fair) from Florence to Pisa is 7.10Euro. From Pisa, I suggest taking the Regionale train to Siena. The fare is 8.90. There may be a bus as well. From Siena to Rome, there is the SENA bus. www.sena.it. The fare is 23Euro. From the same bus station in Rome, you can get a bus ticket to Naples for 15Euro.

I wonder if there might be a more helpful board for you than this one. One that's more aimed at student travelers on a shoe-string budget. After all, you're trying to get food AND lodging for $37 a day. Good luck.

k. thank you for input :).
Well i have 2400 to live on.. not planning to live lavishly. In my research Hostels also feed you. So i'd buy bulk food meats, bread, cheese and make it last. And too make my money go farther i would sleep on long distance trains (eurail pass) instead of a hostel for the night. So i'll be traveling for 66 days, and of course there will be some countries i will only visit for 2 days 2 nights and there will be some i will visit for 1 day. im 22 just outta college.. i do not need any tours or attractions i rather see them for what they really are. On a ramon noodle budget lol

haha your completely right Michael.. im just going to see the world for what it is. 22 out of school so this is going to be the biggest experience of my life.

Oh i apologize you guys.. i recounted and it will be 15 countries: Germany Benelux Great Britain France Spain Portugal Morocco Italy Greece Turkey Croatia Bosnia Hungary Austria
Czech

Well, Benelux stands for Belgium-Netherlands-Luxemburg. Those are THREE countries, not one. You expect to travel AND live AND experience some tourist sites for the same kind of money it would cost you to only live in a student residence for the same time period. Not very realistic. You should calculate with a minimum of about $50/day, higher in places like London or Paris, maybe a bit less in a few places like Central and Eastern Europe. Rick Steves travellers are usually budget conscious as well, albeit at a different level. RS suggests a budget of about $100/day.

Ryan, Your proposed trip is somewhat "ambitious" for the amount of travel funds you have, but hopefully it will work out. The others have provided lots of good information so I don't have much to add. However, be sure to allow some funding to pay the reservation fees which are compulsory on the premium trains, such as the Freccia trains in Italy. These fees are NOT covered by your Railpass! Especially in Italy, if you're caught without a valid reservation for the train you're riding on, you'll be fined on the spot and it won't be cheap (€40-50). I hope your travel budget has some flexibility for "unexpected expenses" such as fines. Happy travels!

Ryan check out Lonely Planets Thorntree forum, defianately aimed at budget travel for young, or young at heart.. Also,, check out couchsurf.com, I have not used it, and have nothing to add but that some reviews I have read on it were positive. Be careful though . Frankly I think you are going to be rather shocked how far your money will not go...

Ryan, My first thought is that I would cut out AT LEAST Turkey, Greece, and Morocco, given that they are rather on the outskirts of your projected travel area. However, then it occurred to me: these are probably some of the cheaper countries to visit. Keep in mind that in places like Great Britain, France, Italy, etc., just food can be extremely expensive (relative to your budget). Let me put it to you this way: a few years ago, when the British Pound was nearly double the value of the dollar, I went to a McDonald's (should be fairly inexpensive, right?) in London. The numbers were roughly the same (let's say, a quarter pounder meal was 6.00). However, converting pounds to dollars, that meant that I was spending almost $12. While the Pound and the Euro are a bit lower now with respect to the dollar, you need to keep in mind that the dollar does not go as far here. In countries that are not on the Euro, things are definitely much cheaper. In countries that are on the Euro, you'll notice a big difference in prices in cities and in the country. The type of trip you are taking is sort of a "classic" trip for a student out of college, so surely on one of the student message boards that others have pointed out you will find advice from those who have already done it. I suspect, though, that while you could probably stretch that money for the full two months, it will necessitate your cutting back on the number of countries you visit and perhaps focusing more on the cheaper places to visit, such as Eastern Europe. Good luck!

One final thought: will you have anything to fall back on? I mean, you might do all the research and figure out exactly how you can make $2200 last for that long for so many countries... but what if something unexpected arises? Since you have so little wiggle room, I would want the security of having a credit card "for emergency use only" with a sufficient line of credit, or at least a parent who was standing by to wire money via Western Union in case something gets fouled up. I mean, let's hope everything goes smoothly, but be prepared.

