My apologies since I posted this in /r/solotravel and got no response.
Next Summer I'll be 29 (male) and plan on going to Europe. I'll have saved up about $7,000 for my budget. I've decided to eventually purchase a Eurorail pass for a month for $1300, bringing my budget down to $5700. From here, I have a few questions:
1.) What is the most inexpensive place to fly into and out of? I need a start and end point and will be flying out of either West Palm Beach or Fort Lauderdale, probably Palm Beach. I noticed Scandinavia is relatively cheap but I'm wondering if there is a better starting point? I used that Kayak.com "explorer feature" but was wondering about your own personal experiences.
2.) I really don't know how to pack for this. I've heard of "backpacking" but I really am a deer in the headlights when it comes to this part. I really don't want to be lugging around a giant backpack across multiple cities while sightseeing and at the same time I'm not so sure what the Hostels do when it comes to properly securing bags. Any tips for this?
3.) Speaking of Hostels, is it cheaper to just sleep on the trains? How do the trains and private sleeping cabins work?
4.) I noticed the Eurail map is very confusing, and there's certain areas like Switzerland and Southern Poland I'd like to visit but I don't always see a stop. Is the Eurail a special train separate from all others? Or does the pass allow me to go all over the place as far as countries covered under the Eurail are concerned?
5.) I'd like to end my trip in London but noticed that there's no Eurail that goes there. Will it be a massive expense to get a ferry from Brussels? It's one of the stops on the rail I figured I'd stop at.
Thanks for all of your help and ideas!