Never Been to Europe, Thinking About Staying for a Few Months

Personally, I would go for a shorter trip first for the first visit, unless you are an experienced overseas traveler just not to Europe in particular.

Maybe go for two weeks, say to London and Paris or Italy. Get your feet wet. If you love it, go back for a few more months. (You are limited to a 90 day Schengen visa anyway.)

Thanks, I appreciate it. No, I’ve never been overseas, it is completely my first time out of the states.

Staying in vacation rental apartments along the way will also give you a good idea of what apartment living is like in Europe.

See if you like the inner city or the smaller villages.

What fun!

Latte1, you need to be familiar with the Schengen rules about foreigners residing in Europe. There are limits to how long you can stay in any country. Living somewhere is different from being there on vacation. Medical insurance for one thing.

I agree with others upthread suggesting you give it a try first, for a shorter timeframe, and see how you like it. Or rather, see what it is that you like more, and like less. Go for a few weeks, try a mix of places, big city, suburb, small town, maybe try a couple countries. Get a variety of short-term living experiences, keep notes or a journal about which places you prefer. It'll help you make a wiser choice for any longer term trip.

You might start with Rick Steves' book Europe Through the Back Door to get a good overview.

Well, I did the first step right, I posted here. :)

It sure would be great to find an experienced traveler to do this with.

Become the experienced traveler you want to do this with.

Everyone started out as a novice. Everyone makes some mistakes. You become better at this by practicing. Studying and learing beforehand certainly helps and reduces the expensive "lessons."

Start by reading the book, watching the videos (especially the "Travel Skills" video).

Or....do a combination. Start with a tour, then DIY. There is no one way to do it. A tour introduces you to culture shock, and I understand Rick Steve tours work at teaching you travel skills. You might consider ending a tour in an English speaking country so that is one less hurdle when you start out on your own.
I agree that several locations work better for expanding out from.
There are some key websites to help plan.
For train travel, seat61 dot com is extremely helpful.
For plotting itinerary, rome2rio can be a good first layer logistical planner to minimize backtracking, guestimating length of travel and by what means. Also identifies the airlines, trainlines, buslines thst do the route.
Head to your library to check out a variety of travel guides. I find I prefer some more than others.

It's very easy nowadays to travel alone, especially if you have a smart phone (highly recommended). You can confirm hotel reservations, use the phone as a walking GPS for getting around towns and cities, check train platforms and arrival times, even buy train tickets on your phone. I used paper maps and paper train/bus schedules for years - I don't miss them at all.

My first trip to Europe was solo (so have most of the rest). I did London + Paris with a few day trips. Basically didn't/don't speak more than a few words of French. You can base yourself in two hotels the entire time (though I didn't). Fly "open jaw" - one multi-city ticket into London out of Paris or vice-versa.

You don't have to do London and Paris - they are just easy for beginners. Italy is about as easy. Most people speak a little English; more than few speak it fluently (in small towns away from tourists you might have less luck). If you have the time, do a three week trip to Italy. Fly into Venice out of Rome. The trains in Italy are terrific - very easy to get place to place (with the occasional bus).

Or if you want to start somewhere else - go for it.

Most (all?) of the Rick Steves PBS travel videos are on YouTube, so I would watch a few of those for the countries you are interested in starting in. And of course, I recommend his books.

Thank you all for your replies, you’ve given me a lot to check out, I really appreciate it.

My husband and I always planned on doing this together, but that didn’t work out. I’m a widow and all of my friends travel a lot, but the tours haven’t appealed to me much. A lot of times they come back and say they’ve had enough of being with women for awhile. ;)

I think one for a start would be good as you’ve suggested though to get my feet wet. I’m not wealthy and I feel I’d like to see it more like the locals do rather than the tourists and to have more time to do it leisurely, rather than coming home and feeling like I need a vacation from my vacation.

Again, thanks for all of the suggestions!

