I am planning a trip for 2 months in May/June this summer.
I have bought a rail pass and will go to, in this order:

Fly into Amsterdam, then go to Brussels?, Paris, Madrid, Morocco (not
sure what city(s)), Ibiza?, Barcelona, Nice, Milan?, Venice, Florence,
Pisa?, Rome, Corfu, Athens +surrounding islands, fly out of Athens.

1. How long should I plan on each place?
2. Are there any other places that are highly recommended?
3. The ones with the (?) I'm not sure about yet, should I go to them?
4. Does anyone know of any Hostels that are really good in these places?
5. Are there any tickets or other things that I need before I go to
these places? (eg. I heard you had to book ahead for one of the tourist
places in Italy)
6. Is Ibiza worth it? And how much does it cost to get there?
7. Am I trying to see too much?
8. Should I do this in the reverse order? I am going in May/June.
9. If I were to choose one, should it be Morocco or Portugal?
10. Should I plan to take overnight trains or just take day trains and
get a room in a hostel?
11. What is the best city to go to in Morocco?

Please, I beg for your help, I really want to go, but it is my first
trip and I am feeling swamped with too much to plan on my own.

Thank you so much for any help you can give me.

Colin

Colin Lacey wrote in news:[email protected]:

    > I am planning a trip for 2 months in May/June this summer.
    > I have bought a rail pass and will go to, in this order:
    >
    > Fly into Amsterdam, then go to Brussels?, Paris, Madrid, Morocco (not
    > sure what city(s)), Ibiza?, Barcelona, Nice, Milan?, Venice, Florence,
    > Pisa?, Rome, Corfu, Athens +surrounding islands, fly out of Athens.
    >
    > 1. How long should I plan on each place?

This is the hardest question. I could easily take either 1 or 7 days in
Nice depending on what I was trying to accomplish. You need to think
about what you want, nightlife, museums, hanging out, nature and then
pan around it, but you need to always be flexible enough to follow your
instincts (or what ever group, or person ;-), you have fallen in with.

    > 2. Are there any other places that are highly recommended?

Yes, but then you would need another trip, don't worry about what you
miss, see waht you can.


    > 3. The ones with the (?) I'm not sure about yet, should I go to them?
What are you looking for? Milan would fall off of many lists first, but
it has its charms.

    > 7. Am I trying to see too much?

Only if you insist on sticking to a timetable, if you are willing to
improvise you have a good framework.

    > 8. Should I do this in the reverse order? I am going in May/June.

As noted elsewhere weather may be better (warmer) if you reverse. Do
watch out for religious and other holidays, they aren't always obvious
to foreingers and then bam, crowds and closed places.

    > 9. If I were to choose one, should it be Morocco or Portugal?

I would opt for Portugal, but there was a time when the romance of
Morocco would have dictated a different answer.

    > 10. Should I plan to take overnight trains or just take day trains and
    > get a room in a hostel?

You have time, why spend it trying to sleep on a train, go to a club
instead. By traveling in the daylight you can at least see where you are
going (and if you had a rough night partying, you can still sleep!

Colin Lacey wrote:
    > I am planning a trip for 2 months in May/June this summer.
    > I have bought a rail pass and will go to, in this order:
    > Fly into Amsterdam, then go to Brussels?, Paris, Madrid, Morocco (not
    > sure what city(s)), Ibiza?, Barcelona, Nice, Milan?, Venice, Florence,
    > Pisa?, Rome, Corfu, Athens +surrounding islands, fly out of Athens.
    > 1. How long should I plan on each place?

You shouldn't plan. Spend as long as you want. You won't know what you think
of each place until you've been there. Make sure you don't do something
silly like reserving hotel rooms way in advance that forces you to waste
time in a place you don't like or to leave a place before you want to.

    > 8. Should I do this in the reverse order? I am going in May/June.

I strongly advise starting in the south and then finishing in the north.

    > 9. If I were to choose one, should it be Morocco or Portugal?

I'd say Morocco. Both are beautiful but Morocco is far more different to the
rest.

    > 10. Should I plan to take overnight trains or just take day trains and
    > get a room in a hostel?

Maybe a mix. Two months of overnight trains will wear just about anyone down
to the bone.

    > 11. What is the best city to go to in Morocco?

Fes is a giant labyrinth that completely takes you away from the world you
used to call Earth. Marrakech is more touristy but the town square there is
really one of the world's most amazing places.

You couldn't go wrong with either. Fes has the advantage of being a lot
closer to Europe.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Latest addition: 80 photos from Guatemala

On Fri, 17 Jan 2003 05:52:10 GMT, Colin Lacey
wrote:

    >I am planning a trip for 2 months in May/June this summer.
    >I have bought a rail pass and will go to, in this order:
    >Fly into Amsterdam, then go to Brussels?

