Hello. I am planning on making my mark in Europe. How many days do you suggest taking off to see Europe? At least the more popular spots? I want to %26quot;blend in with the locals%26quot;
Thanks!
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You are being a little ambitious. I would need two or three years to %26quot;see Europe%26quot;. It is an entire continent, filled with sights and treasures.
How many days would I need to see America??
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This is a joke, right? Anyway, I%26#39;ll bite...
There are close to 50 (I think 47 but don%26#39;t make me swear an oath on that...) countries in Europe of which at least ten are major destination countries like France, Italy, the UK and so on. Allowing two weeks for a minimal superficial visit to each of those, perhaps an average of a week each for about 15 more, and skipping the rest (along with Russia and Turkey that are part European...), you arrive at about 35 weeks to which you would have to add perhaps another couple of weeks travel time, so maybe 9-10 months would give you a fairly good basic overview.
As to your desire to %26quot;blend in with the locals%26quot; you%26#39;d better pick one country in whose language you have decent facility. Set up residence there (assuming you can overcome the immigration hurdles) and work VERY hard at becoming REALLY fluent in the language. After perhaps five years you will begin to have the ability to %26quot;blend in with the locals.%26quot;
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There are only about 25 countries in North America, Nick, so perhaps half as long as Europe? Maybe six months for a quickie overview? Of course if you meant both North and South America we%26#39;d be back at the year it would take for a quick once-over of most of Europe, give or take...
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The longest I can take off work is for a month to Europe. My personality does not allow me to stay in one location for too long so I am going to do the train thing througout. But I think you are right. It is a little too ambitious to make a real stamp in Europe in that short period of time. I just discovered this site and I think its the best thing on line for travel advice and recommendations.
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Planning a whistle-stop(!) tour by train sounds a good idea. Don%26#39;t plan on too many places, and leave enough time in each place to get a flavour, even if you do have ants in your pants!
Maybe in later years you%26#39;ll come back to build on your memories!
GG
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OK. Now I know you have a month, here is some genuine advice.
Each time you move from one town to another, you are going to loose the best part of a day. Therefore, although you like moving around, don%26#39;t plan on going to more than eight towns, and preferably fewer. You have to spend a few days in a European town to get any kind of feel for it.
In my opinion, the two cities that you really %26quot;must see%26quot; are Paris and Rome. If you agree with this view, then it would make sense to fly into Paris and out of Rome (or the other way round). Then sit down with some French and Italian guidebooks to work out which places you would like to see that are roughly in a line between Paris and Rome.
If you are intending to stay in towns, the best way of travelling will be by train. You can get train times and costs at:
France: www.tgv-europe.com but say you are from Great Britain
Italy: www.trenitalia.com
Rail timetables will change on 12 December, and there is not yet full information beyond that date. Use travel dates in the next week for your planning: times and costs will not change much.
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why not rent a car? Then you can wander as the spirit moves you.
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If you rent a car in one country and drop off in another, there will be a large relocation fee.
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Since you have a whole month, you really should consider doing a car lease purchase rather than a rental. Driving ( especially if you use really good guidebooks like the Michelin Green Guides for France) will allow you to really see and explore, as opposed to just breezing by the wonderful smaller towns and villages that are the most important and wonderful places. If you decide to get around via rail, you will not only seriously reduce your access to many of the most wonderful sites, but you will be entirely dependent upon the train schedules, and will waste alot of your time getting fron place to place and hauling your luggage around - UGH !!!.
Above all, you need to realize that you %26quot;can%26#39;t do / see it all (Europe) in a month,%26quot; and doing a %26quot;whistle-stop type tour will only allow you to say that you have %26quot;been there%26quot; as opposed to really getting a good feel / understanding of several regions.
If you are interested in both France and Italy, you might want to consider flying into Paris, travelling South, eventually into Northern Italy, and returning home from an airport in Southern France ( NIce or Marseille ) . T
here are many routes that you can consider, but the bottom line is that you need to realize that you can%26#39;t %26quot;do%26quot; Europe%26quot; in a month - or even 3 or 4 months. Above all, you need to think of this trip as your FIRST trip to Europe as opposed to your ONLY visit to Europe.
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1 day per country --- morning for the high points and afternoon for the blending in with the locals.
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