Questions about Europe trip in 2009

I am new to these forums and have some questions to ask about a trip to Europe I am planning.

This year is my final year of school and I am planning to take a gap in 2009. I am estimating to have around $10.000 Australian Dollars saved for the trip and I am aiming to stay overseas for as long as possible - currently I am hoping for 9-10 months. I would like to travel to three countries (Germany, Poland and the UK). In the UK I will be staying with relatives so accommodation (hopefully) won't be a problem. In Germany and Poland I will be moving through hostels.

How much money do you think I would need to support myself on my own for this long?
Is the 10.000 I am hoping to have enough?
Also, how much money (per day) should I assume I will pay in Germany and Poland?

Thankyou

Short answer: Poland would be cheaper than the other 2 places so take that into account, and also how long you stay at your free accomodation! If you took more advantage of this and tough it out a bit, it might be ok but I'd suggest a couple more thousand.

Detail: I'm not really an expert on it but I'm just going from what I gather for my trip if you want to use as a comparison:

It'll cost about 3.5 grand to get there (include taxes/insurance/etc.) I'd say it'd be tight with 6.5 left. Having accomodation in the UK is good though.

I'm doing a similar thing myself, budgeting about 13-15 grand for 6 months (of course that's to be in some sort of comfort/or at least stay in cheap hostels and party a lot) and I'll have 1-2 months free accomodation. This doesn't include the flight, but I'll be sticking more to western Europe (more expensive than Poland).
General rule I think is $100AUS/day (~60 Euro) to live fairly comfortably, could maybe get by as low as $50AUS/day living cheaply in the less expensive countries etc. This is if you were to include accomodation, transport, etc.

Suggestion: However that being said if you got your working visa and worked in the UK for maybe 3-4 out of those 10 months then you'd probably be sweet and could do it comfortably. Would be an even bigger bonus if you could work while getting accomm off relatives (besides they might be busy during the days anyway!).
Getting a job would give you a break from just sitting back and being a tourist, getting you more involved with the community and people as well.

Hope that helps,

Erik

[ Edit: Edited on Feb 4, 2008, at 6:20 AM by Erik85 ]

Firstly, thank you very much for your help!

My flights, I should have mentioned previously, will be paid for mostly by my parents (several Birthdays and Christmas' saved up) and are at industry rates.

Sometime this week I'll be seriously looking into getting dual-citizenship and a British passport. I don't know the specifics, but I believe this should allow me to work and travel in the UK and EU.

Again, thankyou for your reply.
Matt.

If you really do get EU citizenship (your British passport must have the EU circle of stars), I strongly suggest that you learn at least one other language than English (German, French, Spanish or Russian would make sense). I know you are busy, but very few will employ you outside the UK and Ireland if you speak only English.

As a general rule you'll need 50 EUR (82 AUD) per day and person in Western Europe (more in the UK). This covers some basic transport, food from the supermarket, accomodation in hostels and some entry to sights. (This amount is tried and true.) 50 AUD per day is very low, in some places you'll be happy to get a bed for this amount of money. If you are lucky you might then be left with enough change to buy a banana, but not much more. A budget this low is only possible if you plan to stay somewhere long-term and rent a room in a shared appartment for a month or so, thus reducing the cost of accomodation significantly.

BTW: if all fails, as a Brit you will always be able to apply for the dole in the UK.

Again, thank you for your input. I have been teaching myself German since late last year, so I think that if I pursue that seriously it would help.
I have considered staying with my relatives in the UK and getting a part-time job to help pay for the trip as well.

Again, thankyou for your help.

I have some other questions, but now regarding attaining a British Passport. I didn't want to start a new thread, so I'll ask here.

I recently attempted at get a passport through my British-born grandparents ( I am Australian born to an Australian born father), but I was denied.

After further reading the British High Commission's website, I believe I am more suited to applying as a child under 18 (I turn 17 in March). This is the section under which I am applying:

"SECTION B is for children born outside the United Kingdom after 1 January 1983 where the child is likely to remain living overseas and where one (or both) of the parents is a British citizen by descent with certain parental and residential connections with the United Kingdom."

My father applied for British citizenship by descent successfully in March 1981 (the passport expired in June 1991). He lived there for the minimum of 3 years (without being absent for more than 270 days).

On the British High Commission website, under MN1, Section B, it also claims that the application must be made within 12 months of the child's birth unless under special circumstances. Does anyone here know what is considered to be a special circumstance? I am considering applying at European universities to study, would this do?

