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[galather]

My friends and I have been talking about an ultimate Euro trip and this discussion has now became to reality, we are now organizing this trip to the extreme. Meeting at lunch break every Wensday talking about the Euro trip in extreme details and we figured out where exactly we will go.

Italy - Walk from Rome on the Mediterranean coast line till we reach Genova and walk the country side to Milano.

Switzerland - Take a train from Milano to Zurich with the Euro pass.

France - Take a train from Zurich to Lyon France.

Germany - Take a train from Lyon to Strasburg where we will walk from Strasbourg to Munich, then take a train from Munich to Hamburg and then take another train from Munich to Cologne.

Netherlands - From Colonge Germany we will walk to Amsterdam.

Sweden - From Amsterdam we will take a ferry to Goteburg Sweden and from there take a train to Stockholm.

And then we will return home...

It will be a 3 month trip we bought our hiking back packs and we have enough equipment to take us from point A to point B walking. There will be 5 of us 2 of us will be American and the other three are meeting us in Europe, one is from Hungary, the other from Italy and last one is from Germany. This will help us through language barriers and culture differences.

Our budget is $5,700 for the trip, we already estimated the prices for plane tickets, euro pass train ticket, food money, hostels and extra spending money.

This will start on June 18th to August 20th.

[starlagurl]

That's great! Have you booked your places to stay and your flights and everything yet?

[galather]

Na not yet but we will soon.

[starlagurl]

Cool, let us know what you do.

Did you have any questions about anything yet?

[galather]

Cool, let us know what you do.

Did you have any questions about anything yet?

Yes, we are wondering if you guys can give us any tips about the trip?

Anything that we should be aware of?

[starlagurl]

Well, for one, I know that sometimes the Euro rail pass can actually be more expensive than booking the train tickets separately. Have you checked the prices on the trips you want to take?

[galather]

Well, for one, I know that sometimes the Euro rail pass can actually be more expensive than booking the train tickets separately. Have you checked the prices on the trips you want to take?

Well the rail way trips we will be taking is....

Italy - Milan to Zurich

Switzerland - Zurich to Lyon

France - Lyon to Strasbourg

Germany - Munich to Hamburg then Hamburg to Cologne

(Ferry) Netherlands - Amsterdam to Goteburg Sweden

Sweden - Goteburg to Stockholm

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So I do not know if buying individual tickets would be cheaper in my case, the euro pass we have is $484.00 and its first class, for some reason second class is more expensive than first, what is the difference?

[starlagurl]

I don't think that second class is more expensive. Have a look at this: http://www.italylogue.com/planning-a-trip/...aly-trains.html

[sianeth]

How much is that ferry? I've always thought ferry journeys are expensive... hence why I went the Malmo: Copenhagen: Hamburg route when skipping from Scandanavia to main land Europe...

[galather]

I don't think that second class is more expensive. Have a look at this: http://www.italylogue.com/planning-a-trip/...aly-trains.html

Yeah I looked up Eurail.com and found first class cheaper than second class and I was like "Something is really wrong here."

[galather]

It is $159.00 for a ferry from Kiel Germany to Goteborg Sweden.

[galather]

It is $159.00 for a ferry from Kiel Germany to Goteborg Sweden.

So I heard there are Gypsys (Aka the thieves/bums of Europe) in a lot of parts in Europe, I heard they steal quite often from travelers. Has anyone run into this problem before?

[huckabmm]

I just got back from three weeks in Europe in June. We priced out individual tickets and they were considerably more expensive than the pass - even with the reservation fees. Since one (maybe more) of those trips appear to be overnight it is probably cheaper to do the pass, since individual overnight tickets can be expensive. You should also know that overnight trains only count as "one day" off your pass if they leave after 7pm. So personally I would recommend the pass, but your mileage may vary. (NB: we did second class passes)

Also, just another tip, the RailEurope/Eurail/etc websites are kinda confusing and hard to use at times. Sometimes you can't find the exact train you want, etc. I would really recommend calling whichever company you decide to use. They have agents that can put a package together for you (pass+reservations) and then email you the entire itinerary. It is much easier than trying to book it on the website and they're really helpful. They gave us lots of recommendations and advice.