Hi ladies
I think you don't have to fear travelling F&E in Europe coz most of them have great transportation system and are pretty tourist friendly. My first trip to europe was F&E (went to UK and Paris) and we got around just fine. Yeah I know in UK everybody speaks English so its not a problem, but we did survive Paris, and I know friends who did F&E in other European cities (like Spain, Italy, etc) and it wasn't a problem. The key is to do your homework before you go.
Guidebooks are good and all, but my main source of info was the internet. They have rail schedules, bus routes, city maps, plane schedules, tube/metro maps/schedules/routes, opening hrs of attractions and ticket prices etc ..everything you need to know! I tell ya...the internet is a god-send. A great travel website with a great forum to visit wld be
http://www.virtualtourist.com
People on this site are very friendly, and ever helpful in offering travel advice to all sorts of countries..even giving tips on accomodation, what places to visit, best restaurants etc
If looking for cheap rooms to stay in Europe, try
http://www.eurocheapo.com
This site constantly reviews 'cheap' accomodation in major european cities and don't gloss over their descriptions. What you read is what you get
Still, with the horrifying exchange rate between the Euro & S$ now, finding cheap accomodation in a great location wld be fantastic.
When in Europe, book day trips. This will be great if you know what you want to see, places you want to visit. Its way better than getting a package deal and going to places that you have absolutely no interest in. Again, the internet will be able to provide names of companies who do day-trips...some require reservations in advance. The great thing abt this is that you may visit obscure places that you won't be able to in standard packaged tours.
Whether or not u want to do F&E is really dependent on how much you're willing to plan. And how much co-ordination work you'd like to do. The trick is to decide what you want out of your vacation..what do you want to see, experience etc..and plan ure own itinerary from there. Once u have an idea of what u wld like to do..then everything revolves ard this. Its not easy, and its alot of work...but if ure like me, and you love planning ure own dream vacation where you don't hafta be stuck w a bunch of singaporeans in a coach for most of ure trip..then F&E is the way to go.