Planning my first trip WITHOUT parents.

Parent Cafe
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<p>I will be a freshman in college at a school in Washington this fall. My two best friends are going to Boston University and Santa Clara in California…so needless to say we will all be going in very different directions. However, we have decided that we would like to travel to Italy together next summer for 3 weeks or so. The three of us have been working hard all summer and have managed to make a decent amount of money. We will continue to work throughout the school year. </p>

<p>My friend who goes to school at Santa Clara will finish around mid June, a month after my other friend and I. During that time we plan on staying on the mainland (we are from hawaii) and continuing to work until my friend finishes school. We will all meet in Boston and spend a couple nights at my friend’s sister’s house before leaving for Italy. From there we plan on spending around 3 weeks. We will then have to return home to Maui. </p>

<p>I’m sorry for the EXTREMELY rushed post but I was wondering if any of you could give us suggestions…anything from travel advice to good airfares…anything!</p>

<p>ps. this trip may sound a little far-fetched but I really do believe it is possible as long as we remain focused and organized. </p>

<p>thanks in advance!</p>

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<p>Get a copy of “Let’s Go Italy” and read it cover to cover. Visit the Rick Steves website and explore parts of it, especially tourist feedback on Italy. enjoy! :)</p>

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<p>I recommend <a href=“http://www.kayak.com%5B/url%5D”>www.kayak.com</a> for air fares. You can select a daily email “buzz” on the route you need. That way you can monitor the air fare and jump on it when there is a dip in the price. You may also check into charter fares - Condor Air flies to Germany cheaply. There are cheap airfares within Europe (Ryan Air) or go the overland route (always fun). </p>

<p>Check into International Youth Hostels for places to stay on the cheap. Good place to meet other youth folks traveling. </p>

<p>Lonely Planet Guides are excellent up-to-date guide books that cater to the budget minded folks</p>

<p>You will have plenty of time to research and plan this trip. I’ve never been to Italy, but absolutely everyone I know who has, LOVES IT. My son’s 18 year old friend just got back from a trip there (and brought me chocolate!), He had a fabulous time. If you can take a lanugage class or pick up a few words the trip will that much more enjoyable. Have a great time.</p>

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<p>I’ve travelled to Italy as a youngster. You are in for a treat!</p>

<p>For a 20 day stay…I might suggest 7 days in Rome with side trips out to Villa D’Este, 1 day in Pompeii, 3 days in Florence, 4 days travelling through Tuscany, 4 days in Venice.</p>

<p>Stay in hostels or flats in the center of town if you can.</p>

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<p>I second reading Rick Steves’ Guides. I’ve used them for trips to Europe and they are invaluable.</p>

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<p>Agree with all the above suggestions
Statravel.com and student universe are other good recources for students seeking airfares.
You need to work out your arrangements on paper yourself (in conjunction wiht your travelling partners, of course), then have a parent or someone you know who has lots of travel/ air flight experience check them over before you buy tickets. Might be worth a small fee to get prof help, either through statravel or your own travel agency, also.</p>

<p>I would change Cheers itinerary a bit, decrease the Tuscany time, maybe the Rome time, and do 2 days in the “Pompeii” area, that will allow you to go to Sorrento and/or Capri. I love Tuscany, but some of it would be hard to do without a car.</p>

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<p>Best guides for art and architecture are the UK Blue Guides–there is one for all of the major cities of Europe.</p>

<p>Also, take Streetwise maps. Can’t buy them over there.</p>

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<p>youth hostels!!! cheap, fun and safe, especially for 3 women, and often have washers and dryer and adventures- bring a locks, and share combos, etc</p>

<p>share meals, ie 2 dishes for 3 people, but tip for 3 meals</p>

<p>when traveling together, take care of each other, its easy to get distracted when having a meal so remind each other about keeping purses, etc safe, and such- when you are alone, you often watch your stuff more carefully, but in a group, well, may assume your stuff is safer, and it is not</p>

<p>when going into many churches, you must hvae covered shoulders and not be dressed too bare, so plan for that</p>

<p>it may be hot, and when my Ds and I went two years ago, we found lose skirts the most comfortable and easiest to wash</p>

<p>you want to be able to move easily from place to place and believe it or not, a carry on will be just find, its summertime</p>

<p>also, bring an umbrella for rain and break in walking shoes ahead of time</p>

<p>bring lots of bandaids, etc for the feet</p>

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<p>Pick up an art history textbook (such as Jansen, History of Art) or ask a major; look up “Classical Rome” and the “Early Renaissance” and “High Renaissance” periods. Decide what looks delicious to you and take note of where the galleries are located.
For example, you won’t want to miss the doors of the Duomo Cathedral in Florence and you’ll find out about them in an art history book.
Some of the architecture in Florence is beautiful but in smaller cathedrals such as Santa Croce, or an individual fresco such as by Massaccio, but you need to know which church to walk into to find it. With luck, you might find yourself staying in one of those neighborhoods, so can add to your enjoyment by knowing the street address of the relatively modest church.
You can certainly visit a church just to see the art; simply keep a quiet voice as others will be praying in pews, but you don’t have to pray to enter the church. It’s well understood in Italy.</p>

