solo travel

[deluka]

Hi my daughter and I are travelling solo for three months to Europe from NZ,we are very nervous but excited too,does anyone out there know of any housesitting opportunities or likewise,clean accomadation on a budget,all we know is that we hit heathrow on 1 November 2002.We would dearly love to meet up with any other travelling families...........Advice,tips?

Dear Deluka,
I have done this in reverse, just finishing 3 mths work in NZ alone with toddler, away from UK. Off to travel in South Island tomorrow so can't talk now. Will try again in a few weeks. You will have a brilliant time. Things were more expensive here than I expected, but ds has adapted so well. We have just been staying in your spotlessly clean youth hostels when travelling, and he has even adapted to shared bathrooms and kitchens. We did, however, pay extra for double rooms as I would not feel safe sharing a dormitory with total strangers with my child. I would say that your best and cheapest way to see Europe would be in a similar way - self cater as much as you can, use the cheapest transport you can (possibly still trains in Europe), stay in youth hostels (hostelling international) or campsites wherever you can. Also try university halls of residence during holiday periods. We find travel with England very expensive, so you are going to feel it worse. Sometimes you can save quite a bit of money by watching exchange rates very carefully, and exchanging more when you think the rates are good, because if you away for 3 months you know you will have time to spend the foreign currency, esp now so many countries share the euro. Don't listen to those discouraging people who say things like, "You're so brave. How will you do x?" If you have travelled without children before, then travelling with children is the same, except you are more careful and less flexible. Western Europe is a developed country and you will never be far from good medical care and supermarkets. Make sure you have good travel insurance and a good guidebook, eg Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring.

Best Wishes

Hi Go onto www.lonelyplanet.com and into the thorntree and there is a branch called kids to go. You may find other travellers there. Lonely planet also do a good book on travel with children. Good luck. Have a wonderful time
helen

CityFreak - I wondered where you were? Was going to ask about you on the Missing thread. Glad you're having a fab time by the sounds of it.

Back now. Had really good time, esp stopovers in Singapore and Thailand where everyone was so friendly and fancy hotels were so cheap! Also made me realize that I love living in London, which is such an exciting city. You can never afford a big fancy house here, but you don't actually need all that stuff. We managed on 40 kg of stuff for 3 months and the only things I really missed were my electric toothbrush and having a washing basket. I have no clue what has been happening to everyone and really busy at work now. I feel like I have missed a few months of a soap.

Wow, you lucky thing, Cityfreak, and welcome back to the Big Smoke. There's a party planned at Da Mario's on 30th November - check out the thread called Big Christmas Meet-up or something similar.
Glad you had such an enjoyable time.

Hi, a friend of mine wants to travel to Caneries in January but can't find anything, as she is traveling alone with her young son.
Anyone know any companies that specialise in holidays for lone parents?