3 months on a Bus

We are travelling Europe via the Busabout network of buses.. We had investigated loads of different methods to travel around including(prices approx for 2persons)

• Eurail-rail for non-European residents
  +flexibility of travel
  - high cost €1000-2000
  - booking fees on top of ticket prices, so €30 plus per trip
  -selected countries only in our price range
• Flights-with 'luxury' airlines such as Ryan Air and Easy Jet
  +certain flights extremely cheap,i.e. Mardrid-Paris for €6
  -some flights were extremely expensive when booking close to the date of flight €600
  -annoyance of having to get to and from airports so frequently
• Inter-rail- Europe rail network for Euro residents
  + cheap fares for residents,ie 2 months for €600-1000
  - booking fees on top of ticket prices
  - our residents for Europe doesn't come through for 6 months
• Eurolines- Europe wide bus/coach network
  +cheap fares, 2 months all country's €600
  + ease of booking and locations
  - after reading fine print..only international travel only so no inter country travel which was very important for us in Spain and Italy and France
• Rideshare - organised hitched hiking/carpooling website.connecting drivers and passengers for Europe wide private shared travel.
  +flexibility of destinations
  + affordability, eg. Frankfurt, Germany to Zwolle, Nederlands-400kms for €50!!
  -could get murdered, pillaged, you liver stolen or all of the above as you don't know these people..
  - slight gamble as to whether there will be ride available, most only on website 1-2 weeks date of travel

We also looked at length at any other way to do it using a combination of the above.

So then there was busabout, a company that has buses running every 2 days around various curfuits all around Europe.
+flexiblity of travel
+ not an organized tour, hop on hop off as you like. Rejoin at anytime or place in the network
+ buses drop you off right outside decent accommodation
+ great way to make mates and meet people in similar situation and age.
+student discount
-during peak season you need to be booked 10-14
 days ahead with buses and accommodation as it's quite busy
- 98% Australians(joking), least they understand how we speaks bro!!
- quite expensive.. €1600

We have been on the Busabout network now for about 4 weeks and it's been good. It's great to meet people and the coaches are nice and new and the guides and drivers (most of them) are cool!

We are making about 16 stops in total , starting in Amsterdam most of the compulsory overnight ones, staying for between 3-7 nights in each place. Check out the Map and you can see the network of bus trips availible.