[Black Wolf]

OK. I've started saving, found my travel agent and (more or less) got my itinerary down. Now, I need drinking buddies .

I'm going backpacking in a few months, and I know we've got a lot of Euros here on HLP, so I thought maybe I could get some advice, and maybe meet up with a few of you guys along the way. Where are the places to go in Europe? I'm not doing an entirely typical trip, as I'm skipping France, All the mediterannean coast and south of Europe and the UK and concentrating on the continent. Primarily for two reasons - it'll be the dead of winter while I'm there, putting swimming and the med more or less off the menu, plus I'm on a little bit of a budget - not quite shoestringing, but I do have to last 4.5 months without employment, so I'm targetting the cheaper countries. At the moment, my itinerary looks like this:

 - Sydney for a few days
 - The US for two weeks. It's not enough time for any kind of proper survey of the country, so I'm just doing New York and visiting friends in Minnesota (Also having Halloween in the US)
 - Iceland for a few days (I'm a geologist, I can't miss it )
 - London for a few days
 - The Netherlaqnds for two to three weeks (The impetus for the trip is pretty much hanging out with a really good dutch friend of mine, hence the extra time. I'll be staying in Eindhoven and doing quick overnighters to Belgium, Luxembourg and the Bonn/Cologne area of Germany)
 - Poland for a week (Yes, I know I'm skipping Germany, getting back to that later)
 - Two to three weeks through the balt (hopefully including a few days in Kaliningrad, though Visas might make that too much hassle)
 - A Week in Sweden (New Years with another friend in gothenbourg)
 - Quick stop in Copenhagen
 - At least a week to ten days in Germany.
 - The rest of the time (Aiming at four or five weeks) will be divvied up between Prague and the Carpathians in Romania, so stopping in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

I'll be leaving on about the 15th of October and returning around the 20th of February, so time is a touch tight, but I'm hoping people will have some advice on what to see and do in those countries. Also, I'm planning on meeting up with a few HLPeeps on the trip as well - at this point, VA in sydney, Galemp in New York and (though he doesn't know it yet ) Flipside in London. Anyone else who wants to meet up, let me know. But, yeah, for the moment, advice. At present, ther only things I know I want to do is skiing in Romania and check out all the dino fossils in the London and Berlin museums. I Assume there's more to Europe than that though, so... help?

[Stormkeeper]

...  Galemp in New York and (though he doesn't know it yet )  ...

Gonna arrive on his doorstep knock it and say, "WASSUP GALEMP!!" at 6 in the morning ?

[Blue Lion]

Damn you not coming near Washington/Baltimore!

[Bob-san]

I'd love to meet up with you in New York, but I'll be leaving for Miami in September and I'll be there most of the time! Geeze... come to Miami for... er... sightseeing.

[Wanderer]

If you are planning a trip to Kaliningrad.. well don't move alone, don't get drunk, don't trust the police (if no one else will rob you.. they will) and its probably a blast. Had some friends travel there and they got robbed by the police...

[Black Wolf]

...  Galemp in New York and (though he doesn't know it yet )  ...

Gonna arrive on his doorstep knock it and say, "WASSUP GALEMP!!" at 6 in the morning ?

No, Galemp knows, Flipside doesn't. And I just mean I've not yet worked out the particulars. But it will definitely happen.

Damn you not coming near Washington/Baltimore!

I'd love to meet up with you in New York, but I'll be leaving for Miami in September and I'll be there most of the time! Geeze... come to Miami for... er... sightseeing.

Yeah, I wish I had more time to do a proper Canada/US trip - there are masses of places I want to see. But I pretty much had to choose Europe or the US, and the people I'm visiting in Europe have been waiting longer than the US. That's pretty much all it came down to. The US is next though. A year at Uni, another year at work to save enough for a trip and then I'm off again.

If you are planning a trip to Kaliningrad.. well don't move alone, don't get drunk, don't trust the police (if no one else will rob you.. they will) and its probably a blast. Had some friends travel there and they got robbed by the police...

Hmm. I'll be travelling solo, and given the restrictiveness of the visa stuff to get into Russia, I'll probably not be able to meet up with a travel buddy on the way. This might be part of the trip to do some other time...

[Blue Lion]

If you are planning a trip to Kaliningrad.. well don't move alone, don't get drunk, don't trust the police (if no one else will rob you.. they will) and its probably a blast. Had some friends travel there and they got robbed by the police...

I was gonna say the exact same thing about Baltimore......

[Galemp]

Woo! BW in October!!

Hey, you know, my roommate's an Aussie. You folks should have fun.

Are you traveling alone? You have a hotel booked or anything like that? Are you gonna be doing stuff by yourself or would you mind having me tagging along for a weekend? I love the city; heck, we could even do a day trip to Philadelphia if you've got time.

[Black Wolf]

Woo! BW in October!!

Hey, you know, my roommate's an Aussie. You folks should have fun.

Are you traveling alone? You have a hotel booked or anything like that? Are you gonna be doing stuff by yourself or would you mind having me tagging along for a weekend? I love the city; heck, we could even do a day trip to Philadelphia if you've got time.

My planning - at least as far as the US leg of the trip is concerned - is limited to "Visit Missy, Visit James, Visit GE, see the dinosaurs at the natural history museum" I'm kind of avoiding booking ho(s)tels until I can sort out the days I'll be able to couch crash. If you've got a few days to show me around, of course I'd not mind.  That'd be awesome. There're tentative plans for halloween in minnesota, but the weekend before that is all New York.

What part of Aus is your roomie from, incidentally?

[colecampbell666]

I'd guess the dry and dusty part.

[Flipside]

I'm not a big drinker, but let me know when you're going to be in London and we can meet up if you want

[Ashrak]

if your going to ruassia or semi russian places, get bottles of vodka for the cops, dosent need to be expensive aslong as its vodka, you can bribe em pretty easyli, though youll need a bunch of it

[ShadowGorrath]

I'm from Lithuania ( Baltic country ). But I'm not of drinking age 

[Galemp]

What part of Aus is your roomie from, incidentally?[/bw]

I've no idea. I think he may be of Australian heritage, rather than emigration.

Anyway, you can definitely couch-crash at my place if you don't mind a dorm. I'll catch up with you closer to the date, but you can count on me.

[haloboy100]

No Canada?

For those Canadians here who can drink. 

[Nuclear1]

Too bad you're not hitting the west coast at all.

Sounds fun though.

[colecampbell666]

No Canada?

For those Canadians here who can drink. 

Yeah. You're missing the best place on earth. (both literally and figuratively)