I am a 60 + single father of a 3 year old boy. To some that may sound crazy or impossible but I'm happy with it and so is he. The disadvantages of it, lack of energy and some physical limitations, are balanced by my having lots of free time and enough money put away to get along, at least until Mr. Bush plunges the world into another depression or religious war.

Still, I do long for a neighbor who understands the problems of a single parent, and who would share and help with the day to day resposabilities. We are in Portugal right now, but are free to travel, and probably will in the coming months, perhaps a trip to the Caribbean, and later in the spring I want to explore more of Europe.

I would love to hear from anyone who could suggest places to visit, things to do, people to meet. I am not interested in romance, partying, or night life. I don't care how old you are, I just want to talk to, perhaps meet, and share the joys of parenting with others.

I look forward to hearing from some of you.
D.

Hello!

I'm the 31yo single father of a 12yo boy.

60+ and 3 doesn't sound crazy or impossible to me; honestly, it sounds more possible than 22 and 3, yet I'm living proof that situation wasn't impossible (although it was pretty crazy).

It's a coincidence you posted, as my son and I are planning a trip to Europe for this Summer. We've just begun to research places to visit, so I can't help you with suggestions yet, but I'd be very interested in whatever feedback you get in this thread. Right now our plans are to fly into Shannon, Ireland in July and fly out of Athens, Greece in August. My son also has some relatives (on his Mom's side) that he needs to see in Ireland, England, and Sweden. We plan on getting the two month Rail Europe pass to get between the different countries. Other than that, our plans are wide open (and we're not particularly into romance, partying, or night life either).

You know, you might be able to help me with some practical info...particularly with details of using the Rail Europe system. Are you familiar with it? If so, I'll post some questions. Heh...unfortunately, with our trip needing to take us from Ireland to Stockholm to Greece, it's unlikely we'd be able to get down to Spain or Portugal to experience those countries.

Finally, although I fully agree with your statements about Mr. Bush and I have *no* authority at this site, I think that it's best if we leave politics out of threads. I don't think the site has any limitations on political content, but really...it's a topic that can cause arguments and hard feelings in a place that's just meant to provide support to Single Parents. It's up to Robin and Don what's allowed, but that's my personal POV as I'm sure your statements made the blood boil of at least some of the good people that viewed it.

Later,
Bobby

Sorry to be so slow to get back to you.
I am just getting used to this site and didn't know anyone had replied to my post.

In the summer we are more likely to be in Switzerland or Poland (where I have a farm), than in Portugal.
I have also considered living in Ireland, and may try to visit there sometime this summer, but I have no idea where to go.
Anyway, keep in touch.
Dale

Hey,

My son and I are planning on backpacking through Europe this Summer, and we could use some ideas.

Before I start, I hope I don't come off as obnoxious talking about this trip. Trust me, my son and I lived through some pretty rough times...teenage parenthood, government housing, WIC checks, Medicaid...I can send you links if you need proof. Anyway, after working my *** off and making a lot of sacrifices, we can now do stuff like galavanting about the planet (for a few weeks at least). Around 5 years ago we took the same sort of trip around the US, getting ideas from a different Single Parent site before the trip and reporting about it during/after. It was a popular topic there...soooo...

Anyone have any ideas of what we should do? Really...*anything* would be helpful at this point...even if it's just something you've heard/read about or seen on TV. We have a loose schedule:
Ireland (Shannon Airport to Galway to Dublin) 4 days
England (Dublin to London) 3 days
France (London to Paris) 3 days
Belgium (Paris to Brussels) 2 days
Netherlands (Brussels to Amsterdam) 2 days
Sweden (Amsterdam to Hamburg to Odense to Copenhagen to Stockholm) 3 days
Denmark (Stockholm to Copenhagen) 3 days
Germany (Copenhagen to Berlin) 4 days
Czech (Berlin to Prague) 2 days
Austria (Prague to Vienna) 2 days
Italy (Vienna to Venice to Florence to Rome to Brindisi) 8 days
Greece (Brindisi to Petras to Olympia to Athens to Boston) 7 days

We can change the schedule a little bit if necessary, but we have people that need to be visited in Galway, London, and Stockholm (son's relatives on mom's side) and Paris (friend from school). We've pretty much decided on buying the two month Rail Europe passes. Has anyone here ever ridden those trains? I'm particularly interested how realistic it is to sleep on them. Also, the web site says that England doesn't accept the passes? Seems like a good reason to skip England.

How about ideas of how to pack for the trip? It's just going to be the two of us with what we can carry on our backs. I figure we'll only be able to carry two or three sets of clothes. I want to get souveniers, but it's not realistic to carry it all. Maybe we can Fed Ex stuff home as we go? We're going to have to keep this cheap. After paying for plane and train tickets, we're not going to have a lot of extra cash.

