<p>My daughter and a couple of her friends would like to take a trip together to Europe during the summer between high school and college. They can probably afford this, as long as it is a relatively budget trip. We are concerned about the safety of this–they want to travel without adult supervision. We haven’t said yes or no, yet. All three are sensible people and I would trust them to act reasonably and responsibly, within the context of being teenage girls. So, I have some questions:
Have any of you, or your kids, done this? What were the major problems, or issues, if any?
Where should they go? Are any places clearly better or safer than others?
Only one of them will be 18. Will she be able to get accomodations?
What do you think about youth hostels?
Any good resources for planning? Right now we have a copy of “Let’s Go Europe” which seems aimed at this kind of travel.</p>
<p>I know that there are some parents who wouldn’t allow this, and others who would encourage it. But I don’t really want to just take a poll, so please at least explain why you would or wouldn’t. Thanks.</p>
<p>My daughter went to Europe (France, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary) with a friend for three weeks during Christmas break of her first year in college, so that’s almost the same. We weren’t terribly concerned; they were both responsible kids who had gotten themselves from place to place pretty effectively on their own in the U.S. for years. They were on a tight budget, and there were days they didn’t eat a whole lot, but I don’t think they had any real trouble finding decent hostels to stay in.</p>
<p>So . . . .</p>
<ol>
<li>Yes. Running out of money.</li>
<li> They didn’t like Prague much – very expensive, no youth culture. The places they really enjoyed were places that cost less and had vibrant university communities, e.g. Budapest or (on another trip) Barcelona. As for safety – their purses or wallets are in danger everywhere, and their bodies are probably more at risk if they stay home.</li>
<li> Youth hostels.</li>
<li> Good idea, seems to work well.</li>
</ol>
<p>Mine went to Mexico at 18 with a 17 year old friend. :eek: But the situation was way different. No city to city travel in country, one destination. </p>
<p>D went after college before med school so I do have one bit of advice. I convinced her to set up an account on the Tripadvisor forums (Europe, specific country, and specific city forums) and ask lots of questions to the local pro’s. With their help, she did a bang up job of planning. Found great cheap hotels and useful train and flight info plus things to do on the cheap in the destination cities. That being said, she still overspent by at least 50% of her budget.</p>
<p>But you can’t beat the price and current info beats out of date anytime.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes. No major problems, but some minor stuff. For example, part of their plan was to cross over the France/Italy border (the alps) via taking a Gondola out of Chamonix. Due to weather the gondola didn’t run for a couple of days, so they ended up burning 2 days of their trip in a town with not much to do. Also, the heat in Rome was brutal although we warned them about this ahead of time. But in the big picture, all of the minor inconveniences were nothing that couldn’t be handled.</p></li>
<li><p>Can’t really answer this one. Have they been to Europe before? We personally have found that there is plenty to do in the major cities (i.e. Paris, London, Rome) to keep one busy for 3 weeks or so. All are more expensive obviously, but much of the sightseeing is free (or relatively inexpensive) and open to the public. Churches in Italy, for example, house much of the world’s greatest art. As far as safety, we reinforced with them the importance of watching for pickpockets, using a lock if they stored their stuff at a hostel, keeping their passport/money on their body at all times. </p></li>
<li><p>Both D and BF were 18, so they were able to get accomodations in hostels with no problem. I’m not sure if there is a rule if ALL are not 18. You can check that out, I’m sure.</p></li>
<li><p>I think there are good and bad hostels. We researched some ahead of time through online rankings, books, etc. I had them identify a hostel in each area so that they would at least have a plan. In a couple of cases they made reservations (Paris.) Once they moved because they didn’t feel safe, and from their description everything was all pretty barebones. They are typically dorm-style with a male room and a female room (but not always.) D did complain about drunk people coming in late in the Paris hostel and so she didn’t sleep well. As with everything, researching and planning ahead of time pays off in this department, though. Overall they did pretty well.</p></li>
<li><p>We used “Let’s Go” plus some of the Rick Steves guidebooks, plus lots of online resources. But again, after a trip to the bookstore and the library, we pretty much let them plot their course. I tried to step in when safety factors were an issue though.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I could go on and on, but I will say that we would have made the same decision to let them go. I could tell that she felt good about handling things on her own. It was a great experience and I could see a difference in her level of comfort in handling certain things afterwards… finding her way around the city where she attends college using the bus system, asserting herself with adults in her life, etc. </p>
<p>We didn’t for a couple of reasons. First, our kids worked during the full summer…they needed to earn their spending money for college. Second…both had already done some travel with a group…and we didn’t see a need for them to do this without a group at age 18.</p>
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<p>Is there any chance there is some organized group going on a tour that your girls could join? I would personally feel better if I KNEW that the lodging and transportation was all set for the trip.</p>
<p>
You would need to call the hotels and ask. </p>
<p>
Do your hostel research VERY carefully. Some are really good and others are really BAD. Both of my kids have stayed at hostels…my son says “stay away from the Hans Brinker Hostel in Amsterdam”…it’s the pits. My kids report some are safer looking than others. In some cases, my kids did NOT even consider leaving their belongings in the hostel while they did day sightseeing. This was very inconvenient. BUT better than worrying about losing their “stuff”.</p>
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<p>Good idea to plan far in advance…I’m sure you will find some excellent resources. Since we didn’t contemplate a trip of this sort for our kids, we didn’t get any resources to support it!</p>
<p>Obviously others have different viewpoints on this, but I would be more comfortable with such a trip following college graduation, rather than high school graduation. I hope my son will do this.</p>
<p>I would be very wary of this, especially since two of the girls will be underage at the time. Perhaps it might work out well if all of the girls have previous experience traveling to Europe (presumably with adults), but even then, I am doubtful.</p>
