I am only 18, planning a trip by myself to Western Europe for graduation. What are the drinking ages and driving ages of those countries? Also, which places should I be worried about, safety-wise, as a young woman alone? Advice would be appreciated! Many thanks.

Hi dan,

You will be able to drive, but you won't be able to rent a car.

Most places you will be able to buy beer and wine.

Stay out of dark alleys.

The only country (arguably) in Western Europe with a minimum drinking age over 18 is Iceland. All other countries have no minimum, or minima below your age, for any kind of alcohol.

Over 18, with a valid US driving licence, you can drive anywhere in W Europe (the minimum is 18 everywhere but the UK, Poland and Iceland, where it's 17).

It's certainly virtually impossible to hire a car below 21. Whether it's totally impossible, I'm not so sure. You can certainly hire motor scooters and the like on some Greek islands at 18, and there's bound to be some sharp operator in London or Paris who'll hire you a car at a premium that compares unfavourably with a chauffeur-driven Rolls. In practice, unless you're borrowing a friend's car, dismiss thoughts of driving. Public transport, bikes and your own feet will get you absolutely anywhere.

It's actually hard to think of an area a visitor would think of going to that's seriously dangerous, though petty theft can be a problem anywhere if you're dumb. There are many unpleasant areas round the big towns, but you really have to be very odd to think of going near them.

The youth tourism-oriented belts of Ibiza, Rhodes, Crete and Cyprus are not places for a well-brought up young lady, or for anyone after 11pm.

Hi dancinchica54,
If you look younger than 18 you may be asked for ID In a pub.
But it doesn't happen too often unfortunately.
Just take the normal sensible precautions in cities,clubs/bars, do not leave your drink unattended not even for a moment. Drink spikers operate in these places, when girls go dancing they are known to drop stuff into drinks. But I am sure you know all that stuff already.
In the UK you can drive officially from 17 on a provisional licence accompanied and alone if you have a full licence, not sure about other countries. But car hire is normally only to over 21 yrs; as flanner says.

I have never heard of anyone younger hiring a car, this is due to the soaring cost of insurance for youngsters.

Good luck

Muck

Hey there D,

That fully rocks. You are going to have a blast -- I traveled by myself though Europe when I was 20, meeting up with diffferent friends who were living or studying over there, but otherwise just loving being able to set my own schedule/hear myself think.

First, as I'm sure you've already noticed, you'll have lots of people telling you you're crazy, you won't enjoy being by yourself, and that it's dangerous. Don't listen to any of them -- they're wrong ! , )

You might find First Time Europe to be a handy planning guide

http://travel.roughguides.com/europe.html

http://www.roughguides.com/store/det...ml?ProductID=1

It's more the 'how' instead of pure guidebook, but has oodles of insightful tips (e.g., don't use your railpass to do the overnight Italy->Greece ferry, waste of a rail day + it's cheaper & faster to fly on a lowcost carrier).

Besides FTE . . . . .If you have good street sense, you will be fine. There's nothing wrong with looking over your shoulder 'just to be sure,' asking restaurants to call a cab for you if you realize it's after dark & just don't feel like taking public transit home, and glaring at people (they don't know you, you will never see them again, and why you lookin' at me?) . . . also never forget the golden rule of 'not one word' for annoying dudes. You don't speak English, you don't speak any language they know. Just glare & they can't answer back. (My parisienne death glare is still a thing of fearsomeness.)

Don't drive, take the train everywhere. Public transit will get you everywhere you want to go. Definitely get the YHA Hostels membership

http://www.hihostels.com/openHome.sma

I made the decision to only stay at YHAs & was never disappointed. Best of all they will call ahead to your next city to reserve you a bed -- so you can make up your schedule as you go along.

Finally, unless I was having a sit-down meal & having a glass or 25cl pichet of wine, I made the decision not to drink alcohol. Why? It saved $ (and the more I saved, the longer I could travel), and I wasn't on the road to meet people/didn't feel like being social that often. Of course when I met cool people at the hostel or whatever, I'd go & have a beer with 'em.