You've gotten good advice from all the others. Just understand that you can't rent a single apartment and visit a bunch of countries unless by that you mean "a tiny sliver of several countries contiguous to the area where the apartment is located". It is fine to put down roots somewhere, but don't think of that as a way to cover a lot of ground in Europe. You'll end up paying for a lot of duplicated lodgings if you try to pull that off.

You can explore travel times by train quite easily on the Deutsche Bahn website. To take a look at fares you'll need to go to the website of the company operating the trains or a company marketing their tickets (try loco2.com). The seat61 website is full of great information about European trains.

Be very, very careful about your Schengen mathematics. Both the arrival day in the Schengen Zone and the departure day count.

In my opinion, you should pick a location with a lot of good day trips, such as suburbs of London or Paris(accommodations in the city are expensive) and stay there a month as a trial.

Just a clarification: UK is not part of Schengen - so your stay in UK does not count towards to 90 days.

For a first trip by yourself ... at an age when you have been used to traveling as a couple ... I would suggest a shorter trip so you can go home wanting more rather than "what have I got myself into?" Three weeks to a month in one or two countries, renting apartments from HomeAway /VRBO or similar agencies that deal with short-term rentals.

Hi,

You are now retired and want to undertake a trip to Europe solo for at least 90 days? Maybe longer? Fantastic...do it, assuming you have no pressing health or physical issues. Start the planning. Don't wait for friends to go with you. If they come through, you've lucked out, otherwise forget them and that option...go solo.

I'm retired and have been back to Europe every year since retirement, almost all of them solo, true...very fortunate, anywhere from 10 days to 67 days.

I suggest that you read up in the library to start planning. My first post-retirement trip lasted 67 days, the second longest I've done. When I go solo, renting is not an option. I would not suggest that.

Focus on the top priority countries or cities. . Know how much you want to spend and what sort of travel style you want or can afford. My travel style is budget, sometimes shoe-string budget to budget plus. Keep in mind the more amenities you want, you pay extra. What's your level of luxury, what can you do without, or conversely can't do without?

If you plan a trip for 2 months, easily done...need to organise, focus, and above read up on materials.

Fred, may I ask why renting is not an option for your solo travel? If not, what are your accommodations?

You can't "take trains to visit all the countries" from one base. That is, say you rent an apartment in...Munich, just to randomly pick a place that is fairly central. Say you want to go to London, Paris, Rome, Budapest, and Barcelona (randomly picking popular places that are far apart from each other) - each is a pretty long train from Munich, so you'd be paying for your apartment in Munich and a hotel in London because you certainly can't see London in a day.

My suggestion:

Take 4-6 weeks. Pick 4 cities and stay in each for 7-10 days. Rent apartments via booking.com or airbnb. This is safe and affordable.

Pick your 4 cities based on where you care most about, and try to find ones that have day trips you would like. For example, if you choose Madrid you can go to Toledo and Segovia as day trips by train. Another criteria for picking cities is cost - London is more expensive than Lisbon, for example. Then during your time there you can explore that city as slowly as you want, with a comfortable home in your apartment.

Read Europe Through the Back Door - this outlines travel skills and the nitty gritty of how stuff works. It's a very logistical, practical book, which is what you need!

Then read guidebooks, watch TV shows, look at pictures to see which regions interest you the most. All have something to offer, but some people are most drawn to Italy, others love the east like Budapest, I personally find Spain the most interesting...there will be hundreds of places you would like to see, but hopefully a couple will stand out as your favorites.

You need to consider your language skills-if you don't speak any language but English, you should get your feet wet traveling in the UK. English is not spoken as commonly in Spain as in some other countries.

When you first think about it, it sounds like a wonderful adventure, and for some people it really is. Consider carefully. Technically it's fairly easy to spend 3-4 months in Europe, some countries aren't in the Schengen agreement, so you can stay that long on tourist visas.

If you settle in a place for more than a week or two, you will need to take a bus, plane, train or combination to visit other places and pay for hotels as well as transportation. Renting a fully furnished apartment in a city like Berlin or Paris or Barcelona or Rome (where there's lots to see and do over weeks) won't be cheap, though it will be less than paying daily rates. If you aren't in a big city, it won't be as easy to find flights, trains and buses to many other places.

