This is similar to Justin's plea for help, but I'm not asking for money.

Here's the situation. My girlfriend has wanted to go to Europe for about 4 years now, and as a graduation present from her parents they offered to give her money to go to Europe. There's one condition, though: somebody goes with her. Well, I guess you can guess who that someone is Though I'd be worried about her on her own too.

One problem with this: I have no money to go to Europe. However, my parents and I have come to an agreement in which they will cover much of the expenses, and I'll cover what I can. Even if I can find a job that will get me some cash to save up, I'll have very little to get by on. There's one area in which I was wondering if we could get some help: lodging.

I don't like to impose on people, and I feel awkward asking, but if there are any folk in Europe willing to put us up as we pass through, we'd be very grateful. We wouldn't be staying any more than 1 or 2 nights, most likely one night.

Our plan is to go for about 19 or 20 days starting in mid to late May. We will be flying into London -> train to Paris -> Italy -> Germany -> maybe France again but most likely straight through France -> London for a few more days -> fly home.

The good news for us is that we most likely have a place to stay in Italy, and she has relatives in Germany.

So, though I'm not fond of imposing this on you guys, if there is anyone in the London area who's willing to put up two 20-something year old kids for a night, I would very much appreciate it. I'm not sure if there's anyone here from the Paris region, either, but that would be of immense help as well.

At the very least, I'd love to meet some of you over there. I've met so few of the people here in person (the ones I have don't post anymore), so that would be really nice.

So I hope to see some of you there! Much thanks for any help in advance.

hey, I would imagine that you are probably going to stay close to the cities? Hostels are the way to go, I think that for 20 days you could scrape up $10-$15 a night. I was able to travel all around for about 4 weeks and not spend much money at all. The thing you really want to spend your money on is a Eurail pass.

Yeah definitely hostels ... Kirsten and I went to Europe many moons ago (just about the same path you're going) and as long as you aren't picky about accomodations, things can be very cheap. By accomodations, I mean you may be doing the communal bathrooms and bunkbeds in some places -- it's an experience. But it really was interesting ... you meet a lot of people in similar situations, so that was kind of cool. We did the Eurail pass the whole time and basically stayed in hostels or slept on the train between cities/countries. One of those Let's Go Europe or whatever they're called will have an index of all of them ...

Oh I know how it goes. I did this after high school. But this is her first time.

Yeah, hostels are great, but at this point they're not really cost-effective. First off, don't you need a hostel card or something, which costs around $100? Considering we need places to stay for only London and Paris, that amounts to only about half the trip. We're starting to talk $200 to $300 total. That's what I'd kind of like to avoid. I know we'll probably end up doing it, but it gets expensive.

And the Eurail pass is definitely a great thing to have. It's nice to be able to hop on any train and go wherever you want, not needing a plan ahead of time. Though if I know my girlfriend, there won't be anything unplanned

You are very welcome, if you come arount the very south-west part of germany. Next bigger city is Freiburg. Where do her relatives live? Could be a station back from italy at my place and then go on to her german relatives....
If you're interested, send me a mail: speedy67 at gmx dot de

cheers, Thomas

Hey Thomas

You live near Freiburg? Cool! I used to hop the train down to there to see some awesome punk bands back in the day...
(I was living near Baden-Baden at the time...) I sure miss the skiing and thermal baths in the Schwartzwald

Yep, i'm born there and now live 30km south. Punk had a great time here, cause Freiburg was and is a left-oriented town with a lot of students.
Skiing isn't the same nowadays, there's never enough snow. You have to hop down to the swiss alps, but it's only about 2 - 3 hours do drive...
But the thermal baths are mostly new made over the last years. The bath in Baden-Baden is a very special one, really beautiful done. I was there a couple of times.

cheers, Thomas

Thanks for the offer!! I'll check with her and see what's going on with that leg of the trip. We still haven't ironed out where we'll be for how long

I'm about an hour north of London by train - you're welcome to come stay in bedford if you can't find any place closer.

More than happy to accomodate you here in Amsterdam. And a trip to Europe is not complete without Amsterdam

Thanks, guys Amsterdam would indeed be nice I've also been there on a seperate trip and it's a nice place.

It looks like we'll really need to get a better idea of where we'll be going. I'm not the person who decides such things It looks for the time being that we won't be venturing far outside the major cities, particularly in England (since they aren't part of the Eurail system. Grr.).

Anyway, thanks again!