S2 is graduating this May (yipee) and traveling through Europe with a friend for the month of June. They attend different universities and are both busy so they haven’t done any real planning and I assume they wont until before they leave.
Obviously, it is their trip to plan (or not) so I am just looking for general advice from anyone whose kid may have done this. Given that it’s June and a busy travel month in Europe, will they need to book accommodations, train tickets, etc prior to leaving? Or are they fine to just wing it as they go which gives them the option of a flexible schedule? And, is the Eurorail pass worth it? I read that it has restrictions and that flying between some cities is easier and not too expensive. But are those tickets available at the last minute?
Their tentative list is Dublin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Prague, Barcelona, Germany (not sure where) and Italy (need to decide - so many choices). They realize this list is too aggressive for a month, so they will have to make some tough choices! They arrive in Dublin and depart from Rome so those are the only 2 guaranteed locations as of now.
So basically, if your graduate did something similar - did they actually plan at all? Or were they able to find air/train tickets and decent, safe hostels/hotels while they were there?
And, my disclaimer - the boys did ask for general travel advice so I am not trying to be a control freak planner…although the thought of them sleeping on the streets did keep me up last night :((
My oldest and his (now fiance) GF spent a month in Europe together the summer of 2013. They (mostly she) planned enough to nail down cheap airfair and places to stay. They flew to Berlin, stayed a few days, took the train to Prague, stayed awhile, then I believe they flew to Rome (very cheap flight, and the train would have taken too long) where they met her parents and toured Rome, Florence, Venace and Tuscany with them for a week. Then the two of them spent a week at a B&B in Interlochen (took the train there I think) before returning home. They stayed in hotels in Italy, but otherwise were in B&B’ and hostels. They planned where to stay and how to travel between places ahead of time, and had general plans on what they wanted to do in each place, but beyond that were flexible.
Summer is crowded and expensive, so it was helpful to their budget to do some planning ahead. Having said that, the hostels were not full, but the hotels, B&B’s and flights were.
Their favorite place was the tiny B&B near Interlochen. They spent the week doing day hikes in the area. It was peaceful and beautiful, especially after the hectic crowds in Italy.
There was always internet service, and they contacted us at least once every few days. They left their itinerary with us before they left.
A friend’s son spent a month in France this past October, without planning any of his travels ahead of time, and was fine. He couch surfed and ride shared all over the country. His parents did not know where he was from day to day. They were not very comfortable about it, but their son is well travelled and 25 years old.
Our kids are generally more comfortable with “flexible” vacation plans than we are.
My son graduated in 2014 and went to Europe for three weeks with two friends in May to June. What they did plan is: bought their plane tickets in January, and also bought their Eurorail passes ahead of time as you save money doing this. They bought them in December or January if memory serves me correctly. Then they then made reservations at a hostel in Paris for the first three nights (their first destination). Then, for their next destination, they would start looking for places to stay a few days prior to arriving at their destination. They mostly stayed in youth hostels or inexpensive small hotels or B and B’s. They traveled to Paris, Austria, Italy, Germany and Amsterdam. Interestingly, they had the most difficulty finding accommodations in Amsterdam, their last city to visit. They were having such problems they even contacted a few of their mothers to look on the internet to help them find a place. But in the end they were finally able to locate a place on their own. Europe is expensive and even hostels are at least $30-$40 a person in a hostel. They mostly did a three person private room in the hostel with a private bath. I told them it was fine to “wing it” as that is how I traveled to Europe when I was in my 20’s, but that having a place to stay at their first destination was recommended. Nowadays with smartphones and wifi it is easy to look up places to stay.
Yes, nowadays high speed trains do require an additional fee beyond the regular Eurorail fee. You have to buy this ahead of time and no, I do not think you can wing it on this . My son took several fast speed trains and also night trains to save time and hotel fees and they planned this out ahead of time. I do not think you can just show up and do this. They did have one problem on an Italian train from Milan to Rome. They paid the extra fee required for either the high speed train or the night train, and yet when they arrived at the station the train staff insisted they still owed more money. My son called the police over to see if they could help, and the police sided with the train staff and they had to pay an additional fee. He now says Italy is corrupt! Which is probably true!
Their itinerary is very ambitious, which means they can’t waste a lot of time in each given city looking for accommodations, buying tickets, etc.
If they really want to see so much in such a short time, they need to pre-plan pretty much everything. Conversely, they need to be flexible if they want to “wing it.”
One good thing about going in June - many European kids are still in school in June, so fewer Europeans are traveling as compared to July/August.
Speaking of money, how fast the plane tickets go up as you approavh the travel time? My D is also going to Europe after graduation with friends. They can’t lock in the return date until later. Their return will be in July. Can they wait until the first or second week of June and get a ticket at a price that won’t shock them too much?
Make sure they get an ISIC card before they travel. They can get lots of discounts on museums, restaurants, trains, etc. My kids have used them all over Europe. It also includes basic travelers insurance, but they can upgrade if they want more coverage.
Usually the key to saving money is advance planning. For example, if you want to buy a train ticket from London to Paris for tomorrow (no passes are valid on this journey) the cheapest price is £138. Booked a few weeks in advance this ticket would be about £60. Don’t even think of using budget airlines last minute. This is how they make their money.
June is the best time of year though, because as already mentioned most kids in Europe are still in school. For example, in England the school holidays are 3rd week of July until end of August.
