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I am 17 years old, can I travel all over Europe by myself?
11 Responses to I am 17 years old, can I travel all over Europe by myself?
After having gotten eight "Yes, you can" answers let me give you a "Yes, it may be" answer to your question.
In most of the 27 European Union countries you are legally capable to conclude valid contracts from an age of 18 years. Being below that age would mean that contracts would need the approval of your legal custodians (parents). If you plan to travel to Scotland however you should not have a problem since you are an adult from the age of 16 years. To book a hotel means to conclude a contract, most hotels don't care about legal provisions as long as they get their money, but there may also be some who do not allow you to book below an age of 18 or without a statement of parental consent.
Some south European countries even require juveniles to hold a statement of the second parent if they travel only with one parent.
I would recommend that you hold a statement of your parents authorizing the trip and also stating the value under which you may conclude contracts without obtaining their approval.
The easiest way would be traveling with a credit card and a parental statement to use it without limitations.
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Yes you could go wherever you want, but you wouldn't be allowed to drive because the driving age in europe is 18. You would also have to get a passport from the united states and get the passport stamped at every country that you go to.
Europe allows 17 year olds to travel by themselves. No you can find inexpensive hotels if you wish, but they may not be the best quality. You can always buy a tour that takes you throughout various countries with a group of people, or hire your own tour guide. Google that and look at the prices.
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FIRST OF ALL.. go to the mall book store and BUY a copy of EUROPE BY EURAIL that will tell you EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW and is a much better source than asking here on Answers from a bunch of people who have never been outside the state where they were born
SECOND… Apply for your PASSPORT NOW… it can take up to 6 WEEKS.. plus you need to get a CERTIFIED COPY of your BIRTH CERTIFICATE and that can take a week or two, so the sooner you apply, the better off you will be and you will need to present your passport in order to BUY the Youthrail pass, because you MUST buy it BEFORE leaving the U.S. And you can BUY IT from ANY TRAVEL AGENT.
AVOID tours.. they are for the timid types who can only talk AmeriKan and want to travel in luxury while having someone else transport their bags and talk to the locals for them.
The best deal is a ONE MONTH YOUTHRAIL PASS.. you travel the trains at night and sightsee during the day.. it saves on hotel costs AND your travel is already paid for. About ever 5 or 6 days you can find a hostel somewhere for a day or two to do your laundry and get a good meal.
You will need about $1000 for the month if you live on the trains like everyone else your age does.. so you will have a LOT of company.
OH.. when you BUY the EUROPE BY EURAIL see if you can also BUY a copy of the THOMAS COOK RAILROAD TIMETABLE.. because you will learn to LIVE BY THAT BOOK.. it gives the schedules for ALL THE EURAIL TRAINS so you can plan your trips in advance.
If you are going in the spring, start your travels in the south… Spain is a good place.. if you are going in the summer or fall, then start your trip in the North… one of the Benelux countries.
Have fun… and LEARN A LITTLE OF THE LANGUAGES you will encounter… even if you can't speak the language, if you just learn the words for PLEASE…THANK YOU and CAN YOU HELP ME?.. will do WONDERS to get you around
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You can, but make sure you have enough money to spend, and even though you'll have money, make sure you don't spend it quickly!
I've recently been of holiday with a group of my friends and I ran out of money pretty fast.
But yeah, you need to plan what you're doing and where you're going or you'll find yourself a tad bit stuck.
It might be a bit scary going on your own though, so try and go with a if you're feeling nervous.
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Im 15 & i went to france last summer with a group of 50 other kids (im from the u.s. too) & im not sure about your other questions i just wanted to tell you too be careful because theres lots of pick pocketers everywhere in france so be careful, but france is my favorite it was the best time of my life
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Yes you can travel by yourself in Europe at 17.
You need a US passport to get to all of those countries (not a passport of each country)
You can stay in total, within Europe for 90 days (you will not need a visa)
To go from France for one day to another country, go back to your family in France and then go out the next day will cost you more money and be very tiring.
It also depends on where in France your base will be. To give you an example, I am currently in the south of France, close to the Spanish border. It takes me 14 hours to drive from here to the south of Germany.
So I would look at a map of Europe, calculate how much time you will be having and then look at where you would like to go. e.g if you would like to go to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, then plan you trip without going back to France. Go from France to switzerland to Italy to German and from there back to France.
