St. Canice’s Cathedral and Round Tower, Kilkenny, Ireland

A backpack vs. wheel bag is a personal preference, I prefer a backpack because it keeps your hands free, but many girls tend to prefer wheel bags because they have trouble moving around with a big heavy bag on their back. I’d say if you can pack light, which is always better, use a backpack, if not, use a wheel bag.

Hostels do not “need” to be booked ahead of time in most cases, however during peak times the best hostels will usually fill up ahead of time. If you book a few days in advance you’ll probably be fine, to be safe you can book even further in advance, but its better to have the flexibility to change things because you never know when you’ll want to change plans once you’re on the road.

For the eurail pass, if you can get the youth discount, it might be worth it, looks like you’ll be on the train a lot. Even with the cost of the pass, you still have to purchase reservations on some trains, so keep this in mind when budgeting, your train costs are not 100% covered by the eurail pass.

Generally most of the places you’re visiting are pretty safe. Use the same common sense you use back home, it’s not much different. Don’t walk alone at night, stay in groups whenever possible, especially on big nights out drinking.

If your phone is not carrier locked, you can purchase sim cards in each country, however if you’re only going to be there for a limited time, it may not be worth it. I don’t think you’ll need a phone much, if you want to call home you can use skype or a pay phone. Don’t use your credit card in pay phones, I did that one time and it charged me hundreds of dollars, always pay with cash or a calling card. If you just want a phone for emergencies, sign up for an international plan with your current carrier and use your phone from home.

In order to see everything on your itinerary, you’ll have about a day in each place. Sorry, but you need to either extend your trip, or remove a lot of these places. Remember travelling takes a lot of time, some of these trains are pretty long, you have to find your way to and from every place you go, to hostels, get checked in and out, these things eat up a lot of time. I’d say in order to do a trip like this properly you’d probably need about twice as much time.

If you want some quick help eliminating places, I’d say Croatia can go, although its a cool country, its out the way to get to the best places there. Greece is amazing, but if you go, you should get out to the islands which can be slow and takes a lot of time. That’ll get you closer to your target, however you’re going to have to rush through everything. Not sure what you’re up for, my first Europe trip was to 9 countries, 14 cities over 3 weeks. I’d never do it again, but I wouldn’t have changed anything. Prepare to get sick though if you’re going to travel like that, especially if you’re going out every night like we were.

Let me know if you have any other questions, you’re going to have an amazing time!