Anyway...looking forward to feedback.

Later,
Bobby

Hi Bobby. I'm glad to hear that you and your son are going on this trip. I dont know how old your son is, but I spent some time staying with an uncle in Germany when I was 17 and I will tell you a few of the things that I thought were cool at that time.

First off, I haven't done any sleeping on the European rail system, just simple point A to B destinations, but I do love the rail system. If the US had an adequate rail system I'd sell my car tommorow.

Germany--I stayed in a town near Stuttgart, which is some distance south of Berlin. There is a small town in Bavaria called Garmisch (?spelling) The place literally looks like something out of a fairy tale. Cobblestone streets, little pubs, surrounded by mountains. Breathtaking! I recommend staying in a Gasthouse any chance you get. It's kind of like staying at a bed and breakfast. Usually smaller places where some cute little German lady cooks for you in the morning. Ver cozy, affordable accomodations. I also recommend (depending on the age of your son) visiting one of the concentration camps. I went to Dachau which is near Munich. Pretty intense-but for me lifechanging. Not something for smaller kids though. Also, there are tons of castles in Germany. I took a boat ride down the Rhine and there are like ten to fifteen different castles you can see there. Neuschwanstein castle I think is the largest and best known, the Disney castle is modeled after it.

Austria is also beautiful. Salsburg is the area where the sound of music was filmed and you can take tours related to that (a bit cheesy). I recommend eating the wursts in Germany and Austria (numerous variations of Bratwurst)-- all of which are fabulous and go well with beer. Personal favorite beer--Hefeweitzen.

In Italy there are so many things to see and do, I wont go into all of them. Just take some time to sit at a sidewalk cafe and have some Espresso for me.

Paris-The Louvre is kind of cliche but really is a must, especially for your son. You just can't go to Paris and not see the Mona Lisa. I was less impressed with the Eiffel Tower and the Arch de Triumph, but worth a quick stop. Notre Dame is amazing, and the whole city by boat at night, unforgettable. Not expensive either.

I recommend investing in some sort of pack for money and passports that you can keep under your clothes. Paris is over-run with pick pockets, and this is problematic in other major touristy areas as well.

I was in London last year. Love London. The tube might not be included on your rail pass,but do take it. I wanted to go on the Jack the Ripper tour in East London but my travel companion wasn't into it. Gotta see Westminster Abbey, etc... The British Museum was great. I personally prefer shoe shopping on Oxford street, but that might not appeal to you and your son.

I hope you have a great trip. I really believe there is no better education than travel. My absolute favorite hobby.

Thank You...this is exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking for!

Garmisch sounds great! I love visiting places where the attraction is the town by itself. Lol...and that fits our budget constraints too. Is it far from the trains? What's the best way to get around the towns for little money? Someone suggested buying bikes when we land and using them to get around. Is that a realistic idea? StopDiscrimination had suggested the castles to us in another thread; definitely something we're gonna do.

My son is actually a very emotionally stable 12yo (the high functioning autism probably has something to do with it), and he sounded interested in visiting the camps. Are there a lot of WWI and WWII things to see in the Europe? We often go to Civil and Revolutionary War stuff in the US. He's very much into the History and Military channels, and seeing the real places would be exciting for him.

Austria...well, I gotta admit that if I ever end up in Hell, the Devil will surely find a way to incorporate The Sound of Music into my eternal punishment. Heh...I had two musical sisters growing up, and the exposure to that movie I endured...*shudder*...thanks for the offer! I'm sure there's other things to do in the country though, right? It's not just the land of Julie Andrews

Would you believe that I didn't know the Mona Lisa was in the Louvre? Seriously...I think you deserve a post card for that! I asked little Bobby what he knew about the painting, and he knew just about everything. The Louvre is definitely on our list. Are the famous attractions in Paris free (like the ones in D.C.)? We certainly are going to go up the Eiffel Tower, but I got a confession to make...I am *deathly* afraid of heights. Uggh...wish lil B was...

London: I haven't heard of the Jack the Ripper tour, but it does sound cool. I'll see what lil B knows about him, as it definitely sounds different. We will most likely stay away from shoe shopping. Are there any music related attractions in London maybe? On the US trip lil B and I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio, and he *loved* it. With all of the music to have come out of England, it seems that they must have something set up to celebrate it. Do you know of anything?

Anyway...thanks for the info and keep it coming! I know the names of some famous stuff in Italy and Greece, but I'm gonna have to research exactly what is where and I'd still have no idea how they *really* are as far as good places to visit.

Later,
Bobby

PS - You're the second person in two days to warn me about pickpockets on our trip. It must *really* be a big problem there.

where in erope are you from?

