i_nepali, go for it, you will have the time of your life. Neither the visa nor the budget would be any problem for you since you live in England and have already allocated more than 2500$ for the trip, thats sufficient for a month. I did the solo backpacking in Summer 03 and the fall 04 and I had great time. Met a lot of interesting people along the way. Schengen Visa would allow you to travel most of the EU nations except Switzerland for which you will need a separate visa. You will get heavy discounts on the train (preferred mode of transportation there) if you posses the student ID and are under 26. Another suggestion, when covering longer distance, travel during the night, that way you will be saving the hostel cost for that night and also save precious time. For the lodging, find the hostels and book them in advance since summer is the heavy travel season there. If you plan to cover Sweden, Norway and Finland, carry a small (very light) one person tent in your backpack. You can camp virtually anywhere in Sweden, even in somebody's private property as long as you don't disturb them and it is fairly safe in doing so. If you go to sweden, also take the overnight cruise to Finland. The cruise is almost like a party place, has multiple clubs of different taste, and its very cheap. You cover the distance while also having fun. For the lodging, also try globalfreeloaders.com and hospitalityclub.org. You will be surprised at how hospitable some people can be. But, of course, you will have to be able to offer something in return as well. Travelling cheap is the way to go, don't eat at fancy place or ride taxis or buy expensive gifts at foreign land. Think of it like, the more you save while you travel, the longer you can extend the trip. And the most important suggestion, travel light, don't be carrying 4 different pairs of footware :-)