Hvala Croatia!: How to take a 10-day Euro vacation for $1000 or less

In the past year, I've been to Nova Scotia (twice), Alberta, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. So when I told my friends that I was headed across the pond, nobody even batted an eye--except to ask how I could afford another trip on my non-profit employee salary. Simple answer folks: tax return. (Or, the more complicated response: I work three jobs, buy vintage clothes, refuse to turn on my heat and haven't gotten a haircut in over a year.)

Here's how you can make a 10-day trip to Europe, all for the cost of one tax return.

Lost

1) Dresden, Germany, 2003

I was still jetlagged when Helka and I found ourselves with 65 litre backpacks weighing us down, dark setting in, late spring snow drifting to the ground and nowhere to sleep for the night. We had been looking for a hostel for hours. Sleeping at the train station was no longer an option--we hadn't anticipated that it would be open air. And the train station employees weren't helpful--they didn't speak any English. Neither did any of the young people we stopped around the station. But it was our own fault—who tries to travel through Europe for the first time at the age of 18 without a guidebook—or hell, even a plan?