Girl travelling alone ?!

admin
Traveller
203 comments

Hi

When you are Interrailing, you will always be with other Interrailers. The best advice I'd give is to talk to other Interrailers when you waitng in stations and when you are travelling on the trains sit near other Interailers if you can.

Chatting with others gives you travelling companions, however temporary, and so you won't look like you are travelling alone, and it also gives the opportunity to assess any possible risks and to share travel experiences and perhaps learn about places you might visit.

Maybe you'll be more comfortable travelling with a group of women or a mixed group rather than a group of lads. Try to find travelling companions on night trains by choosing your seat carefully.

If you take a couchette you will have 5 strangers with you but you will also have the supervision of a guard who is located nearby and to whom you should talk if you have any hassle. Speak to the other couchetters: I had many good experiences in couchettes on my recent trip.

Other advice is for all travellers but especially those on their own: Always be vigilant in railway stations and before the train departs, where opportunist baggage thieves operate. You can lock your rucksack to the luggage rack for extra safety and, although you are in a new place, try to look purposeful and observant of what's around you.

In accommodation you will also be around many others, so there is some safety in numbers; you can look at hostel reviews, when you are booking, to see which have good security ratings.

Of course you will already know that you should avoid, quiet, dimly-lit streets at night and keep valuables in moneybelt or bumbag and use lockers when you can.

Many people Interrail with others; sometimes in big groups in which they experience little of what's around them. I prefer to go solo and have the freedom that gives, and everday I meet many, and sometimes very interesting, others; returning with lots of great memories and many email addresses!

Have a great, big, and exciting trip!

Mummibae
Traveller
10 comments

Thank you so much, it was nice to hear. I'm gonna show it to my parents as well, probably it'll calm them down :D

Any other experiences is welcome as well.

lea_kl
Traveller
9 comments

Hey,

I'm an 18-year old female from Germany and I,too, want to go on an interrailtrip on my own next year.
I want to do the four weeks package and start in France and then see where I end up. I like the freedom of not planning.
I've had the same concerns and I'm happy I can read about others who have them^^

Are there really this many other interrailers around?

Mummibae, where do you want to go?

Bye,
Lea

Mummibae
Traveller
10 comments

Hi Lea, sounds great I'm not the only one planning to travel alone. Well, I'm not really sure of where to go since I am the non-planning kind who just leaves and takes it as it comes. But I am considering going to Wien since I met someone at a party last night who told me it was an amazing city (if I sounds a bit confusing, probably it's just because I am a little hangovered)

I think I'm going to Hamburg first though, since I've heard it should be the best place to go if you want some different choices of where to go (I'm from Denmark, so it's not that far away).

I'll be leaving in a couple of days, as soon as I gets the book I've ordered, I think (how come it's so late? xo )

But if you want to hear how it works out for me, just let me know and I'll write you. How come you doesn't travel until next year? You sounds great to travel with since you too don't like to plan things (it would be great to see where we would end up)

lea_kl
Traveller
9 comments

hey mummibae,

I'm taking the last steps to my Abitur (graduation) in march.
Afterwards, I'll be working a little more for two months so I get the money together and then I'm off.
It sounds we're planning the same thing, starting somewhere and then see where we're carried.
I cant wait to go.

Even though I'm from Germany, I've never been to Hamburg except for a stop on the rail station.
Friends of mine are from hamburg and I tihnk the city must be pretty cool- you should definitely go there^^

how come you are leaving this late? fall's already at the doorstep.
I hope you have a really good trip.
and yes, PLEASE do tell me about your experiences :)

actually, I might go to wien too,.. I saw the movie before sunrise i dont know if you know it, but its about a girl and a boy meeting on the train. she's on her way to paris but he convinces her to come with him for a day and a night just to spend some time and they do so wandering wien..

I DEFINITELY want to go to paris.

