Hello all, Planning my first solo trip to Europe. 3 days in

Using buses instead of train will make you save a lot of money, check out goeuro.com.

>Can I knock a few nights off for lodging if I take overnight train rides places?
Yes

>Is it dangerous to fall asleep on the train? (What can I do to protect myself from being robbed?)
Carry only one backpack, sleep on it or carry it extremely close to you (between the wall and you for instance).
Put your valuables at the bottom of the bag or somewhere that cannot be accessed easily for a thief.

>>1270531
Woah...Great link. $30 from Berlin to Munich is fantastic.

Also, I just checked and I have about 120,000 miles I can use... so that knocks a huge chunk cash!

>>1270534
check also blablacar, it's a ridesharing website, i've met some fun people there and it's nice to talk while commuting

>>1270523
30usd or 25e for food is doable, I would prefer more.
25e for tourism stuff is laughable.

brussels is absolutely dull, no point in going there, in my opinion.

munich is expensive, specially oktoberfest. and paris is also expensive.

berlin is top marks.

i think you're underestimating food cost, but that depends on the habits, of course. i tend to spend 30 to 40 euros in food, per day.

>>1270523
this cash is fucking enormous.

>>1270523
>Lodging ~$700
fucking how?

You have a good city selection, but you should go to Vienna too.

Do you like opera? Komische Oper in Berlin is a good theater with reasonably priced tickets.

>>1270523
>Estimating the total cost of the trip to be $2,000.00 to $2,500.00
Wtf? I backpacked europe for 3 months on a budget of $3500 a few years back. You're budget is massive for 16 days. LOl, fucking ridiculous actually.

>>1270523

Coming from a Belgian, pick Amsterdam above Brussels. Also what flight company offers 300$ flights between the EU and USA?

>>1272012
>I backpacked europe for 3 months on a budget of $3500
doing what?
did you sleep in actual hotels and ate every single meal at a restaurant?

>>1270523
>Brussels
Nooooo, fuck Brussels. Go to Antwerp and/or Ghent if you want to go to Belgium. I would probably just stay in the Netherlands, lots of great small university cities like Utrecht or Groningen.

>Oktoberfest
Not all that nice I think, just for tourists, especially if you go to one of the big cities. But yeah the city is nice so go there (though the prices will suck during Oktoberfest) but stay away from the big arranged "Oktoberfest parties".

Hamburg is nice, love Berlin, quite like Paris as well though I'd stay there longer if I were you.

>>1272097
Probably hostels and ~one meal a day at a restaurant. A daily budget of ~$30 is more than enough for that. OP is just staying in really large cities so there'll always be a lot of hostels available, if he keeps booking accomodation two-three days (longer for weekend stays) ahead then he'll always be able to get OK hostels for $12-$20.

Sure he can't afford nice restaurants every day but like I said, one meal a day should be fine.

Honestly I'd just use couchsurfing and eat nice instead. Just did 33 days sweden->Spain on ~$15 a day

>>1272116
that's really a lot, man

>>1272120
My trip? Yeah I know, but I like my food and drink. A normal restaurant meal in France (where I've spent most of the time) is €12, add just a soda/coffee/ice cream a day and you're there. I'm not a zero-budget traveler but I like saving money on things I don't care about, like accomodation

>>1272131
fair enough
where have you eaten the best meal in France?

>>1272154
Oh, good question. The one I immediately think of is "le p'tit troquet", it's a lovely little medium priced restaurant in Paris where we always go when I visit my girlfriend there.

Haven't really had the chance to sample other nice ones unfortunately, even though I like my restaurant food I'm not going to get something more expensive when I'm dining alone.

An easy way to find good restaurants when traveling is to use the Micheline guide website. They have "recommendations" as well, not just the star system, and the recommendations are for restaurants in all price ranges.