Read wikitravel articles on every country you are interested in. Also read travelblogs and/or forums. There are surprisingly many people that make make backpacking a lifestyle. Decent preparedness is very helpful.
You should also brush up on where the EURO is valid and what and where the Schengen-space for easy traveling in the EU is. If you never been outside of the US read some other traveling reports as well. US passports actually contain a manual on how to use a passport, figure out why. Some different habits are important to know upfront., e.g. legal ages for drinking, strange laws that forbid stuff you are used too, and the other way round. Countries where Credit cards are not generally accepted, how to be polite in a way that the locals can deal with. Europe now also has cheap air-flight. Watch out for easyjet, ryanair, airBerlin, and many other lowcost carriers.
Train travel also actually works for all of Europe, as do buses (Eurolines). My preferred mode is to pre-plan all the trips, with decent buffers for mishaps.
Read wikitravel articles on every country you are interested in. Also read travelblogs and/or forums. There are surprisingly many people that make make backpacking a lifestyle. Decent preparedness is very helpful. You should also brush up on where the EURO is valid and what and where the Schengen-space for easy traveling in the EU is. If you never been outside of the US read some other traveling reports as well. US passports actually contain a manual on how to use a passport, figure out why. Some different habits are important to know upfront., e.g. legal ages for drinking, strange laws that forbid stuff you are used too, and the other way round. Countries where Credit cards are not generally accepted, how to be polite in a way that the locals can deal with. Europe now also has cheap air-flight. Watch out for easyjet, ryanair, airBerlin, and many other lowcost carriers. Train travel also actually works for all of Europe, as do buses (Eurolines). My preferred mode is to pre-plan all the trips, with decent buffers for mishaps.