Has anyone been on the European Experience, if so would you please give me a review on it. Thanks.

Hey

I went on the European Experience trip in 2005 (july/august).

Had an absolute blast. Great fun, huge amount of partying and the places we stayed were great. Not 5 star but the rooms are only there to sleep in. Its not like you spend a lot of time in them. (usually get into a new town about 5-6pm and when you leave a town you are up and out no later than 8am. Mix this with the partying till 4am every morning you can imagine how tired you are by the end of the tour) Austria and Switzerland were amazing and Amsterdam..... well I guess you can imagine, everything you have heard is true. Wasn't too much of a fan of Paris (but its huge!!!!!). Was a little disappointed we didn't get a good look around Monte Carlo, we were only in there for the night and visited the casino, was one of the places I really wanted to check out. Wasn't too much of a fan of Munich either, I wasted about 20 minutes waiting for the glockenspiel to do its thing and when it did it was useless. I could have been drinking in the Ned Kelly bar they have there :-) Rome was good, the colessuem was amazing.

Make sure if you go you do a lot of the optional activities. ie White Water Rafting and Paragliding in Austria, Skiing in Switzerland (not a big slope though) on top of the Jungfrau Mountain, experiencing the Bavarian Beer Hall in Germany, live sex shows in Amsterdam. They make the trip soooo much better.

As with every contiki tour you go on a lot of time is spent on the bus and there is minimal sleep because you are constantly on the go. The people make the tour as you are with them 24/7. The places you visit your are only there for a day or two but you get to see a lot of the major sites (if only for a few hours).

I found the tour a great introduction to Europe because now I know the places I like and the ones I don't. I'm heading back in October this year for an extended holiday of 6-12 months.

If you want to ask any specific questions, give me an email on one_hotmale_00@hotmail.com. I am more than willing to answer them.

Cheers

Mark

Hey im Ellee live in Newcastle NSW.. doing the september 11 euro experience. first time traveller doing it by myself and cannot wait. enjoyed the read thanks for the tips x el

Mich, I don't know if you have already gone on the trip but I figured if you don't need this info than someone else could use it.

I went on European Experience in May of this year. It was the most incredible trip I have ever done and probably ever will do. The tour manager Alex and our driver Craig were the greatest.
I agree with Mark you really need to save up your cash and do as many of the optional activites as you can.
My personal favourite was the white water rafting. Joe our "captin" was super.
There is never a dull moment. Be prepared for minimal sleep. On the last 48 hours of our trip I had 4 hours sleep. It made the flight home easier though.
Make sure you pack for all kinds of weather hot cold rainy and snowy, and watch out if you go to the top of the Jungfrau Mountain make sure you bundle up! A lot of the aussie guys only wore sweaters and jeans and they froze.
All I can say is you'd be crazy not to go on this trip. I wish I could go on one every year.
Enjoy it!

Jane

booked my trip today goin on the june 28th!!!! Thanks for the info. Sounds like i'll have a ball. What luggage did you all take? suitcase, backpack????

hey I did this trip last July- August and had a blast. Most ppl from North America had suitcases. Mine was expandable since they only weighed it at the beginning then I just added on to it when I bought things along the way. Many of the other ppl had camping bags for luggage because lots of them were continuing on in their travelling. just remember whatever you bring you have to carry around with you off and on the bus to and from your room each time you leave a different city! I had a day bag which was a shoulder bag that carried the necessities since you don't want a bag thats too heavy to carry around

Hey Mich-
I read your review and I am so excited! I am thinking of booking the Euro Exp tour for May 3-24th. Did you find the tour to be too long? I am going solo, did you? Were there a lot of others traveling alone? I am debating between this tour and the Euro highlights. Anymore tips would be appreciated!
thank you- kris

I think I am doing the one on April 5, 08. One month off from UK school (study abroad).

Will be travel solo. I was kind of afraid in the beginning, but it looks like a lot people travel solo and the experience will be amazing.

Hi mark thank you so much for that information its helped me out alot.
I'm going with 2 of my girlfriends on the euro experience on 2july 08. Is there anyone else on here going on that trip???

Ive booked a euro experience trip aswell and im hell pumped after reading all these reviews. Me and my sis are booked for july 18th, gonna be awsome

Hey everyone! Does anyone else have any more information on this trip? I'm sure there's been plenty of people on it since May 2006 when Mark replied.

Thanks!!

AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
The tour was sooo much fun! We had Zsofi (TM) and Jules as our (Driver) and they were so incredible.
We partied it up every night, always had a blast. The tour itself is amazing on it's own but the contiki crew at the sites always help to make it better.

So this is my wisdom passed on to you: (lol)
*u dont need a sleeping bag (unless u really want to), u can just get a blanket and ull do fine.
*the lighter ur luggage, the less of a struggle u will have taking through the Metro & up the stairs that Europe is made out of
*whatever u dont bring, you can buy there so no worries
*be warned that some of the showers are a pain a) sometimes they are freezing cold b)some u gotta keep on pressing a button every 20 secs
*do as many optional activities as possible specially whitewater rafting
*do the first dinner and the last.. all the other ones are a rip off and u are better off going into town on ur own
*you can find gondola rides for the same price that are actually through the middle of town and with historical value (while the contiki one is crowded, with creepy guys and on the outskirts)
*remember in Venice too: the attitude adjusters are amazingly evil lol have one or two
*I would recommend to try one space brownie the first night and see how u do the next.. you will thank me for that one
*The wine from St. Goar is better then the one from Beaujolais
*If it happens, like it did on out group, that Paragliding was cancelled that day in Austria, go to the water park and the trout fishing.. "this stick is for killing" lol
*bring as much money and credit as possible.. u wont regret it
*DONT miss the Florence group pic.. u will regret it
*if you dont wanna go up the Jungfraujoch, you can go hiking, biking or to this crazzzy behind-the-falls tour
*In Austria, if you plan to go to the Silver Bullet pub, bring as many ppl as possible bc some nights it's DEAD
*BRING AND UMBRELLAAAAA! can't stress that one enough

thanks for your tips

European Experience - 20 day tour $2239 + $385 food fund leaving on 8th September until the 27th September
its guarteed departure nad also stops the oktober fest. thats wat i want to do

hey hey, looking at european experience june/july 09. anyone else going around here? am 19 and flying solo, pretty excited!

katy, qld, aus.