‘Our mate forgot to change trains – we lost him for two days’: Readers recall teenage trips to Europe

Telegraph readers share their experience of solo travelling as teenagers

Kirstie Allsopp attracted controversy recently after allowing her 15-year-old son to go Interrailing with a friend across Europe. The TV presenter described how she felt “sick” after being questioned by social services in relation to her son’s trip.
Telegraph readers took to the comments section to defend Allsopp and share their own experiences of travelling at a young age. We spoke to some of them. 
Reader Michael Gates attributes his travels early in life to a long, fulfilling career full of adventure. In 1976, at the age of 16, Mr Gates recalled how he and his friend took a ride with their French teacher and were dropped off in a remote area of France, ready to embark on their travels. 
“There were no mobile phones at that time,” he starts, “so we agreed to meet at a specific day and time on the steps of the town hall.
“We got around by hitching. On the first ride, for instance, we realised the guys who were driving were drunk. As we were approaching a tunnel in the mountains, one of the drivers drunkenly asked, ‘You’re English, aren’t you?’ and started driving on the wrong side of the road.”
After getting to the accommodation they had booked, the pair realised they did not feel comfortable staying due to how isolated and neglected it was. 
“There were no links to public transport and a calendar on the wall from the 1960s!” Mr Gates said. 
“We had to explain to the owner we intended to leave the next morning, whilst he was sitting there with a big aggressive-looking dog cutting pieces off a sausage with a pen knife. My French was reasonable but I think he spoke in some sort of dialect, so it made it even harder to explain that we hated it.”
The pair still had to pay for the duration of the intended stay despite only spending one night, so after sorting out a replacement accommodation, they ran out of money on day two.  
“We had to use a phone box and ask for a travellers’ cheque from my friend’s dad, which took three days to arrive.”
When it came to surviving beyond the need for hotels and transport, the lack of funds required some adaptation: “I had brought some Oxo cubes with me – so we had to knock on people’s doors asking for a cup and some hot water to dissolve our cubes. We lived on those for three whole days.
“The rest of the trip was fine. We got to see the various sites like the Palace of the Popes [in Avignon], but I think the things you remember most are the unpleasant things. Years later though, the disastrous things become quite amusing.”
Despite his struggles, Mr Gates attributed this trip to building his character and benefitting him in years to come: “The trip directly links to the life I’ve built now. My job involves teaching people how to manage in different cultures and one of the things I learned from my experiences as a young traveller was resilience. 
“I wouldn’t let any of my children go hitchhiking these days, but I think it’s important to let them travel. Giving children freedom is very individual, it depends so much on the child. But generally, the parents know what they’re capable of.”
Reader Simon Edmunds shared a similar view. He argued: “Travelling is essential to making the most of your youth”. 
At the age of 18, Mr Edmunds went Interrailing around Europe in a group of four, with the youngest being 16. They spent a total of two months travelling in the summer of 1982, with the aim of ticking off every country on their Interrailing card. 
The group did not book any accommodation for the entirety of their trip, opting to sleep mostly on trains and station benches. 
“We would get to a destination and explore the city. When it was time to sleep, we would get on any train that was going four hours away and then catch the return back to the destination – which gave us eight hours of rest. It’s what you do when you’re 18.”
After setting off from France, the group travelled through each country in Europe and quickly learned that the bulk of their experience would be about endurance rather than leisure. 
Mr Edmunds recalled having to smuggle coffee from Italy into Yugoslavia to gain access to the country: “At the time it was Communist-controlled and the platform was packed. Every time we’d get on the train, old ladies wearing huge coats in the middle of July would push us off. We missed about three trains and just couldn’t work out what was going on. 
“Eventually, this German man came up to us and told us the only way you would get on the train was if we agreed to put a couple of kilograms of coffee in our rucksacks. We were pretty nervous. Security had machine guns at the border. But we showed our English passports and when we got to the Yugoslav side, a guy stopped us to take the coffee and we were on our way.
“I just couldn’t believe all that coffee got through! It was being thrown from the windows and stashed in bags.”
As well as learning about the differing political climates across the Continent, the group learned a lot about problem-solving and innovation, through various sink-or-swim scenarios. 
Mr Edmunds said: “We got robbed in Amsterdam. Another time, one of our mates forgot to change trains and we lost him for two days. We saw him running down the platform with saucepans clanging on his knees. And at one point in France, we decided to walk a distance that looked very near on the map but it took a day and a half. We were starving and resorted to knocking on people’s doors for food.”
Despite the dramatic highs and lows, Mr Edmunds strongly encourages travelling while young. 
“I’ve never had kids, but if I did, I’d let them travel. My experience gave me a love of Europe. I’ve ended up living in Italy,” he said.
“I think the world is exactly the same as it ever was. People think it’s more dangerous when it isn’t. I’m in Italy and it seems the same to me as when I first visited in 1982. 
“Parents who were born on the cusp of the Internet are very scared and I think social media instils fear in people about travelling, but you just need to be positive and optimistic and go and enjoy yourself. There have always been terrible people out there, you just need to be sensible.”
For reader Martin Stone, going Interrailing at the age of 15 gave a real boost to his confidence, encouraged him to travel more extensively and “go pretty much anywhere in the world” as he grew older.
In 1986, Mr Stone and a couple of his friends were looking for an adventure and decided to go Interrailing around Europe for a month.
Staying in Munich was a highlight for Mr Stone, where the group were lucky enough to stay free of charge in a “really plush, beautiful hotel for a week”, thanks to their friend, who was a top-end chef. 
Mr Stone particularly enjoyed Croatia and Corfu. Of the latter, he said: “There was a real community of different nationalities with a disco every night, where we mingled and got to know the people.”
Growing up in Wrexham, Mr Stone felt “quite insulated”. It was “a real eye-opener getting to know so many different types of people from different backgrounds, lifestyles and religions,” he added.
The trip also brought some unexpected new friendships. Mr Stone remembers a stay in Athens, when after a night of drinking, he woke up to “a large German guy in our room called Bernie.”
It had unfolded that Bernie had met some of Mr Stone’s friends the previous night. “He had been drafted into the air force to do his national service and he decided he didn’t like it, so he just went Awol.” He ended up joining Mr Stone and his friends on their trip around Europe.
“He came over to Wales to visit us after we had completed the Interrailing and we maintained a long friendship with him,” explained Mr Stone. “We’re still in touch.”
Working as a teacher for the last 22 years, Mr Stone has enjoyed inspiring his students with his travel experience. He believes travelling when young is vital in building a person’s confidence and provides an understanding of what the real world is like outside of your personal bubble: “Until you discover yourself, you can’t really discover the world.”