Anyone ever feel like packing up and leaving...

...the US for a little while and backpacking in Europe or something? I'm seriously debating doing this if I can save up a little money.

Anyone done anything like that before?

i packed up and slept in my car in a grocery store parking lot for a week when i was 16... does that count?

McDonalds every meal of the day.. it was glorious

Leaving sounds great right now...

shit yeah!

its really cheap to get around Europe. my friend did it when i was living back on Scotland, he went all over the place, with just a rucksack, clothes and some british money. hitchiking and living in youth hostels and shit.

beer in praugue costs about $0.70 cents a pint. the public transport is good and you can get to nearly anywhere you wanna go.

i wanna travel the world and see as much as i can, but i dont think it would be for a while though.

[quote09cf423a7f="theysayjump"]shit yeah!

its really cheap to get around Europe. my friend did it when i was living back on Scotland, he went all over the place, with just a rucksack, clothes and some british money. hitchiking and living in youth hostels and shit.

beer in praugue costs about $0.70 cents a pint. the public transport is good and you can get to nearly anywhere you wanna go.

i wanna travel the world and see as much as i can, but i dont think it would be for a while though.[/quote09cf423a7f]

I've heard buying a Eurorail pass is smart not just because you can travel on it but because if you need a place to sleep than you can just hop on.

Prague would definately be a destination I'd go to.

Some of my friends did this over the summer. They had a blast...

yeah you can travel all over Europe for one fee i think it is, and they have sleper trains that you can sleep on, so if the worst comes to the worst like you said, you can just get on there.

the trains are faster over there also.

Amsterdam is cool, France also. id wanna see Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Turin, Prague, Austria/Switzerland, Berlin, Lisbon, Budapest......theres just too many.

ill tell my dad and brother to expect a visit from you wink

[quote812417a8f5="tonydanza92"]i packed up and slept in my car in a grocery store parking lot for a week when i was 16... does that count?

McDonalds every meal of the day.. it was glorious[/quote812417a8f5]
thats fuckin hilarious

I've done it several times when I was younger oops . First time I went when I was 19 or 20, I did two months with a two month unlimited eurail pass (as opposed to the eurail flexipass). The summer after that I spent three months there, but was kinda studying abroad for two months. I did other one month trips around there too.

I've slept outside and almost got mugged, got chased by a one armed hostel manager, gone without warm food for weeks, gazed the topless hotties along the riviera, did some hiking in Norway, biking in Switzerland, island hopping in Greece, got food poisoning in Prague, etc... Fuck, they are the best times I've ever had. Just do it!

It'll give you perspective, to say the least, and you'll meet tons of interesting/strange people. I might do it sometime again too.

Completely different than Europe, but I've always been attracted to Japan. Anyone been there?

yeah if you have the chance to do it, then go for it....you never know when the chance might come again.

[quote336c4fe235="hehehhehe"]I've done it several times when I was younger oops . First time I went when I was 19 or 20, I did two months with a two month unlimited eurail pass (as opposed to the eurail flexipass). The summer after that I spent three months there, but was kinda studying abroad for two months. I did other one month trips around there too. It's the best time I've ever had in my life. Just do it! It'll give you perspective, to say the least, and you'll meet tons of interesting/strange people. I might do it sometime again too.[/quote336c4fe235]

where all did you stay? and you say younger, how old are you now? lol. how much did the whole 2 month trip cost you. where did you go?

[quoteb32c7657b2="willr91"]Completely different than Europe, but I've always been attracted to Japan. Anyone been there?[/quoteb32c7657b2]

havent been but id love to......Lost In Translation made me wanna go even more D

[quoteee5c33bb9d="theysayjump"][quoteee5c33bb9d="willr91"]Completely different than Europe, but I've always been attracted to Japan. Anyone been there?[/quoteee5c33bb9d]

havent been but id love to......Lost In Translation made me wanna go even more D[/quoteee5c33bb9d]
Same with me! Great movie.

Lost in translation had the opposite effect on me. At least, if I go to Japan, I sure won't be staying in Tokyo very long. I like the old world feel of Europe that you can't really get anywhere else.

One of my favorite scenes in Lost in Translation was the Kyoto scene. Quite a change from Tokyo.

I edited the original post with more content. I'm pretty old for this forum oops . It was kind of rare when I did it, but it seems more common to go during college these days.

http/" alt=""/img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/hehehhehe/trip.jpg[/imgc8253be9e3]

I drew a little map that traces the places I went on my first trip. I've basically hit every country in Western Europe in 2 or 3 summers. I've never been to Scotland though (its not a country but a significant enough area not to hit), sorry theysayjump.

I think I spent about $30 a day, so maybe $2k for the two months, plus airfare and europass. To save cash, you can carry one of those $30 tent with you and get tent space or just sleep on the train. Sometimes they are so packed that you'll have to sleep on the sticky train floor. There are so many people doing the same.

I've been to Japan too but to me there's nothing like backpacking through Europe.

liahemli Scotland is a country liahemli

wink

[quotec9ed80080c="hehehhehe"]I edited the original post with more content. I'm pretty old for this forum oops . It was kind of rare when I did it, but it seems more common to go during college these days.

http/" alt=""/img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/hehehhehe/trip.jpg[/imgc9ed80080c]

I drew a little map that traces the places I went on my first trip. I've basically hit every country in Western Europe in 2 or 3 summers. I've never been to Scotland though (its not a country but a significant enough area not to hit), sorry theysayjump.

I think I spent about $30 a day, so maybe $2k for the two months, plus airfare and europass. To save cash, you can carry one of those $30 tent with you and get tent space or just sleep on the train. Sometimes they are so packed that you'll have to sleep on the sticky train floor. There are so many people doing the same.

I've been to Japan too but to me there's nothing like backpacking through Europe.[/quotec9ed80080c]

Thanks for the info, so tempting, I can fly for free so it'd just be cost of living. How bad were the language barriers?

[quote782666f4d5="willr91"]One of my favorite scenes in Lost in Translation was the Kyoto scene. Quite a change from Tokyo.[/quote782666f4d5]
That's my favorite film from 2003, I thought Kyoto was beautiful when I went there, I even got to meet a maiko (pre-geisha), and only rich business guys or politicians can meet them usually (I'm neither).

My favorite film from last year was Before Sunset, which is a sequel to Before Sunrise, a movie about a guy going through Europe ).

[quote7e53d9f5e6="slease"]
Thanks for the info, so tempting, I can fly for free so it'd just be cost of living. How bad were the language barriers?[/quote7e53d9f5e6]
That's one of the interesting things. I had been learning French so I was okay there, and people in the scandinavian countries all speak great English (in Sweden they loved English speakers, they might be more anti-american nowadays though). Once you go south, you'll be doing a lot of gesturing, but in most cases the people you will deal with will be used to tourists. It's interesting to see how much you get across without speaking each other's language.

In general, if you're cool with them, they'll be cool to you.

yeah the Dutch speak very good English as well as the Scandanavians.

Just reading this post now, makes me want to go.

YOUR ALL MAKING ME EFFIN JEALOUS!

[quote33c0af6238="Sonofshoe"]Just reading this post now, makes me want to go.[/quote33c0af6238]

Same here. Man that would be fun. I'm tired of living here. I want to go explore something new...

Europe is great. Went like 5-6 years ago.

London-->Amsterdam-->Milan-->Nice-->Barcelona-->Toulousse(France)-->Paris-->London

Greatest trip of my life. Too many stories to discuss here. If you have the opportunity to go you must.