Backpacking on a budget

Travelling around Europe is a great way to spend the summer. Maybe you have finished uni and aren't ready to get a job yet, or maybe you just want a break from your job and think that three months exploring ancient cities, expansive mountain lakes and sandy, sun-kissed coastlines is just what you need.

It is exceptionally easily to get around Europe. The road network is extensive so you can easily road trip your way from north to south and east to west. The train system also functions well; it is almost always on time; efficient and more straightforward than its British counterpart.

There are also myriad options as to where to rest your head for the night and outside the major cities like Paris and Berlin, you don't need to fork out a week's wages. In rural areas you can stay in family-run pensions, on the coast you can stay in beach huts and in the mountains you can camp out in the open air.

The continent is also packed full of culture and each country although united by common land mass, is as individual as a grain of sand. The best way to explore the cultural idiosyncrasies is by staying in the smaller towns and villages. However, this may pose problems if you want to contact and be contacted by people back home.

Call and text charges vary enormously across Europe and there is no real way of knowing how much that call from mum was or how much that text to your mates bragging about the picture-perfect beach is going to cost. It seems strange that calling within the UK keeps getting cheaper every year, but calling within Europe and from Europe to the UK, is so astronomically expensive. For example, some pay as you go tariffs charge over £1.50 per minute.

However, some networks are wising up to the fact that we will simply not use our phone when we are abroad and they will actually lose money by imposing these oppressive charges. Vodafone is a case in point. This summer it has done away with its 75p roaming charge meaning you can now use your mobile phone in 35 European countries just as you would use it back home. So now you don't have to worry about texting and even calling home to remind them how much fun you are having and how cheap the wine is. Visit the Vodafone website to peruse their range of mobile phones and find out more about the summer roaming promotion.