Absolutely not.  You should run into a lot of backpackers around your age.  Most of the younger ones (18-21) only backpack Europe as a fad, and they do it for like a few weeks either.  Anyone who continues to travel after that age, is a dedicated, intelligent traveler, and you will run into a lot of people to hang out with.

Have fun.

P.S.  We have folks in their late 30s, 40s, 50s on this board who will tell you that they’re going strong with their backpackin travels.  At 30, you’re still a youngin.

Thanks Luv the Beach…I hope I am just getting started. This is something I always dreamed of doing, but I jumped right from the Coast Guard to the work force. My job is coming to an end in a month so I have been saving up some cash…I plan on pushing it out for as close to 90 days as possible. 

Dude, I’m 26.  You’re only 4 years older than me; old enough to be my….brother. []  30 is a young age, man.  Nowadays, it seems that all the 18-year-old’s travel.  They backpack Europe for a couple weeks…London-Paris-Rome, oh and the new hotspot, Prague, and act like idiots because of their newfound freedom to purchase alcoholic beverages legally.  Then they return home thinking they’re experts on the world and they bitch about how horrible Europe was because of some stupid detail (stores close on Sundays, waiters/cashiers don’t smile at customers, etc), and then they never again go abroad.  To continue to travel after college is someone who truly is taking advantage of his younger years, and not just doing it to cram the “must-do’s” before the dreaded marriage/career/suburbs.

More power to you.

In the hostels I’ve stayed at, ages have ranged from 18 to 35.  When I was 20, I couldn’t stand most people my age and was hanging out mostly with backpackers that were 24-32ish, and there were a lot of them, and they were far more fun to hang out with than the 18-20 year-old’s. 

wow i liked how you classified all college age travellers as drunken, ethnocentric, dumbasses.  I mean there can’t be anything wrong with stereotyping a group of people based on a few individuals…no harm has come from that before…

I said “most”, not “all”.  And that’s from my experience.

If you don’t fit the description, then you shouldn’t be offended. 

Thoughts from a youngen to a slightly lesser youngen hurr,
 
Im 19 and I see myself as the opposite of what Luv the Beach said about young travellers. I know that a lot of my mates are the type of people he is talking about tho and im pretty sure its the majority of young travellers who go backpacking.
 
I feel like luv the beach when he says that when he was 20 he couldnt stand people his age. I usually go out on the town with lots of my mates who usually are off causing trouble with anyone. So i usually head off by myself and i always end up chatting to people in the 25-35 year old range until the wee hours of the morning. I find there much more interesting and have a lot more to learn from.
 
So i guess what i wanna say is that 25-35 is a peak age to go travelling the world. You have the intelligence, experience and physical ability to discover the world without the distractions of wanting to go hit the pub/club every night. You are smart enough to know what you want to see and what you want to get out of travel and dont have to come back home with all these “sick stories” about how much you got wasted haha. I think a lot of young travellers go overseas to get drunk and say theve been places by themselves or with a mate and without there parents. My main modivation for wanting to go travelling is I have never left left the state of NSW, Australia my whole life (or been on a plane). And with 3 brothers and sisters I never really got the chance to go on a holiday. I think if you have the means to travel at any age then you should take the chance while it lasts. Very few people in the whole sceme of things are as lucky as we are, we have the ability to see basically anyplace in the world.
 
With regards to hostels I dont think anybody will even think twice about someone who looks 30. As long as your not like a parent and be over defencive and just be yourself ull be the same as anyone else. Thats how i would feel anyways.
 
Hope your feeling less out of place and more one with the real travellers.
 
 

oh jeeze a kid bashing thread. Dare I say my age… 17?

le gasp

By the way – I find people my age boring & immature. I talk to my parents’ friends the most. Most of whom (see, whom = maturity) are 30 or older.

Than again, I’m 17, and I DO do 17 year old stuff, because I don’t want to miss out.

I’m going to Europe next year. I think the biggest chunk of my time will be Rome (for the architecture people) and the mountains of Switzerland. And of course, Cinque Terre. I’ll be travelling alone for one, and two, I probably won’t be with people my age.

That said, we can’t stereotype all people 18-20 years old.

