Taking a european vacation by yourself

[BillySixty]

Has anyone done this? True, it may sound a little pathetic but something I've always wanted to do.

I don't think I can afford anything more than a week-long trip, so I'm probably limited to London/Paris or Italy or something like that. Is it better to find a tour group or go my own way? I'd probably want to do a group thing, just because I know if I don't have any plans I'll probably wind up sleeping until noon and/or standing in line for the stupidest stuff.

Any help/insight/advice/words of warning that anyone can offer would be appreciated.

 

[KJIM]

With one exception, every trip I've taken overseas has been solo. I got sick of all my friends saying, "one day we should go to ..." and then never committing.

I went by myself. The tour groups didn't do much for me, and you can always do day tours in cities. Suggestions: stay in hostels, where there's bound to be USA residents left and right. In Frankfurt, one person who bunked in my room lived from about 400 miles from me. In my experience, people in hostels are always up for sightseeing, eating and partying, so if you do want company there's usually someone ready to go. (It's also cheap enough to tour extensively on a sportswriter's salary.)

 

[ballscribe]

Highly recommend the solo route. You won't sleep until noon. You'll be up early every morning to see what the day will bring. And you can't help but meet interesting people (and work on some meeting non-Americans; you can do that at home) unless you want to talk to yourself all day. You'll find that many of the world's people have learned another language and can communicate with you in yours, and give a unique perspective.

Always good, though, to let someone know where you'll be that day, perhaps someone at the hostel. So if something untoward happens to you, someone can help retrace your steps.

 

[Baloo]

Definitely go, you'll have a blast, but if you meet a man named Alex who tells you of a Slovak hostel that is filled with American-loving women that are easy to get into bed, DON'T BELIEVE HIM!!!

 

[bigpern23]

Look, kids, Big Ben!

 

[FishHack76]

Dad, I think he's gonna pork her.
He's not gonna pork her, Russ.
I think he's gonna.
He may pork her, finish your breakfast.

 

[Guerrillascribe]

A cheap way to visit Europe, and elsewhere, at least when it comes to lodging is couchsurfing.com and hospitalityclub.org.

I'm a member of both and have hosted travelers from China, Romania, Peru and Nepal and Sweden.

As for going solo to Europe, go for it, man. Just don't sleep late every day. Airlines in Europe are deregulating with ferocity and, as such, lots of super-cheap flights so you could always fly into Frankfurt and then connect anywhere in Europe via Condor, Air Berlin and others, or go from London via easyjet or Ryanair.

 

[Norman Stansfield]

Get a chick, you loser.

 

[Norman Stansfield]

Look, kids, Big Ben!

Parliament!

 

[leo1]

how old are you? if you're under 65 don't do it in a tourgroup. those are for old farts. as KJIM said, you can always go on a day long tour in a city. if you'll be in europe for the first time ever and it'll fulfill a dream and you anticipate being so un-excited and unmotivated that you'd let yourself sleep through the day, well, you may have larger issues to worry about.

 

[Dyno]

I've been to London twice by myself (and to lots of places in the US) and I highly recommend it. I agree that you won't end up sleeping 'til noon. I'm a late sleeper in general, but on all of my solo trips, I'm up earlier and probably pack way more into a day than I do when traveling with other people. I'm not particularly social and I'm fine with hanging out by myself all the time, so I don't usually meet or talk to other travelers. If that's your thing, though, it's really easy to meet people. My best friend, who also frequently travels on her own, has made friends and had lots of interesting experiences from chatting with the person at the next table or her seatmate on the train.

London can be extremely expensive, but it is doable on a budget if you do your homework. And it's perfect if you're concerned about going to a place where you don't speak the language. I advise you to check out the forums for London/Paris/Rome and the Budget Travel forum on flyertalk.com. There's lots of good advice to be found there.

 

[Lyman_Bostock]

I second all the advice you've received. I don't solo travel on every foreign trip I make, but I've done it a couple of times and enjoyed it thoroughly. You're not tied to anybody else's schedule or whims, so you can do exactly what you want, when you want.

London is perfect for the solo traveler. Make sure you stop at a pub (or two, or three) -- you can meet a lot of interesting people there, not to mention drink a lot of very good beer.

It's a very good city to simply "hang out" in. Vienna is similar.

 

[Lyman_Bostock]

I've been to London twice by myself (and to lots of places in the US) and I highly recommend it. I agree that you won't end up sleeping 'til noon. I'm a late sleeper in general, but on all of my solo trips, I'm up earlier and probably pack way more into a day than I do when traveling with other people. I'm not particularly social and I'm fine with hanging out by myself all the time, so I don't usually meet or talk to other travelers. If that's your thing, though, it's really easy to meet people. My best friend, who also frequently travels on her own, has made friends and had lots of interesting experiences from chatting with the person at the next table or her seatmate on the train.

London can be extremely expensive, but it is doable on a budget if you do your homework. And it's perfect if you're concerned about going to a place where you don't speak the language. I advise you to check out the forums for London/Paris/Rome and the Budget Travel forum on flyertalk.com. There's lots of good advice to be found there.

Lonely Planet's Web site also is very good for this.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Don't even think about a tour group. You'll have more fun making up your itinerary as you go along.

If you've never been to Europe London might be the best place for your first visit. Tons to see and do, the Tube runs everywhere and there isn't a big language barrier.

If you decide to take in the Continent I recommend flying into somplace central like Zurich then take the train to your final destiation. Train travel in Europe is a lot of fun.

 

[ballscribe]

I wasn't big on solo travel - until the first time I did it.
Way yore, when the Soviet Union was still the Soviet Union and I was an impressionable youngster, I had a pit stop in London on the way home to break up the long trip. That was a trip in itself, but the pitstop had its moments too.

Met a French soccer team on the train back from Dover, which was good for 48 solid hours of partying - no date-rape drugs back then, thank God.

Scored outstanding seats for 3 or 4 plays, like second-row centre, because I only needed a single ticket. Saw former childhood crush David Cassidy, who was appearing in some weird sci-fi musical thing (I think it was called Time; the highlight was this giant orb in the shape of Laurence Olivier's head that sat inside a globe that opened, allowing the big head to speak. Very Wizard of Oz). 10 feet away from Keith Partridge. Good times.

Snuck into the All-England Club through a side gate opened for a delivery truck, watched a bunch of old farts on the grass for awhile, until they finally let me get on the court (probably based on the quality of my legs in my shorts) for a few minutes to hit with them (in my bare feet).
The all-anal security Wimbledon force descended soon enough, but at the time (never having been there before), it was an outstanding story.

My B&B was right on King's Road. The shopping was this side of extraordinary.

 

[Bubba Fett]

Love solo travel. Haven't done it out of the country yet, but I've seen most of the U.S. while traveling by myself. I may be on the road for 10 days, but I usually catch up with friends in different places and meet new people along the way.

The only time I occassionally miss having a companion is at dinner when some good conversation would be nice.

 

[Screwball]

Billysixty,

I'll throw in a vote for a tour, particularly if your time to travel and plan is limited. Not sure how old you are, but if you're 35 or under check out Contiki. It's basically a greatest-hits tour of wherever you go and a party bus, plus they don't advertise much in the USA so it's a great way to meet cool people from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, etc. I'm still in touch with Aussies I met on a Contiki tour a decade ago. And, since the age group is young and no one's worried about staying in a 5-star hotel, the prices are relatively cheap.

 

[Jones]

Don't tour, hostel. Hook up with a group of backpackers -- usually a group of strangers, anyway -- and have a blast. Seriously, so fun. A week will pass like it's an hour.