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I just need a bit of help and advice! I'm one of these people who like to plan a lot before a trip. I'm currently living in Honduras, Central America, and I've done a bit of travelling to the Bay Islands, and to Guatemala as well as other places in the country. I've also been to Egypt, Spain, Andorra, Portugal, France and Germany on school trips, skiing holidays and stuff, so I'm not considering myself a travelling veteran, but I've been around a bit. However, I'm now planning my most ambitious bit of travelling yet, and I just wanted a bit of help.

We are planning on flying to Lisbon from London, then going across Spain, France, through Switzerland into Italy, across the Ionian sea to Greece, across the Aegean sea to Turkey, up through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, into Germany, finish in Amsterdam before flying/ferrying back to England and all splitting to go home.

We are looking to see all the sights, as well as enjoy little bits of culture here and there. So tours, landmarks and things. We also enjoy a drink, so a few nights out here and there will be considered. In terms of travelling & accommodation, we were originally considering buying a campervan or caravan and driving this across Europe, but we have decided it may be a bit too expensive to do this in terms of petrol, car maintenance and insurance.

Since then we've decided to investigate a rail pass. We've found a good one, which allows us 1 month of travelling on as many trains as we want, whenever we want, for just under £400. We want to travel for 2 months though, so we're going to get 2 of them, which comes to just under £800. We plan on timing and organise these train trips so that we can travel overnight as much as possible, to limit the amount of hostels we have to stay in.

We are NOT the luxury living type of people. 3 out of the 5 of us going are living in Central America, 1 of the others is living in Tanzania, Africa at the moment, and to be honest the other one doesn't really have a say in what we do because he's tagging along as a guest! Due to this, we are not planning on spending any more than £10 on any form of accommodation during the 2 months.

We also have this wild idea of busking. There are 3 of us who play guitar, and one who plays drums, so it could even be possible to busk in the capital cities to make some money to pay for various things.

The question I had was based on all the information I've given you, how much money (in £) do you think I would need to save to cover my back for this trip? I am initially thinking £2000, but I'm not sure if that is too little, or whether there is a risk of me running out of this. Any advice is appreciated, whether its about the budget, or about any countries or festivals you recommend me attending. :)

PS - we are travelling between our first and second years of university, between June and September!

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Welcome to travel.SE. While your question is rather long and has a lot of information one thing that is missing is detailed route because that will play a significant role in your budget because while most places are accessible by rail some may not be. So before you ask for a budget advice you should first plan out a detailed route and then ask specifically of the possibilities of accommodations and attractions. – Karlson Mar 8 at 14:17
I agree with you in that I need to provide a specific route, but to be honest with you we are waiting to decide on a budget so we know whether or not we can spend more time in the more expensive places such as France and Italy. I am only looking for a rough number based on other peoples experiences of similar trips to this one. Thanks for your advice though, we will start working on a specific route! – Josh Roberts Mar 8 at 14:36
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In this case you should review the FAQ because polling questions are normally closed on SE sites because they do not provide facts just opinions. If you want an opinion: Come up with the budget you can spend. Add 10% on top. Reduce that number by 20% and that target the route for that amount. This will give you some room to play in case things change and allow for incidentals, which do happen. – Karlson Mar 8 at 14:43

closed as not constructive by mindcorrosive♦, Mark Mayo Mar 8 at 19:28

As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance.

1 Answer

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If I were you I'd try https://www.couchsurfing.org/ as much as possible. That would save you some. I think most countries you could get by with little Euro per day. But France and Switzerland they are a bit steep from my point of view. Germany is quite cheap. If you can get by with couchsurfing, then I would say 2000 pounds not include the train tickets would be more than enough.

But what you're doing is really interesting. I'd like to try the same one time also.

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I've looked into couch surfing and it seems awesome, that definitely something I'd consider, thanks man! – Josh Roberts Mar 8 at 14:34
Couchsurfing with 5 people? I'm not part of the couchsurfing community, but with 5 people can be a bit complicated. – Bernhard Mar 8 at 18:53
I guess they don't have to stick together if they really want to be low budget? And not more than £10 for a night is kinda tricky. Even the cheapest hostel I can find would be around 20 Euro. – toy Mar 8 at 19:49

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