We have been focusing on travel in Europe this entire month, with lots of new content and resources to go along with it. Yesterday we talked about extended travel in Europe during #RTWChat on Twitter. If you weren’t able to join us yesterday for #RTWChat, read the recap below to see what you missed! And don’t forget to join us each and every Wednesday at 3:30 EST on Twitter for #RTWChat. For more on travel in Europe, check out the following articles: Europe Indie Travel Guide Planning a Trip to Scandinavia Springtime in Iceland Indie Travel in the Czech Republic for $45 Per Day Indie Travel in Spain for $55 Per Day Slow Travel in the Loire Valley
Europe has long been a magnet for backpackers and others on extended trips. Nowadays, “the continent” has a well-deserved reputation for being an expensive place to visit – but hearken back, if you will, to the days when our forefathers and mothers hopped from one European hostel to the next with the help of a Eurail Pass and a few months of free time before high school and college. Or, we can go even further back, when “The Grand Tour” was synonymous with Europe’s great cities. Today’s budget travelers have to be a bit more creative if they want to still visit Europe but not spend several times what previous generations might have spent. In short, we’ve got to head east – which is what we’re about to do this week at BootsnAll, learning more about Eastern Europe. One of the articles coming up this week on BootsnAll is about places in Poland you’ve probably never heard of. Another will offer tips on planning an extended trip through Central Europe. And we’re kicking the week off with an article all about why you should go to Belarus, regardless of what you think you know about it. Week 13 of the Indie Travel Challenge 2012 is all about Eastern Europe. For most of us, Western Europe is what comes to mind when [...]
Travelers have been drawn to Europe for ages, and it remains one of the top destinations for people planning short vacations or more long-term backpacking trips. There’s so much variety, so much to see and do (and eat!), and it’s all concentrated into such a small part of the planet, that it seems tailor-made for the wanderer in all of us. Throw a few things in a backpack, grab a Eurail Pass, and go – just like people have been doing for decades, right? Oh, if only it were still that simple. This week on BootsnAll, we’ll look at spectacular locations in Romania worth discovering up close, explore some must-have Ireland experiences, discover European cities that still feel “untouched,” and learn about some of the best festivals and events in Europe. And be sure to check back Wednesday for the launch of our research report on RTW ticket buying! Week 10 of the Indie Travel Challenge 2012 is all about planning a Europe trip. While Europe’s infrastructure is typically a boon for travelers, much of the region has become more challenging for indie travelers these days. The euro currency makes everything way more expensive than it once was, and Europe’s popularity means it can be difficult to get away from big crowds. There are ways to visit Europe on a budget, [...]
This is part of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel project, a daily blogging challenge with a prompt for every day in November 2011. Check out the prompt at the bottom of this post to find out how you can participate! The last two years have been pretty interesting for me when it comes to travel. We arrived back in our hometown of St. Louis a little over two years ago, in October 2009, after a year long RTW trip. That trip changed so much about us – our priorities, our view of the world and the people in it, how we live our daily lives, and how we travel. Only I didn’t realize how much the trip had changed my travel style until we left the country again this past September. Since we returned from our epic journey with no jobs and little money, 2010 was very light when it came to travel. We simply didn’t have the time or money to devote to our one true love. We vowed to make changes in 2011, and nearly two years after returning from our RTW trip, we finally got out of the country again for a 16 day trip to Europe. I have to admit that I was a bit worried about several different aspects of this trip. After traveling [...]
This week, BootsnAll announced our new Europe rail tool. We’re pretty dang excited about, because not only will it allow you to quickly and easily book your Europe train trips in one place, it can also save you up to 30% on tickets for journeys that originate in Italy. And we don’t think it could have launched at a better time. In case you haven’t noticed, rail travel has been a big topic of conversation in the travel industry lately. Just this week, Gadling posted about how 79% of travelers would pick high speed rail over air based on a recent survey, and Tnooz went on to explain that “A SilverRail consumer poll of around 300 saw three out of five say they would choose rail over air if the cost was same or better, while two-thirds say would add an hour of total travel time to a trip (by rail) if they could avoid airport security lines and baggage fees.” Why are so many people longing to return to the days when rail was the predominant way to travel shorter distances? The annoyances of air travel would be one reason, but it’s not the only one. Included on this list of 8 reasons to backpack Europe by rail, for example, is the idea that not only does train travel [...]
