How to get there

"I'm a woman, Mary, I can be as contrary as I like." --Duchess of Downton, Downton Abbey

In the last 24 hours I have planned and changed and formatted and reformatted and outlined and thrown away the outline, of my entire trip.  There are so many details to be worked out, and everyone thinks they have the right way to do it.  

"Buy a Eurail pass, it's more flexible!"

"Fly on Ryanair, it's cheaper over long distance!"

"Book with a group so you can meet friends!"

"Don't book with a group!  If you don't like your companions you're stuck with them!"

"Don't be lazy! Walk/hike/bike/kayak!"

"Stay in a hostel!"

"Stay away from hostels!  Only stay in hotels!"

"Hotels are isolating!  Stay in people's homes!"

"Camp outside!"

So after probably close to six hours of pricing options and sitting with two Pages documents, 6-8 Safari windows, a pocket calendar, extra sheets of paper, a translating service and a calculator (while LOTR played in the background to give the appropriate adventure-theme music) I came to only one conclusion: None of these options are right for me!

Which isn't really all that surprising.  The whole point of this trip for me is to wander around and relax. Get into trouble and find ways out of it.  Meet new people, learn their customs, and leave.  Hike across an entire country, then fly over several more to my next destination.  Even the Eurail pass isn't flexible enough for me, since you have to know how many times you'll be traveling within what span of time.

Here's the websites I found to be a huge help so far:

Hostelworld -- Making sure you have a place to sleep when you arrive is probably priority number one.  It's also a good idea to know if there is a similar city where you could get the same experience but with significantly cheaper hostels.  Tours appears to be cheaper the Bourdeaux, but still gives you that smaller-city-in-France feel.  Granted, there are still places like Paris, where, if you want to see the Eiffel tower, you just have to suck it up.

Skyscanner and Which Airline -- Skyscanner is better for longer flights and Which Airline tends to include more of the airlines that only fly within one country or between a couple neighboring countries.  Both pull up way more airlines than you'll need in order to make a choice.

Google -- Oh trusty google.  I don't know how many times I just typed in "Barcelona to Andorra train" and "Barcelona to Andorra bus."  Despite what a lot of Americans, including myself up until a few weeks ago, think about the Euro Rail: it is not all one train network.  Also I find the Eurail website to be confusing, annoying, and seemingly more expensive for the same trip than on a local train.  Just look into it.

Also I spent several hours today working out kinks in the Mobile version of this website.  I am comfortable enough to say that you will in fact get updates from me while I am in Europe and there will be pictures, and even video!