WE landed in Paris one dark, rainy evening last summer, looking like extras from SClub7 rather than a group of hardened students kitted out for a month of gruelling travelling. Our parents back home joked to each other we'd be back as soon as we were hungry.

But we had planned our Inter-Rail trip around Europe through the whole of our final year at uni, and with exams and dissertations firmly behind us, myself and pals Claire, Laura, Becky and Nicola were ready to face our first challenge - to find a bed for the night.

We arrived at Aloha! - the atmospheric Moulin Rouge-style youth hostel which was to be our home for the next three nights - and cheerfully laid our heads upon coffee-stained pillows (at least that's what we told ourselves the marks were), opened out our huge sleep-sacks (like a sleeping bag liner that folds up into a little bag), and rattled off our fun-filled hopes for the next month.

Next morning, even the cold shower in a tiny, mouldy cubicle and the dry bread roll for breakfast could not dampen our spirits. That was until we emerged into the dreary streets of Paris, all five of us sporting open-toe sandals and multi-coloured 'cag in a bag' waterproofs. It was not how we'd imagined we'd look when we'd stuffed our backpacks with high-fashion items.

We blagged our way through the language barrier, faced the metro system head on, toured the Sacre Coeur, raced up the Eiffel Tower (okay, we crawled), and took snaps of the boats cruising the Seine under the moody afternoon skies before trudging back to Aloha! to feast on bread, cheese, olives and a bottles of wine we had sneaked in.

We consoled ourselves with thoughts of our next stop, Bordeaux, which was bound to be bathed in sunshine. How wrong we were. We arrived at 8pm, famished, and as we set off to find the family-run bistro recommended in our guidebook, the heavens opened. We were soaked as we reached the restaurant - and discovered it was closed. Drenched and defeated, we turned back to our lodgings and pooled our spare change to buy a KitKat from the vending machine.

Things picked up the next day when we boarded the night train for Spain - and hopefully some sunshine.

In our cabin, we pounced on the beds and cracked open the beers. We practised contortionist tricks, hanging ourselves across the top bunks and got settled for a terrific night - until a group of stony-faced American travellers barged in, claiming we had their cabin. Yes, we had the wrong one - and made a complete mess of it.

Hoisting backpacks down from our stack on the top bunks through the corridors to find our real cabin was a stiff team effort, but it was one of the funniest nights of the trip.

And things only got better. Our pensione in Sol, in the heart of Madrid, was beautiful; clean, fresh, soft beds, locks on the door - luxury to us. We spent three amazing days in Madrid, enjoying cheesy tour buses which afforded great views of the marvellous architecture, fountains and parks of the city.

Our next stop was Malaga - where we burned lobster-red from one day on the beach, poisoned ourselves with alcohol while celebrating my birthday and spent an entire day trying to get tickets to Barcelona.

When we finally arrived in Barcelona, we trouped Las Ramblas in a fierce thunderstorm, knocking on the doors of hostels and pensiones, hoping there was room at the inn. We eventually got lucky - but it was back to grimy sheets.

Highlights of Barcelona included a visit to Gaudi's astonishing La Sagrada Familia, the huge gothic-like unfishished cathedral which dominates the city's skyline, and delicious salads and marinated olives from a huge indoor market.

And it was here that we received word of our degree results at 7am by use of mobile phones - we'd all got what we wanted!

From here we went to Nice (which wins the worst shower in a train station award), visited Monaco for the day and caught a night train to Rome, where we spent 11 hours sleeping head to tail across three seats.

Rome was fantastic - a highlight for us all, especially since Nicola's mum and step-father, who were staying in Naples, travelled to Rome and bought us a magnificent three-course lunch.

We visited Florence, Pisa, and Venice - where we haggled a ride on a gondola. Moving on to Austria, we found Vienna to be stunning, but expensive. By now, we were broke and spent three nights in a church tower under the dictation of Klaus, an angry bald man who pushed us out the door at 9am still clutching our toothbrushes. Our days were spent sunbathing in front of beautiful buildings to save cash.

We also stopped at Poland for the day, then Prague, Berlin and Amsterdam.

Back home, we all agreed it was the disasters that made our trip around Europe the best time of our lives - and we plan to do it all again in July.

Watch out America, here we come.

Inter-Railing tips

Stations - You can spend a lot of time in train stations. Try to book your departure ticket as soon as you arrive. Check the dates on your tickets and be prepared to pay a supplement.

Night trains - Check your tickets carefully, bring earplugs for the noise and brace yourself for washing in dirty toilet cubicles. Be prepared to share a cabin.

Accommodation - Try to combine pre-booking on the Internet with simply turning up and haggling your accommodation costs. Budget hotels can be a long taxi ride away from the centre.

Check your Inter-Rail tickets - A conductor barged into our cabin on our night train from Poland to Berlin, screaming that our tickets were void because there was a part missing. We were told if we didn't pay a supplement we would be turfed off the train somewhere in Germany. This didn't happen, but was a dim prospect at 2am.

Clothes - Take what you know you'll wear - cities are full of people wearing ordinary clothes - you want to look normal but practical. Remember, practical shoes are only practical if you've worn them in before you go - and you can do it in heels!

McDonalds - Clean toilets, cheap filling food - you'll be a regular here.

More information - visit the website www.alleurorail.com

Updated: 08:21 Saturday, March 15, 2003