I wish you a good journey.
and if you find some time, give some stories^^

bye,
lea

Mummibae
Traveller
10 comments

Experiences so far:

In the beginning I found it a bit difficult when I arrived at a new station and didn't know where to go, where to sleep and what to do. But after about a week I got used to it, and now the road is my friend :P

Generally people have been nice, but I have had a few incidences that wasn't too nice.
Once in Donostia/San Sebastian there was this guy following me when I was lost (and it wasn't my fault, it was in the middle of the day), and I reached a dead end on the street, and he got really creepy. But I shouted out loud, and he took off as some other guy heard it.

In most cities, when I have been sitting alone in a park or at some station, local guys have come to me and been hitting on me. Sometimes they gets pretty close though you are ignoring them, but if you walk away, they doesn't follow you (says the experience so far).

Apart from that, I am totally enjoying myself, and it hasn't really been any problem getting in contact with people.


But damn, I hate those money in switzerland. I learned the euro pretty fast, but I'm no good with chf :'(

lea_kl
Traveller
9 comments

hey

doesnt sound too bad :)
but I think the flirting part and all that also depends on the mentality of the people. friends of mine recently were in southern spain and they said girls were openly stared at and yelled after all the time while walking down a street.

so where have you been to yet? Ive been to san sebastian too this summer,.. its a beautiful city :)

i really enjoy being on a journey. i can imagine loving the road, like you say, too.. :)

bye,
Lea

Mummibae
Traveller
10 comments

Hi lea!
It took a while, but I've been kind of busy...
The first day I went to Lubeck and Hamburg, both beautiful cities, especially Lubeck was a fun little city with a whole lot of towers. And, of course, rain. Then I went to Paris which, to be honest, was a bit disappointing. But maybe I was just having too high expectations. I mean - the eiffel tower? Can't help but think it is a bit cracked up. But apart from that, it was fine.
Then I went to San Sebastian and stayed there one night before I started walking compostella di santiago? (I always say it wrong). It's a really beautiful pillgrimsroute that sometimes follows the ocean and otherwise just goes in the mountains.
I met a really cool spanish guy there (who could actually speak english), so we walked together for two days before I took the train to Bilbao. It was really cool because there was some festiviti going on, so there was music and theater in the streets, and in the night there was a huge show of firework and stuff, so it was really cool. Except one of the days when suddenly everything was closed without me knowing about it :o
But the coolest thing I saw there was the Guggenheim museum. No one should miss that. It was so very cool, I spend almost an entire day in there.
Of course it had been raining all my time in Spain, so I decided to go to the south, to Cordoba. Boy, it was hot :P But really cool. It's a beautiful city with very tiny, narrow streets impossible to navigate through, but quite funny.
Then I went to Madrid where I was lucky to arrive on a Sunday, so I saw some museums for free. Very nice :D
Then I went to Geneva, a city with extremely many parks! Really nice just lying in the sun in the grass with a lot of other people and just relax!

But I have to go now, I'm running out of time I'm afraid. But I'll write more whenever I'm finding the time for it .

lea_kl
Traveller
9 comments

hey, good to hear such good news :)

that sounds pretty good to my plans.. and that pilgrims route, maybe I'll take that too - or alike as Im not planning to go to spain, but who knows?^^
how are you feeling about security? I'm a little afraid I might be too paranoid about it. I dont want to :/
have you recently had any other strange situations or how are you getting used to it? are you actually camping somewhere alone?
I really want to avoid that on my trip, taking hostels and alike.
we'll see how much my vision differs from reality..

I hope youre having a wonderful time still..
(and I hope Paris wont be so dissapointing to me. Im in love with that city for some reason)

All the best,

Lea

Mummibae
Traveller
10 comments

Hi again.

I'm back home :'(
It's a little sad, I really miss being on the road, but it's also quite nice to just relax and hang out with friends.

And no, I didn't have any other really creepy experiences on the rest of the trip. Or maybe I just got used to it? There has of course been some yelling and stuff, but it's impossible to avoid that.

When it comes to security, I haven't had any problems at all. I have just had my purse in my handback, and I haven't had anything stolen. When I have stayed in hostels I haven't always had it locked aside, only at the places where they actually had closets for free, and I haven't had any problems there either. But maybe I've just been lucky?