What Rick actually says for budgeting just for room and board in Italy is "Students and tightwads can enjoy Italy for as little as $60 a day ($30 for a bed, $30 for meals and snacks)." That's just for room and board. You might want to look into couchsurfing.org. Again, good luck.

I'd suggest you start looking up friends-of-friends and distant relatives living in Europe. That's how you make 2200 (is that $ or €??) last for 2 months. Hostels will feed you - if you are demi- or full-pension. That's often an extra charge. Sheets can be an extra charge, too. If you plan on buying bulk foods, be sure to check out whether the hostel has a communal kitchen with refrigerator you can use. And definitely have a plan B. The odds are good that everything will go fine, but things can happen. Something like a trip to a doctor (which usually requires up-front payment in full) could certainly derail your whole vacation. I'm on an expat board (not RS related) and someone recently used that board to try to figure out how to get her son out of France. He was traveling on his own and ended up on crutches, broke and not really able to move well. I wish you the best - as I think everyone else on this board does - but we also hope your youth and inexperience doesn't get you in trouble.

Ryan, Try asking over here.
bootsnall.com

You should get a copy of Europe Through The Back Door, for lots of money-saving tips. Rick's country guidebooks are now geared toward travelers with more money than you have, but his ETBD book will still be very useful. Hostels do not automatically include meals. What they often have is kitchen facilities, so you can buy food at markets and make it yourself, saving a fortune compared to restaurants. They also have a large number of other budget travelers, who will know all the money-saving tricks in each place. Definitely look at http://www.couchsurfing.org/ and the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forums http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/index.jspa, as these are geared toward people in your situation much more than this board is. With only 15 days on your pass, you'll have to plan when to use it VERY carefully. To save money, look NOW at all your proposed train routes,and figure out which are most expensive (and so are the best use of a pass day). For other tickets, in some countries there are no advance purchase discounts, but in others, the discounts are substantial. I know Italy and France have major advance purchase discounts, and that the Benelux countries do not, but I'm not sure about others. I don't know if you can exchange your pass, but with such an ambitious trip, I'm not sure you're saving money with your limited pass. You are looking at a LOT of train rides, so the lower per-day price of a longer pass could be a better deal. You also need to figure out how to get to places not connected by train (or, at least, not easily connected), like Turkey. If you're thinking of taking a "budget" flight, you need to book this NOW, as these prices go up closer to departure and then stop being budget.

Wow you guys thank you for all your advice/ input on this. Couch surfing just saved me a lot lol already have 5 people will to let me crash at there place and give me tours. Like I said earlier.. $40 seems reasonable 25 for hostels (priced em out) and 15 for food a day. Buy some bulk meats and bread, maybe a bottle of wine and I should be out for a week.. if you take all the days I won't be buying foods I can then use that for other expenses. The rail pass I have is just enough.. I'm backpacking, hitchhiking and busing primarly in Morocco, Italy, Greece and turkey because they are cheap and or smaller.. for instance Italy is a straight shot downward. The line of credit idea is genius.. your absolutly right.. my parents arnt the richest but my mom did say something about putting money in my account every week (on top of my 2400 from selling my car) and yes I am targeting those countries and Bosnia because I could literally buy a boat for the price of a hotel lol jk but yeah. A lot the info I'm getting seems to be around material objects.. I'm a student thus all I need is my backpack, some food, my shoes and a camera :) thank you again for everyones input. I love these suggestions its making me more concious :)

Ryan, your most recent post indicates you are planning on spending $25 per nigt for lodging and $15 a day for food, that accounts for all of your money for your trip. I wonder if you have thought about how you are going to pay for the transportation to, and within, all the countries that are not included in the Eurail pass? For instance, how will you get to the UK? How will you travel within the UK? It will cost you to get there from the continent. I hope it all works out for you. 35 years ago I left for a 3 month trip to Europe 10 days after graduating from college so I understand your desire to make this trip happen. However, my Eurail pass was a 3 month pass and so I never had to worry about how often I used it. I also had to end up having my parents wire me $300.00 dollars to finish the trip! Good luck to you.