<p>For a major gallery such as the Uffizi in Florence (worth half-a-day at least) you need to make reservatioins for time-of-entry in advance. I just learned this from someone who travelled there this month. There you’ll see a great concentration of great Florentine painters such as Botticelli.
In Rome, plan to spend time in the Museum of the Vatican to see some great masterpieces, such as the Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling, portraits by Raphael, and more. </p>

<p>You can eat well in Italy at a “trattoria” which is less expensive than a “ristorante.”</p>

<p>For girls (my info based on a semester abroad 30 years ago…), it was no hassle walking around the streets of Italy from Florence and northward. When we got to Rome, we began to be hassled and followed down streets by men. It was quite a difference, in those days, Northern vs. Southern Italy, for women travellers. At that point, we cancelled our plans to visit rural southern Italy (Calabria, Sicily).</p>

<p>If you learn some travel phrases, the people will ADORE you, even if they then revert to English. Learn and use a few social phrases in Italian, just for the sake of hospitality. It’s fun and nobody will make fun of you in Italy (as some say about trying your schoolgirl French in France).</p>

<p>I took a composition notebook and made sketches and a journal every day in Italy at age 19; today in my mid-50’s it’s among my most treasured possessions.</p>

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<p>My D spent 2 months in Italy this summer and it was the best experience ever! She was there for a 6 week summer IP program through her college. She then traveled 2 more weeks with her best friend from h.s. </p>

<p>Her favorite places in order: Florence (where she studied) Venice (so romantic she cried), Lake Guardia in the north, Pompeii, Capri, the coast, Rome. Wasn’t thrilled with Rome, felt it was seedy and she was probably tired of ruins by that point.</p>

<p>Her IP program included a 3 night 4 day cruise of the greek Isles…The highlight of her trip…visited many ruins and historical sites, as wellas beautiful beaches.</p>

<p>She also took short trips to Salzburg, Barcelona, and Paris. She was able to get cheap fights on Ryanair. Travel on a Wednesday, flights are really cheap midweek.</p>

<p>Everything in Italy is expensive right now. My D went through her cash in half the time she expected, so be careful to plan.</p>

<p>Book lodgings early! The closer the date, the more expensive, prices shoot up in July. We shopped online a lot to find good prices, good central locations, and atmosphere! The hostiles are usually a good price, but D stayed in Inns mostly as we were able for the 2 of them find comparable prices with their own bathroom. Be careful to read all the hostile details and many are co-ed, so know your comfort zone. Here is where D stayed in Rome and it turned out really nice. Don’t arrive in Rome at night. Ask for Isa…she runs 2 B&B’s in Rome and was extremely helpful!</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.downtownaccomodation.com/[/url]”>http://www.downtownaccomodation.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The food was fabulous in Italy…she gained a few pounds hahaha!</p>

<p>She also stayed at Hotel Botticellli in Florence and said it was really nice.</p>

<p>Also lots of places for young people to enjoy nightlife in Florence because there are several IP Programs there. Her favorite was an Irish pub in Florence! But be safe, (sorry always a Mom). Don’t take drinks from strangers, don’t leave open drinks unattended… the drinking age is 18 (maybe 16!) but be smart…you are in a foreign country.</p>

<p>Also ther are gypsies from eastern europe in Italy and they can steal your wallet without you ever knowing it. Be careful with your purse and passport. Make copies of your passport and birth certificate and keep them separate. Also leave copies with your parents. Don’t carry al ot of cash. D witnessed several close calls with friends.</p>

<p>The men do pinch…on trains stand with backs to the wall. Also they will comment on “Bobs” the second “o” is intentionally left at as D said this is how the italians pronounced it! Hysterical!</p>

<p>You might want to consider seeing if any of your schools have a summer IP rogram in Italy and it they accept students from otehr schools. Being in the program was a great base for my D and she learned a lot about the culture before heading out on her own the last 2 weeks.</p>

<p>Good Luck, have fun!</p>

<p>Ciao</p>

11

<p>thank you so much for all the wonderful suggestions. my friends and i have been discussing it a lot and we’ve decided that we will stay in europe for a month and expand our trip to include other countries in europe. right now we’re looking into buy eurail passes. would you recommend this?</p>

