Back Packing Another Country/ Continent?

[Blown 89]

The language barrier was almost zero in my opinion. English IS the universal language. I walked into my hostel room in Italy to witness a Korean girl and a Brazilian girl talking about their day in broken English.

It depends on where you are. The busier places will all speak English fluently....it gets questionable when you venture outside those zones though. I was in Spain this past summer and virtually nobody spoke English outside of the tourist traps. France was a different story, they all spoke English, even in remote areas. The younger people get the better the chance they speak English in my experience.

 

[DKS2814V]

You couldn't pay me to go there anytime soon.

If you stay in the Gulf States it's fine. I was there for work almost twice, quarterly. It's not as bad as you think, and to be quite honest, you might actually be safer there in those states than here.

UAE, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain are nice places this time of year.

 

[ford fanatic]

The language barrier was almost zero in my opinion. English IS the universal language. I walked into my hostel room in Italy to witness a Korean girl and a Brazilian girl talking about their day in broken English.

This has potential for the makings of a really good backpacking story...

 

[Kevins89notch]

I'd love to take a month off to do this. Primarily across Europe. What kind of cost are we talking? Especially if staying at hostels and trying to eat on the cheap.

Here's the hostels and prices I paid. Those rates were euros converted to dollars in late 2014, so at a worse rate than now: http://imgur.com/a/i0UdW

For example, Rome was $35 a night. Here's my daily expenses for one such day in Rome.

9/2
Train: 11.2euro
Train: 2.9euro
Pompeii Entrance: 11euro
Pompeii walking tour: 12euro
Sandwich:3.5euro
Train: 2.9euro
Train: 11.2euro
2 fake cokes: .58euro
Pizza: 3euro

So maybe you consider that an expensive day, but I walked around Pompeii!

The day prior was cheaper.

9/1
Pizza: 2euro
2 fake cokes: .58euro
Free Tour tip: 4euro
Pizza: 1.5euro
Coke: 1euro
Cream Puff: .9euro

 

[Mentos]

Here's the hostels and prices I paid. Those rates were euros converted to dollars in late 2014, so at a worse rate than now: http://imgur.com/a/i0UdW

For example, Rome was $35 a night. Here's my daily expenses for one such day in Rome.

9/2
Train: 11.2euro
Train: 2.9euro
Pompeii Entrance: 11euro
Pompeii walking tour: 12euro
Sandwich:3.5euro
Train: 2.9euro
Train: 11.2euro
2 fake cokes: .58euro
Pizza: 3euro

So maybe you consider that an expensive day, but I walked around Pompeii!

The day prior was cheaper.

9/1
Pizza: 2euro
2 fake cokes: .58euro
Free Tour tip: 4euro
Pizza: 1.5euro
Coke: 1euro
Cream Puff: .9euro

Great info, thanks!

 

[Planter]

Would love to hike through the Swiss Alps and Austrian Alps on a backpacking trip. That would be so awesome.

Have you hiked the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail or the Colorado Trail yet? Great training regimens before you undertake such a task.

I think that America is one of the few countries where you DON'T see a lot of backackera all over the place.

With all the great train and bus transportation in Europe and every tine village having several youth hostels with different levels of luxury it is a great way to see the world if you are young (or just young at heart) and fit.

And you won't find a cheaper way to see the world.

Just stay out of areas where Americans are hated and where their is a lot of political strife.

well, yes and no. Not as much here as in other countries, but if you're in Colorado you will see a ton of them, as well as Washington, California and along the Appalachian mountains.