Traveling Europe alone?

In the summer I am going to Europe with a mate for two weeks interailing. However I am thinking of taking a year out when I leave university and travel Europe and beyond. However this will have to be done by myself.

Has anybody ever done this alone before? Is it scary and was it worth the hassle?

 

go for it , i done it for 5 years , you wont be alone , you will be with hundreds of like minded people and will make so many newe friends along the way.
you will never regret it.

 

at,
not really knowing you it's difficult to say whether you are the sort of person who'll be able to tackle the traveller lifestyle.
if you are pretty self sufficient and make friends easily i'd say go for it. i went over to the states for 2 years before they became a religious dictatorship and had a ball. i've also been to thailand for a few weeks with nothing but a backpack full of clothes, some travellers cheques and a return ticket. that was really good fun and i'd recomend it to anyone except for the disaster in that part of the world at present.
just be careful where you go. i'd say stick to reasonably civilised places. most of western europe and some of eastern europe should be ok. the usa if you can stand the body cavity search when you enter. australia, japan and the pacific rim,china and india are all pretty safe, south america is variable though. canada's another nice place so i hear.
as to whether it's worth the hassle - yes definatley, just make sure you take lots of pictures, don;t do anything stupid and always have a way of getting back home if the worst comes to the worst - a credit card especially for the purpouse kept with your passport, with enough for a flight home from anywhere is probably the best idea.
cheers


julian

 

Yeah get it done...the longer you leave it the harder it gets to do...I'm only 26 but its a lot more hassle sorting yourself out to head off for a long period at this point. Do it.

 

Thanks, I know if I am going to do it at all this is the only year I will get the chance. I won't ever be able to quite a decent job if I get one to do this. I already feel quite well traveled but I don't want to be one of these people who only knows one city or country.

I think the best bet is not to plan it, just get a railcard a good pocket atlas and see where I end up. I will need to do a lot of research first of course so I know where is safe to visit etc. I don't want to end up in the middle of Iraq right now.

 

True AT but theres alot to be said for planning, especially if you're not entirely confident of the experience. Don't go out there thinking you're going to be the next Jack Kerouac as it can be pretty lonely sitting at a train station in a strange town and not speaking the language. Also you can end up wandering about and missing the highlights of a town because you have no idea what the place is about...imagine going to Manchester without a clue...theres only so much aimless wandering can show you, you don't want to miss the hidden delights. You can always ditch your plans if you see something better or another option comes up along the way.

 

Yeah I usualy buy travle guides which so far have come in very handy, for exmaple if I didn't have one in Paris I would have missed the latin quarter and the notce dam becuase I would not have been able to find them. I am not sure if I am cut out for it or not, but if I don't prebook anything I can always come home early and would have lost nothing.

 

get on with it

 

Exactly...have a rough plan and see how it goes. Don't need to bother booking anything...as long as you arrive in a town in the day you can hit the tourist info and be sorted in 2 minutes and if you know you'll arrive somewhere late sort it out in the town before or take on the adventure of park beach or park bench sleeping!
The only way you'll find out if you're cut out for it is if you do it...even if you scare yourself shitless or get mugged you'll come back with better stories and more life experience than if you hang about doing something average. When I went to the states after A-levels I had a pretty crap time all in all for various reasons but I'm glad I did it. It sets you up for the next trip if nothing else.
Go scare yourself.

 

Manchester has highlights?

Michael.

 

Lol don't set me off

Some of the highlights

Salford Quays



Loads of out of date pictures here
http://www.robertson-i.co.uk/manchester.asp

I have millions more but it will take for ever to compress/upload them

 

and there's always the armoured humvee tours of the 'estates'.....
cheers


julian

 

Haha...not been there actually Michael, just appealing to his sensibilities! Its got a train station though so you can always hot foot it somewhere that does have highlights....I've heard Liverpool is much nicer.

 

But its the same in every city, Westminster for example is just yards away from Lambath.

These days Manchester is probably one of the safest places to be especialy the city centre at night. I have never had any trouble (only once at a gig I witnessed a near fight) and I know many students say Manchester is actually safer than their smaller home towns. The city has come a long way from 1970/80s decline. You simply avoid the rougher council estates, there is no reason any visitors will need to visit down town Beswick just like tourists avoid Lambath or Brixton.

 

The main train station is not in the nice part of the city centre, but there are some truly impressive buildings going up in Manchester like the 500ft Beetham tower and a new 650ft tower they are planning.

The city has changed so much in the last five years. If it was that bad Selfridges, Harvey Nics, M&S etc would not be booming in the city.

 

He's off!

 

As the saying goes, you can take a manc out of Manchester, but you cannot take the Manc out of a manc.

I am sure if I lived in Stoke on Trent I wouldn't be so quick to defend it.

But I live 5 minutes walk from this



Very different from the typical old fashioned stereotype.

 

Ok AT take it easy!
I'll get to manchester one day...sounds like a greaat city from what I've heard generally.

 

Hehe its ok, I am just proud of my heritage and where I was bought up. ps Ironic how a thread about traveling Euorope and beyond has turned into a thread about my home city!

 

Go for it before life becomes too complicated.
More money doesn't mean more freedom.