University holidays are the longest ones you'll ever get - there aren't many firms that hand out 3 month holidays - so use them. And I don't mean by earning money. Stuff all your least cherished possessions in a rucksack and go somewhere.

We went to Europe - all of it. We covered 14 countries and about 5½ thousand miles in 32 days, all without killing each other. Here, for your surfing pleasure, is our diary.

This was planned over the course of eight weeks, starting with a map and several places we'd like to go, and then organising a route between them and hoping it was possible in a month. We could have seen fewer places in more depth, but decided a whirlwind tour would give us a good idea of what we'd like to visit again. We didn't visit Italy as it merits a holiday itself, nor France as it is accessible from home. We had to miss some places we were hoping to see, due to time constraints, and certainly didn't ever see the entirety of a city nor a country properly. Iain organised getting us to Istanbul, and I got us from there to home. Before departure we needed an idea of how we would get to each city, journey routes and times, places to stay, eat and see.

We hope by reading this you'll get a small insight into places and perhaps be inspired to go there yourself.

Note: The references to my bad foot are due to me intelligently tearing my ligaments two weeks before departure

Essential packing:

1. Inter-rail ticket, £260 for 1 month all zones
2. Passport, ISIC Card, photocopies of any useful documents, e.g. birth certificate
3. Budget of £1000 each, not including ticket price.
4. Money belt to hide the above in.
5. Decent rail map and timetable (published monthly by Thomas Cook)
6. Guidebooks, recommended Let's Go Europe
7. Info provided by tourist boards in advance - get addresses from Internet
8. Notes from useful guidebooks you can't afford to buy, taken from the internet, Rough Guide and Lonely Planet
9. Games and Walkman for boring journeys
10. Minimum clothes for all climates
11. Loo roll
12. Sink plug (just trust us on this one)
13. Obvious basics e.g. first aid kit.