<p>Possibly relevant story: My daughter, who had never before traveled except by car, had to fly to a job interview during college. She found that there was a steep learning curve involved (especially when one of her flights was canceled), but she handled the situation well (she was 20 at the time and only a cell phone call away from people who could advise her). </p>
<p>At the time, she envied several of her friends who had flown many times with their families; she felt that they would be far better prepared to travel by air alone than she was. </p>
<p>But within the next few months, as her friends flew to various places for their own job interviews, she discovered that the situation was almost as unfamiliar to them as it was to her. Yes, they had been on planes before, but they had let their parents take the lead in terms of reservations, travel to and from airports, packing, security, changes in plans if there were flight delays or cancellations, etc. Basically, these kids had been oblivious to the logistics when they traveled; they didn’t know significantly more than she did. </p>
<p>So the question that crosses my mind is whether any of these girls paid attention to the logistics when traveling to foreign countries with their families. If not, maybe a simpler trip within the United States would be a better idea (although even then, they’re going to have a hard time finding places to stay, given their ages).</p>
<p>This is so timely a post for us. My D is considering the same. I am encouraging her. When I spent a few summers in Europe, I saw many European students on the train traveling.</p>
<p>Do the girls have any international travel experience? If not, maybe they should try something a little less challenging, or at least stick to England/Ireland where language won’t be a barrier as much. </p>
<p>My barely-17 year old daughter traveled with a barely-18 year old friend throughout Argentina, including some very remote areas. So I understand your worries. </p>
<p>I quelled my concerns with the knowledge that both girls were experienced travelers, and both spoke Spanish. </p>
<p>Still, I made them email every day, or close to it. (There were internet cafes everywhere.) It turned out to be an amazing trip, but can’t say I wasn’t relieved when they returned safely :)</p>
<p>The last couple of times I’ve been to Europe, I didn’t experience any language barriers at all in major cities (Amsterdam and Berlin). Even in Prague and Budapest we rarely encountered anybody who didn’t speak English. Also, two of the girls speak French and two speak Spanish. I expect that they will mainly want to visit cities.</p>
<p>As I have posted before- my daughter who has anxiety going into our unfinished basement :eek: - nevertheless, traveled in India essentially by herself for 4 months ( and spent several weeks in UK before returning home), when she was 18.
It was also her first flight that was not with a school class.</p>
<p>A major problem was theft.
She had her phone & wallet stolen shortly after she arrived, but she dealt with it quickly by buying another phone on the street after we wired $ to her.
( We also sent her a replacement debit card- we had added ourselves to her checking acct. so we could monitor transactions)</p>
<p>It can only help to have travel partners. D was unable to sleep while waiting for trains/planes because she had to watch her stuff.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>My son took his first trip by himself (well with another friend who had less travel experience than he did) over winter break freshman year. He went to India and Pakistan. :eek: They made all their hotel reservations over the internet, but decided one was too sketchy and switched to something else once they were there. I think there was definitely a learning curve. I traveled alone in Europe at 16, but I had had a lot of experience traveling with my family. My son had been to Japan and Scotland with us, but this was the first time he was responsible for travel and reservations. </p></li>
<li><p>Most of Europe is pretty safe with the caveat that you do need to be cautious about pickpockets. Last time I was in Rome there were gangs of gypsies that would surround you and were hard to fend off, but that was a long time ago. While the big cities are all worth seeing, I’d encourage them to consider seeing some of the countryside too. Bicycling and seeing the Chateaux along the Loire, or visiting hill towns in Italy for example. Don’t try to see too much. Paris, London, Rome all deserve a week. Europe isn’t disappearing you don’t have to see everything in one trip.</p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know if age is an issue. Lots of kids taking gap years traveling around Europe though.</p></li>
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<p>4.I was never a fan of hostels. Usually I found cheap bed and breakfasts.` </p>
<p>5.Let’s Go is nice, but I never had any luck getting reservations in any hotel they mentioned in the summer. My son is a fan (I think) of The Rough Guides.</p>
<p>I assume you know the drinking age is 18… worth having a chat to them about that esp as many of the other young travelers they meet en route could well be big drinkers…</p>
<p>My son and a friend went to Amsterdam on their own for 10 days in senior year of high school, during winter break. Both were 17 at the time. They stayed with a family friend of the other kid, so they didn’t have to find housing. The family friend gave them a floor to sleep on, but he wasn’t providing any supervision. They could come and go as they liked, and they were on their own for transportation and deciding how to spend their time.</p>
<p>It seemed to go well. If there were any big problems, the boys sheltered us from hearing about them. It did take them forever to find their way around on public transportation when they first arrived - actually, it took them over an hour to find the cell phone kiosk in the Schiphol airport, even though I had printed out a map of all the shops :-). Other than that, no problems. They did have to negotiate with each other how late they were going to sleep in the morning vs. getting up to go out and see things, but they’re old friends who know how to get along.</p>
<p>I travelled in Europe by myself for several weeks, when a college senior. Stayed in youth hostels or camped. Also lived there for two years.</p>
<p>The first and most important question is how travel-savvy are these girls? Can they negotiate arrangements and safety at home? Have they travelled alone at home? Can they read a map and a train schedule? My D1 couldn’t make it from a train terminal to the closest subway stop by herself in our nearest big city - no “city sense.” She’s in Europe now- with a group from her college. Couldn’t even tell me the address of the place they are staying for two weeks (after they had been there one week.) She’s getting better. </p>
<p>Why not send them to England, if they must go? No issue with language there.</p>
<p>I would not have been a big fan of this plan for my daughter … however she was an incredibly responsible person and given the right travel mates I’m pretty sure we would have let her … she also is an obsessive planner so everything would have been set before they left … and yes I would have worried the whole time.</p>