Russ Roth

My first real tour was a trip from Amsterdam to Paris, only requirement was getting to Paris before the flight left. Did it with a seat post rack, a back pack and a duffel bag during a massive heat wave. Would totally do it again.

OP, from my experience, stress less about the whole bike packing look. A rear rack and some panniers will do the trick and are available affordably. Ask for them for a birthday or holiday, they're a good price item for a parent to pick up. Being young, comforts like a mat aren't as necessary. I've slept on the beaches in Greece, the train stations in France and Italy, the subway in London and the parks in Amsterdam. Along the way I found youth hostels and campgrounds. Always happy for a small tent and a warm sleeping bag but never worried about a pad. Now I need one, but in my teens and twenties the ground was softer. Today if I was young I might almost go with a hammock over a tent. Food can be affordable but partially depends on how you do it. A small burner and a good size pot can take up a bit of space but there's plenty of pasta meals you can buy at the store for one that are cheap and easy to make with water keeping expenses down, same with rice. Take time to pack small, travel with the bar of soap your parents swiped from the hotel, same with the shampoo, take the travel tube of toothpaste, get the travel size deodorant, small hairbrush, if you're going to cook cut a sponge to fit in the pot and travel sized dawn. None of these things full sized weight much or take up much space but collectively they'll take up a lot of room, but if you do it right they'll all fit in a sandwich bag.
Biggest thing is focus on where you want to go and how you want to get there. Being younger, I found I liked having one way trips. Take a train or plane to a spot and ride back to where you had to go, round trips can be cheaper, but if I want to tour for 500 miles I'd rather go to a destination and ride 500 miles back. Only exception is that I want to tour around lake Ontario.