Pre-Europe Trip Update

First, I would like to thank everybody who replied for their advice suggestions. It was great hearing from all of you and it really helped me. Second, quite a few things have happened these last few days to play havoc on my proposed Europe trip:

1) My parents, in a showing of overzealous protectionism, offered to put $10,000 towards my future car purchase... provided that I cancel my trip. Backpack through Europe or $10,000 off the purchase of a car? Either way, I win... or is that lose.

Resolution: Go on the trip anyways, quoting flimsey appeals of integrity and skyrocketing gas prices as justification.

2) Poland and Hungary, among others, require your passport to be valid for 6 months AFTER your intended departure from the country. My passport expires in October and even applying for a new one won't help as Poland also requires that your passport be valid for 3 months PRIOR to your arrival.

Resolution: Rehaul my travel plans to exclude these countries, unfortunate casualties of impromptu decision making.

My revamped itinerary now follows a path revolving around a Eurail Selectpass instead of an European East Pass. Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, and Czech form the base of my list now.

3) Related to the two items above, I've had to shorten my travel time. Instead of the 40 day trip initially envisioned, I'll be cutting that by a week. This means I won't be able to devote a week to each country. I know I said it would be a "whirlwind tour", but I was hoping to take a little more time

Resolution: Further tweaking of my travel plans. With about 10 days left, I'm sure I'll go through quite a few more revisions.