Independent travel--the way to go!
Feb 27 '00
Two words: Independent travel. I cannot stand organized tours, where you spend weeks with the same group of people--strangers that you didn't choose to meet. With organized tours your time is limited and the places you visit are all predetermined long in advance. I passionately hate that kind of travel. Independent travel gives me freedom to choose what to see, where to go, how much time to spend in each place--in short, whatever I feel like doing at the moment. As Rick Steves, a famous travel writer put it, "My idea of a good travel is being on this platform in Hamburg. In five minutes, the train on track 7 is going to Berlin. In six minutes, a train will leave from track 8 for Copenhagen. And I've yet to decide which train I'll be on." Most importantly, perhaps, independent travel is an excellent opportunity to meet different people (by chance and choice, not by assignment).
Backpacking in Europe for the last three summers, I have made acquaintances and friends in all kinds of places. But for the purpose of this review, I came up with just two...
1) Trains.
If you are traveling independently in Europe, chances are you’ll be taking trains to get from point A to point B. It is the most common way of transportation. I don’t remember a train ride that I spent in my own company because it is VERY easy to meet people (especially other backpackers), and many times after arriving to the destination I would spend great time with people I just met on the train. Travel unites people in its unique way. If you are taking a day train (with no assigned seats), here is a little trick from a single guy to a single guy: Be the last one to get on the train and get into the first or the last car. Start making your way through the train until you find “someone” you wouldn’t mind talking to for the next few hours, and just get a seat right next to that girl. The rest is up to you. Oh yeah, hopefully she’ll speak English.
2) Hostels (up to a certain individually-determined age).
Every (good) hostel has some kind of common area or preferably a bar. There you can find backpackers from all over the world. English is the language of business, so to speak. US, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and all Scandinavian countries--all have English in their language arsenal. Besides, backpackers from other non-English speaking European countries usually know enough English to strike a conversation. Hostels are great for meeting people and learning new things. Everyone has his or her own itinerary and no night at the hostel is the same. People come and go. Look around and enjoy that special, very brief moment in time when you’re all together.
Whether you are taking a train or staying in a hostel, visiting a museum or eating in a restaurant, drinking in a bar or dancing in a club, attending a play or playing soccer, on top of the Eiffel Tower or down in the London tube--independent travel allows you to meet people, by chance and choice. And that’s why I love it!
p.s. By the way, everyone’s trip usually starts when you board that Boeing 747 or Airbus-320. Look around. I’m sure there is always someone on that flight that you wouldn't mind knowing a little better.
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Epinions.com ID:
AlexG
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Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 130
Trusted by: 237 members
About Me:
Alex has a voracious appetite for travel. Travel hasn't satisfied an appetite. It's created one.
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