angel
Answer
I have the baby bjorn active. It's very sturdy and adjusts to the baby's height and weight. The baby can sit towards yourself or out so they can see the world.
I found it very easy to get her in and out of it without waking her up which was fantastic.
Only thing, she is now 3 months old and hates it.
Does this itinerary for backpacking Europe seem realistic?
whr
I plan on backpacking Europe in May from the 7-31 and this is the itinerary I have come up with: 8-10 in Amsterdam, 11th in Brussels, 13-15 in Paris, 16-18 in Barcelona, 19-21 in Rome, 22-25 in Greece, 26-27 in Prague, 28-30 in Berlin...and then I would fly back home to the USA on the 31. Alright, so I'm not sure about the travel times between these places and my only concern is that I don't want to end up spending half of my days wholly on trains. I will say that I would plan on taking the night trains and sleeping on them; I would prefer my schedule be full and hectic than to have any down time. I've thought about replacing Greece with London and inserting it into my schedule accordingly but perhaps attempting to take the ferry to either would require too much time and I should just stay on the mainland? Any cities I'm overlooking? Thanks!
Thanks for the replies so far! Greece is out of the way, but yeah I think I'm going to go for it. Also, I will say I'm most excited for the night life in each city and I'm going to try and just see the major attractions,maybe take a day tour and then a day to myself. I was just thinking, would it perhaps work better for me to go east first- ams.-berl.- prague-greece-rome-barcelona-paris-brussels ??
Answer
No way, baby! There is too much ground to cover. I'd slow down and enjoy a few places more, and also leave some room for flexibility- you'll miss trains, get sidetracked, find a cool village that you HAVE to see, a daytrip that can't wait, etc etc. Unless you are flying, Greece takes a LONG time to get in and out of- trust me on this. Paris to Barcelona can take time- just the trip is over 12 hours, never mind if you have to make a connection. Rome to Greece overland is about 2-3 days, figuring on Rome-Brindisi-Patras and then onwards; and the trains don't meet the ferries, so you usually have to stay overnight on one end. Then getting to Prague from Greece? That's another 2-3 days easy. Barcelona-Rome is a LONG way also, another 2-3 days of travel. Barcy can be kind of hard to get out of- it's not super-well connected with night trains, and you might have to go through Toulouse and Lyon. I did a similar route my first time, and I travelled for three months... and still felt rushed sometimes.
I know you want to see everything, but it's just not possible. You'll end up too time-stressed to enjoy it. London takes a long time to get in or out of also- even flying, because the cheap airlines fly out of outside airports, which take time to get to.
I seriously would not attempt to plug Greece into this itinerary- unless you decide to not do Barcy-Paris-Brussels. (BTW, for Belgium, Brugges is MUCH, MUCH nicer than Brussels- don't go to big cities just because they're famous!) You say Greece, but where?? Athens is no big deal as a city, aside from a few astounding sites- the best of Greece is in the smaller places, which takes a lot of time.
See, what you'll end up doing on this trip is finding out how much you're missing in each country- make sense? You'll be in Prague, say, and someone will tell you about Ceske Krumlov or Kutna Hora, (both totally amazing) and you'll regret not having the time. And each city you mention is worth at least 3 or 4 days just to see the main sites, never mind hidden gems. A museum like the Louvre is easily one or two full days by itself- it's not something you check out for an hour. It takes time to get around-
BTW- I guarantee that you'll get stuck in Berlin and Prague- they're just amazing.
Rome is great, but don't forget that Florence is the seat of the Renaissance, easier to get to, and closer to the rest of Europe. Stay out of Milan and Naples- your time is far better spent elsewhere.
I HIGHLY recommend reading Rick Steve's "Europe Through the Back Door" before going- it is totally invaluable in planning your first trip. He has packing advice, train and itinerary maps, sightseeing routes in each city, and a ton of fun tips- he's a guru. The library should have it.
Here's three site for train info- just type in your route.
http://www.b-rail.be/main/E/
http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml
http://www.raileurope.com/index.html
BTW, here are some of my favorites on the continent:
Mostar, Bosnia
Brugges
Ljubljana, Slovenia (spent 4 months in Slovenia!)
Zagreb, Hvar, and Dubrovnik, Croatia
Prague and Ceske Krumlov, Czech Republic
Granada, Spain
Cinque Terra, Florence, Taormina, Pompeii, and Capri/Amalfi- Italy
Sarlat and the Dordogne- France- and Strasburg also
Santorini, Nafplio, and Agios Pavlos- Greece
Leiden- Holland
Vienna and Salzburg- Austria
Berlin
Rememer- Europe has been there for a LONG time- you can always go back. It's better to concentrate on a smaller region with your limited time- like the Mediterranean, or only the Central/Eastern, or just Italy, Greece, the Balkans, and Turkey- Europe is HUGE- it's easy to look at a map and get deceived about how much ground you can cover-
Have fun!
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