PS – 30 isn’t old. Because you’re not old enough to be my parent. 30 is still cool. You know you’re getting old when you’re old enough to be a teenager’s parent. I kid! []

Luv_the_beach why are you always hating lol? Perhaps you ran around like and idiot in Europe for a couple of weeks and came back and bitched, but that doesn’t mean “all” 18 year old backpackers do. Try to work on your extremely subjective negative characterizations, spare us your opinions of people you seem to feel are younger and inferior to yourself. It seems very clear to me that all the people in the 18-20 year old range that are active on the Eurotrip forums, and coincidentally would be the only ones reading your posts, are the exact opposite of your characterizations, Mengde, Dale, and myself are going to Europe for many reasons, far beyond the ones you mentioned, while we may be more into the party scene than older people, it doesn’t mean that we also don’t want to enjoy the history, culture, and all the great things one can experience as a backpacker. For someone who is 26, you tend to act a lot more immature than us.  Why on earth you think you are special enough to characterize all 18-20 year old backpackers is beyond me, and notice how you said all of us and not some or most of us. I, and I’m sure many others do get somewhat annoyed by shit like this, I just ask you refrain from doing similar acts in the future, it is completely unnecessary.

George Eliot once said, “It is never to late to be what you might have been.”
You should totally go, you will have a great time for sure, and like others said, you will meet people your age and people younger than yourself, but more important than anything, it isn’t age that brings people together, it is the simple fact that all backpackers share the same intagible bond of just being there away from their mundane life looking to meet new people and experience what life is like in different parts of the world.

Good luck man, hope you have a great time!

Kenneth

My, my, a lot of people do take of offense.

Guys, if the shoe doesn’t fit then why bother trying it on?

Back on topic.

I’m 36 and I stay in hostels from time to time.
Granted, I often stay in hotels as well as I tend to combine work trips with fun and I’d rather not leave +/1 $6000 of photo and computer equipment laying around a dorm. However, when I travel without all that stuff I am usually just as happy staying in a hostel.

Not only that, I haven’t been in a hostel yet where I didn’t meet people that were older than me as well.

So basically what I’m trying to say is that I feel that if you go out, don’t worry about things, have fun and things will work out well

The proper question here, wa1ter, should be: Why make the shoe in the first place?

 i cannot fathom actually being offended by what luvthebeach said, even if i were 18. even at 18 i had the good sense to realize that most of the people around me acted like complete idiots and did things for all the wrong reasons. instead i would be heartily agreeing with him and priding myself for not being like those other people around me. YES, young people have a higher propensity for making idiots of themselves than older people (i thought that was common knowledge?)—even young people who go to europe. i’ve known plenty who want to go to, for example, amsterdam, simply because of the drugs and whatnot while knowing nothing about the country itself, who probably couldn’t even place it on a map. however that does not mean that young people who aren’t like that aren’t appreciated. in fact, they’re likely appreciated moreso simply for not being like that.

Nice post RE.

Hurr, I am 52, I still use a backpack and do still stay in the occasional hostel, though more often I’ll stay in quieter 2-star hotel/pension/B&B places. Even at my advanced age the hostels are not that big a deal for me and nobody gave me any funny looks for being an oldster (or perhaps I was blissfully ignorant.)
You really are a youngin.’ []

hey geezers
i met a 2 old people, probably in their 60s-70s, staying at my hostel, on their first european vacation.  i don’t think 30 is old.  probably too old to go on a Contiki trip and fit in but a good age to backpack.

Age just plain doesn’t matter.  I’m like Cil (only even older) — I still travel with a backpack, but I only stay in hostels occasionally.

While there are lots of college age kids cruising Europe, there’s a whole lot of the world that can’t afford to travel in their teens and twenties.  You’ll meet a lot of late twenties and thirtiy-something travelers.

Well, first off, no 30 is not old at all.  From my experience, the majority of people i’ve met in hostels were in the range of 25-35ish.  I’m 23, but I don’t tend to stay in the “party” hostels, so I really don’t come across too many younger travellers (18-20 range).  It’s just not my thing, even at home.  I can get along with anyone, but I tend to get a lot closer to the “older” people. (i.e, late twenties, early thirties).  I just have a lot more to say them someone in that age range.  

I’m 30 and it definitely isn’t too old to back pack.  Like others have said, there is an unfortunate number of younger back packers who want to go to Europe just to party, don’t understand why the bother.  But you’ll meet back packers of all ages all over.

