Hi, new to the site. Just bought Rick Steves "Europe thru the back door"
I'm planning to go to Europe this summer but am wondering about safety.
A lot of what I've read up on, seams to me people are wearing rose colored glasses. Now I've never been to Europe, but being a Canadian, I've traveled across Canada many times.
Contrary to what they say about Canada, there are some pretty sketchy neighborhoods in the bigger cities. I.E The Bus/ train terminal in Vancouver, B.C. ( Conveniently located next to one of the worst skid rows in the country) Panhandlers, homelessness, drug addicts, prostitution. well you get the point. A lot of the other cities in the country don't fair much better.
Not to be a pessimist, but being in my 30's, I don't look at life the same as I did when I was 18. My experiences traveling throughout Canada, if you don't know the city to well, you could very well wind up in the rougher parts of town as far as traveling by bus/ staying in hostels etc... My experience, getting off a Greyhound bus at 1A.M. in Vancouver and walking to my "hostel" Sketchy, freaky people.
I suppose my main concern would be arriving in a strange city in a foreign country and while walking around looking for a hostel, I wind up in a sketchy neighborhood. With a backpack on my back + foreigner/ doesn't know where he is going= easy prey.
Now everybody seems to say Europe is safe. But would not cities like London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Budapest have questionable neighborhoods with similar social ills as mentioned above?