Hiking through Europe - will we have enough?

[Big Sky Country]

If I'm not mistaken, you cannot pitch a tent outside authorized areas in Spain (much like the Biance's post describing Austrailia). I think you can even get arrested for it. I think that Spain can be a real problem on your budget.

I did not take the bail money as too much of a joke. I do think you need to have more money for contingency plans. Chances are that you'll need to dip into your funds at least a couple of times during that period of time. Otherwise, your splurge money in Rome, Dublin, etc. will wind up being your contingency funds.

[CJRose]

Originally Posted by Kaaryn

Even if you have free accommodation via squatting (not recommended), $11 is not enough money to do much in Europe, given the weak US$. It certainly will not cover food, attractions, & local transport. Please consider doing a shorter trip--perhaps 2 months instead of 4 months.

As I said though, we have $11 per day after transportation. The $11 will be just for food, lodging and anything in the cities we'd like to see. In total, we'll be in Rome for 4 days and Dublin for 10. The rest of the time will be just hiking - literally for 4 months. The first leg of our trip is a 40 day hike before we hit any large cities. We won't be stopping for attractions or anything as we will be avoiding cities as much as possible. We're aiming for smaller towns, except the cities where we know people we could stay with.

We're working on devising a plan to get enough money that we can still go on time.

Thanks everyone.

[Kaaryn]

Regardless of whether it does or does not include local transport, $11 per day (less than 8 Euros) will not be enough if you are required by law to pay for campsites in Spain. Just a campsite fee will be 8 or more Euros. That is just cutting your budget WAY too close. You need to either 1) have more money OR 2) cut your trip short by at least a month.

[Noah]

I thought this should be obvious, but it's illegal just to throw up a tent anywhere you please no matter the country Thus, as Kaaryn said, even if you choose to carry around a tent (this will be VERY difficult with all your other things, unless you have a huge backpack), you'll be pushing your budget just on accomodation. That leaves you $0 for food, which you'll need maybe $3 for lunch and $5 for dinner, and $0 for sites....and many sites cost about half your "budget". Sorry, but your plan just won't work...you should come up with more money and go to Europe some other time. What would you do about showers? How will you meet people and experience the culture? Trying to do Europe on the super cheap really limits your experience...PLEASE PLEASE rethink this!!!!!!!!!

[Mark from Georgia]

Self-correction to my earlier post: Arthur Frommer wrote "Europe on $5 a day" in 1957.
It was "Let's Go Europe" that was written by the Harvard students.

[Texan]

Journal this, please!!! If you pull it off it will be a great story. And if not then you'll just end up being sold into prostitution in eastern Europe. And that might be an even better story! lol

I dont know much about European travel yet but it sounds like you dont have a backup plan at all... and that doesn't sound like a very good idea to me.

[Mikul]

Originally Posted by Mark from Georgia

Self-correction to my earlier post: Arthur Frommer wrote "Europe on $5 a day" in 1957.
It was "Let's Go Europe" that was written by the Harvard students.

Keep in mind, according to westegg.com, $5 in 1957 is $37.67 today.