(Um, it's legal for you to drink in the EU.)

It's still kind of weird for women to have a drink alone in a pub in the UK (people will think, who's she meeting?) . . . while if you do the party places in Greece and the Balearics, you will have literally hundreds of instafriends & a rocking good time. Maybe balance out the ragingness with cultural cities . . . ? : )

A couple more helpful URLs follow. You go!!!!

http://www.eurotrip.com/index.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/

Thanks so much for all the advice. Ealing_calling especially, the sites were really helpful, and so was the advice!! Thanks, guys

Second the train idea - 'inter-railing' is a popular thing among young Europeans. I think the special pass it's named after might is not available to people resident in other parts of the world, but if you do a Google search on Interrail, you should pick up lots of useful advice about how to organise such a trip.

18 year-olds can get a car leasing deal from French manufacturers for a period of 17 days to 6 months. See www.eurodrive.renault.com and www.peugeot-openeurope.com

dancin,
I too, think this is so wonderful for you . My son did the same thing, when he was 20. He used the trains, started out in London, on to Scotland, Brighton,then on to Germany. He stayed in hostels wherever he went or B&B's. He was alone but met so many great travelers along the way, some ended up coming to visit us when he came home.
He read everything he could get his hands on regarding travel, such as the Rough Guides and Budget Traveler guides.
I wish you great luck and Most Happy Travels

Don't drive, take the train (bus, metro, etc.). It's really the way to go in Europe, especially traveling solo (a car might be OK financially with 4 people sharing it). Another website is www.lonelyplanet.com and go to their BB called The Thorn Tree, Western Europe branch, a younger median age of posters than Fodors.

As far as safety, as with any city there's good and bad neighborhoods, read up on the places you choose to visit (i.e., directly around the train station is usually a little rougher, pickpocketing is more common around crowded tourist sites and train stations).

As others have said, you don't need to rent a car - maybe in certain areas of the Balkans or former Soviet Union it would be an advantage, but in W. Europe you're better off taking public transport. Petrol isn't subsidised the way it is in the US and, at a conservative estimate, it will cost you 4 times as much! Good news is, trains, buses, ferries, and so on are all frequent, reliable, and affordable.

As for travelling alone, all I can say is - be strong! If you're spending time in some city and find you're being hassled, put on your sunglasses and your walkman, perfect the steely-gaze-straight-ahead, and ignore everyone you want to ignore. If you know an obscure language, get rid of interlopers by just telling them - in Estonian, Ukranian, Maori, or Kinyarwanda - that you don't understand a word they say. Then walk away - it's all more bluff than danger.

However, once you get a bit of experience - don't be so afraid that you scare off people with whom it would be fun to talk about their country/life and yours. These types of conversations are one of the rewards of travelling - just learn to have them in a public place so you can get help if you make a misjudgement/trust someone you shouldn't. Good luck - it all sounds like a lot of fun!

I don't know statistically if they are safer, but they are relatively easy... sticking to some of the major cities and well traveled routes. I've been solo in Amsterdam, Venice and Paris (traveled by plane then train) and although sometimes a challenge I never felt unsafe - just joyful for the experience!

My sister spent a few months after college graduation travelling around Europe. She stayed in hostels and used public transportation, and a few times rented a bicycle. She had a few places she absolutely wanted to see, such as Paris and the country of our ancestors, but generally just talked with fellow residents at the hostels and made her decision on where to go next.

For your original question (and topping this post) check-out some guidebooks from the library. For your age travelers Let's Go, Rough Guides, Lonely Planet are all popular. I'm sure they would answer the specifics like drinking and driving ages, but also give you all kinds of good tips and planning info.

Whaddayaknow, a relevant article in my own paper the same day as the original enquiry (which I've only just caught up on):
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/saturda...262844,00.html

Back atcha with some more links . . . . .

http://www.letsgo.com/

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

http://www.thinkparis.com/

Have fun!