That's just logistics. There are other considerations. You will be effectively cutting yourself off from your family and friends. Of course you can to stay in touch with email and social media, but the time difference means you have to coordinate for phone calls. And out of sight, out of mind. While they won't forget you, they may not think to write or call you. You won't have close friends to share your sightseeing, to have a cup of coffee with, to go to a concert with. Unless you are very outgoing you may find it difficult to make new acquaintances. Locals may not want to invest much time in someone who's a transient. Unless you are something of a loner by nature, you may find you aren't enjoying yourself nearly as much as you'd imagined.

My advice would be to sign up for an RS tour. People on the tours are invariably friendly and welcoming (at least 80-90% of them), there are usually at least a couple of singles on every tour. While the majority of tour members are in their 50s and 60s, there are lots of younger and quite a few older folks too. A few are first-timers. This will give you an introduction into European travel and give you an idea of what you enjoy doing.

Even better, take 2 back-to-back tours. Start with a guided tour to get your feet wet, learn the basics of getting around Europe. There's the 11 day Belgium/Netherlands tour that ends in Amsterdam, or the 8 day Munich to Vienna tour or the 14 day Germany, Austria, Switzerland tour that also ends in Vienna. Then you could take one of the My Way tours, 13 days in Italy or France, which start in Venice and Paris, respectively. Take a train (Amsterdam-Paris, Vienna -Venice) or fly (Vienna-Paris, Vienna-Venice, Amsterdam-Venice). The My Way tours are like guided tours in that the group travel together in a tour bus with an RS "escort" and stay in the same hotel. The difference is that your time is your own. While you may be able to hook up with other tour members for a sight or a meal, you have the choice of being completely on your own. This will give you a better idea of how you handle "alone time" and if you are ready to do it for a long period. And you will have an introduction to some beautiful countries that will help you decide where you want to go next!

Several thoughts.

First, just do it!!

Second, how to do it? Get the Rick Steves Guide to The Best of Europe and go through it reading the descriptions of the various places listed. That will give you an idea of the area(s) that might hold the most interest for you.

Third, consider taking the longer of the RS Best of Europe tours. That will eliminate a lot of the planning headaches, give you an amiable group of traveling companions, give you a taste of many different areas, acquaint you with the lay of the land, and introduce you to transportation options.

Fourth, at that point you should be able to return for a longer period in one (or several) areas and be comfortable doing it on your own.

Fifth, with regard to "A lot of times they come back and say they’ve had enough of being with women for awhile.", I've been on many RS tours and the mix of people is such that it is highly unlikely you'll be stuck with nothing but elderly ladies. There are single people (male and female), folks whose ages are from 20s to 70s, married, single, divorced, and widowed. Believe it or not, there are really good interactions among all of them. Worrying about what you friends experienced should be the least of things to consider.

One way to start planning is to read and watch everything discussed in the RS Travel Tips. It is a steep learning curve, but we've all been at the bottom and are still working our way up.

Most of my trips have been self-planned, but the past two years I've taken RS tours and this year I'll be taking 2 back-to-back. My husband opted out of overseas travel in 2015. I travel solo and pay the single supplement. It seems expensive, but since I always paid for the trips, it's cheaper than paying for him to go.

I like planning my trips, and I like the tours because they go places that are often inaccessible without a car or that I wouldn't have even thought of visiting. I feel like I get the best of both worlds because I typically sandwich the tours between extra time in the starting and ending locations and include time somewhere else before and/or after the tour.

I also like the tours because they are limited in size and there are a variety of people on them: male, female, young, old, couples, singles, retired, still working.

I was a little perplexed about the women who didn't want to be with other women. What kind of a tour were they on?

@ Maria...Traveling solo my accommodations are mainly small hotels and Pensionen. They are 2 or 3 star places, nothing fancy, extravagant, simple places. Sometimes staying in a hostel, either a private room or a 6 person co-ed dorm room, although the last couple of years I've not stayed in the hostel.

