Welcome to the TravelPod forums

[chelsea30043]

Hello All,
I'm Chelsea from the Atlanta, Georgia area. I'm 17 and a junior in high school, and although compared to my friends and classmated I'm considered to be well-traveled, I have not been to nearly as many places as I wish. My father is a big fan of cruises, and so I've been on four (soon to be five). Although cruises are relaxing, fun, and elegant, I realized on my favorite island, St. Lucia, that I did not want my travel portfolio to only include cruises. I realized this when we took a cab ride/tour through the island to the Pitans, stopping only for locally made bread and cheese for lunch. I saw more of the culture and history there than at any of the other ports I'd been to, and yet I still only saw a little of what they had to offer.

That's when I decided that I wanted to see the history and culture of a truly unique country, and I wanted to get to know the people and country in depth. I hope to take a trip to Central/Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and maybe Austria) or Spain and Portugal during the summer after my senior year. I would be travelling on a budget, and from everything I've read, it's not a trip one should take with a large group, and yet I definately don't want to go it alone.

This is the whole reason why I've been looking for chat boards. There is no one I know that is even remotely interested in doing the same thing I am or anything other than Cancun or something similar. I am looking for someone around my age (17) who would want to travel for a couple of months on a budget in a non-Western European country (for budget and interest purposes, but this does not include Spain), and for my dad's happiness/sanity, I'd prefer a girl.

Wow, I only meant to write a paragraph. Well, thanks for reading.

Chelsea

[wakingdream]

Hey Chelsea,

Welcome to the forums

That's when I decided that I wanted to see the history and culture of a truly unique country, and I wanted to get to know the people and country in depth. I hope to take a trip to Central/Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and maybe Austria) or Spain and Portugal during the summer after my senior year. I would be travelling on a budget, and from everything I've read, it's not a trip one should take with a large group, and yet I definately don't want to go it alone.

That sounds pretty exciting! Any particular reason you don't want to head off on your own? Having someone to share your experiences can be really great but it can be super rewarding to do it on your own. Traveling with someone you don't really know well could potentionally be a pain.....it just depends on who Let me tell you, you won't be alone for very long! You'll meet tons of like-minded people during your travels!

[chelsea30043]

Hey Chelsea,

Welcome to the forums

That's when I decided that I wanted to see the history and culture of a truly unique country, and I wanted to get to know the people and country in depth. I hope to take a trip to Central/Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and maybe Austria) or Spain and Portugal during the summer after my senior year. I would be travelling on a budget, and from everything I've read, it's not a trip one should take with a large group, and yet I definately don't want to go it alone.

That sounds pretty exciting! Any particular reason you don't want to head off on your own? Having someone to share your experiences can be really great but it can be super rewarding to do it on your own. Traveling with someone you don't really know well could potentionally be a pain.....it just depends on who Let me tell you, you won't be alone for very long! You'll meet tons of like-minded people during your travels!

Well, my mom has a heart attack even thinking about me going to a different country without my family, and my dad is fine with it as long as I find someone to do it with. The main reason would be because I'm a girl and I would only be 18. Going with a stranger could definately be a pain, but it would ease my parents' worries and give me someone to share the experiance with.

[sianeth]

Hi Chelsea,

My parents keep going on cruises... I'm quite jealous actually, they look brilliant! But I can see how you might be getting a bit tired of them.

Those countries you've mentioned are all pretty safe and friendly in my experience, and should really be fine on your own... but I think you will definitely run into people while you're there and find plenty of travelling buddies, especially if you're going in summer, all the youth hostels and everything should be heaving.

I understand that your parents might be getting a little stressed about it, but surely by the time you go you will be 18 anyway, and therefore its your own decision?

[rbisset]

If you start in Prague you should have no trouble finding people to travel around with. It was heaving with backpackers when I was there and that was in the very low season of Feb!

[huckabmm]

Hi Chelsea,

First off, welcome to the forums.

Second, After I graduated high school I traveled around Europe (mostly western europe) with my best friend. We had a blast. But you know what? We ended up needing to take some time for ourselves and explore on our own. Not to say we were fighting or anything like that, but we just felt some times exploring on your own is best.

I know that traveling by yourself can be daunting at first, and to be perfectly honest I don't know if I would want to go alone for my first trip to Europe, but that's not to say that you shouldn't! Everyone here is right, you will meet some amazing people on your journey. And take it from me, even if you did go with someone, you might end up taking time for yourself anyway...

I guess it really boils down to a couple of factors:
1. Your comfort level of traveling alone
2. Your parents comfort level with you traveling alone (and if you can convince them to let you)
3. Balancing all of this with the unknown of traveling with someone you don't know

It's interesting to me that your parents would rather you travel with a girl you didn't know than travel alone...

Anyway, good luck with your plans!

Safe travels,