Any of you travelled all over Europe alone?

I'm planning to go there with some family. If that fails, then I'd
still like to travel all over Europe by myself. Anyone here have tried
it? Does it look pathetic or maybe dangerous? I haven't been to
Europe before but I'm a well travelled person. I've been around Asia,
US, and Canada alone.

My plan is to reserve a hotel in Belgium, then fly there, then slowly
move towards France, then Italy, then Austria. Just me, my backpack,
and my tourist book. Without any family members tagging along, I can
stay there for 1 month.

Good idea or bad? I guess if I plan my day-to-day movement ahead of
time, it'll minimize any disaster I'll encounter.

Great idea! I can assure you I never looked "pathetic" either...g
I'd highly recommend staying in hostels when traveling alone too. Do
NOT over plan accommodations as you will be robbing yourself of a lot of
freedom of movement!

Tim K

"Frazier" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm planning to go there with some family. If that fails, then I'd
still like to travel all over Europe by myself. Anyone here have
tried
it? Does it look pathetic or maybe dangerous? I haven't been to
Europe before but I'm a well travelled person. I've been around Asia,
US, and Canada alone.

My plan is to reserve a hotel in Belgium, then fly there, then slowly
move towards France, then Italy, then Austria. Just me, my backpack,
and my tourist book. Without any family members tagging along, I can
stay there for 1 month.

Good idea or bad? I guess if I plan my day-to-day movement ahead of
time, it'll minimize any disaster I'll encounter.

"Frazier" writes:

I'm planning to go there with some family. If that fails, then I'd
still like to travel all over Europe by myself. Anyone here have tried
it?

Many times. I've travelled all over the world on my own.

Does it look pathetic or maybe dangerous?

Quite the contrary; I've met more people that way. When you are on
your own, I found that people find me more approachable, especially
in Mediterranean locations like Greece or Italy.

My plan is to reserve a hotel in Belgium, then fly there, then slowly
move towards France, then Italy, then Austria.

[...]

Good idea or bad? I guess if I plan my day-to-day movement ahead of
time, it'll minimize any disaster I'll encounter.

Don't plan at all, just go. Read in guidebooks about things that may
interest you and start heading that way but looking out for other things
that may be interesting. Its more fun to make it up as you trip
over serendipitous events.

I've mentioned in the past on this group some of the greatest fun
that I've ever had is "Eurailpass Roulette" -- using some randomizing
method like cards or dice to select where to get off the train.

Eric

On 6 Oct 2005 11:35:46 -0700, "Frazier"
wrote:

I'm planning to go there with some family. If that fails, then I'd
still like to travel all over Europe by myself. Anyone here have tried
it? Does it look pathetic or maybe dangerous? I haven't been to
Europe before but I'm a well travelled person. I've been around Asia,
US, and Canada alone.

I haven't ever travelled all over Europe alone, but I know other
people who have. I have travelled alone a fair amount, and the best
advice I can give you is to severely limit the amount of luggage. When
you're in a train station with a travel companion, one of you can stay
with the bags while the other goes in search of tickets, timetables,
bottled water, etc. When you're alone, you have to drag that bag
everywhere.

My plan is to reserve a hotel in Belgium, then fly there, then slowly
move towards France, then Italy, then Austria. Just me, my backpack,
and my tourist book. Without any family members tagging along, I can
stay there for 1 month.

Try to get an open-jaws ticket, flying into your first city and out of
your last city. Also, I think I would put Austria in between France
and Italy instead of at the end.

You might want to consider staying in youth hostels. It's a great way
to meet other travellers. If you don't want to sleep in a dorm, look
for hostels that have private rooms.

Good idea or bad? I guess if I plan my day-to-day movement ahead of
time, it'll minimize any disaster I'll encounter.

I wouldn't overplan. One of the beauties of travelling alone is that
you can do things on the spur of the moment without consulting anyone.
I don't think planning ahead affects the likelihood of disaster very
much, and it might even increase it. For instance, you may reserve a
room in a fleabag hotel that sounded good in a guide book. If you're
on the spot, you see what you're getting.

--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

"Anyone here have tried it? Does it look pathetic or maybe dangerous?"

I've travelled alone many times. It is very easy to meet Europeans
(many of whom speak English) and other travellers. It is not dangerous
in the least, and it doesn't look pathetic (and you can always join a
group of travellers when you want to). You might consider staying in
hostels rather than hotels and taking second-class seats on trains
rather than flying - you'll meet a lot more people.

"Good idea or bad? I guess if I plan my day-to-day movement ahead of
time, it'll minimize any disaster I'll encounter."

It is very safe and easy to travel in Europe, and the chance of a
traveller encountering any disaster is virtually zero. In addition to
the fact that English is widely spoken in most places, getting around
by public transportation is easy, crime against tourists is extremely
rare in almost all of Europe (with very few exceptions) and tourist
offices are very helpful if you need maps or a hotel room or
information on a sight. The only things you need are a good guidebook,
a railpass, and a reasonable budget.