Also, under fees, it claims that it will cost $1074 to apply as a citizen! For anyone who has done this, is my understanding correct? If that is correct, does that amount cover other things like a passport?

Thankyou for any help!

Quoting matt.91

Sometime this week I'll be seriously looking into getting dual-citizenship and a British passport. I don't know the specifics, but I believe this should allow me to work and travel in the UK and EU.

Not sure of your exact situation, but if it hasn't changed in the past three years you will want to start the process running for citizenship by about June at the latest to hopefully have everything sorted by the end of the year if you are lucky. I also hope that you have taken in to consideration the fairly large financial cost that is involved to get everything done including the British passport.

My mother was born in the UK so I was entitled to dual citizenship, but seeing I was not registered as a British subject at the time of my birth I had to go through huge amounts of holes to get granted citizenship and the passport not to mention the cost of close to $1000AUD by the time I had got the official documentation sent from the UK regarding my mothers birth got my grand mother and grand fathers old passports from when they left the UK, a proper birth certificate of mine, the $400+ fee to start to process and then after about 4 1/2 months getting that lovely piece of paper saying that I am now registered as a British Citizen and then I needed to apply for the British Passport which was a further expensive on top of the fees before hand and that was again not cheap (and has risen a lot since then). That price was 3 years ago and I know the cost of the working visa has gone up huge amounts since then so the cost of citizenship and other documents would have as well.

I had heard that if your father was born in the UK then you don't have to go through all that huge amount of mess I had to go through or if you were registered as a British subject at the time of your birth. If it is grand parents as far as I know the best you can do is get a different sort of visa meaning you don't have the same restrictions when working in the UK as people who didn't have a family member born in the UK. I did read something when I got citizenship that said if I have children then I would not be able to pass the citizenship down except under exceptional circumstances (I think that refers to if I decide to set up in the UK long term and my children are born there or something like that).

[ Edit: Edited on Feb 9, 2008, at 3:58 PM by aharrold45 ]

Thanks aharrold45 for that info - cleared up a lot of things for me! This is my current understanding and position in regards to getting the passport:

Firstly I need to find documentation proving my father actually stayed in the UK for the required three years without more than 270 days leave. Only his old Australian passport would give me that information. After that, I have to just gather the remaining documents (birth certificates etc.). Then I should send everything along with the fees to the High Commission in Canberra.

After that (if all goes well), I should receive a letter saying that I am a British Citizen.

Then I would go through normal procedure to obtain a British passport.

Would the passport I receive be the European Union version (with the words 'European Union' on the top) ?

I also expect to be jumping through flaming hoops to get the passport!

Again, thanks for your help!

Quoting matt.91

Would the passport I receive be the European Union version (with the words 'European Union' on the top) ?

I also expect to be jumping through flaming hoops to get the passport!

I'm not sure what t_maia is referring to with the "(your British passport must have the EU circle of stars)" comment. If you do end up being able to get a british passport yours will probably be exactly the same type mine is. Mine says "European Union United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" on the front cover and on the photo page it says "British Citizen" in the Nationality section. I know that some people who get a British passport that aren't permanent residents get ones saying things like "British subject" in the nationality section and if this happens it means some countries like the US won't let you in visa free despite the fact in normal situation you would be allowed in on the visa waiver. I didn't work in the UK or anywhere in the EU, but did travel extensively through out on the British passport and I never had any problems anywhere in the EU (or anywhere in the world for that matter) using it. Don't know if my passport description matches what t_maia is talking about with the passport or not. I don't see any circle of stars or anything that would resemble any such thing on my passport and it was reissued on 27 July 2006 after being stolen so I'm not sure if it is too old for that star thing.

If you can survive the hoop jumping and frustration that is involved in getting the citizenship certificate, then the application for the passport is easy as without much hoop jumping.

[ Edit: Edited on Feb 10, 2008, at 11:04 PM by aharrold45 ]

Unfortunately I am having a lot of difficulty getting documentation for one part of the application, so I don't think I'll be able to get the citizenship after all.

I cant prove that my dad spent 3 years overseas - his expired Australian passport is currently MIA and his British one only has the stamps for when he used it over there. He doesn't have any documentation for any employment he held there, and he cant assure me that he even spent the specified time overseas!

I'm disappointed that I am sooo close to being able to send the application off, but hopefully something will come up.

Anyway, thanks for all your help!