Travelling through Europe (backpacking?) this summer, need advice/help

[jaustin]

So, I'm in the extremely early stages of planning a trip through Europe with a friend this summer, and was wondering if anyone has any helpful advice or thoughts.

This post isn't going to be very well-organized, but I'll try to go back and make it more readable after I finish typing.

Background: I'm a sophomore at NYU, and I'm planning on taking six weeks of summer class here, and then flying to Europe some time after June 22, probably staying there for between 4 and 6 weeks. The friend I'll be going with is a senior in high school, and one of my closest friends from home, named Mike. I have another friend, Tiago, who will be in London all summer doing an internship program through BU. His ex-girlfriend, Laia, lives in Barcelona, so we also have a hook up there. I haven't talked to Mike yet, but I'm sure he knows some people in Europe as well (he's been there before, I haven't) who we could stay with.

We haven't done any planning at all, basically just tossing this idea around, so I was wondering if anyone who's done this sort of thing before could offer us advice.

How should we get around while we're there? Eurailpass? I think we'll be trying to hit as many countries as possible, while still enjoying them all thoroughly. I don't know how ambitious we'll try to be, but I'd guess that France, U.K., Spain, and Italy will all be "must-visits."

As far as languages go, Mike and I both speak Spanish (albeit poorly for me, but I'm sure I'd start picking it up once I'm immersed). Mike may also speak some French, but I'm not positive.

Should we try and find someone to stay with everywhere we want to go, mixing in hostels and such to fill in the holes? On this note, anybody who lives in Europe and would like to offer us a place to stay, this would be incredibly appreciated (we could PM each other and do myspace/facebook so you know you're not going to get robbed or anything).

Since we'll probably be spending more time in London, with Tiago, than anywhere else, does it make the most sense to fly in and out of London? Would flying in and out of a different city be cheaper? Also, the trip will probably start in late June, and we'll have to be back by the beginning of September. Given this narrow window, are there any dates that would be cheaper to fly (e.g. Flying in mid-July saves $200 over leaving in late June, etc.)?

For people who have done this before, should we plan extensively, scheduling where we'll be each day? or just go with the flow, stay a week in one city if we're compelled too, etc.?

Since this is just the planning thread, I won't get into much great detail, that will come later.


Thanks so much for any and all advice, help, suggestions you may offer