I am mainly a budget traveler, conservative with the expenses, and all that. Of course, I look for and take advantage of bargain rates, promo rates, etc. Of course, if I can get a 4 star hotel in the summer offering a 2 star rate for a single, I'll take it, as long as the other factors I consider are acceptable.

Under " normal" circumstances the location of the small hotel is top priority, unless that neighborhood is just too bad , safety-wise , etc for my tastes, but luckily I have not found that to be the case.

I mainly stay near the train station, ie, 1-6 min walk....Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Kiel, Nürnberg, Düsseldorf, Minden, Lüneburg, Weimar, Dresden, Paris, Vienna, Metz, Strasbourg, London ( just across from Kings Cross), Berlin is the exception but I'm 4-5 mins from the Pension to the S-Bahn station that goes direct to Berlin Hbf (central station).

This way I don't have to rely on "wheels" to get me from there to the train station on departure day, especially if it's a 8 am train or earlier, or spend time looking for the hotel on arrival day. This saves on the rare taxi expense or having to rely on the bus or tram, or fighting the rush hour crowd in the subway with luggage in tow. I just walk over.

Staying small hotels, B&Bs (London), Pensionen enhances the chances usually at breakfast of talking and meeting other guests or with the hotel staff, etc. Usually a grocery store or two is close by, or the Post Office.

I did rent once, in Warsaw in 2001, prior to Airbnb. That was an apt in old town...very satisfactory, nice, etc., had to rely on a taxi to/fro the main train station. The Mrs handled all the details,... her choice, her call, I just followed.

Thanks for expanding on your comment Fred. Your statement was so firm I wondered if there was some other reason that you don't do this as a solo, but it looks to be both budget and personal preference.

I will admit to liking some sort of creature comfort. My back starts to ache as soon as I think about my Cordoba 2 star hostal. It was bare bones and uncomfortable and not good value IMO....but I would try again. I have a $100 Cdn ($80US) accommodation budget - it works for 3 week travels, it might be too high for 8 week travels. But I have gotten Madrid and Granada apartments for $80Cdn/$60US which might be in the running for 2-3 star pensions or B&Bs. And there is often discounts for week or month stays.

@ Maria...When I travel with the Mrs, I can't always do what I prefer and want, obviously, so then the apt option would also be considered. She's open to the idea, especially in France when we go together, in which case she handles all the details, etc as she is fluent in the language.

What the Mrs wants, the Mrs gets, still the expenses are within the range of budget or budget plus...not luxurious, fancy, no hotel chains, etc unless it's a local one.

Another way of doing this is home exchange. We swap homes with people all over the world and it's a great way to get to know a place and feel at home at the same time!

For your first solo trip to Europe, I recommend a Rick Steves tour with time on your own before and after. The camaraderie of the tour experience is wonderful. At the same time, you don't spend all your time with the group. On our last tour (Loire Valley/South of France), we actually had an entire day in the middle of the tour with no planned activities. While the RS Tour is more expensive compared to doing a trip on your own, the experience is very rich.

One thing to keep in mind as you search for places to stay, is the proximity to both the train station and the center of town. Great to be close to the train station, but if too far from the center of town could be a let down. Part of that decision depends on traveling light, your budget, and your physical ability to handle your luggage and walk ALOT.

We live in Italy, have no car, and walk to everything locally 95% of the time. On average, I walk 75-85,000 steps and 35 miles a week. When we are traveling and sightseeing, those stats jump to 100,000+ steps and 7-10 miles a day. Traveling Europe involves more walking than you can imagine in the US.

As you find helpful websites, be sure to save as favorites. Get a notebook, and start taking notes on your findings as you do research. Print pages from key websites. Nothing’s worse than remembering you read something interesting about Rome, then can never find that web site again.

I also echo what others have said. Find a place to stay to 1-2 weeks, where you can see lots within walking distance, or city public transportation, and day trips that or within 1-2 hours so you can get back to your home base at night. And it’s ok to have days where doing something is a long walk, sitting in a cafe people watching, and not much more.

