selisa1333
Traveller
0 comments
Posted 6 years ago
Hey guys!
I\'m currently 17 year old ,female and I live in switzerland. My initial plan consisted of going to skandinavia with a close friend of mine already we already wanted to go there last year, but all of a sudden she couldn\'t come with me because her parents wouldn\'t allow it. Well guess what? She can\'t come again. The problem is my other friend isn\'t 18 yet and doesn\'t have the budget to travel to northern europe.
That\'s why I wanted to ask you guys for help, since I can\'t decide if it is possible for me to travel to Skandinavia alone for one whole month D: !t would be from the 16th July-12th of august. I would love to see Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland :D, one week for each country. I know, that it is extremely expensive in northern europe, but I don\'t think that it will be more expensive than living in Zurich. But how much money would you need, if I don\'t go camping in the wild(food, accomodation,transportation,sightseeing,souvenirs)? Do you guys have any experience with that :3? It is possible for me, to save that travel money, since I already get a salary as an apprentice.
Since my work place and my school have quite the distance, I\'m always required to travel by train. I\'m spending 9 hours in a train per week and sometimes even more, since I also travel through switzerland, if I have enough time. This wouldn\'t be my first solo trip. Last year I spent a week alone in Paris and I was also able to spend a month with a very nice host family in South England, where I also spent my time sightseeing (group tours but mostly alone). My language skills are ok, that\'s I don\'t think that it will pose a threat to my plan.
You probably noticed, that I\'m quite the loner, since I\'m shy and self-concious. Even though I\'m like this, I\'m pretty talkative.
So my final questions are: 1.Would you advise me to take this trip or not? 2.Do you have any experience or advice for interrailing alone? 3.Are any of you guys taking the same routes at a similar date?
I\'m thankful for all the help, that I can get and thanks again for taking the time to read this extremely long post :)
JWiethold
Traveller
9 comments
Hi Selisa,
travelling in northern Europe is very safe - I would say there will be no problem for a female to travel alone in the scandinavian countries. On interrail it is easy to make contacts with other travellers and maybe to travel spontanously with other people. But hotels and restaurants in the Scandinavian countries are extremly expensive (even compared to Switzerland) and it would be reasonable to take a tent, cooking facilities and to choose public camping sites and hostels - if you want to avoid to stay alone in your tent. In high season during summer it will be necessary to do at least hostel réservations in advance, it can be crowded in the big cities.
For me Norway is the most beautiful contry concerning the landscape and impressive train lines, but its also most expensive You can go via Sweden (Stockholm) to Narvik and from there you can return by bus to Fauske and then back by train to Oslo. So round trips are possible, if you check also busses for some routes.
Enjoy your journey
Julian
Wouter
Traveller
102 comments
Hey Selisa,
Welcome to Rail.cc!
I\'ve been to both, Zurich and Scandinavia. And I think that Scandinavia is way more expensive than Switzerland. Let me say, Switzerland isn\'t that expensive in comparison with some other West-Europien countries in my opinion.
But back to your questions, traveling alone. I\'ve been travelling all my vacations alone and yea. First off I had difficulties handling my homesickness so I hope you will cope with it better than myself ;)
I have NEVER had problems in Scandinavia. Since all people speak English as 2nd language communicating is just easy. I\'ve found that on every station there are helping people around special for you.
I\'m a person of planning, so I plan all of my overnight stays. This seems to be at a cost indeed, hotels are in the north not cheaper than 100-120€ per night. But since I\'m not a person to sleep in a tent, I had to cope with it. That\'s just the price of the north.
You\'ve got a creditcard, Visa/Mastercard? Without is almost impossible.
If you speak English, what it looks like, you are completely fine. Mit Deutsch macht man wenig mit in Skandinavien. Aber das ist gut für ihrere hinreise durch Deutschland?
Before I sum up all of the beautiful places in the north, which you probably found your self as well on [ux]https://rail.cc/blog[/ux] . I have to make some recommendations:
Finnland -> Not my favorite, but I want to visit it once in wintertime for the christmas town and nighttrain route.
Sweden -> Stockholm is just my favorite town. Public transport, all of the Museums (Skansen and Vasa!), the city centre.
Norway -> Just all of the routes. Of course pick Lofoten on your way to the north. Bodo - Lofoten - Narvik -> Blogpost.
If you\'ve won the lottery, visit north cape. That\'s my mission as well one time, going to the North is not finished without north cape ;)
I wish you all the best in Scandinavia, if you have any other questions just ask over here and who knows if we see each other, Switzerland or Scandinavia ;)
Wouter