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<p>bump please :)</p>

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<p>This is sort of basic, but do you all have passports? If not, apply right away (if any of you are under 18, you will need a parent’s signature, so it’s best to do it before you leave for college). </p>

<p>It takes three months (or an exorbitant rush fee) to get a passport nowadays.</p>

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<p>Yes we do. We all actually went to Europe (France, Italy, England) for our AP Euro class this past spring but we’d love to go back on our own.</p>

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<p>youth hostels, can’t say enough for them- there are some great books that describe most of them, and some good resources online</p>

<p>If I was travelling there again, sans H, I would absolutely do the hostel route, we met some great people in Paris and Rome, and my D stayed in one in NYC and she felt totally safe and it was about of 30dollars a night, with bagels and juice in the morning, she could eat take out in the dining area with other students, and had a blast</p>

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<p>Surfette, re:Eurail passes. This is where things get complicated, and you need to do your homework. First, apply for an International Student Card, the name is something like that. You can get info on <a href=“http://www.statravel.com%5B/url%5D”>www.statravel.com</a>. the studentuniverse website or Rail Europe. This card gets you lots of free and reduced admissions, and other student discounts.
While waiting for your cards to arrive, begin researching on <a href=“http://www.raileurope.com%5B/url%5D”>www.raileurope.com</a> to learn about the rather complicated types of rail passes. Also do some searches on statravel, and on ryanair. Remember that sometimes you have to have a reservation as well as a rail pass. Second class may be perfectly acceptable. My D did end up getting a rail pass, but it worked for her because she did a lot of travel within one country, then took one long train trip - Paris to Milan to Germany. But she actually flew from London to Paris, it was much cheaper. You have to research this, it may be cheaper in many cases to fly.</p>

<p>You also need to look into buses as well, particularly if you want to go to small hill towns in Tuscany - the SITA buses run there. That’s why I suggested only a brief visit to Tuscany, the trains and buses are very slow, outside of stopping in Siena, maybe Cortona.</p>

<p>A book out of the library about rail travel in Eurpoe may also help - just remember that the fares and types of passes change all the time, you will eventually have to check online.</p>

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<p>Really good advice here – especially from JC. I have posted tips for overseas travel on here before. Don’t have time to find it now, but maybe you can. </p>

<p>But the key thing is to be organized in advance to avoid problems. Copies of passports, credit/debit cards and important documents should be carried with you, separate from original docs. (I know JC said it, I’m saying it again). Do not ever EVER leave valuables in hotel/hostel rooms, even if the door is locked. Some hostels are notorious for ‘inside jobs’ (working at US Consulate, I cranked out more than a few emergency passports for kids overseas who left stuff in a locked room). YOu don’t want to spend your valuable vacation time in consulates or embassies, believe me! Also, make sure you email your itinerary to parents, etc. so they know how to reach you at all times. Carry your passport, money and credit cards in a pouch around your neck or waist and under your clothes. It looks dorky, but it works. Carry maps, water, ‘unvaluables’ etc. in backpack. Try not to use cell phones or laptops in an open area (where a thief can grab it and run away easily).</p>

<p>Another thing on a personal note – you have stated on cc that you like to ‘party’ (I think that was you?). Please be very, very careful, hon. Some beer and wine in Europe has a much higher alcohol content than in the U.S. The ‘date rape’ drug is out there, too. Marijuana has a higher potency. I wish I could tell you we haven’t had sad cases of young Americans having a good time, drinking too much and being robbed, mugged, raped or even worse. </p>

<p>Have a brilliant time – keep your eyes open and wits about you, and here’s hoping you will come back with only great memories!</p>

<p>Buon Viaggio!
A.M.
ps, learning some basic Italian phrases (and numbers, etc.) is always a good idea. Italians are fantastic people and their language is beautiful.</p>

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<p>And don’t drive drunk (I know you wouldn’t :wink: , but just in case…). The penalties are very severe in many EU countries.</p>

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<p>can’t say enough good things about the hostels for someone in your age group,unless you are an upscale luxury type of gal…D used them when travelling England,Scotland,France and Ireland had great things to say,met great people from all over the world.</p>

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<p>thank you all so much for your advice…so far it’s been very useful!</p>

<p>i signed up to receive notices for the cheapest airfare from boston to europe during june 08. i was wondering what you folks would consider a “good deal”. i was also wondering if you’ve found that it’s cheaper to fly roundtrip from the same city or if it really matters at all to go from…lets say, boston-paris then london-boston. i’m assuming that the second way would require me to purchase 2 one-way tickets, which seems to be a bit more pricey. am i correct?</p>

<p>thanks for all the great tips so far…and please keep them coming!</p>

<p>ps. i will definitely avoid too much alcohol…getting drunk in a foreign country is not a good idea.</p>