I might recommend against a railpass even though I got one myself the
first time over. It required some real planning to get even close to
your money's worth; so much so IMO it 'cramped my style' a bit... In
France for example you may buy a 'discount fare carte'' that may be
worth the cost/discount if you move by rail much within that Country.

Tim K

"Iceman" wrote in message
oups.com...
..... The only things you need are a good guidebook,
a railpass, and a reasonable budget.

On 6 Oct 2005 11:35:46 -0700, "Frazier"
wrote:

I'm planning to go there with some family. If that fails, then I'd
still like to travel all over Europe by myself. Anyone here have tried
it? Does it look pathetic or maybe dangerous?

Hardly, as I expect you already know.
I've done if for 22 summers; travelling alone is often the best,
because it's the most flexible. Some suggestions:

Minimize backpack weight. Pack a medical kit you've put together,
backpack repair items, MP3/DVD player, water bottles, camera, swiss
army knife. Best way: get 3-6 webbed zippable flat packs to organize
your stuff inside the backpack; stops total chaos.

Get a Eurail pass if you can afford it.

Important: take water and food (sausage, cheese, chocolate, whatever)
with you on the train. People forget that, and eight hours later, wish
they hadn't.

Take a copy of Let's Go Europe or something similar. Rip out the
sections of the book you want if the whole thing is too big. Figure
out roughly where you'd like to go first.

Get a complete copy of the rail timetables, like Cook's. You'll be the
most popular person in any cheap hotel or hostel.

Get a cell phone to let you call ahead for accomodations you want (as
listed in Let's Go, forever). Can even call from the train. If you
don't talk too loudly.

Use a backpack w/o a metal frame (which will get bent); frameless is
the best in my opinion.

Get an interior (inside the pants) wallet. Watch out for pickpockets
in any train station, or near it, or in any tourist area. Seriously.

Test your backpack/shoes/etc before going. Can you walk a mile in it?

Well, a thousand more points come to mind. Check out what you can find
on the internet.

Frazier wrote:

I'm planning to go there with some family. If that fails, then I'd
still like to travel all over Europe by myself. Anyone here have
tried it?

Yes. Many times. Mostly hitchhiking (in earlier times) and by
motorbike (later).

Does it look pathetic or maybe dangerous?

Travelling alone is the best way to see something new.

I haven't been to Europe before but I'm a well travelled person. I've
been around Asia, US, and Canada alone.

So... If you are not bored with yourself, what should be dangerous in
Europe that is not in Asis or Northern America?

My plan is to reserve a hotel in Belgium, then fly there, then slowly
move towards France, then Italy, then Austria. Just me, my backpack,
and my tourist book. Without any family members tagging along, I can
stay there for 1 month.

Good idea or bad?

Good.

I guess if I plan my day-to-day movement ahead of time, it'll minimize
any disaster I'll encounter.

There'll be no desaster. Just stay where you enjoy it and travel on if
you don't like the place or the people where you are. BTW: For Belgium,
France, Italy and Austria you could also easily waste the rest of your
life. Don't plan for too much, and if it's just Belgium and a tiny
little part of France in one month, come back next year.

I once thought I could "do" the little country of New Zealand in two
weeks. After ten days, I felt that this hadn't been such a good idea,
threw away my airline ticket and stayed for another seven months. I
haven't seen to much of New Zealand, though :-)

Jens

"Frazier" wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm planning to go there with some family. If that fails, then I'd
still like to travel all over Europe by myself. Anyone here have tried
it? Does it look pathetic or maybe dangerous? I haven't been to
Europe before but I'm a well travelled person. I've been around Asia,
US, and Canada alone.

My plan is to reserve a hotel in Belgium, then fly there, then slowly
move towards France, then Italy, then Austria. Just me, my backpack,
and my tourist book. Without any family members tagging along, I can
stay there for 1 month.

Good idea or bad? I guess if I plan my day-to-day movement ahead of
time, it'll minimize any disaster I'll encounter.


I've done this a number of times on trips ranging in length from two weeks
to nine weeks. I loved it, and never had any problems of any kind. Of
course, accommodations are more expensive for singles, but on the other hand
being alone you may not mind staying in simpler places than you would
otherwise.

If it matters, my first trip alone was in 1965, when I was 25 years old. My
last was in 1992. Since then I have always traveled with someone else.

I have traveled alone in England, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden,
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Monaco, and Italy. Unless you have
that special someone to travel with, as I do now, it is the best way to go.
It sure beats guided tour groups!!!

Have fun.


Ron Audet
Fredericksburg, VA

On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 19:26:30 GMT, "Timothy Kroesen"
wrote:

I might recommend against a railpass even though I got one myself the
first time over. It required some real planning to get even close to
your money's worth; so much so IMO it 'cramped my style' a bit...

Especially if you're over 26, the railpass may be a bad bargain. Now
that there are so many cheap airfares, it makes sense to do the really
long distances by plane, and railpasses rarely pay off for short
distances.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup