Anyone backpack through Europe?

If so what was the one thing you found that you couldn't plan for? Or something that caught you by suprise when you got there?

I went to Harrods famous department store in London, checked my luggage in, they gave me a coin with a number and when I came back with my coin number someone with an identical coin number had already took ( stolen ) my luggage! I was not reimbursed or anything by the store or government. Never travel with anything expensive, guard your passport and wallet.

id imagine most of central europe would not be any less safe than parts of USA or Canada to travel around.

I have been to most parts of europe over the past few years and my girlfriend travelled with one of her friends a few years ago round europe (mainly by train).

They did have their luggage stolen from a shared train carriage when they were asleep travelling through Italy. Otherwise safety was never an issue for her. The train thing to be fair could happen to anyone, anywhere

Larger cities (Barcelona, Rome, London etc) have a bit of a reputation for having large numbers of pickpockets although i have never experienced this personally.

From experience id say that eastern europe, (Czech Rep, Slovakia, Poland etc) may be a bit more daunting for a single female traveller.

I am from Glasgow, which is a pretty good place, im sure youd be safe around here and the rest of Scotland and the UK if you were planning to come here.

I dont know of any tours as such but STA travel specialise in travel for students or youngsters (like myself), they do unlimited rail travel options, round the world trips etc.

KLM also have a really good deal with open end business return tickets, get the unlimited stop over ones.