<p>asking the collective, parental beehive (and sorry in advance...this is kind of long):</p>
<p>i'm a graduating senior who will be heading to college in the fall. the college i'm going to starts EXTREMELY late (at least compared with most of my friends) and i've been looking for something to do in that last month -- specifically, i want to go to europe.</p>
<p>now, the college i'm going to is kind of expensive so i can't be spending a lot of money on outlandish trips or anything. my mom has seemed somewhat receptive to the idea and even is possibly willing to help pay in the form of a graduation present. </p>
<p>none of my friends are able / willing to go with. i am 18 years old and female.</p>
<p>i have a few options -- i found reasonably cheap plane and rail tickets and i could backpack through europe pretty much, but i'm not sure how safe i would feel living alone in hostels, but i would be willing to do it if i thought i would be relatively safe and could convince my mom, of course.</p>
<p>i also found another program -- volunteers for peace -- that has extremely inexpensive volunteer programs. however, these are only in one country and seem to provide little in the way of cultural immersion.</p>
<p>basically, i would like to know: have any of your children traveled abroad (either alone or with a group of friends) and done the whole backpacking/youth hostel thing? did they feel safe? OR has anyone had any experience with volunteers for peace?</p>
<p>do you know of any inexpensive tour group programs that are kind of young adult-centric and perhaps not TOO guidebook-touristy? </p>
<p>thank you so much for ANY help / advice you might have.</p>
<p>Europe is VERY expensive right now with the dollar-euro conversion rate. Even living frugally is expensive over there. </p>
<p>I would suggest an organized group trip as those tend to have prices negotiated in advance. </p>
<p>I don't know anything about Volunteers for Peace but a program like that would be safer and less expensive.</p>
<p>I hope you can find a friend with whom to travel if you are backpacking. This goes back now 30 years (heavens!) but when a college friend (female) and I backpacked together in Europe, there were many times in youth hostels when
we faced pressure from international men with all kinds of agendas. The backpack was a "target/mark" because the homecountry women don't travel like that. British and American girls were considered very very easy by men from around the world, and we got hassled a lot. We're not that gorgeous, either; it was the backpacks and the fact that we were travellling free of our parents that made us marks.
We were pretty much okay on the streets in Northern Europe, but as soon as we got as far south as Rome we got followed down streets when we backpacked fromt he train station to the hostel, with men following and saying some nasty stuff about us (I speak some Italian, so I know.) It felt humiliating.
Trains were no problem.
My friend returned to college in September, but I stayed on alone in Europe to begin a junior term abroad in Italy. Once I settled in to an apartment and my studies, I had no problems.
THe backpack itself attracted so much attention that I'd either stay in Northern Europe with it, or be travelling with a friend if you're in Southern Europe.
Be especially cautious about men from the Middle East who are students all over Europe, far from home, and enjoying the freedom of western women who travel like this.</p>