traveling alone
 

is it hard to travel alone? i am 22 year old female and fresh out of college? do you have any tips on safety? how should i get around? can i sleep on the eurail? i have lots of questions!

I find it quite easy and enjoyable to travel alone, at least some of the time. I am always unanimous in my decisions about where to go, when and where to eat, etc.

Regarding safety. Generally I never arrive in any town after dark - it's far easier to get ones bearings in a strange place during daylight hours.

How should you get around? Depends on where you are going. If your idea is to criss cross Europe for a month, then train travel and a rail pass can be ideal.

I always use the website www.bahn.de to check train schedules throughout Europe.

Regarding sleeping on the eurail. First of all, there is no such thing as the Eurail, besides from the pass. There are trains. Yes, you can sleep on trains. In my younger days I would often do this, especially on long overnight journies. I would not recommend doing this alone. There is safety in numbers. I would not recommend sleeping on trains, period. Not necessarily because of safety, but because waking up in a warm bed, clean bathroom and shower nearby is required nightly in my book.

If you are taking long overnight trips, then you are probably travelling too far by train, in my opinion. If you are on a tight budget, then use the extensive network of hostels around Europe.

The beauty of Europe is not just the major capitals, but many of the small towns that dot the countryside of every nation.

Take time to smell the roses and absorb the local culture, rather than rush long distance from city to city. You can try to sleep on a 3hr train ride, but if you doze off to deeply you'll end up somewhere you never planned.

If you have specific questions, go ahead and post them here. The more specific you can be, the better answers you're likely to get. I'm sure someone will complain if you throw out oft answered questions that make it seem as though you've not done enough prior research, but you're better off just ignoring any replies you don't like.

Here are 3 links that discuss travel safety for women alone. If you google it, there are a lot more. Good luck!

http://tinyurl.com/cacqz
http://tinyurl.com/jgtj7
http://tinyurl.com/lgz2y

You can easily travel europe by yourself - if you're a sensible adult.

Tips on safety are the same as they are for any large city (I don;t know why I have to say the below since all seem obvious to me - but I have learned from reading this board that they are new ideas to some people):

Don't trust strangers offering to "help" - with luggage or special deals

Anything that seems to be too good to be true isn;t true

Don't drink too much, accept drugs from or go home with people you don't know (2 days doesn't count)

Make friends with people you meet in hotel or hostel - but trust only within limits

Stay out of bad neighborhoods and dark alleys at night - if in doubt take a cab

Watch your belongings like a hawk

Do not use a backpack or fanny pack (all valuables should be in something across your shoulders hanging in front of you)

Don't travel the overnight train alone (unless you plan on staying up all night hanging onto your belongings - or renting a private and locked compartment)

Make sure you are prepared before you go - everything is different - even if only a little

Learn basic tourist in the language of eery country you will go to (Please, thank you, where is, how much,, numbers, days of the week etc)

Don't eat in restaurants with menus in 8 languages or pictures of the food (they will be overpriced and not very good)

Read, study, make plans and most important put together a realistic budget (and always take along US$500 cash in mad money - and have access to more money at home if you need it)

Then relax and enjoy.

you ask if it is hard to travel alone. Do you mean hard in a personal sense or hard to navigate, etc.? If you are not comfortable being alone then it might not work for you in Europe either. It does get lonely when you see other people laughing and having fun with friends and you are by yourself. I have traveled both ways and traveling solo is not for every one. Good luck.

It's not hard, and in some ways I prefer it, because you get to do whatever YOU want to do, no wrangling with other people, coming to consensus, and all that (not that that's necessarily bad, just different). Only possible problem is finding stuff to do at night, depending on where you're staying and what you prefer to do.

As for safety, major cities in Europe are generally similar to those in the US; don't walk around alone late at night when possible, be aware of your surroundings, etc.

For getting around, I prefer trains, because they're faster than buses, but not ridiculously expensive (and you're probably too young to rent a car without exorbitant prices, and it'll be exorbitant no what with only one person). For long trips, I prefer either night trains (best way to sleep on trains, and not that expensive, really, unless you're one of those lucky people who can sleep on airline seats, then you'll be fine in just a normal seat) or flights (lots of info on this board about cheap flights).

I just got back from 6 weeks alone around Europe, so whatever questions you have, I'll do my best to answer (I'm 21, so basically the same situation, though male).

Hi Love,

we are happy to answer all of your questions.

You might also want to go to the Thorntree forum at www.lonelyplanet.com

There are more young, low budget travelers there.

You can sleep on trains, but it is very uncomfortable.

((I))

Sleepers aren't all that uncomfortable, from what I've heard (I'm too cheap to buy one, most 22-year olds like the OP probably are too), and couchettes aren't great, but they're not much worse than most hostel beds, for the time savings. YMMV, of course.