My 21yr old daughter traveling alone!!!

The cheapest and fastest method of transport between these destinations is flying; see www.skyscanner.com. Pisa is a budget airline destination close to both Cinque Terre and Tuscany. Once in that part of Italy, she can travel by cheap regional train and bus, buying tickets as she goes.

She can also see many tips at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning, such as tips for traveling solo, and at http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/sleeping-eating for hostel links. A hostel generally is the cheapest option for solo travelers and also a place to join up with like-minded travelers for a day of sightseeing or a meal.

Rick's guidebooks have the practical, on-the-ground details. For these varied destinations, look at the single-city or "snapshot" guides (chapters excerpted from the larger books). No single book covers more than a couple of them. Get the Spain book, too, of course.

Tough love -- if she's old enough to work and travel overseas by herself, she's old enough to figure out her own travel plans. (OK, with assistance and guidance, but the best way to learn is making small, temporary errors and surviving small setbacks.)

Get her a copy of Europe Through the Back Door. Maybe a copy of Let's Go Europe! for student-age lodgings and activities. Buy her a money belt. And remind her that Mom is always only an email away.

I am confused. From other posts on this forum it seemed like it was impossible for a non EU citizen to work in Spain or any other EU country without possessing an EU passport. How is this possible?

Your daughter's destinations are pretty difficult to travel to except by budget air carriers. They just don't compliment each other if she was traveling by trains--except Cinque Terre/Tuscany.

If she is working without proper documentation, she may be home sooner than you think. Has she checked the laws for working in Spain?

It is very easy to get a visa to work for a year in the EU as an au-pair. The visa is dependent on this job though, so you can't come over, work for a month, quit and then just stay here.

1000's of people do this every year all over the world. It is the best way to spend a gap year as well as experience life in another country. Most au-pair organizations assist with the visa process and if this is of interest to anyone who has older teens or is a young adult, take a look at some of them to see how it works.

Laurie, your daughter may want to make plans to visit some of these places while she is working, on free weekends. Many large cities have au-pair get togethers where they meet up, share tips and travel together.

As a 21 year old adult, she really should be gathering this information herself and not depending on mom to do it for her.

Hi,

Going from Amsterdam to Budapest is easy enough. You daughter can go by night train, Amsterdam to Munich, change to Budapest on the Railjet train.

The day route most direct is: take the early ICE Amsterdam to Frankfurt, change to Vienna at Wien Westbahnhof , then change to Budapest. Both ways you transfer at major stations. There are also bus lines if you don't want the train.

laurie,

The "best" method of transportation will depend on the specifics of the route. A few thoughts.....

• Dublin to Amsterdam - flight (have a look at Aer Lingus)
• Amsterdam to Budapest - flight (have a look at KLM)
• Budapest to Copenhagen - flight (Air Berlin will likely be one of the cheapest)
• Copenhagen to Cinque Terre - flight (have a look at *Norwegian Air" for flights into Pisa)
• Cinque Terre to Tuscany - as suggested earlier, trains are the easiest method of getting around.

How long does your daughter have to travel before she starts her au pair duties and what kind of budget is she working with? Keep in mind that each change of location will require both time and money. Some areas will be more expensive than others (Copenhagen) so that's something she'll need to consider. There are also some potentiallly expensive "caveats" to be aware of when using public transit in Italy. I'd highly recommend that she read Europe Through The Back Door prior to her trip.

As Laura mentioned, Hostels are often the most cost effective for accommodations. You might want to have a look at the HI Hostels website. Having a membership will provide the best prices and preferred booking over non-members. Although I'm an "older traveller", I stay at Hostels on occasion and have found that HI Hostels are generally well run and not "party palaces, and the facilities are fairly consistent from one location to the next. If she plans on using any Hostels, it's a good idea to pack along a Tower (the micro-fiber types work well, such as shown in the travel store on this website), flip-flops (in case the shower is down the hall) and a small but robust Padlock (most Hostels provide lockers for storing valuables, but guests need to provide their own lock - DO NOT use the small TSA travel locks).

I'm with David, a pretty scattered trip. Hence more expensive and a lot of time lost to travel. If Budapest does make the final cut, let me know and I might be able to make some recommendations that will help you sleep at night.

My daughter was in London last fall at 20 and I certainly provided guidance to her on the best ways to travel in Europe. I also help out some adult friends, so no worries about getting some information for her. The best tool I found for my daughter was Skyscanner which she used to save a lot of money on flights for weekend trips. Some of her friends were not aware of this and paid much more for their flights. Equipped with some tools and information, she did a great job at trip planning. By doing extensive research, you daughter can best plan her trip based on convenience or cost savings.

She should also recognize the fact that often, these cheap flights become a lot less cheap if she is hauling a year's worth of "stuff" on her travels. I was an au-pair in Paris in the dark ages and was fortunate enough to be able to leave my large bag stored with my family to free myself up for easy travel at the end.

From other posts on this forum it seemed like it was impossible for a non EU citizen to work in Spain or any other EU country without possessing an EU passport. How is this possible?

It is quite possible... but not as straight-forward as simply showing up and hoping to find a job. The Schengen Treaty, in addition to lifting the travel restrictions that most of us on this website know about, also eliminated residency and employment restrictions within the Schengen Zone. Any EU citizen can live and work anywhere. However.... employers must give preference to EU citizens first, and if they want to hire someone without a EU passport, they need to submit extra documentation showing what unique qualifications or needs this applicant can fill that someone from Europe can not. And certain highly in-demand professions, like tech workers, research scientists and skilled health practitioners usually have these requirements waived.

So basically, if a company wants you, they will usually go out of their way to arrange the paperwork for you. People who offer in-demand skills can work pretty easily in Europe, provided they're willing to make the jump (having done this, I can attest... it's a much bigger jump than you might think). However, it's the "dreamers" who don't have anything in particular to offer, who just think they can wander around Europe until they find a job... these are the one's who are likely to be forceably escorted back to the airport.

There are a number of options for YOUNG PEOPLE to get a visa allowing you to work in Europe. "Au-Pair" is a visa class that is probably the easiest to get for citizens of many countries in the world, including the US. But it does come with restrictions as Jo has already pointed out.

Most European countries have also bilateral agreements with Canada for work-and-travel visa for young people. This are not as restrictive as the au-pair visa and you can change jobs. Very few exist for US citizens as the US does not allow European youth to work in the US in return.

The Schengen Treaty, in addition to lifting the travel restrictions
that most of us on this website know about, also eliminated residency
and employment restrictions within the Schengen Zone.

No, that is the very core of the EU treaty itself, the Schengen treaty just eliminated immigration control between the Schengen states.

Take for example Ireland which is a member in the EU, but not in Schengen: I, as a EU citizen, could freely work and live in Ireland, but every time I entered Ireland immigration could demand my ID.

I am confused. From other posts on this forum it seemed like it was
impossible for a non EU citizen to work in Spain or any other EU
country without possessing an EU passport. How is this possible?

There are many programs for young people who want to come and experience Europe and au-pair programs fall into that category. However it is usually not just about finding a job, the job normally must include language lessons and or other cultural activities, free time and so on and of course there are limits to the number of times you can do this.