EurotripTeen

Hey, me and some friends have finaly Decided to go to Europe this summer and were curious of the best things to do/see?

We want to have little plans, but also have lots of ideas for things to do. We plan on arriving in london, and spending a day or two there then traveling to france and starting our real journey from there, or something like it. We plan on going to quite a few place, and I was curious what experienced peoples advice would be to four 17-18 year old kids?

highledge

Do some research and then post more detailed questions including some of your interests. Start with teens in europe/teens in London/teens in Paris/teensinrome/italy/holland............
Budget?
length of trip?
travel experience?
expectations?
There is some great advice on this board, but you need to do a bit of work to get the best info!
Good luck!

rex

I hope this isn't too "old fogey" an answer, as I give it often to "adults" here (not that 18 yeard olds should be considered as less than adults!) - - but why do you THINK you want to go to Europe? What do you see when you close your eyes and think "Wow, I cannot wait until I get to Europe to....."

I would recommend three nights or more in London (assuming that the total trip is 9 nights or more), and probably no fewer than three in Paris also.

How many nights do you envision being able to spend? and what other constraints (we have to ... or we can only spend... or we cannot go to ...)?

Does any of you have a specific link to any country by virtue of family origins, or language/culture/art/cuisine that you have studied, or want to study, or have cultivated a taste for? Is one of you (or Ar ALL of you) prepared to take some significant steps in becoming acquainted/more facile/closer to fluent in any particular language - - with the ievitable shrpening that can come by putting it to se in that country?

If it was one of these "major" (larger) countries in Europe - - France, Germany, Spain or Italy - - then yo might consider staying just in that one country, going there either straight from London or from Paris. You can fly very cheaply across large distances nowadays withIN Europe. Each of the four countries I just mentioned is really lke a dozen countries in one, and you would not get bored in one of them if you stayed there all summer, let alone (one or several) weeks.

You might search here on this forum for the extensive discussions about a Eurailpass - - and why they might be irrelevant for you, or an outright bad bargain/waste of money.

Welcome to Fodors Travel Talk. Come back often with all the questons you can imagine, as your plans evolve.

Best wishes,

Rex

EurotripTeen

Our budget will probably be under $1500 per person, and the length will be a month, hoprfully. Were looking to travel by rail through out the countries, so that would take care of travel costs.

EurotripTeen

I personaly have family in Italy I plan to visit, so does a friend. We also have friends near paris to stay with a night or two. I have a friend in the Netherlands I can stay with, and plan on going to at least those three places.

One of the people going with us speaks french, and I can speak spanish somewhat.

brotherleelove2004

I hope you have a great trip, but stay away from Athens in August unless you have confirmed room reservations. The Olympics will have taken up every room in sight!

rex

$50 per person, per day? In Summer? And this is supposed to include lodging, all meals, snacks, sightseeing and intra-Europe travel? This is SEVERELY constrained. You might have to:

shorten to 14-20 days

always all four room together

move around from country to country very little or never at all

cut London and Paris way down or altogether

eat mostly from grocery stores, rather than restaurants

or all of the above.

You need some serious advice from adults who have your safety and financial support as a top priority; ideally, adults who have been to Europe in the past year or two.

Otherwise, this has the makings of a desperate call from Europe to back home with a frantic need for them to get substantially more money to you.

Much thought needs to be put into this BEFORE you commit yourselves to air travel plans from which you will NOT be able to get a refund.

pipsil

How about planning to stay in Youth Hostels wherever possible?

EurotripTeen

we have places we can stay, and had planned on becoming YHI members and staying at those whenever we could.

SalB

Sounds like fun. You might get budget help on the Lonely Planet web site. They are more youth oriented and hence, more budget oriented. At any rate, they could certainly give you additional ideas.

The Youth Hostel idea is great, and if you can spend as many nights as possible with friends and/or family, that will be a tremendous help with the budget.

If you're going in summer, you might also consider camping. The campgrounds in France, at least, are wonderful, nice large sites, clean restrooms and usually a nice little restaurant right in the campground. Many are municipal campgrounds right near the center of town. There's a book, "Camping and Caravanning France," that lists campgrounds and rates.

You might also go to your local Borders or Barnes and Noble bookstores and take an afternoon studying their travel books. The Lonely Planet Guides and Let's Go guides are great for budget travel.

Be sure you have phone numbers home in case you need help. Accidents do happen . . . in both directions. If you do a little planning ahead of time, you'll have a great time.

Have a wonderful trip.

EurotripTeen

Thanks for the help everyone, this has given me quite a few ideas and things to better prepare on.

easytraveler

Oh, to be 18 again! Footloose and fancy free!

Yes, by all means, stay in youth hostels. Get Eurail passes. Buy from grocery stores and have picnics.

Get Let's Go, Lonely Planet, and Rick Steves guidebooks. Rick Steves would be especially good for giving you the highlights of places to go in each country. He also has a book called "Mona Winks" which is good for a beginning introduction to Europe art in the major cities. You can get old editions of these books from most libraries so that you can decide which ones to buy.

Learn some basic phrases in each language. I always try for "Hello", "Goodbye", "Thank you", "Excuse me", "Yes", "No", "Where is..." and one really good swear word. Use the swear word judicially (just kidding!).

Go to the "cheaper" countries: Croatia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Greece, Turkey - just a few suggestions. These countries have just as much art, history, culture, etc. The beaches are fantastic in some of these countries and your dollar will go further.

Come back to this forum when you have some basic plan. Fodorites are incredibly helpful people!

Sounds like a wonderful trip! Have fun!

rcc

SalB and pipsil gave you valuable tips. Do not feel you have to be too constrained by some of the responses here.

Look up the local YMCA (my brother and I did that in London during our college days). Open air and indoor markets provided good source of fresh hot and cold food items as well as some cheap souvenirs and flea-market-type items.

Use the bookstores (good suggestion from SalB) and the internet to do research on some of the sights that you'd like to see and look-out for possible freebies on certain days or student-discounts (assuming you are students with IDs).

Just to emphasize the most important advice that were previously posted - have a foolproof strategy of contacting home for emergency purposes.

WillTravel

YHA hostels are often more expensive and are not necessarily the best. Check out these sites for other tips (and also look at their associated forums):

www.bugeurope.com
www.eurotrip.com
thorntree.lonelyplanet.com
www.guideforeurope.com