How do you go to Europe on a very tight budget?

Question

I am going to France, Amsterdam and Italy for 29 days with a friend, 7 of which will be in a camp where I will be for free. I have the tickets to Europe, which I paid $1000.75 for and have plans on getting a Eurail pass on Monday when I get my check because I am getting it for my friend too who will pay me back. I probably will honestly only have less than $1000 dollars to spend for 22 days.

We are in Paris for 5 nights, then we are going to Loire Valley for the camp for 7 days, then Amsterdam for 4 or 5 days then down to Italy for 6 days the back to Paris for another night.

We have a reservation in Paris for the first 4 nights that is about $37 a night. It was the cheapest we could find.

Do you think I have enough money >$1000? Should I get out a loan? I'm really stressed.

Answer 1

hitch hike

Answer 2

don't go hitchhiking. It's not safe in most countries, especially if you don't know the language and customs.

Plus it's extremely time consuming.

$1000 for a month including travel expenses and hotels is cutting it really fine.

That's $33 a day (roughly) and your hotel reservations for Paris alone are more than that.

You might be able to find cheaper lodgings in youth hostels, but you also have to eat and get around... And travel isn't exactly cheap in Europe.

Even if you only eat one meal a day at a fast food restaurant, with some bottled water from a supermarket spread over the day, you're going to need at least $15 a day just for food.

Think $30-40 at least for lodging.

$20-$50 for travel (depending on distance).

That brings you to 2-3 times your current budget, and you won't be seeing much as you're spending all your time looking for cheap places to sleep and eat.

Answer 3

Cancel the plan for the rail pass.

That is going to be more expensive than other ways to pay for your travel.

You will want a train ticket for Paris-Amsterdam, a flight Amsterdam to Italy and a flight Italy to Paris.

Or do all your travel by bus.

These sites can help you to find cheap tickets:

http://www.whichbudget.com/

http://www.skyscanner.net/

And this is the site for bus travel:

http://www.eurolines.com/index.php?id=11...

I think $1000 is really not enough, it is like going to New York with only $25 a day, enough to eat and drink, but not enough to pay for a hotel and no money to spend on anything making the trip worth the effort.

If you are really that tight on money it might even be better to cancel your trip.

But if you insist on going, try to keep the budget down, any loan you take out is going to cost you dearly in the future, if you loan to much it might even ruin the rest of your life.

A way to keep cost down is couch surfing, I have never done it, but many people do:

http://www.hospitalityclub.org/

http://www.couchsurfing.com/

And I think that if you are that much on a budget, rural France is a better thing than traveling to Amsterdam and Italy.

Going there is taking a lot of money, and both will be expensive, specially as you will have to start looking for cheap places to stay again.

The smaller towns of France are not as expensive if you manage to find a cheap hostel, or couchsurfing space.