I've only been sleeping at hostels and nighttrains, thought it would be too stupid dragging a tent along, and I was very glad I didn't. It is possible to find cheap hostels, a tent is quite heavy, and usually the campinggrounds is outside of the cities.

But it's really weird being home again. I wake up in the middle of the night trying to remember in which city I am and why I don't know, before I come to think of that I'm home. Strange!

But some of the other experiences on my trip:

Walking in the alps. It was so, very beautiful. I was walking in the area of Lauterbrunnen and Gimmelwald. The view is breathtaking, and there is so meny amazing waterfalls in the area, the air is clean and... yeah, it's great!


[b]Italy:[/b]

Hospital!... Yeah, I accidentally had a panicattack in a train when it was holding in a long, narrow, dark tunnel. Couldn't breathe and stuff, so they called an ambulance and I stayed at the hospital for the night. Very unpleasant experience since no one really spoke english, so I had no idea really what was going on, and they gave me some injections and stuff, and I didn't have a clue of what. So don't do that if you can ovoid it ;)

Then I saw the leaning tower in Pisa and was in Lucca and Firenze before it got really interesting in Rome. It's really fantastic how meny things there is to see and experience, and I met some really sweet english siblings who I was playing with.
Besides, all museums and stuff was free for me because I'm under 18! It was really nice since it's otherwise quite expensive.

After Rome I had a day in Venice, but there was just way too meny tourist, so I didn't stay more than a couple of hours.

Instead i went to [b]Wien[/b] where I saw an art museum mainly with a guy called hundertwasser who doesn't like straight lines, so the floor and the ceilings are all bended. Quite funny. And, of course, I had a kaffenhaus-crawl, an entire, rainy day just hanging around on coffee houses.

From Wien I headed to [b]Bratislava[/b], last stop before I had to go home. Let's just say, I was quite dead during the day. I met some really party people, so we were just having a great time. Besides, alcohol is so cheap down there. I dragged 6 bottles of vodka with me home. Nice!

I'm allready thinking about doing another trip. Would be really cool doing it all over again, and there was so much I didn't get done. A month is not long...

lea_kl
Traveller
9 comments

hey
nice to hear your summary of the trip ends up in the positive area^^
I can imagine that strange feeling. I already felt that urge to just hop on the next train when I had just got home from a two week surf trip in france this summer..

all in all, your reports have been encouraging for my trip next year. and also, I might now finally drop the idea of taking a tent along as I actually do not want to go camping. I hope to make it without it.
And as four weeks really isnt much, I plan to go for a year or at least offer myself that possibility. Ill take advantage of the interrailticket for four weeks and then we'll see where I end up.

are you getting back to school now or what are you going now?
Im preparing for my graduation in january this fall.

Mummibae
Traveller
10 comments

Hi Lea!

No school for me yet. I kind of dropped out last year because I didn't learn enough at the education I had choosen, so I doesn't start studying again until next year.
I hope I'll get a job pretty soon, I've been to 2 interviews and I'm quite certain to get at least one of them. My plan is then to work some during the winther, and then go travel in the spring.
Then I have to go home, find myself an apartment in Aarhus and study there the next 2 or 3 years.
That's kind of the plan with my life right now - though I actually have considered going somewhere like schwitzerland, norway or austria this winther and get a job. maybe at a hotel where people are skiing or something, and then I'll practice my skiing skills - which is absolutely terrible :o

I'll see what the future brings. I'm really jelaous with you that you are finished in january - wish it was me. Excactly what is it, you are studying?

lea_kl
Traveller
9 comments

Hey,

That sounds good though :)
Ive heard about that syndrome that once youve been on the road like that, you just wanna go again and again.
Me, I dont know what to study.
Im finishing.. well, say, highschool, Gymnasium in Germany.
I will get my exams, my Abitur, which permits me to study at a university.

oh well. these days Im trying to find out about some visa cards for my trip.. not as easy as I thought -.-

Bye,
Lea
btw: I love skiing!! havent done it in years but I used to love it :)