My friends and I are planning a trip to Europe, and one place that we might select is Paris, France. Do you think it%26#39;s suitable for young people to travel by themselves? (Mixed boys and girls or just girls alone)
All of us speak fluent English and some speak fluent French or Spanish.
Its most likely that our parents won%26#39;t tag along but we have all been there but not alone.
It will be about 5 nights there.
What are your opinions?
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Okay, I am going on the assumption here that 1) your parents approve of your plans to travel unattended to a foreign country and 2) your parents approve of your plans to travel unattended to a foreign country in a mixed group.
Now that I%26#39;ve gotten the disclaimers out of the way :)
If they do grant their approval, I think Paris is an excellent place for young adults to travel. I took my two teenage sons (ages 15 and 17, older one graduates from HS this weekend) to Paris in April and they had a fantastic time. I did indeed let them wander off on their own (and if you couldn%26#39;t tell by my disclaimer, I%26#39;m a bit on the protective side.) We made common sense guidelines about what time to meet; where to go if they ran into trouble; always kept enough euro with them to take a taxi back to the hotel; kept the hotel%26#39;s name and address written down to show the taxi driver. They have very different interests, and Paris has something for everyone.
Other good choices would be London, Zurich (some will say too industrial, but I love it very much), and Prague (which I absolutely love and is a very manageable city.)
Now - I am going to leave it to your parents to do all the lecturing about the things that can go wrong if you don%26#39;t follow common sense; what can go wrong if you take undue advantage of the younger drinking age; and what can go wrong if you make bad choices in general. I hope I haven%26#39;t spoiled all your fun by lecturing you because I do strongly believe that teenagers should travel to Europe - I think my life would be different right now if I had seen Paris at 18 rather than the advanced age of 40!
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As evidenced by the large numbers of kids in Paris on their own in summer, I%26#39;d say that the quetion has already been pretty much decided. Kids on their own, LOVE PARIS. And if Paris is a city that you%26#39;ve all already visited before, then you should know at least some of what Paris has to offer kids.
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KDKSAIL.. Is it really common and acceptable for teenagers still in high school, so aged 16 and 17 to travel alone to foriegn countries on summer break??/ Are people not concerned about safety issues??
I always knew older teens did, , after school ,, 18, 19 and so,, but do many kids really travel unattended and in mixed s8x groups at that age.. I find it surprising .
I am not overprotective, I am a parent.. perhaps I have the ages wrong.
PS How on earth do high school students afford trips like this? I had to work and save for my first on my own, not visiting relative type trip to Europe. Mind you, I went for serveral months, not 5 days.
I wish I was young sometimes, they seem so lucky and get away with so much now,, ok, I am not sure if that is all good, but it does sound very fun.
Op,,, Paris is of course the perfect place to go,, but honestly , if I was as young as you, and had lots of money( not assuming you do, just remembering how expensive my own youthful trip to Cannes was over 20 yrs ago , drinks in clubs were almost 15 bucks, THEN) I would most likely choose to go to the south of France, beach and bar vacation, or actually, our favorite party and beach place in Europe was Mykonos , Greece.
PS TA is dumb for considering the word s8x as profane,, I couldn%26#39;t even use the term to describe a group of mixed boys and girls, how very very silly. The word s8x is not a profanity , honestly who made that desision. .. ?
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Hi girl --
My daughter traveled to Paris and through Provence when she finished high school - it was a month before her 16th birthday, and she traveled safely alone. She visited friends in several places, but she traveled alone.
I don%26#39;t see any reason why you shouldn%26#39;t travel to Paris. It%26#39;s one of the safest cities in the world. Get out the guidebooks so you can set an itinerary.
Bon voyage.
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High School Seniors are 18.
To be totally honest, in your shoes I would probably opt to wait and take that trip in college (assuming college is in your plans). You will have a greater sense of yourself, of what interests you and what you want to spend time doing. And, the money you would be spending in Paris in the summer of your senior year of high school will come in very handy in college (assuming you aren%26#39;t wealthy, but maybe you are).
