im down, i plan on starting in Paris and going east/south east

10 Days is enough for maybe 2 cities. This is not "backpaking" IMO. I went for 3.5 months and lived out of a 50L bag. Your size is much much too big.

You're better off picking 2-3 places to go, take a regular suitcase and go see 3 major cities. Keep them close ish together aswell because train travel takes a lot of time. Example, Paris - Amsterdam - London etc.

10 days as well might as well just stay in Hotels

when making my package there were hotels offering sales that were cheaper than staying in a hostel so you may want to shop around

No way.
Hostels are the way to go to meet people and have a blast

Agree: 10 days, 2 cities, 1 country
Disagree: regular suitcases suck huge on cobblestone streets and can be a bitch to carry if there is no public transit directly to your hostel

Worst thing you can do is spend days travelling on a 10 day trip
Airtransat.ca for a flight and stay close to where you fly in/out

Experience the city, don't just sight see

www.neweuropetours.eu when/if it fits your itinerary

Thanks for the heads up. I looked into this as well. A hostel for 2 people runs about $90/night. I can get a cheap hotel for that price but I will probably stick with hostels. It's easier to meet people.

Agree, it may be tough to lock up a suitcase in a locker. These hike backpacks have incredible support on your hips. It's painless carrying the pack around.

I'm going to get a 50 or 60L pack from MEC. Those are on are sale right now. I think a 38L pack may be a little too small.

For a 10 day trip 38L is more than enough Imo. Pack light, your shoulders and back will thank you on travel days.

38L is more than enough for 10 days man... MORE than enough. I had maybe the equivelant of 40L in my bag and felt I brough too much. You would be amazed at how much you can stuffinto a 40L bag.

Depending on where you go, it might still be hot. Head down to the outlet to the Under Armor store and buy yourself a bunch of tees. They pack really light, compact and if it's hot out, you'll feel way more comfortable especially with a bag on your back.

But yeah, pack light. If it's 10 days, bring extra memory cards for your camera and leave the laptop at home. Leave pretty much everything that you don't need every single day.

You guys who only bring a camera, do you dump your pics online somewhere or do u just stash away memory cards? I'd be worried about having my pack stolen and memory cards lost

You can't really prevent theft. It really depends what kind of photographer you are. If you just carry a point and shoot, data service / wifi will provide enough bandwidth for backup. I think the key is to prevent theft in the first place, before you go, spend sometime with the packed pack and figure out where you are going to stow things like wallets and cameras etc. Preferably with someone around to spot where your weakness are. It is so easy to spot whois a newb at European airports, just by the way people put their things.

Don't let your expensive shit out of your sight? When you have to, lock it up or leave it with your hostel's staff.

10 days, just bring enough memory cards. You can buy 10x16GB cards for $100 if you really wanted to. That's 5000+ pics even with my 30MB per pic file size.

I'm talking moreso about like a long term trip, if and when I go I'd like to get a DSLR or a very nice point and shoot, I guess you could always copy the memory cards and mail them back home as well

Hell yeah, don't forget the walking tours.

SANDEMANs NEW Europe | Home of the Famous Free Tour

I made sure to take these tours if it's available in the city I go to.

Here's a tip, just go to the group of ladies in the tour and be like, "Is this the new europe tour group ?" You are set.

Meet great people, local and foreigners traveling and studying abroad. Trust me, you'll have more notches on your belt after you're done your trip.

For my backpacking trip in asia, I bought this bag in the arc'teryx outlet in in north van:

Arc'teryx tango

http://soldiersystems.net/blog1/wp-c...go-234x300.jpg

It's only around $200. MSRP is $600 (but hey, who believes MSRP pricing anyways).

I can't find any direct flights from YVR to Milan, Italy (MXP-Malpensa Intl.). Flight to Milan with layover is around 20hrs. A direct flight to frankfrut is 9hrs.

Does any places have any direct flights to Milan International Airport?

Wow, why are there so many pick pockets in Europe? There are so many that the police don't even bother with it.

^ it's much better nowadays, theres cops everywhere in Rome comapred to the video. There were three alpha romeos carabineri cars at the fountain and they do car patrols too in those small streets, Italians :fullofwin:

Milan and Florence on the other hand has shit load of gypsies, so watch out. But you can tell them apart from regular people miles away.

Man....I'm jelly. Any other destinations that are great places to visit, and aren't going to cost me over 1000 for the flight lol?

I guess the only option is Mexico?

I was looking at going to Greece to visit my buddy and the cheapest package option is in an area called Psirri and all the reviews are saying its filled with criminals and how they were robbed even in front of the hotel etc etc also stating the staff is worried for the travelers because even staff have been robbed while on the job :fuckthatshit: (supposedly there's police all over the area too)

asked my buddy if its as bad as they make out and he's like "its best you stay away from there" lol

I just did 2 weeks in Germany and Austria last month and it was not nearly enough time. In ten days you are not going to see anything at all. I flew into Munich and used it as a base for daytrips to Salzburg and Innsbruck, then went to Nuremberg, then to Dresden and finally to Berlin and Potsdam. I could have easily spent a week in Berlin by itself, but I only got three days there.

I stayed in hotels because I went with my family, so I'm not sure about hostels, but hotels are definitely an expensive way to go, especially in high season.

And people are right, regular suitcases SUCK when travelling from city to city. I had to haul 6 suitcases off and on DB trains for the entire trip.

Your cheapest flight in/out will be Frankfurt or London. Two major hubs and the best pricing will be there.

Look into flying into Frankfurt then taking a RyanAir flight from Frankfurt to wherever you want to go. These flights are DIRT cheap however they typically fly out of the airports which are a bit further from the cities. For example my flight to London came in at London Stanstead which is not one of the big ones and flew from Memmingem Germany which is about an hour east of Munich and is small.

I travelled with a pack for 3 months with my wallet usually in my back pocket or whatever and never had an issue. I only had my big bag with me when going to a new hostel and when travelling around the cities doing sightseeing I tried to blend in as much as I could and never had a problem. That being said I was always aware of where it was and the people around me.

Did Contiki European Discovery last spring. 10 countries in 12 days. Way too many cities and your are on a bus tour where you have to go with the tour scheduling. The upside is you hit all the best destinations but you lack flexibility to stay longer in cities or leave early. Lots of young people on the tour there to have fun. It was an awesome trip and I don't regret it for a second.

you need to seriously consider a contiki tour as they offer exactly what you expect - a lot in a short span of time. You will not be able to hit the ground running in 10 days.