My trip was a little different since my uncle lived in Germany and we drove a car to most destinations. I can't imagine that there is not a train that goes to Garmish or near it,and you can always get a bus. It has been 13 years since I was there, but my recollection is that if you have a rail pass you can take as many of the trains as you want and then just walking from the nearest train station.

When I was in London last year I just bought a pass card that included all the destinations I wanted to go to and was good for a week. I think it was about 35-40 pounds for the week. ($70-80) And I am pretty sure that you can get them for any amount of time, so if you are going to be there for 3-4 days, would just buy one for that.

Musically, in London I know you can take tours based on the Beatles, which would be pretty cool. There's always lots of theatre going on as well. I'm not a big fan of musicals, but your son may enjoy that.

I hear there are lots of historical sites from the war in Berlin. Europe is just so covered in History. If you have time you could probably go to Normandy while in France.

I hear what you're saying about Austria and the Sound of Music. It's not really my thing either, but Austria is really beautiful. I know in Salsburg there is a Fort or Castle structure on top of a hill in the middle of the city and you can take like a cable car type shuttle up to the fort. Walking around in it is like going back to the Rennaisance. And you can climb to the top of it and have a panoramic view of the Austrian Alps. Very cool. I didn't get to Vienna, but I know it is filled with culture.

In Paris you can walk around the Eiffel Tower free and I think it's fairly inexpensive to take the trip to the top. I didn't go up because the day I was there it was cold and rainy and I just didn't want to. I know that if it is windy you can feel the tower swaying while at the top, so I hope you get nice weather. I took a hour long bus tour around Paris where you can see the sites, and they let you off to take pictures at Notre Dame and Arch de Triumph. You should also go to Versailles if your son is not sick of castles by then. Versailles is one of the most lavish palaces in Europe with the Hall of Mirrors, and surrounded by manicured gardens.
Plan on spending at least half a day at the Louvre. It is so huge and overwhelming you could probably spend a week there and not se eveything.

In reality you could spend a month in each of these places and not see everything. So, a rough itinerary is probably a good idea so you can see the main points you really want to get to.

Oh, and in London, I hear the Tower of London is really cool. That's where they used to hold prisoners and executions. It now houses the Crown Jewels.

Once again, thanks for the info! I hope you didn't take the Sound of Music stuff too seriously...I was trying to be funny.

We're going to google through the suggestions this week. We have a map of Europe on the wall of our kitchen, and we're gonna put a little dot on each place we want to visit as we learn about them. The day before the trip we'll connect the dots and voila! Our itinerary...

BTW...what sort of clothes should we wear in July/August. I'm assuming everyplace will be warm. Would shorts be smart, or should we bring jeans instead? Maybe a jacket in case it rains would be smart? I dunno...we won't be able to carry much...

Expect rain in London. Doesn't really matter when you visit. You're going to be covering a pretty large geographical area. I think most of the time shorts and t shirts would be good, but if you go into some of the mountainous areas like the Alps, it can't hurt to have jeans and a light jacket.

By the way, not bothered at all by your disdain for the Sound of Music. Quite funny actually.

ok, my co-worker suggests:

For Galway-Shannon: Cliffs of Moher
also The Aran Islands, she said that the best way to get there would be from Galway, you need to take a ferry, this is an all day trip.

Dublin: Wicklow Mountains & Dublina Viking Museum (interactive) you can try on all the viking gear ......

Her sister is going to send some suggestions also so more will follow

I think this is great that you 2 are doing this!!!! I hope that you have fun!

Bobby…there is so much to see and you have so little time….
Actually, you will be just travelling most of the time, especially if you’re taking trains, if I understand your planning well.
And it will cost a fortune if you’re taking planes.
Actually, it will cost a fortune no matter what. So, be prepared.
For example, there must be around 1000 miles between Vienna and Rome…this alone will take you 24 hours or so to travel alone (ok, I might be exaggerating a little). Trains are not exactly fast for the most part. In France there are fast trains…the TGV is pretty cool, but this is far from everywhere. In Germany there is the ICE, but on a lot of parts of the railway net, they can’t go to their limits because the rails themselves are old.
Regarding money: Be careful with the supplements. I don’t know rail passes...but often they don’t include the supplements you have to pay in the special trains (faster trains for example), and these supplements can be half the price of a normal ticket.
Europe is a an OLD and SLOW place. SLOW food, SLOW travel, and I won’t go any further ;-).
To really get a feel for it, and to REALLY travel Europe...mho is…take it slow and really take it in…don’t run.

My advice…go to half the places only, and stay a little longer at each.

