Hello,

My husband and I currently live in California, and we have decided to take this upcoming year to travel around Europe, before he returns to business school in the fall of 2009 for his Masters in Business (MBA). His job as a web designer allows him to work remotely, so we are moving all of our furniture and belongings into a storage locker her in Cali, and we are heading out to Europe with a suitcase and a laptop to explore the world for a year!

We plan to start our "European Adventure" in the Zürich area on the first of October 2008, renting furnished flats and moving every 4-6 weeks. Our itinerary is as such: Switzerland, Austria, Germany (the Christmas Markets we've heard are wonderful), Italy, Spain, France, England, and from England, branch out for week-trips to Ireland and Scotland. We will sight-see in the morning and early afternoon, then return to the apartment to work in the evening to coincide with the working hours of the States.

We are so excited to see all these glorious places and learn more about the culture and history. Any advice or suggestions would be welcome, as I'm sure we will spend the next year feeling incredibly lost and overwhelmed, but we are thrilled for this opportunity!

Regards,
Nicole & Chris

Hi Nicole and Chris,

The first piece of advice is: slow down!! Take more time to explore just a few of these places!!! Just because things may not look too different when you drive from Redding to Fresno doesn't mean Europe is like that. In fact, if you drive for an hour or two in Switzerland, you may well have shifted into a different language region and certainly into a different culture area. Less is more, folks...

The second piece of advice is: you may find it a real hassle to be spending all your time trying to find furnished apartments to rent. Plus you may not have much luck, especially in bigger cities, finding landlords who only give you a one-month deal (though there are 'apart-hotels' where you might be in luck - that is, if your pockets are deep enough!)

The third question is: what do you *really* want? Why? Have you ever tried sight-seeing for weeks at a time?? My head would spin if I'd seen that many countries in such a short period of time; I've lived in four of the countries you're planning on seeing (for at least a year each time), and I can't say I'd even scratched the surface... And some places that seem 'glorious' on the postcards (and the Web) turn out to be not so wonderful up close - and places you've never heard of can be utter gems.

Take some deep breaths when you get here. You may decide that the alpine air here is just what you've been after - and you don't **really** want to go racing around Europe after all...

J.

Some of the best advice would be to read through this forum.

You can guarantee just about every question you want answered can be found, or will be answered, if asked correctly.

Search through it.

This forum is based on expats and people like yourselves.

Have fun on your journey.

No worries, not every other person has an MBA or a Ph.D. and the job market is still good for qualified or experienced people, and people who speak five languages are not the norm, and a masters is definitely not the bare minimum. Enjoy your stay.

ps. Ikea, based on your spelling it's obvious you are not part of that niche group of people you describe. *pulls out anti-troll spray*

I think everyone should read the OPs post a bit more carefully...

They are asking for advice about CH...not how to plan their time off. OP says her husband has a web dev job that can be done remotely in the evenings to correspond with US time...they are not LOOKING for jobs in CH or any other countries where they might choose to live for 4-6 weeks.

They want to take a year off, travel abroad, and actually live in several different countries as MORE THAN A TOURIST.

If you are going to take the time to respond to someone...please at least read and understand the post!

To the OPs questions...i think it is a great idea to spend a year in Europe. You could probably find furnished apartments in each town for 4-6 week periods. There are also apartment swap sites, if this is an option. Some of these sitess do not even require a swap...you can rent from some of the people looking to swap. Google "apartment swap."

If you are looking to try Germany/Switzerland/Austria, you should probably check out the cities beforehand by taking a train and exploring...you may decide that Central Europe can be explored from one place, and decide to spend time in Croatia/Greece/Albania instead.

One downside to trying to live in so many places is it will be time consuming to set things up in advance. If you are adventurous, you could probably find accommodations when you get to a city, but it will not always be easy. You might want to check some travel sites like Lonely Planet or Rick Steves to see how other people have done this.

Again...good luck and have fun!

PS - Here are some links/threads that I have used with lots of sites for rentals in Paris and Venice

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...t=rental+paris

http://www.viewsonvenice.com/index.html The 2nd time (different apartment http://www.cadellacorte.com/en/index.htm ) , it was sold out from underneath us, they tried giving us a standard room instead. We wound up getting a different last minute hotel at the train station service window.

Another site is http://www.veniceby.com/index.html

Slow Trav has quite a few apartment reviews. http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/vr/list.asp?r=Venice

I say go for it, and if you find rockets along the way, take them, strap them on and go faster!

Hi guys,

it's your trip and you should do it as you see fit. Enjoy it to the utmost.

Perhaps the writers before me have a couple of valid points, but this is your year and, well,,, go for it I say.

Sure there will be some parts that go arsey-boo, but that's traveling!!

No advice whatsoever as such, except,,, take some photos of each other, doing whatever it is that you are doing at the time and, well, just smell the smells and enjoy your time in Europe (or wherever else may take your fancy!! ).

Oh yes, just thought of some advice, keep a diary (both of you), that's all I can think of for now,
have a brilliant time you guys and don't be surprised if it goes longer than you planned....

Best wishes,

Ros

I agree with Delphinium, This trip is an awesome idea and you will always look back on it when you have nothing to do... "remember when we were in scottland and my feet gave out from all the walking... i thought i was gonna die before we came home... but it was worth it, wasnt it" or you will be trying to remeber where you saw that beautiful bridge... "it was austria, no it wasnt, it was france...." My only advise is to take good pics and organise them well, that way it will help you remember where everything was. It will cheer you up on rainy days and give you a smile when you need one. Besides, once you have kids, it makes traveling much harder, enjoy it while you can.