my best friend and I are going to do our very best to backpack across europe for a month this summer. Has anyone ever done this (extremely cheaply) or any sort of similar backpacking? any words of advice? how do I get my parents to agree? what do I need? how do I do it CHEAPLY? any tricks of the trade?...

(ps - moral support! I'm nervous!)

-mangaboo

These threads might help:
>http://discuss.gromco.com/mwforum/topic_show.pl?id=38058#416018
>http://discuss.gromco.com/mwforum/topic_show.pl?id=36093#393436
>http://discuss.gromco.com/mwforum/topic_show.pl?id=39958#438234
>http://discuss.gromco.com/mwforum/topic_show.pl?id=39680#435932
>http://discuss.gromco.com/mwforum/topic_show.pl?id=39313#429799
>http://discuss.gromco.com/mwforum/topic_show.pl?id=37848#413653
>http://discuss.gromco.com/mwforum/topic_show.pl?id=38100#416455

Good luck and have fun!

*ETA: I can't remember if this was mentioned in the other threads, but get yourself an under-26 card (it gets you a discount on museum admissions and so on), and buy as much of your food as you can from supermarkets. I went about four years ago and I think I budgeted twenty pounds a day, and in places like Prague that left me with loads of spending money (which I didn't spend because I was afraid of being weighed down by souvenirs). A Lonely Planet "Europe On A Shoestring" book is your friend.

Also, the forums at http://www.eurotrip.com are great. Well, not as great as Glitter obviously, but there's a lot of info...too bad they crash my browser every time I try to read the forums. :-)

What countries are you planning to visit? There are several EuroGlitterati (like me...), so if you have any specific questions about a certain country, just ask.