Are there any absolute must-sees that the travellers should book (Harry Potter studios for example, no walk ups) ?
We traveled in June a few years ago and as others have said there are a few things to nail down ASAP. A general itinerary with locations and dates is very important so that travel can be arranged. As mentioned previously, the trains fares only go up with each passing week. The same goes with flights. They are very cheap when booked in advance (although it is very impt. to know that many of the small discount airlines travel from small airports far outside the cities – getting there can be costly and time consuming.) We were amazed at how expensive the trains became the closer we were to traveling - and how costly a change in plans would have been with the last minute rates.
If they are flexible and not picky, they can leave the accommodations until a little later or “wing it” but I would make sure that the transportation plans are a bit more formalized. We were looking for specific hotel needs (room for 5 people or two rooms close by) so we booked ahead of time and still struggled with no vacancies.
Europe has become much more accessible and they are seeing more and more tourists every summer – I would suggest that they do a bit of planning.
My daughter did this last summer as an 18 year old. She and her friend that she met in Europe did all the planning. I They did a variety of trains, planes and buses to get around and stayed mostly in hostels. If you care about cost, I would strongly advise booking all city to city travel and lodging ahead of time as prices and availability go up. Also you will waste a lot of your limited time in Europe figuring out and booking your next move if you do it on the fly.
They have an extremely ambitious agenda of places they want to visit. Even if June will be less busy than the summer or even September, it is still busy and you have to factor in what it is you want to see in each place. The days of just walking up to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona for example and waltzing in are long gone. That is what it was like back when I did my Europe on $5 a day trip in the 70’s. About 5 years ago I was in Barcelona at the end of August and it was a two hour wait just to get into Sagrada Familia. In Paris without purchasing a museum pass you can wait on line for the Louvre for several hours. I think you don’t need to plan every detail but they should sort of figure out the most important things they want to see and do and plan the trip accordingly. It is good to have a place to stay planned out for the first night. It is good to start researching hostels or air b&b options. My daughters have both travelled in Europe on several different trips. Younger d most recently did a three week trip with her boyfriend and with the exception of a few nights stay with family friends/relatives in different places, they for the most part had air b & b but there were places that wasn’t an option such as in The Black Forest in Germany and in some places in Switzerland and so they had reservations at either hostels or hotel/pensions.
Also you have to study on a map where the hostels or air b & b locations might be. Sometimes if a place is really inconveniently located (commuter rail line into the city for example) but less expensive the travel time to get back and forth might not be worth it.
D1 traveled around the world by herself in the fall of 2013. The only things she bought ahead were her ticket from Chicago to Dublin, her lodging in Dublin, and a Eurail pass. She even managed to get a visa for China while she was in Vietnam, visiting D2. In between Dublin and Beijing, the trip included London, Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Serbia, Israel, a South Pacific island, and Vietnam.
^That sounds like a great trip - what an experience for her!
I did want to comment that there is a difference between traveling in the fall and traveling in the summer. I have already booked multiple tickets to Asia and Europe for both summer and fall 2016 - the fall tickets (October - still good travel weather and season) were cheaper and seat selection was wider. Summer crowds can be large.
Even traveling in September, I have been locked out of my preferred hotels in Paris by booking too late - too late being 4 months in advance. (Other places were available, just not my first choices.)
I know kids travel differently than middle-agers like me - I did the back pack summer trip as a 20 year old, great experience. I would advise my own kids to nail down any city where they wanted to spend several days and make reservations so as not to be locked out of anything decent or be scrambling for something. If they enjoy museums, galleries, etc, as noted above, they should do some research and see if timed tickets are needed and should be booked in advance. This is very, very common and I have seen angry, disappointed travelers being turned away as well as others waiting for hours while those who pre-planned a bit walked right in. Mine used ISIC cards - some countries have better “deals” for US students than others, but it paid back the small purchase price.
I think the Eurorail passes may be harder to use than when I was young - do have them research this. I was told that you often have to reserve places now – but I don’t know if that is true or not. Those days are over for me. Sigh…
D1 did Istanbul, Athens, Rome, Switzerland and Berlin last summer. She booked accommodations (lots of hostels) beforehand, but did a bit of switching while there if places didn’t work. Ditto for train tickets and flights.
A lot of activity planning was done on the fly, but some was done in advance. In Rome, for example, the line to buy tickets for the Colosseum and Forum is LONG. You can save literally hours by purchasing those tickets in advance, online.
As she was planning for the trip, I got a text message commenting on how much work it was to plan a vacation, along with her acknowledgement of how much work we the parents had put into this kind of thing over the years.
Thank you all for the advice!! Looks like the boys REALLY need to start narrowing down some of these details. Neither one is very detail oriented, plus they are both so busy so this could be interesting…
I am an extreme trip planner so sitting on the sidelines isn’t easy. $-)
If they end up winging it, the ordinary trains that are not high speed and/or make more frequent stops are less costly and don’t require as much advance booking time.
I have done the whirlwind tour 9 countries in three weeks kind of travel. And I have done the 2-3 countries in 3 weeks kind of travel. Maybe it is just my age, but I prefer more time doing and less time in transit. If I were planning a trip now, I’d stick to 2-3 contiguous countries at most. For example, there are reduced price Eurail passes that are good for France, Belgium and the Netherlands, I believe. Or ones that limit the traveler to 5 or 6 long distance legs over a month long period. Lots to choose from.
If flying between cities is of interest, that they must book early.
