At precisely 1300 hours on august the 21st i will be leaving jfk airport and will travel to a distant land, In europe. Austria will be my home from the 21st of august to the 30th of june 2009. How I'm going to leave my frigid fome of Alaska and get to New York is unknowst to me. (if you have a stationwagon or a segway pst) I will keep in touch with the forums with this topic and will udate it weekly. I don't have a myspace or facebook, so you won't be able to find me elsewhere on the interenet. please send me anysuggestions for places to see or things to buy. And if you ask nicely I will get you all a snowglobe, "FREE".
- shipping and handling costs of $5.99 still apply, philosopher101 is not liable for items lost, stolen, or dammaged. Registration required. And items will distributed randomly to the member. Many will enter few will win.

Today is sunday june 15th. 69 days left counting today, and the departture.

Have fun!

You should enjoy it over there. Lived in Europe when I was a kid, but couldn't get the enjoyment out of it I would have as an adult. If you by chance manage to get to Russia, Moscow, see Red Square ....touch the Kremlin. That's always been a dream of mine.

Well I am socialist.
I wonder if the russians have a Marx, and Engels statue like in germany.
If you want to come, meet me and then jump ship. But don't tell nobody.

Europe is pretty expensive atm. I suspect that may come as a shock. But, depending on your age, you can get a European rail pass which can get you almost anywhere. There's a wonderful Alpine railway that goes to the Swiss town of Gruyere for instance. There are just too many possibilities to name. One piece of advice, although European capital cities are full of things to see, they are in general very much more expensive than small towns and villages. Stay out of the capitals and use public transport (or hire a car) to get in.

First, hitch hiking probably isn't a good idea, especially if going that far. You may end up dead along the road, or forced to do unusual sexual acts in order to get passage. Normal people don't usually pick up hitch hikers, especially if the hitch hiker looks shady. And currently, you may be expected to pay for gas, or may end up walking a few hundred miles at a time. I would suggest either taking the bus, or having your route planned through reliable charter services (train, bus, airplane) before you even leave home. Although some of the experience may not be as "rich" atleat then you are more likely to reach your destination.

Get some good walking shoes, bring a brightly colored jacket, and an umbrella (for both sun and rain). Before you arrive in Europe, make sure you have enough German and French (just so you can pass as Canadian) memorized. Avoid looking touristy, no camera, no American "billboard" T-shirts, don't carry around any guide or translation books (should have most of the language learned).

If you "must" hitch hike, you're probably better off going through Canada than the Lower 48. Bring 2 knives, one which is strapped to your leg, another larger one in your pack. If you have to ditch out of a truck, make sure it's at a turn (since the truck will be going slower), and that you roll when you land. Also make sure you can get back up and head away from the road, as quickly as possible. Oh, and hitch hiking is illegal in many states, so you may end up getting arrested, and/or paying fines at some point in time.

Vagrant...is there something you are not sharing with us? About some aspect of your life that remains...in shadow? Though...i must confess to wondering about the same strategies in my hitchhiking days. But then...im paranoid.
If hitching thro Canada...avoid the area around Winnepeg...got more flying fingers of fun from those 'friendly Manitoba' drivers than anywhere else. Mind you...info a bit out of date...this was in the early 70's. They may have cheered up some. Oh...and there used to be a famous hitcher's black spot at WaWa. A nice mountie...and there are some... picked me up and drove me past it...and didn't even ask for sex or even my ID. In Austria...travel for the cakes. Mmmmm...austrian cakes. BonVoyage.

Asking for other suggestions of places to visit.

Such as, Paris, berlin, london, normandy, Rome, the Vatican. O rany thing else that suits you fancy.

Also looking for personal stories of you in europe. Real, or meta-real is just fine.

There are too many. What are you in Austria for - a year of study, a year of vacation? What do you like? Prague is a beautiful city full of music. I've just come back from my third visit. The painted churches of Romania are incredible. Scenically almost every country has something. Famous sites must include Granada in Spain as well as Cordoba and Sevilla. The Romantic Road in Germany has many mediaeval picture-book towns (Rothenburger ob der Tauber, Dinkelsbuhl etc.). In Bavaria there are the castles of mad king Ludwig one on as island in the middle of a lake (Herrenchiemsee) and Neuschwanstein which looks something out of a fairy tale. I could go on for pages.

I've travelled over a great deal of Europe but still have loads to see. A lifetime is not enough let alone a year.

A lifetime is not enough let alone a year.
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Fair enough.

In any case I still would like to hear any important do's or dont's from any one who has had a bad occasion.
vagratn warnings about hicth-hiking are taken quite well and will not be overlooked.

Ohh Ohh! You should go skiing! I hear that it's an awesome place to ski and snowboard.

I'll have to meet up with you when I return and before you leave to discuss our project of utmost secrecy and importance, along with the unspecified "them" who are on to it.

See ya soon!

Well since you asked for tips, here's one -

Don't go to Britain and call them European. It won't go down well. Only the Americans have the audacity to believe Great Britain HAS to belong to a continent in order to exist. We recently joined the European market but that is it, we're not Europeans.

Cheers.

Spent three years stationed in Germany (1993-96) and don't regret a moment of it.
Avoid American fast-food as much as possible, unless you get totally homesick; eat the local food, drink the local drink, visit the small towns and villages as well as the big, bustling cities... there are countless, hidden treasures to be found.

The best, and I mean the abso-freakin'-lutely BEST party I attended while in Europe was in a tiny, overlooked town named Geldersheim. They were celebrating their millenial; no kidding, this town had survived for a full 1000 years since the date of its founding, and fewer than three-hundred of us feasted on jagerschnitzel and pommes frites, and local hefeweissen and pilsner, and danced and drank until dawn 'round the fest tent in the center of the town square.

Mein Deutsche ist nicht so gut, but I learned two valuable lessons that night.
1. A raised glass and a smile are universal language, and
2. You can sing the words to Hank Williams' There's a Tear In My Beer to nearly every song played by the average, Deutsche "Oompah" band.

Enjoy your time in Europe, and get off the beaten path.
Trust me, you won't regret it.