Has anyone visited Europe before?

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I'm thinking about visiting Europe this summer or summer 2011 (depending on how much money I save before the summer starts). If any of you guys have traveled to Europe before or many times, then I NEED SOME ADVICE from you.

1) Are there any CHEAPER travel plans to any European country?

2) Since my mother tongue is English, how much of a foreign language do you need to know before you visit that foreign country? (Example: If you want to visit Germany, how much German should you learn before visiting Germany?)

Please help me out here.

I went to Paris in 1999. I'm sure rates back then were a lot cheaper than now. I used Icelandic Air.
I liked Independence Air since they were a low cost carrier, but they are no longer in business. I don't know what airline has lower fares to Europe. Maybe do priceline.com?

In Paris, at the hotel I stayed at, the people there knew English. I stayed at other cities in France and their English was so so.

I went to Europe for a school trip.

A contiki tour would get you to a whole bunch of places for a cheaper price, but u have to be up bright and early every day.

I didn't know too much of the languages and i did ok, some people speak english over there and some people in my tour group were fluent in the local languages.
(we went to germany, france, england and italy and austria)

But it is a good idea to learn a little bit of the language
like how to politely ask for things,
how to ask for help if something goes wrong
how to ask for directions if u get lost.

In the UK, Ireland, the Nordic countries (Denmark/Norway/Sweden/Finland/Iceland), the Netherlands, Malta and Cyprus you'll have no problems just speaking English.

[quote="tcorrielus"]I'm thinking about visiting Europe this summer or summer 2011 (depending on how much money I save before the summer starts). If any of you guys have traveled to Europe before or many times, then I NEED SOME ADVICE from you.

Watch out for August in Italy. The country shuts down for August. Generally July 15-August 15, you find *only* tourist spots open. (Everyone else is in the mountains or at the seaside.)

Italy is okay for English speaking tourists. The tourist towns are fine.
Sweden is excellent for English speakers.
Amsterdam just rocks - and has a lot of English speakers.

Good luck on it! And have fun.

BTW - use Eurorail to travel. The trains are awesome in Europe.

No, but would love to.

My family and I visited Paris back in 1998, and I was 10 back then. Right now, I'm trying to choose between London, Spain, and Italy.

I've been to Europe three times.

Paris, London and Dusseldorf.

Paris was nice, London was fabulous

and Dusseldorf was rainy.

I'd love to go back to Europe.

Been everywhere from England, to France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey (sorta counts...
I find that anyone who wants your money is capable of speaking English...
Also, there are a lot of people who think Americans are all rich...and want to correct that.

Just be careful. It's a lot of fun, and gives you a new perspective on the world...

there are special train tickets for multiple countries that are valid for like a month, it's a great way to travel on a budget and you don't have to pay for a hotel when you're on an overnight train. I forgot how they're called but should be easy to look up. they're really cheap for students but even if you're not a student it still should save you money comparing to cheap flights/renting a car.

don't worry about learning the local languages, I'm sure there's lots of French tourists who visit America and don't speak a word of English :p

yup, been going to Europe since I was 4 or so. Even have family and friends living in England and Poland,
Countries visited so far: UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Greece.
Eastern Europe is my favorite region of the entire world, I would recommend any of the nations of the former Iron Curtain before a highly traveled country such as France or Italy. Eastern Europe and Central Asia might be what I would refer to as obsessive interests. Consider the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania because they are very safe and you might even make some new friends.

1st question: the flight will be somewhat expensive no matter what, but you will fare better traveling if you cut down on the unneccessary expenditures (fly coach, use a hostel). British Airways is an excellent airline that flies out of several large American cities (such as Dallas, Houston or Denver) and takes passengers to their hub at London Gatwick, from there you can fly EasyJet to most of Europe's major cities (Berlin, Rome) or less traveled cities (Minsk, Belgrade, Vilnius), EasyJet is a crowded, cheap and dreadful flying experience but you will save alot of money.

2nd question: In most European countries, the schoolkids are usually learning one or two foreign language (especially English), and anybody working in the tourist industry is going to speak English, so you will generally have most people you meet wanting to speak English to you once they notice that you are an American.

In the countries in central and eastern Europe, I would recommend that you make an attempt to learn the language and learn not only basic phrases, but also how to carry on a conversation. In these countries, people will speak the language to you if you make an effort to speak to them and carry on conversation. Also, in rural areas less people will speak English (if at all) so if you are planning to leave the city it would be wise to learn a bit of the language. In the world today (be it Europe, Asia, or whatever) the young people and the kids do speak English, very few old people will speak English to you (I wonder why).

In cities that have many American and British tourists the odds are that they will converse with you in English no matter what, especially in Paris or Berlin. There is a stereotype in Europe that Americans don't know anything about the rest of the world and don't speak foreign languages, and in Paris and Berlin the odds are that very few people are going to want to converse with you in French or German.

Im from Europe. Sweden even.

I've lived in Germany for a year. My fiance is german. There is a small part that can talk english. Doctors and highly educated is usually very good at english. The rest is not so good.
So trying to speak english to the local guy/girl, might not be so successful. I read german in school, so I knew a bit atleast, and learned alot during my year there.

In Sweden you can talk english to mostly everyone. Our biggest problem is that we might not dare to speak english, since we are scared of making a fool out of us. But if we dont have a choice, we do.

I want to go to either Spain, France, or Italy.

Never been out of the country before...except to South Korea but since I was like 2 or 3 when that happened and I dont remember or took in anything from it, I really dont count it as ever being out of the country.

Wow you people must be rich.

As for me, nope never been out of this country unless you count Louisanna. Was like a french experience to me....