Advice for first time solo traveler

shootie

Next summer I plan to do a solo trip somewhere after I complete my LC. I've been to places like Athens and Rome on family holidays (Celtic tiger had its benefits for a while ) and caught somewhat of a travel bug from it . It's something I plan to do throughout my life.

I'm a sociable lad but this attitude most of my peers have of "let's pay s**tloads of cash in a s***e economy to get pissed on some Spanish island" has never appealed to me.

I was just wondering what would you solo travelers recommend as a first time solo trip abroad? Any tips/sharing of experiences would be nice too.

Todd Gack

I would suggest inter-railing, very easy to get around....just hop on a train once you have your pass (though there are some supplements on certain trains and sleepers need to be pre-booked). You can pick and choose wherever in Europe you wanna go and whatever suits your interests.

As a general rule the further east you go the cheaper it is, you don't need too much pre-planning, a general route is enough, easy enough to turn up in a city and find a hostel too. Easy to meet people in hostels too if you want to travel round with people goin your way or just hang out in the city for a night or two.

Naid23

Interrailing is great and you can cater it to the time you have available.

Go to Berlin and Krakow if you can. great cities. Berlin is very friendly for solo travellers and theres always a good atmoshere. Don' think ive ever come across any trouble over there

LiamMc

I agree with the other posters. To break the waters for solo travel European rail travel is a very good idea. There is even a sense of independence as you make your own decisions of what train to get.

Flying to a point on European mainland is a good idea aswell. Pick a start point and an endpoint and fill in some of the gaps with what you are interested in, including hobbies you have at home.
For destinations I would recommend Central and/or Southern Europe. Your money will last a little longer, so if you have to backtrack or pay for a two-star or three-star hotel you won't feel you are losing too much money-wise.
You can get as exotic as you like with EU Nationals allowed to travel to Ukraine and Moldova.
With an Inter-rail trip you will collect countries, towns and regions and have a better idea where you would like to return to on future trips. But there's nothing wrong with a one-country trip neither, there will be different products of passes available for that aswell. Italy, France and Spain are all chocful of varied climates, food, scenery and that goes for any country of a medium size in Central Europe too.

Try to get off the rails into the mountains or walking between towns.

Good luck with it.

fuddy1

Went to the Netherlands for 3 months after my LC many moons ago. Great fun, did a few hours work now and then to get some extra cash. Very easy to get work over there when you join an agency.
I do recommend inter-railing, did it for just over a month when I was 20. Very easy to get to anywhere once you hit the UK.....train through the channel tunnel and you can go anywhere from there. Great way to see a few different places on one trip. You'll meet like-minded individuals and wont be travelling alone for long if you fancy some company!