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Europe for a Year

OutThere

OutThere

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 19, 2002
5,730
3
NYC
Over dinner the other night I got it into my head that I don't want to jump straight into working after college. I'm thinking that I'd like to travel around Europe, living sparely, hitching rides, settling down a little and working odd jobs when I need money. Meet lots of people, live life on my own terms, that kind of thing. I kind of realized that short of a mid-life crisis this might be the only time when I could really get away with this.

I spent 4 months last fall studying in France, traveled around some and met some people who had done this...it seemed like an awesome way to spend a year. I have two passports and can live and work in most EU countries with no restriction, I speak fluent English, French and a little bit of tourist's German and Spanish...I've got family and friends in France, Switzerland, England, Italy and Spain, so it seems not that unrealistic right now, but I'm not sure.

My real question is: has anyone done this, and is it really feasible to save up some money beforehand and find random jobs along the way as needed?
 
go for it man

i am so envious of you

i wish i was doing the same

heck, i wish i could have that lifestyle for the rest of my life. live for the moment. only live once. work sucks and you get fat.

go to europe, keep us updated and have a blast

i may end up doing something similar

as nike says....just do it
 
dukebound85 said:
go for it man

i am so envious of you

i wish i was doing the same

heck, i wish i could have that lifestyle for the rest of my life. live for the moment. only live once. work sucks and you get fat.

go to europe, keep us updated and have a blast

i may end up doing something similar

as nike says....just do it
Click to expand...

Thanks for the encouragement, the 'only live once' thing is a lot of my motivation for this. :) I just feel like I've spent too much time in upper middle-class new england...I kind of realized recently that almost everyone I know is from a Boston or New York suburb. Anyway, I'm already browsing around on www.couchsurfing.org :p
 
Do it. Not to sound cliche but here goes...you only live once and when you're shackled a bit with a career and family you'll be forever shaking your head about what may have been. Imagine the people you will meet along the way!
 
I love the idea... but do consider that things aren't going to be the same around the World as in home!

Not to discourage you but you should probably save something up rather than starting broke! Also plan about what you're going to do after this madly exciting adventure ends!

But I'm with you on the idea of work and World hopping not mixing so well together! I have a friend who hops around the World for work but she says the only time she gets to actually do some city watching is from the sky when her flight is landing...
 
do it, do it before you get a job. if you get a job then you'll get one that's related to your career to maximize your earnings. then IF you manage to not buy a car, lease a house, buy a house, get nice things for work, eat out, etc. then you'll save some money, BUT quitting your job will be a detriment to your career. Your life will quickly become a slippery slope of rationalization into financial security - which might never even come.

Now, when you don't have any family, obligations, etc. is the perfect time to just see what's out there. plus Europe is not even really seeing what's out there, it's in many ways more secure than the USA. It's like saying you're going camping in the local park. Just buy a one way ticket and figure stuff out later on. Worst case scenario, it seems that you have parents that can lend you money to get back in a jam.

BTW, if you are at all into bicycling, i'd reccomend taking a road bike using it in benelux, germany, and scandinavia.

good luck, the world awaits you.
 
Wow...I never realized people actually do this kind of thing outside of movies and books. I never understood the charm in it.

If you do go, enjoy your trip and I wish you well. :)
 
Do it! I spent 9 month travelling a couple of years ago... I didn't take much money (about £1500) but I did spend the first part of my trip in asia so you don't need nearly as much there... I then got a job picking apples in New Zealand and used that to fund the rest of my trip.

I'd say go for it... the worst that can happen is that you run out of money and you have to fly home and you were going to be at home anyway! the only other thing i'd say is 12 months is a long time to be moving around... after a while personally I got tired by the constant change and seeing 'the sights' it was great to get stuck in to one particular area and get to know people there... sometimes getting a job somewhere is a great chance to get to know people better.

anyway... good luck and hope you find what you want to do...
 
Many people don't do this because it's really difficult to do. If you don't speak the local language, there aren't many jobs you can do. To get a job, you'll need a lot of luck, and that's it. You'll have some luck in France, but I don't think you'll have the same luck in Germany (for example), based on my experiences with Germans. They'd like you to speak German, and most people won't give you the benefit of speaking in English on a daily basis, even if everybody there is capable of doing so. However, in social situations, you'd probably find the opposite. Many of them may want to practice speaking English. Employment isn't the same though. You may find the same in a number of European countries.

Lets turn the situation around. If a Polish guy came to New York, wanted to get a job, didn't speak any English (or much English), where could he work? The type of places that would take him are restaurants that have a number of people already who work for them, but aren't in the books as employees. They're just paid cash. Yes, this type of job is available, but you'll have to find this type of employer, and they don't advertise.


I had a friend who got a job at a restaurant in Greece. She didn't speak a word of Greek, but she worked in a really touristy location, she spoke English well, and they let her clean tables. :) You'd need to get a separate visa for Greece though.
 
i'm in process of planning out the same thing.

i graduated college a little over a year ago and went straight into the work force. i've been working at my job just over a year, and am completely miserable.

i'm working close to 70 hours a week with little to no time off (maybe 1 day a week)

i am debating a change of career to something more easy going. however before i make my next move, i want to travel with the money ive saved - maybe not for a year.. but a month or two would be excellent. do it and do it now. i too, am 24 y/o, still young enough to do this before i have kids and a mortgage. i encourage you to do the same.
 
oblomow said:
The OP said he has two passports. If one of those is european (read from an EC member state), he can enter Greece without a problem.
Click to expand...

I actually have a United States passport and a Swiss passport, and Switzerland—as I understand it—has bilateral agreements the rest of the EU giving Swiss citizens rights to work around Europe.

As someone was saying above, it's clearly not easy to get a job in a country where you don't speak the language, however I think I'd plan to be in France, Switzerland, UK or Ireland when looking for a job...plus being a dishwasher in a restaurant and getting paid cash—for example—doesn't have a huge language requirement. :)
 
OutThere said:
I actually have a United States passport and a Swiss passport, and Switzerland—as I understand it—has bilateral agreements the rest of the EU giving Swiss citizens rights to work around Europe.
Click to expand...

Yes, switzerland has bilateral agreements with the EU. So most of the european countries won't be a problem. Don't know about the non-EU states though (E.g. Norway, Iceland)
 
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