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European 9 Month Tour

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17 years ago, April 23rd 2006 No: 1 Msg: #5269  
N Posts: 2
My wife and I are in our early 50's and are planning to tour Europe for 9 months beginning May 1, 2007. Our initial plan was to rent a villa or apartment in three seperate countries and use this as a home base to travel from. Our main objective is to try to stay out of the cold and start our tour in the northern countries and work our way south as winter approaches. We would appreciate any information from anyone who has completed a similar adventure. Reply to this

17 years ago, April 24th 2006 No: 2 Msg: #5278  
Hi gk

Have you ever considered Malta (or its quieter sister island of Gozo) as one of your destinations?

You will find all the information you need about the country on www.bellamalta.com, which also enables you to book services related to your stay.

For long-term rental of a villa or farmhouse I suggest you check out www.propertylinemalta.com

I wish you the best of luck

David Reply to this

17 years ago, April 25th 2006 No: 3 Msg: #5312  
N Posts: 2
Thanks for the info David...I will chk it out! Reply to this

17 years ago, April 30th 2006 No: 4 Msg: #5411  
Wow, I wish I had that long for my trip. You might try going to exploreglobe.net and downloading their placemarkers for tons of sights in Europe. They load in Google earth and link to pics and info on the locations. It might help you decide what places you want to see and where they are concentrated to help you decide on the locations for your 'home bases' There are also links to lots of useful info on various countries, etc. Reply to this

17 years ago, May 3rd 2006 No: 5 Msg: #5491  
Wow, sounds like an amazing time! My friends and I rented a condo in Nice (France) for a few days last week, and had an amazing time. For any South of France locations, check out: http://www.southfrancerentals.com ... That's all the information I have about renting places since I hostel and hotel it most of the time!! Reply to this

17 years ago, May 16th 2006 No: 6 Msg: #5705  
Hi! Renting a villa is a great idea, and if you are going really long term (ie a month or more) sometimes you can find some great deals. Owners are often willing to do a lot extra for you if they know that you are going to provide them with income for that long! I am speaking from personal experience... I am the founder of www.rentvillas.com - we've been doing this stuff for 20 years. Our prices are basically the same as if you went directly to the owner (we negotiate so we can offer everyone the lowest price), but you also get us (an American company) as a mediator. You'll get connected up with a travel advisor who can help you plan and give you lots of suggestions and however much help you need. Check us out! Reply to this

17 years ago, June 18th 2006 No: 7 Msg: #6233  
N Posts: 6
Hello gk!

Your travel plans sound really good to me and I´d like to help you working out a unique itinerary incl. the must-do´s and also visiting the not-so-advertised parts of Europe. I´m a travel agent who plans on starting an own business soon. All I ask for is some feedback from you, I don´t take money since I am in my starting phase here still. Means I need travellers who tell me their opinion about the tours that I work out for them upon request. So if you´re interested in getting help from a European travel agent with several years of job experience planning individual trips for english-speaking customers, let me know and I try to find the best offers (not only talking about cheap, but quality vacation) to make your dream of a unique tour come true.

Some examples of what I have in mind...
Combine different kinds of transportation. Historical trains, discounted airlines (very safe in Europe!), river cruises, rental car
Combine differnet kinds of accomodation: since you intend on renting two or three places, you may just spend a few single nights at places further out. Save money e.g. on the flights (by planning early and getting real deals) and then stay at "original " places castle hotels, maybe at a lighthouse even- or theres a place in Spain where you can stay with the monks at an old Spanish abbey for a couple of nights and just rest. Maybe it costs a little more to stay somewhere nice (instead of the hostels that are always recommended on this site), but it´s worth it. I don´t think you´d like to stay at a crowded youth hostel anyhow.

There are so many interesting places where you can find the "real European soul" that so many travellers miss out on because they go with overrated tour operators, in large groups and travel the smae itineraries thousands of people have travelled on before. If you like the idea of doing something unique, get in touch....

moonlightgirl80@aol.com

It would really help getting more precise with my business if you let me work something out for you. Right now I am working somewhere not travel-related for a few months now, so I am independent and don´t get anything out of this but an idea of what travellers may like about my business idea and tour-planning skills.

Hope you reply. You won´t regret it.

Silke Reply to this

17 years ago, June 18th 2006 No: 8 Msg: #6236  
N Posts: 2
Hi,
what do you think about Puglia?
There's a world in the South of Italy you'll discover and maybe you won't go away anymore.
I advice the place between Bari and Brindisi (this 2 cities are very easy to reach with ryanair).
I also advice you to rent a villa or holiday house or trulli and a car and you will easily reach
all the most important and famous cities all around.

You can have a look hier:

http://www.rent-holiday-homes.com/details.php?object=4961

I wish you a nice travel and let us know all the deveopments of the organization. Reply to this

17 years ago, September 17th 2006 No: 9 Msg: #7518  
Have you thought about Serbia for something different and not expensive? Its really cheap - 50 dinar to an aussie dollar... And youll score a lovely apartment or villa for peanuts. With the money you save you can use it as a base for trips into Serbia and beyond... being central to Austria, Hungary, Italy, Greece and Turkey... See www.jugostan.co.yu or www.domovina.com or www.beorent.com for rentals... There are really cheap flights to other parts of Europe from here (60euro each way to London for example), great people, good food and an interesting culture... Reply to this

17 years ago, October 6th 2006 No: 10 Msg: #7776  
I'm surprised no one's asked this, but: are you an EU national? American? Bear in mind that if you're not from the EU, you might have to rethink your plans a bit. Since the Schengen agreement of a decade ago - which has helped to facilitate easy border crossings within the EU - it's become a bit harder for Americans to pull of the European tours they'd dreamed of. Essentially, what the agreement means for Americans is that, instead of getting the usual 90-day tourist visa for a particular country, you get it for ALL the countries combined. (As a point of reference, the 15 Schengen countries are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.) That means that for any consecutive stretch of 180 days, only 90 can be spent in Schengen countries.

The end of the world? Hardly. In fact, judging from some of the other posts, you'll see that there are tons of attractive options in Eastern Europe that are worth exploring. Just wanted to make sure you didn't book, say, a villa in Italy, a villa in France, and a villa in Spain, without realizing the logistical problems involved. But you can easily spend three months in Norway, three in Croatia (nothing like the Adriatic in the summer!), then three in Andalucia to avoid the frost. Still sounds like a great year, huh?

Chris
Travel better. Travel Gator.
www.TravelGator.com Reply to this

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