Transportation to and within Europe may present some learning opportunities for you. This article introduces the transportation section, where the follow-up articles will delve into the particulars.
Getting To and From Europe
Let’s begin with what may be the easiest part of learning to travel to Europe as a solo older woman. If you are contemplating such a trip, you are probably familiar with plane travel. It’s not really different to and from Europe, with a couple of exceptions.
First, when you go to Europe from the U.S., the overwhelming flights board in the afternoon or early evening and arrive in Europe from early to late morning. Overnight on a plane was something I hadn’t experienced before my Trip 1.
I am not one who sleeps on a plane. I might rest, but never sleep. I am a fairly nervous flyer, but also one who needs to sleep lying down flat. Yet I never feel like I can afford to spend enough to fly first class, where I might be able to get some sleep–except for the nerves part. I figure second class gets me to the same place at roughly the same time.
As you plan for this trip, people may tell you about jet lag. I don’t think I’ve ever had jet lag as such, but I sure wander around in a daze from sleep deprivation. That doesn’t keep me from having some fun. On the first trip I was so excited to be in Europe that I wandered around Madrid thrilled to be there and having a great time after an hour or two. For my second trip I just didn’t plan anything for the day I landed in Vienna, so I enjoyed sunning myself, watching the Viennese enjoy ice cream cones and bench sitting on what I gather was one of the first spring days, and wandering around the heart of the city.
If you think you will be like me and land in the morning having had very little sleep, don’t plan anything important for that first day.
On the return trip, most of you should be able to get home in the course of one day. You will be tired because the clock at home may say 6 pm, 7 pm, or 9 pm, but remember that Europe is six to eight hours ahead of our time. So add maybe 7 hours to your 6 pm arrival home and you’ll find it’s 1 am in the city you just left!
The other option for getting to Europe without plane travel is going on an ocean liner. The Queen Mary experience is on some people’s bucket lists, and I know one good friend who enjoyed it thoroughly. But taking that long for passage just does not seem attractive to me.
How We Older Women Travel Between European Cities
Next let’s talk about inter-city transportation within Europe. Especially in Western Europe, the gold standard will be train travel. Some people want to argue that you should take the budget European airlines between cities, but unless the train trip is extra long, you will find that you can get to your destination just as fast on the train. This is true because almost all train stations are in the heart of the city, while we all know that airports can be a ways out of town. So center city to center city, the train will win out because you usually are free to arrive at the train station just in time to step on your train, without the wait that airports entail.
In some parts of the continent, trains are not readily available. The Balkan countries come to mind, but there are other pockets where this is true also. Don’t be afraid of European inter-city buses, most of which are quite nice. Flixbus is a company rapidly gaining market share, and now even selling other bus companies’ tickets, so check them out if the train just doesn’t seem to work for you, or is non-existent. These buses are much nicer than what you find in the States, so much so that they seem like a different transportation mode altogether.
Some of you are just scratching your heads thinking you will just drive from city to city. Certainly it’s possible to rent a car (a “car hire” there) in all but the smallest of burgs. Cars are the most practical way to get around among rural areas and small cities that are popular with tourists, such as the Cotswolds in England, some parts of Tuscany, the white town in Spain, the Loire Valley in France, and many others.
I personally have ruled out renting a car there, however, because I think unfamiliar driving expectations and signs would add unnecessary stress to the experience. Sometimes you will need to buy a vignette sticker for a country, and in the United Kingdom they drive on the wrong side of the road too! If I have an accident, I figure the complications could be harder to understand than if I were here. Should you want to rent in one country and drop off the car in another, well, surprise, the drop-off fees could be up to a thousand dollars. Drop-off fees even within the same country can be substantial. Many cities have no-traffic zones too, and parking is difficult to find or non-existent. In addition, you may find streets in older parts of a city are very narrow, so the driving can be extra challenging. Traffic tickets may not find you for a year or more, so if a camera catches you speeding and you don’t know it, you could have an unpleasant surprise in the mail a year or two after you are back home.
For all these reasons, I choose not to do car rental or to travel to destinations where that is virtually the only way to get there.
Moving Around Within a City
Now let’s talk about getting around in the city or town where you are staying. Each has its own options, but any place of any size will have some public transit choices. If a town is too small for that, you will find it walkable unless you are getting pretty mobility impaired. (In that case, be sure to check with local tourism agencies to see if taxis or other hire car arrangements are possible.)
Here’s a problem though. Many of you Americans just aren’t used to taking public transportation at home. You will learn, but read up about tickets, fares, and boarding procedures on the specific transit companies’ websites before you go, and look for youtube videos about what the subway, light rail, tram, or bus will be like.
If you live in a city that has some public transportation options that you never use, just make an occasion to be a tourist in your own town for a day or two. That will at least make you feel more comfortable that you can learn a system and use it satisfactorily. However, if you take this advice and are uncomfortable with the clientele and general depressing atmosphere of your local transit, don’t assume it will be the same in Europe. In most cities there, people of all classes and stations in life use the same system and expect and demand cleanliness, punctuality, and reliability.
Some of you are saying to yourselves about now, why not just take a taxi everywhere? That’s an option, but one I have not used frequently. In part that’s because I’m budget conscious and enjoy walking. The other consideration is that sometimes I haven’t been able to find or hail a taxi when needed. Part of that may be inexperience, but I recall being in Rome where there supposedly are taxi stands and finding no taxis at the two or three stands I tried. My taxi experiences are limited to one ride to a Michelin starred restaurant for lunch in Paris, a ride to the airport in early morning in Madrid, a ride from the train station to my hostels in Berlin and Antwerp on days when I was exhausted, and maybe another one or two I’ve forgotten. On this year’s trip I’m actually excited to take one of the famous black cab taxis in London for the last stage of my transport to the college dorm where I’m staying.
Much More to Say
That’s the quick survey of traveler transportation in Europe. I will be adding detailed articles about aspects of this important facet of your trip. Each new article title will be added below and link to the article. Good travels!