Just an idea.
You would need to look at the train schedules. e.g you could take a day train to Munich, spend some time there, take a night train to Berlin, and come back on a daytrain, to see some more of the countryside.
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i don't think you can drive over there.. which might pose a problem.
wouldn't you get lonely? and it would be safer to have someone with you.. cause if you're by yourself no one would notice if you got into some trouble. like if you suddenly had a heart attack or fell off a cliff..
things happen.
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Going back to france every day in my opinion is a bad idea because it will cost lots of money and you wont have much time a all to see anything.
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hi.if u go to france you can easily go to other countries within eu(europe union),there are no borders between them no passport checks as well.also most of them use same currency =euro.prices are similar try to sleep in hostels.they are very cheap.in Eu countries Uk is different they have border check and also different currency.try maybe spain,germany,czech republic,Holland,italy or other.good luck.and don't forget to be prepared before the trip….
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Not to be rude but I suggest you don't do this alone as in all honesty you sound too naive. I mean you think you need a passport for each country? You need a passport from YOUR country, not other countries. Go with someone else or wait until you're in your mid 20's. I did it in my mid 20's but by then I was very street wise & even so it's very daunting to go to places where you don't speak the language & where you get lost as it's a new city, etc. Again your naivety shows re not knowing that certain European countries are dangerous to travel to alone. You would be hassled by men alot in countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal & Greece, hassling could range from following you in a flirtatious manner to actually attacking you as these cultures are different & they may think you are promiscuous or something to be travelling alone. That's why I avoided those countries when I went. I researched my trip thoroughly, the Lonely Planet guidebooks are the best ones & they have warnings in them about dangers & annoyances & also warnings for female travellers. Even some places I went to that I thought would be safe, actually weren't so you need to be able to handle that & get yourself out of some bad situations. For instance I found Germany easy to travel around in but I had major problems in Berlin in broad daylight. Like being followed by creepy old men, a dangerous looking homeless man, being abused by a neo nazi who didn't like non German people in his country, having an old Turkish man try & get his young grandchild to open the zip of my backpack on the train & rob me, etc, he tried this 3 times even though he knew I knew what he was up to. I also had a nasty incident in an innocent German town, which is a popular tourist spot, where a local teenager pushed me into a shop window really violently as evidently he hated tourists. You just never know what can happen. If you are too innocent & sensitive then you won't cope. The other thing about these incidents is that in Germany the public won't come to help you, they just look after themselves. Other than that my trip was great but I'm just trying to illustrate to you that I don't think you're the right age & I don't think you have enough life experience to cope.
When I was travelling I stayed in youth hostels as it was cheap & every now & then I'd come across another female travelling alone but she wasn't the type to be able to handle it. They'd be all desperate & clingy & looking for me to tell them what to do & mother them. There is nothing more annoying than that. It's fun to meet other travellers, but not ones like that! I wasn't going to have my travelling ruined by having to hold some silly girl by the hand every step of the way. One of them was actually following me around Europe as I had made the mistake of telling her of my itinerary. I don't get why she chose to travel alone when clearly she couldn't cope. In the end I lied & told her I'd changed my itinerary again so that she'd head off to all the wrong countries. Lol, I had to get rid of he somehow, she was kind of nuts & really annoying.
People do look for lone travellers to rob, etc & as a teenage female on your own you are much more vulnerable. How about doing an organised tour instead? But research those carefully as the Contiki ones & some others are often full of young people just getting drunk & sleeping around with one another & that seems like a waste of a trip to Europe to me, not to mention a pretty trashy poor character thing to do as well, I mean they can just stay at home & do that anyway!
I'm surprised your parents are letting you go alone too. Another way you can test how you feel is to travel far away somewhere in your own country or to a neighbouring country on your own & see how you feel on your own. But bear in mind that will be easy if you are American & only going to Canada, which is similar in culture & also English speaking. Still, it's a trial run of sorts.
Also alot of people get lonely on their own & don't find it fun. You could also advertise for a travelling companion & go with another girl from where you live, but meet her first of course & find out if what she wants to do on the trip is the same as what you want to do. I think there are even websites where you can seek travelling companions, just be careful to meet with them in a public place, etc.
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i've traveled in europe alone and i'm the same age. just be careful use you judgement and don't trust strangers. europe is safe. don't go out in dark at late times of night. i'm sure you'll be fine.
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