Europe has long been a magnet for backpackers and others on extended trips. Nowadays, “the continent” has a well-deserved reputation for being an expensive place to visit – but hearken back, if you will, to the days when our forefathers and mothers hopped from one European hostel to the next with the help of a Eurail Pass and a few months of free time before high school and college. Or, we can go even further back, when “The Grand Tour” was synonymous with Europe’s great cities. Today’s budget travelers have to be a bit more creative if they want to still visit Europe but not spend several times what previous generations might have spent. In short, we’ve got to head east – which is what we’re about to do this week at BootsnAll, learning more about Eastern Europe. One of the articles coming up this week on BootsnAll is about places in Poland you’ve probably never heard of. Another will offer tips on planning an extended trip through Central Europe. And we’re kicking the week off with an article all about why you should go to Belarus, regardless of what you think you know about it. Week 13 of the Indie Travel Challenge 2012 is all about Eastern Europe. For most of us, Western Europe is what comes to mind when [...] 
Travelers have been drawn to Europe for ages, and it remains one of the top destinations for people planning short vacations or more long-term backpacking trips. There’s so much variety, so much to see and do (and eat!), and it’s all concentrated into such a small part of the planet, that it seems tailor-made for the wanderer in all of us. Throw a few things in a backpack, grab a Eurail Pass, and go – just like people have been doing for decades, right? Oh, if only it were still that simple. This week on BootsnAll, we’ll look at spectacular locations in Romania worth discovering up close, explore some must-have Ireland experiences, discover European cities that still feel “untouched,” and learn about some of the best festivals and events in Europe. And be sure to check back Wednesday for the launch of our research report on RTW ticket buying! Week 10 of the Indie Travel Challenge 2012 is all about planning a Europe trip. While Europe’s infrastructure is typically a boon for travelers, much of the region has become more challenging for indie travelers these days. The euro currency makes everything way more expensive than it once was, and Europe’s popularity means it can be difficult to get away from big crowds. There are ways to visit Europe on a budget, [...] 
This is part of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel project, a daily blogging challenge with a prompt for every day in November 2011. Check out the prompt at the bottom of this post to find out how you can participate! The last two years have been pretty interesting for me when it comes to travel. We arrived back in our hometown of St. Louis a little over two years ago, in October 2009, after a year long RTW trip. That trip changed so much about us – our priorities, our view of the world and the people in it, how we live our daily lives, and how we travel. Only I didn’t realize how much the trip had changed my travel style until we left the country again this past September. Since we returned from our epic journey with no jobs and little money, 2010 was very light when it came to travel. We simply didn’t have the time or money to devote to our one true love. We vowed to make changes in 2011, and nearly two years after returning from our RTW trip, we finally got out of the country again for a 16 day trip to Europe. I have to admit that I was a bit worried about several different aspects of this trip. After traveling [...] 
This week, BootsnAll announced our new Europe rail tool. We’re pretty dang excited about, because not only will it allow you to quickly and easily book your Europe train trips in one place, it can also save you up to 30% on tickets for journeys that originate in Italy. And we don’t think it could have launched at a better time. In case you haven’t noticed, rail travel has been a big topic of conversation in the travel industry lately. Just this week, Gadling posted about how 79% of travelers would pick high speed rail over air based on a recent survey, and Tnooz went on to explain that “A SilverRail consumer poll of around 300 saw three out of five say they would choose rail over air if the cost was same or better, while two-thirds say would add an hour of total travel time to a trip (by rail) if they could avoid airport security lines and baggage fees.” Why are so many people longing to return to the days when rail was the predominant way to travel shorter distances? The annoyances of air travel would be one reason, but it’s not the only one. Included on this list of 8 reasons to backpack Europe by rail, for example, is the idea that not only does train travel [...] 