ilovetulips

My husband and I are taking our first trip this May to Europe. I am 32 and he is 34. We both have bachelor's degrees and have been working for several years. Now that we are settled this is the first time financially that we are really ready to embark on our adventure. After college, I made a goal that I wanted to go to Europe by the time I was 30. It didn't happen but I am not too far off. When was the first time you went?

Grinisa

I was eight. We visited my relatives in Hungary and France then went to Italy, where I've returned just about every year since.

mv_rd

I was 27. I'm taking my second trip in May but it will be my husband's first trip (he's 27).

Lennyb

I first went when I was 22 and fell so in love with it that I vowed to myself to go every year. Well....that didn't happen. Had a wonderful trip to London and Paris last May and am now counting the days (seven!) til my next trip. Have a wonderful time.

mamarosa

I was 6 on my first trip to Europe, flew by myself. My grandmother met me off the plane in London. I spent many summers in Yorkshire. Also traveled to Greece with my other grandmother when I was 8 for the summer.

My summer trip when I was 12 turned into two years, living with my sister and her husband. I came home for the summer (to the US) and upon my return to the UK was asked where my Visa was....as a smart ass 14 year old, I quickly replied that I was too young to have a credit card! 4 hours in a small room (table, chair, water fountain and pay phone) and a few frantic collect calls to my parents in the States later, the Immigration Nazis (as I so lovingly referred to them) put me on a National Express bus to Bradford, and stamped my passport with a huge stamp that said "DEPORTATION....MUST LEAVE COUNTRY NO LATER THAN (can't remember the date)". What the hell did I know about student visas? I blame my psycho sister for that one!

I've made several trips back to the UK since then (AFTER I got a new passport!!), and I'm finally going to make the trip with the whole family this May. Hubby and the kids have never been, but have lived through many of my trips.

This time I'll be more of a tourist, rather than a 'visting the family'-ist.

I wouldn't change the experiences I had for the world, even the Immigration Nazis, as strange as it may sound to some, it was just a page in my not-so-normal life!

tedgale2

Two years 11 months. September 1955: First Class passage to England (docking at Liverpool). We sailed on the Empress of France.

That crossing -- or the one on the way back -- represents some of my earliest memories:

The elevator operator who had a tray of hand puppets with which he entertained children between floors

The stewardess who came in with fresh fruit at 3 am because we children woke up in the night and weren't supposed to disturb our parents

Helping my mother button her clothes at the back after she crushed her right hand in a revolving door. (She was trying to collar me before I smashed into the glass....)

First trip alone: To Europe at 17, in 1970. Three glorious months of wandering on my own, interspersed with visits to a friend's summer place in the Luberon...staying with a friend's parents (a Canadian ambassador and wife) in Switzerland...dropping in for a drink in Hyde Park Gardens with the octogenarian widow of statesman Lord V.(another friend's great-aunt)...

WAS I SPOILED!!!!!!

And I took it all for granted.

Ten days off work for a lightning trip somewhere seems like bliss these days.

But the memories are sweet.

ms_go

I was 15 when I went on a six-country trip with a high school group -- and one of my roommates was....(several posts up) Grinisa!

I've been back many times for work and pleasure. We try to go once a year for vacation -- very slowly working through the long list of places we want to visit. We're also trying to get our daughter hooked on the travel thing early on; her first trip was at age seven, and in June she will visit Europe for the sixth time.

rex

You can find 114 other answers here: http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34382086

Best wishes,

Rex

suze

To celebrate my 40th birthday. I traveled quite a bit starting as soon as I was out of college, always to the Caribbean or Mexico. For whatever reason Europe didn't interest me when I was younger.

nytraveler

When I was 19. I received a tiny inheritence from my godmother - and my boyfriend convinced me I didn't have to work two jobs again that summer - could manageto pay for the last two years of school working only part of the summer - and we took 6 weeks to toot around europe.

One of the greatest experiences of my life!

krix

I was 15 when I went to Spain as part of a summer-long immersion program with other teenagers from around the US. One month in Madrid and the other in Malaga, with plenty of weekend / daytrips in between. It was an experience to see another culture, but also to see the differences in the kids from the regions of the US. "Nick from Philly" had a completely different way of handling culture shock and city life in Madrid as compared to "Owen from Wyoming." Being from California and rooming with girls from Georgia, I came home speaking Spanish with a southern accent.

Statia

I was 15. My high school dance team was invited to perform in 8 countries. The locals all over the place were quite stunned by 60 teenaged girls from Texas drooling in awe.

P_M

I was 16, and I paid for it myself!! I heard about a school-sponsored trip to Europe for 5 weeks. It was with a tour group that specializes in teen travel. It started in London, ended in Rome, and we saw everything inbetween. I wanted to go more than anything in the world, but money was scarce. I got an after-school job and saved my pennies for almost a year. I think I was the only kid in the group that didn't have parents who could pay my way. This was quite a dream trip for me, and will forever be the best trip of my life.

dorkforcemom

When I was 9 my parents took me for 3 weeks to London, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria - it was incredible! That whet my appetite for a life-long love of travel!

Marsha

I was 20 when I first went to Europe and spent a semester of my junior year in France. My daughter was 8 and my son was 7 when they first went to Europe. They now have the "travel bug" too!

cmt

I was 16. It was the summer after I graduated from high school, and my father qualified for a cheap group rate on flights from NYC to London, Paris to NYC. I went with my parents for a month, starting in London, then by car through Italy from Milan to Venice and Lorence and down through central and southern Italy to Sicily, including a visit to the little mountain town of San Salvatore di Fitalia, and then by ferry from Palermo to Naples and back up through Italy and France to Paris.

tuscanlifeedit

35; many years and many trips ago...

rex

Wow. I didn't realize that 15 would be the answer most given. It's my answer too.

dln

14 years old for me, to Ireland to see my ancestors' graves (among other things!). I can't say I was impressed, but I would like to return one day. I'll appreciate it more now.

My children, on the other hand, had passports when they were infants. Took them to England to see <i>their</i> ancestors' graves. They didn't appreciate it either.

kk

I was 20 and went to Finland, Sweden and six weeks in the Sovie Union, where I fell in love with that strange country AND foreign travel in general.
You can read more about it on the old thread that Rex noted above.