Help needed to plan first trip to Europe

First, consider this to be the "initial trip" in order to mentally reduce the stress of trying to see to much on one visit.

Second, You are just as safe in Europe as you are in the USA. Learn how to avoid pickup pockets and protect your belongings, but do not become paranoid about safety. Forgive me for being terse on this issue, but I have found first time travelers allow the issue of safety to adversely shape their journey.

Third, A person who speaks 3 languages is trilingual, a person who speaks two languages is bilingual and a person who speaks one language.........wait for it............ is an American. ;) You will be fine without knowing other languages, but the attempt to learn some basic phrases and use them is always appreciated.

Fourth, wow! Your brother lives in a great town! Day trips around Basel offer "beautiful countryside with charming small towns and experience the culture". Unsure if your two weeks includes travel time from USA, if so reduce by two days. Then assume you will spend four days with your brother. So now you have approximately eight days to venture to other destinations. Now subtract two more days for travel to and from your destination, so you have about six days to enjoy creating memories within your destination. At this point I encourage you to pick one nation (Italy or Spain) to visit. In Spain you could spend time in Barcelona and Madrid, with ez train travel between Barcelona and Madrid. In Italy you could pick two out of the three cities; Rome, Florence and Venice are the popular destinations. Two cities in six days provides a well paced first visit. Trying to visit three cities in six days will most likely increase travel stress and decrease opportunities to make wonderful memories.

A single lady traveling............. which I am of the wrong gender to appreciate your perspective. So I end this message knowing there are plenty of folks who can appropriately aide you with this question.

However, relax, enjoy and go create some wonderful memories!
Finally, thanks for being a teacher!

I traveled by myself for four months (no Schengen back then) all over Europe in 1977 when I was 31. You can do it too! In fact, if you pack light, it will be much easier than it was back then, and you should be able to pack very light for such a short trip.

• I'm assuming you are flying into and out of Basel. If you fly into Basel and out of somewhere else, you will have more time to see stuff because you won't have to backtrack to Basel.
  
• Italy is much closer to Basel than Spain. You can get to Florence in 6 1/2 hours by train, but it takes at least 13 to get to Barcelona and oddly, longer to get to Madrid. So if you choose Spain, you might want to consider flying.
• I love both countries, but due to your very short time, I'd go to Italy. I spent 5 weeks of that 1977 trip in Italy and 3 of them in Florence. My husband even said that our week in Florence in 2011 wasn't enough and he'd like to go back. So I'd recommend concentrating on the northern part of Italy.
  
• Although you can't buy tickets through them, the DB BAHN search (http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en) can help you see the train schedules, how long it takes and especially a map of the route. Sometimes the going to your destination is as much fun as being there.
  
• The Man in Seat 61 (http://www.seat61.com/), your brother or others here can provide advice on actually buying the tickets.
  
• Skyscanner.com (http://www.skyscanner.com/) can show you flight options and costs for flights within Europe.

Have a great time planning (that's a lot of the fun for me) and have a great trip.

I am also single in my 30s and have travelled alone safely, no problems. Rick has special tips for women travelers on his website.

http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/tips-for-traveling-solo

Also, I posted a "solo travel in Italy" a few months back on the Italy message boards

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/solo-travel-in-italy

My concern with travelling alone is more loneliness at night or meal times rather than safety. But a lot of people gave me great advice about journaling, going through photos, reading, talking to people at nearby tables.

Here's an idea. Many Rhine river cruises start in Basel. Stay in Basel a few days, take a day trip or two to the Alps (you can't see them from Basel, but they aren't very far). Then perhaps consider one of the cruises that fits your schedule. You'll meet plenty of people, so you won't have to worry about being alone. Get your first taste of Europe, then plan your next trip to either Italy or Spain.

Assuming that you will spend some of your vacation touring around Basel, a great area, I would choose one other country. Italy is much closer than Spain, and it's also much easier to do without knowing the native language. (In my experience, Spain was the most challenging country for an only-English speaker.)

Photo-based travel guides, such as National Geographic and DK, can be great for narrowing down your plans. You might want to get one or two of those to help you identify what places in Italy most interest you. You mentioned an interest in the culture; if that includes art and architecture the Blue Guides are the best for that type of information, but don't rely on them for logistics. I find that the Rick Steves guides are best for logistics.

So you don't waste touring time in backtracking, I suggest flying into Basel and home from your last city in Italy. The website, skyscanner, will show you whether there are good low-cost flights from Basel to your first destination in Italy.

Enjoy the planning.

rebecque,

welcome.

Just to make a note that im male so you can take my comments/experience about traveling solo overthere as you see fit.

But i feel more safe overthere than i do in the USA. If you keep your wits about you and dont leave your common sense back at home, you will do fine.

I would get a copy of RS "Europe thru the back door" and read it about traveling and other such thing. The train system overthere is soooo nice to use. there are other modes of transportation too, but i find them so efficient and relaxing.

you have alot to choose from so i will let the others give you their bests.

happy trails.