>pick a country or series of counties
>pick a route with the help of rometorio, Google maps, etc.
>decide how long you want to spend at each stop and what you want to do/see.
>research lodging and make reservations if you're traveling at a peak time, or like to have everything planned in advance.
>research the cost and logistics of inter city and intra city transit.
>Add up all costs and make cuts if you need to.
>buy flights
>check the CDC for vaccines and other health warnings.
>Pack your bag and figure out your gear list.
>study the language of where you're going.
>Depart

>>1110266
Damn. you make it sound so simple.

>>1110267
Even the most complex projects or endeavors can be simple if you break them down into their most simple parts anon. Also, Europe is basically easy mode for traveling, the infrastructure is so good. Just be prepared for everything to be insanely expensive unless you're in E. Europe.

I'm almost done planning a 5 month trip around Asia starting in late July and easily the most difficult/frustrating factor has been the level of indecision from my travel companions.

>>1110261
Just book a flight, book a hostel, and go, that's it.

Might need visas so Google it.

You don't need shots, Europe is very developed. Shots are generally only necessary in 3rd world shitholes.

Just go, it's really easy. Burgers tend to get a bit freaked out by Europe for some reason as think it's this ultra-exotic place, but in reality it's ezpz travelling

>>1110261
>how much money should I prepare?
depends on you,
when travelling in Europe, I stay in hotels or take an entire place from AirBNB, eat in restaurants and visit places, it costs me around 100€/day all included (air fare, hotel, food, transportation, entrance fee, etc)

you can save half of it by staying in hostel, sharing bathrooms, buying food from super market etc.

>>1110267
Because it is. If you're American, I don't think you have to get any vaccines.

>>1110266
>>check the CDC for vaccines and other health warnings.

he said Europe, not borneo or the congo

>>1110273
What's it like sleeping in a hostel? Aren't there gonna be some weird old dudes sleeping with me?

>>1110351
In western and northern europe? Pretty neat, clean and nice. In southern europe? Not quite so.

>>1110351
Not sleeping with you, I don't think you're quite attractive enough for that.
But there might indeed be people IN THE SAME dormroom as you, who are older. Maybe even more than two years older than you are!

>>1110354
So in say Paris or Amsterdam I'm good? I mean I thought big cities are where you should be extra careful. What about places like Asia or South America? Must be even worse.
>>1110377
lmao.. I don't really care about age if that's what u mean. I'm actually more worried about some dude shanking the entire room while we're sleeping. I have no idea what's it like to sleep so close to people you don't know.

>>1110267
That's more complicated than it needs to be. You can easily skip the gear list (just take clothes and money), studying the language, reservations and making a specific route.

Really, you start travelling by leaving your home and getting on a plane/train/bus.

Thanks for the answers everyone.
What do you guys think about insurance? I have zero knowledge of this bullshit and I don't really know if I'm supposed to get myself insured for a trip.
I mean what if I get injured or sick in a foreign land or something?

>>1110381
I need to study the language??
what if I'm going to Europe, don't they know english? (at least most of them?)

>>1110382
Kind of depends where you're going and what you're planning to do. If you're going to Cambodia, Sudan, the US, or some other place where decent quality of healthcare is a nightmare to get without insurance, go for it. If you plan to ski, go rock climbing or doing some sort of an extreme sport, or anything that could be dangerous, again, you should get insurance. If you're going to London to visit some museums I really don't see why.

>>1110384
It helps, but yeah, almost everywhere in the world, almost everyone under 30 and everyone involved in the tourism industry speaks English; you don't really need it.

I've heard examples help, so here's how I planned out my next trip.

1. Set a goal. The goal can be anything, from just spending a few weeks on a sunny beach to relax, to climbing Mt. Everest. For me, it was to visit as many South European countries and leaving the continent, as I have visited most of Europe, except for Southern Europe, and I haven't left the continent, except for a brief trip to Egypt long ago.

2. Decide on a very general concept. In my case, it was to travel by land and sea from London to Marrakech, visiting Spain and Portugal along the way.

3. Figure out a timeline. I know I will have no more than a month to travel, and I want to visit three countries in that time, none of which I have been to before, so I decided to spend ten days in each, spending on average 3 days in one city, so I know that I can visit 3 cities per country, and have some time left over.

4. Decide on a specific route, but be flexible with it at this point. My original route was London->Paris->Lyon->Marseilles->Barcelona->Madrid->Porto->Lisbon->Seville->Tangiers->Fez->Marrakech.

This shouldn't be set in stone at the slightest, just figure out a direction.

5. Gather information about the countries you want to go to, whether it be asking on /trv/, browsing wikitravel, lonely planet, or any other trustworthy travel resources. Make adjustments. In my case, I decided to spend one night in France only, taking the train straight to Barcelona, spending a lot more time in the Granada region, spending a lot less time in Marrakech,and visiting the Atlas mountain range.