One last comment. While there is a ton of stuff to keep you busy in big cities (Rome, Paris, Florence, etc.) they tend to be more expensive all the way around then small towns and cities. Likewise, some countries are less expensive than others.

I am going to assume that health-wise there are no problems that you have at least ample finances to undertake a trip of at least budget level. So, with the health and finances out of the way, the rest of your decision to go or not to go ..solo..that is, is mental.

You say you have no idea where to start. Obviously, we all go through that. It depends on how you deal with it (Or not). No idea wahts out there. To remedy that, you start reading the guide books, don't just focus on RS (I don't even use that at all), use a several to get different perspectives aimed at different types of travelers.

Chief concern is how much are you willing to depart from your so-called "comfort zone." If others can do a trip solo as a first timer, then so can you, unless you believe "they" have something over you.

It is simply a lot easier traveling now in Europe than it was 45-50 years ago, and I am only referring to the tech and language aspects, eg, ATM, plus ATM in English aside from the local language, A/C on the long distance trains, (no such thing back then), the internet, direct dialing to the US from a coin phone, (expensive but the option is there, not then), the speed of present-day trains, electronic boards, subway systems that weren't completed until 1979 or '80, proliferation of English explanations and signs,

Sorry, I was away for a couple of days.

You’ve all given me so much to think about!

I am a very social person and make friends easily, I belong to a number of groups, but also enjoy my alone time. When I visit my sister in CA, I love my time hiking alone all day or sightseeing, but when I’m at home I never do that.

I’m a hiker but recently found out I’m going to need to have my hip replaced and I have a few other things I want to do before I would consider this trip. It gives me plenty of time to explore all of the recommendations you’ve given me, and I’m very glad I asked, I had no idea what was involved.

Thank you all again for taking the time to give me your valuable advice.

You've received lots of great input. I'll join the chorus of "Yesss! Good for you -- definitely do it!" And I support diving in for at least 3 months -- forget the "getting your feet wet."
The summer after I graduated college, I had a great job at a CPA firm starting in August, so I had summer off. I was youngest child of 5, my dad was a poor farmer so we never traveled. I took out a $2,000 loan from our family banker and backpacked around Europe, solo, for 5 weeks. It was the smartest and best thing I've ever done, and it ignited my passion for travel. When I was 30 I quit my job and backpacked around the world, solo, for a year ... it was phenomenal.
Now I'm in my 50s, still prefer to travel solo, and when I'm not traveling I'm planning for it. Life is so short ... traveling offers us SO MUCH wonder, joy, education, beauty, insights, and infinitely more.
I love helping others plan for travel almost as planning my own trips. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
(and looking forward to reading your trip report posts once you start your travels)

Wow, I am impressed, your parents were probably worried sick and then just got used to it. ;)

My dad, who didn’t finish high school, co-signed the loan ... somehow, he just “got” how important it was to me. The day I left the U.S. my dad, unbeknownst to me, had congestive heart failure and came very close to dying. I didn’t find out till I returned 5 weeks later. Everyone always told me he’d collapsed after my flight left. Twenty-five years later, the afternoon after my dad’s funeral, my mom told me the truth: Dad had collapsed about 6 a.m. and as they loaded him into the ambulance, he just kept saying: Don’t tell Shelly; don’t ruin her trip.
I’ve always sort of felt like my travels are partly for him.

Aw, how sweet, they really loved you. Thank God you had 25 more precious years with him.

Like I always say, better Latte than never. ;-)

As a solo traveler, I subscribe to a few regular newsletters and blogs. This one has been around a while with interesting and helpful details. It does come with its own share of promotion and sales - which is how bloggers earn their living - so take what you want and leave the rest, but this article deals with long term travel.
https://solotravelerworld.com/long-term-solo-travel/
I have permission to share it.

Thank you, I read it over and bookmarked it.

Right now it all seems overwhelming. I think I will need a tour first to get my feet wet and then see where I’ll go from there. In the meantime, I’m so glad I posted. You’ve all given me such great advice and reading material, thank you all so much.