(This is the first in a series offering budget travel advice for the backpacking tourist as well as anyone else seeking cheap travel tips.)

Photos by Emily R. Carter: Top, Stockholm, Sweden, waterfront by day; bottom, Stockholm by night.

Recently, I was able to check one more item off the list, “What to Do as a Clueless College Grad before Coming Back to Reality to Live Like an Adult,” by traveling around Europe alone for five weeks.

I survived many exotic and nauseating foods, lots of butt-squeezing, several stolen passports, and a still-lingering bout of unpleasant symptoms caused by a water-borne bacterium. I had close, personal experiences with thieves, vagabonds, pub fights, and mad cows. I returned with a nasty skin rash, a black eye from a jetlagged stewardess, and without any of my original belongings. I could write a book....

I lie.

My backpacking trip was life-changing in the most positive way. It was full of meetings with new acquaintances, trips to cultural landmarks, and local cuisine. I even booked all of my own flights and returned home with my original passport, which remained in my care during my entire trip. I also drank plenty of water in all countries I visited-STRAIGHT FROM THE TAP. Gasp!

I brought back very few outrageous and enticing tales of my journeys bashing around UK and the Continent (note: very few, not zilch). But my backpacking travels gave me priceless memories, anyway.

Rather, my point is that it is entirely possible for a young woman to make arrangements to go to Europe by herself, travel independently, and have fulfilling experiences, without being harassed, robbed, invaded by strange bacteria, or surrendering to the fates that be by subjecting herself to her vulnerable womanhood.

All of the tips I share through my experience could also apply to men, but guys, for the sake of us all, try to avoid coyly batting your big blue eyes at any Italian vendors to get free fruit at the open-air market. Trust me. It wouldn’t make for a pretty picture.

Oh, yes. And here is the clincher, folks, the pièce de résistance, the answer to prayer, the grandest of all grand finales. You get the picture.

My plan is not only to give tips about traveling alone in Europe, but about doing it ON A BUDGET. I had a great vacation on a budget that was tighter than the tightest budget I’ve ever had, tighter than a rubber band stretched across a freshly-Botoxed brow (why one would ever stretch a rubber band across skin that has already been put through torture is beyond me, but you get my point).

I had a great time on very little money during my travels. And I intend to show you that you can do it, too.

Copyright, 2004 by Emily R. Carter. May be reprinted with permission from Emily R. Carter at Cat's Cradle Used, Rare and Out of Print Books - where travel is a passion, and used and vintage travel books abound.

About the author: This is the first in a series by Emily R. Carter, a 2003 graduate of Furman University with a degree in art emphasizing art history. She is a freelance writer who has traveled extensively in Europe both during and after her college years. She lives in High Point, North Carolina. Contact her if you are interested in her freelance writing services. Her travel writing is copyrighted, but may be distributed in print or on the Internet as long as the author's byline, copyright and permission statements are included exactly as they appear in her columns. She would appreciate knowing if you reproduce her work electronically or in print.

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