6. Make it work. Decide on finances, accommodation and transportation. For me, getting an interrail card was the clear choice for transportation and hostels found through hostelworld the clear choice for sleeping while in Europe, and the trains and Riads in Morocco are cheap enough and seem safe and neat enough to not even worry about the money there.

7. Prepare for departure and depart.

>>1110392
Thanks bro. That's actually really helpful.
If you feel like answering, how much did you end up paying for that interrail pass? Plus how much are you saving for that trip?

>>1110400
I've not left yet, that's my next trip, but I'm going for the 22 day one, which is 350ish EUR. Kind of expensive, but considering it's going to be pretty much ALL of my travel budget, it works for me.

I could probably hitchhike, or something, but fuck it, hitching is one of those things that you stop doing once you have enough money for other options.

>>1110400
As for money, it really is 1000 pounds/month minimum for my kind of travel, I'm hoping to double that, but I'll see how the saving goes.

>>1110407
Basically, you can eat for 10 pounds a day everywhere in the world, so if you're spending money on nothing but staying fed, moving, and having a place to sleep, you should add ~300 pounds/month after you've settled your accommodation and travel costs.

Sure 10/day will get you supermarket food in London and anything you want in Fez, but it's a decent baseline to set. I've lived in Riga, London and Paris, and in all of them my daily food expenditures have eventually leveled out to about that.

Everything after that is for booze, museum passes, eating out and emergencies.

>>1110402
>>1110407
Damn. so you pay for the railway pass and that's it? That sounds really cool, how are you going to be mobile once you're there though?
Also, do you have any past experience with hostels? If you do what was it like?

>>1110415
They're pretty much a must when travelling to poorer countries. In Riga, the quality of living goes 5* hotels> hostels> 4*- hotels, and they're cheaper than anything. I am not super sociable, so the social experience of a hostel isn't a big advantage to me, but no one is going to mind if you just want to sleep, cook your dinner and leave for the day every day. I've never had a bad experience with hostels, so long as they are highly rated on hostelworld.

As for the first question, I walk a lot, and there are usually good hostels in walking distance from the rail station, especially if you consider two hours walking distance. I hadn't really considered that this might not be normal, but yeah, I only buy new shoes when there are holes in the soles of my old ones.

Of course, if you want to get out of the city you are going to have to spend a bit more, but I find that it's not so bad to buy a bus ticket every now and again. It'll usually be less than 10 EUR for a return ticket, and you can just spend less on food for a few days and take a day-trip somewhere.

That said, naturally, if you have more money you are far less constrained to staying in the city and just generally can afford to move more. I am happy to stay within a few hour's walking distance from the nearest railway station, but if you have the money to spend it's obviously a great idea to get on the public transport or taxis.

>>1110415
For Interail/Eurail or general train travel advice around the world, check:
www.seat61.com/Railpass-and-Eurail-pass-guide.htm
The site has a lot of info and although I'm not sure how updates the prices are, you can at least get an idea of prices, how to organize, how passes work and have a database of names and links of specific rail passes.

>>1110351
Like, not in the same bed, no.

You can get dorms or private rooms. Hostels are ultra cheap, definitely the best way to travel. The actual quality of sleep you get varies a bit, but they're god tier for making friends along the way, picking up advice, finding out where to go, etc

>>1110380
Veeeeery unlikely you'll get attacked or otherwise molested in a hostel.

Most prevalent thing is people robbing stuff, but just be ultra-paranoid about keeping it locked up, and don't bring unnecessary valuables (or bring cheap, shitty alternatives, like that old phone you never use anymore anyway), and that won't be a thing. It's not common anyway, but as with anywhere, keep your wits about you

>>1110384
You'll get by in most places, but try and have at least a few words in another European language. If you're not an absolute retard this should be fine.

Don't be 'that' American who can't say a word in any other language.

>>1110266
>check the CDC for vaccines
Do I need specific vaccines to travel to the Netherlands

>>1110465
You basically don't need anything you wouldn't need in the US anywhere in Europe.

More directly, no.

>>1110467
Thank you. Heading out on my first trip out of the US in 3 weeks so I'm paranoid that I might be forgetting an essential

>>1110470
If you've all of the paperwork settled, it's worth remembering that you truly NEED need three things: your phone, your passport and your wallet. You can buy everything else if shit happens. The more money you have the more lightly you can pack; with your passport and your phone you'll never be truly stuck.

Think of it this way, any city you visit is home for hundreds of thousands of people, they somehow manage- many of them never leaving the city. Hell, you'd probably be fine with one change of clothes and 500$, everything else is for comfort and convenience.

>>1110450
In my experience, knowing how to say some words hasn't helped at all. you'll say whatever you're saying in their language, and they'll respond in their language and you'll have no idea what they said.

all it's ever done for me is make them assume i understand the language when i don't.