When I was in college so many students did this trip the summer after graduation. It was like a huge celebration before the %26quot;real world%26quot; kicked in.
But if you are set on going, I think that 18 years old is mature enough to go to Paris on your own, and I think Paris is an excellent choice!
EB
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Well I guess 18 is definaltely old enough, and Paris is definately a good choice.
BCtraveloer, staying alone and travellling alone are two different things,, my 11 is going to Toronto %26quot;on her own%26quot; this summer to stay with relatives,,,
And my first solo trip was to Amsterdam to meet my grandmother( who was french) ,, I was 13!
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18 is CERTAINLY old enough to be traveling in Paris. As a young-looking 20 year old who just got back from a year studying in Paris, I can tell you that Paris is extremely youth-friendly, and if you stay alert and together, you will have a great time.
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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;KDKSAIL.. Is it really common and acceptable for teenagers still in high school, so aged 16 and 17 to travel alone to foriegn countries on summer break??/ Are people not concerned about safety issues?? %26lt;%26lt;%26lt;
An absolute overreaction. I traveled alone to New York and Hong Kong when I was 17 with no problem whatsoever. There%26#39;s a difference between concern for safety and knee jerk assumption that young people are less able to deal with new situations than older people, quite the opposite in fact.
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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;KDKSAIL.. Is it really common and acceptable for teenagers still in high school, so aged 16 and 17 to travel alone to foriegn countries on summer break??/ Are people not concerned about safety issues?? %26lt;%26lt;%26lt;
These day, WHO KNOWS what%26#39;s %26#39;..safe..%26#39;....and what isn%26#39;t. Near as I can tell...Paris is about as safe for teens as their local shopping malls...and at least in Paris, they won%26#39;t be behind the wheels cars on local streets, roads and highway, But no matter what is advised here (or anywhere else for that matter) the ONLY opinions that will matter on the issue will be those of the PARENTS of these kids. If there%26#39;s a reason why more US high school kids don%26#39;t go to Paris during summer vacations or semester breaks it%26#39;s %26#39;..expense..%26#39; more than anything else. Parents will often allow their kids to go off UN-chaperoned, to regional vacation destinations with their friends all the time. So what%26#39;s the difference??
For the record, schools have just finished in our region and the annual summer %26#39;..body count..%26#39; has begun to come in. Five teenagers in a car on their way to a shore area two hours away--three(3) dead; two(2) in ICUs. How much more %26#39;..dangerous..%26#39; can Paris be ??
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As someone who traveled to Normandy in an exchange my senior year, and then did Paris for a few days, I can reply that I felt perfectly safe. This was 8-10 years ago, but you guys should be fine. You have to make the normal precautions you do in a city. Traveling in your group might be to your advantage, as you guys can look out for each other. My best advice is to always second guess strangers, thats just to protect yourself. I also traveled to London/Oxford in a mixed group of kids the summer before my senior year and had a blast. Of course, you may get into a little trouble and experiment with the boundaries a bit, but you are going to do that at home anyways right? I grew a lot from those experiences and feel that it changed me for the better. As a teacher now, I find that the kids who go on trips like this tend to be more culturally attuned and more mature. Btw, it is pretty common for Juniors and Seniors to do this now.
It is a rewarding experience that can be done quite affordably in hostels. For those that seem concerned about other peoples finances, its not just parents throwing money at kids....I worked all year and saved the money to go on those trips. Most of my students who do this now, do the same.
Btw, the world is no more dangerous or safe then it was before....just the media coverage is much worse. I am not saying this to start a firestorm of posts debating. I just thought it should be mentioned that over protecting 18 year olds is not going to help them at all. From what I saw in college those were the kids who got into the most trouble in college, the ones with no freedom or room to grow.
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