I suggest you skip Brussels and go to Cologne from Amsterdam. Much
more interesting, especially the cathedral, huge walking mall that
makes up the center of the city, and you can take crusies on the Rhine
past castles.

---------------------------
A truly cool book:
The World Is Already Yours
Conscious living in the real world
www.alreadyyours.com (sample chapter, etc...)

Colin Lacey wrote in message news:...
    > I am planning a trip for 2 months in May/June this summer.
    > I have bought a rail pass and will go to, in this order:
    >
    > Fly into Amsterdam, then go to Brussels?, Paris, Madrid, Morocco (not
    > sure what city(s)), Ibiza?, Barcelona, Nice, Milan?, Venice, Florence,
    > Pisa?, Rome, Corfu, Athens +surrounding islands, fly out of Athens.
    >
    > 1. How long should I plan on each place?
    > 2. Are there any other places that are highly recommended?
    > 3. The ones with the (?) I'm not sure about yet, should I go to them?
    > 4. Does anyone know of any Hostels that are really good in these places?
    > 5. Are there any tickets or other things that I need before I go to
    > these places? (eg. I heard you had to book ahead for one of the tourist
    > places in Italy)
    > 6. Is Ibiza worth it? And how much does it cost to get there?
    > 7. Am I trying to see too much?
    > 8. Should I do this in the reverse order? I am going in May/June.
    > 9. If I were to choose one, should it be Morocco or Portugal?
    > 10. Should I plan to take overnight trains or just take day trains and
    > get a room in a hostel?
    > 11. What is the best city to go to in Morocco?
    >
    > Please, I beg for your help, I really want to go, but it is my first
    > trip and I am feeling swamped with too much to plan on my own.
    >
    > Thank you so much for any help you can give me.
    >
    > Colin


IMHO Pisa is well worth a day trip to see the tower and adjacent
museums and cathederal, but the rest of the town is not somewhere I
would necessary stop for the evening. We stayed in Lucca - about
twenty/thirty minutes down the road by car or bus from Pisa - just
before Christmas. It is a very quaint walled town and worthy of a
couple of nights. Obviously you can easily day trip to Pisa from
there.

With kind regards


Zany B. Side
______________________
www.londonside.com

Regarding your other post, note that while it is a mere pain in the
butt getting TO Greece from Italy, travelling the islands can be even
more of a pain, as ferrys are slow and less frequent than you'd like,
and airfares are pricey. Note that with the main Athens museum being
closed, you can see all Athens in one long day.

--
Dan Stephenson
(remove nospam to reply by email)
Grand Tour photos and video: http://homepage.mac.com/stepheda

Why is the museum closed? I was planning on going to Corfu from Italy,
is it hard to get to the main part of Greece from there? What are some
other islands I should go to? I am figuring to stay south.

Dan Stephenson wrote:
    > Regarding your other post, note that while it is a mere pain in the
    > butt getting TO Greece from Italy, travelling the islands can be even
    > more of a pain, as ferrys are slow and less frequent than you'd like,
    > and airfares are pricey. Note that with the main Athens museum being
    > closed, you can see all Athens in one long day.
    >

grey wrote in message news:...

    > I suggest you skip Brussels and go to Cologne from Amsterdam. Much
    > more interesting, especially the cathedral, huge walking mall that
    > makes up the center of the city, and you can take crusies on the Rhine
    > past castles.
    >

I myself didn't find Cologne to be all that interesting (and I spent 4
days there). The much talked about cathedral IS very spectacular, but
it seems to really be the only thing there. And for someone who isn't
really interested in churches (like me), to me, it was just another
church. If one is doing a trip through Germany, I would certainly
include it, but if not... I'd skip it... and even Brussels, and head
out to Brugge/Bruges in the north of Belgium. A very charming little
town, spent the whole day there and wasn't bored... all the
interesting sites were in close proximity of each other.

This is just what I found, however, your interests more than likely
differ to mine....

If you do end up going to Cologne however, I would highly recommend
the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. It's actually
in Bonn, which is about a 30min train ride from Köln Hbf. This is a
highly interesting museum, and although it was all in German, my
limited German knowledge allowed me to enjoy it immensely... (English
guidebooks are available)...

In any case, one more think, I agree with all of Miguel's suggestions,
especially "Don't Plan"... I spent a similar amount of time in Europe
at the end of last year, and found it much better to just plan each
day as it came... It may have cost me a bit more in the long run, but
it allowed me to make decisions according to how much I was enjoying a
place.. etc..

RC