Just a few comments on a few places I know:

Berlin.....usually hot summers…great for young people, lots of cultural things to do, very particular, not at all representative, but super interesting, forests and lakes where you can swim, and that in the middle of the city, east Berlin…ugly until today..But definitely worth a visit (it’s history, right), Potsdamer Platz…gotta go and see what they did with it in the last 10 years….Bratwurst is a must, Bouletten as well…Pfannkuchen (aka Berliner in the rest of Germany ;-) ..don’t miss Berlin. The ‘Technik Museum’ is my favourite, and the Checkpoint Charlie Museum of course.

Salzburg….it can be nice, but the weather can be very variable, even in summer…the home of Mozart…go see the castle on the hill, the salt mines, (NB: Salzburg = ‘salt castle’), go have a coffee at the Kaffehaus, and an Apfelstrudel mit Schlagsahne, take a walk through the small down town cobble stone streets.

Paris…hot in summer…I like the Trocadero, the Museums at the top of the stairs (this is across the Seine river from the Eiffel tower)….the book sellers along the Seine…sitting on the stairs at the ‘Sacré Coeur’ church in Montmartre…I also love the cemetery ‘Père Lachaise’, where all the famous French writers are buried…

Rome…will be empty of romans in summer, everyone is at the beach….and HOT...no need to comment...Rome is THE city to see in Europe.

Hamburg..don’t forget your raincoat.

Have Fun

Hello Mashell and Dew,

Thanks for the input! I'd gotten quite a bit of input about Galway already, actually, since it's where little Bobby's grandfather was born. He was one of 20 children, and ~15 of them still live there (as well as his great grandmother). For people who haven't heard of the Cliffs of Moher, here's a link. I've heard it's really impressive in person; better than the Grand Canyon even. I hadn't hear much about Dublin, however, and the Viking museum sounds cool.

Uggh...I might actually have a problem in Ireland now. Bobby's mom suggested that she might buy a plane ticket so that she'll be there at the same time as us. She was supposed to take him last year, but she didn't have enough money for two tickets so she went by herself. Since I'm already buying him a ticket this year, she can just buy herself a ticket again and go there with him.

I dunno...I'm worried that once we're over there, I'm just gonna get pushed to the side as she enjoys her week with him around her family. I mean, I didn't plan/pay for all this so that I'd be covering half her vacation costs! At the same time, this isn't about me...it's about little Bobby. What would he want? He'd want to be over there with the both of us. Soooo...the mature thing, would be for me to just be delighted that he's getting what he wants. Uggh...although I'm secretly hoping that she won't be able to get the time off from work. You know? Instead of going to Ireland years in a row by herself, she could save the money and take the two of them next year.

I agree that we're spreading ourselves thin. Originally, the plan was to just go from Ireland to Italy, and then take a boat to Greece. My ex in-laws have family in Sweden, however, and they're the ones who have sent us the most correspondence, awaiting our visit. The countries that little Bobby is most excited about visiting, however, are Italy and Greece (the ruins&history that he learned about in school), so I'm hesitant to cut that part out of our trip.

We used the train schedule on the Rail Europe website to estimate the travel time from place to place. Thanks for the warning about the supplements. Is there a way to tell from the link I provided above, if the Rail Passes we're planning on getting will include those or not? Also, is it possible to sleep on these trains? I figure that if we spend a day in a country, and then get on a train at night, we'll be able to sleep on the train until we wake up in another country. Is this reasonable?

You're right that this is going to cost a fortune. It's not like I have a ton of extra money, but little Bobby is only going to have one childhood so I gotta give him what I can while he's still young. Heh...I can worry about making up for the cost after he's 18.

I gotta say...I'm getting a *lot* of cool info about Germany...maybe we should plan a few more days in that place?

Thanks for the ideas guys. Please keep them coming!

Later,
Bobby

quote:

It's not like I have a ton of extra money, but little Bobby is only going to have one childhood so I gotta give him what I can while he's still young. Heh...I can worry about making up for the cost after he's 18.

....as the old saying goes, you can't take it with you Bobby.

Have you or Little Bobby's mom told him of her plans yet? If not, I would tell her, "listen, Bobby and I have had this trip planne dfor a long time now" and spiel it from there. It is TOTALY unfair of her to include herself in a vacation that the two of you have worked on so diligintly!

Not yet...I may tell her my issues with her going and see what she says. Oh boy...saying it like you typed it would make a big blowup though Everything's gotta be handled very calmly and politely with her, or there's problem. Plus, she could say things to her family and make a lot of trouble for us...

At the same time, do you know *how* many times I've taken the short end while supporting little Bobby's love for his mom? Child Support, putting her name of presents she didn't buy, making excuses for her...what's one more? Dunno...

Really...I feel like deleting all this stuff about her after a few days, in case he ever finds/reads it in the future. He doesn't need to have anything but love for her...