I’m 33 and didn’t do my first trip till I was 25. 30 is not old. I still stay at hostels. Though most of the time I’ll get a private room anymore.There are still plenty of common areas to meet people. And I try to avoid party hostels. I usually travel in the off season so, the people you tend to meet are a little older too. Have a great trip and don’t worry about being too old.

I was traveling in Scotland one time during the off season. Late October I think. I was the youngest person staying at the hostel. I was about 28 at the time. One night I hung out with one of the other “younger” guests, she was in her mid-fifties! We were staying at the local youth hostel.

First of all that is extremely subjective. Who ever said their was a right way to have fun and experience Europe? Just because certain groups of people have different way of enjoying their time abroad, and much of it because of the pertinence it has for that certain stage of their life, doesn’t mean they are “complete idiots.” That is just the way the world works, younger people live their lives differently than older people, granted there are varying degrees within each age group, but there isn’t anything wrong with that, and I don’t think it merits labeling an entire group of people as “idiots.”

Dale,

Beautifully said.


K3NN3TH,

Dude, you get WAY too offended, man.  Seriously, dude.  As Re perfectly said, if you’re not one of those 18-year-olds, then you shouldn’t be taking offense.  I’m sorry, but that’s just been my experience..the majority of 18-20 year-olds I met were the way I describe.  And, now that it’s trendy, it seems there’s more of them backpacking than previously. 

I’m not judging you, because I don’t know you.  So don’t think that everything is directed at you.  Nor was I implying anything about other Eurotrip posters. I was talking about the general 18-20 backpacking population; how you mistook that as a judgment on Eurotrippers, specifically, I don’t know.  I only said that there’s plenty of people 23-35, and those were the backpackers I preferred to hang out with when I was 20.  To each his own, like you said.  So….me to my own.

My first time in Europe was when I was 6 years old, grew up crossing the Atlantic, and even lived there for portions of my childhood/youth. Spent many Mediterranean summers.  Have relatives in Europe and grew up trilingual.  I grew up as a 3rd-culture child (children immersed in more than one country during childhood, who eventually develop a 3rd hybrid culture of their own)…my parents didn’t lock the liquor cabinet; alcohol wasn’t some forbidden fruit for me.

Cheers man.

And hey, my posts are in good clean fun.  Don’t take things too seriously.

[]

Who said I was offended? Annoyed maybe, but no offense taken, I know you weren’t specifically reffering to me.

For the the record, you did say “all’ which would include myself and all other Eurotrip posters that fit into that category.

Like I said it isn’t a matter of offense, because overall I think you are a really helpful contributer to the forums, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with clearing a up a misconception. And even you can admit that it wasn’t very fair to characterize all 18-20 year olds as idiots.

It annoys me sometimes is all. I also grew up in a plethora of cultures, and speak Spanish fluently and French conversationally, and know fragments of Swedish. My grandparents came from Seville Spain and Goteburg Sweden respectively, and my Mom grew up  in Guatemala.  I am really into experienceing as much of the world as I can, as I am sure many other young backpackers are, but it pains me to think that most older travellers look down upon us so condescendingly and stereo-typically, and you were adding fuel to the fire. What did you expect us to say?

But it’s all in good fun. Like we both agree, to each his own.

I went to Europe for the first time at 30. I have never felt too old at hostels, although I do avoid party ones. I really wanted to go to Europe badly at 18, but I’m glad I waited. It would have been a drunken blur if I had gone at that age.

  i don’t honestly understand what you’re defending here: 18 year olds in general; only 18 year olds who really aren’t categorical idiots; the mindset that says it’s okay to party and drink and piss all over someone elses culture; any group of people that one might subjectively label as idiots; people who live their lives differently than others; or all of the above? well anyway, i suppose i am a bit prejudice. i can’t really see the value in partying or drinking away a european vacation. in my opinion, that’s not what going to europe should be about. it’s a good way to waste what could be a very enriching experience, and thus, i tend to write off anyone who would do something like that, or even who spends their time at home doing things like that, as an idiot or a philistine (and yes, of course that’s subjective. when is calling anyone an idiot ever NOT subjective?) of course that’s not all 18 year olds and it’s not exclusively 18 year olds who act like that either. and let me say, the older people who act like that are, in my opinion, far more odious that the young ones who do. i’m certainly not looking down on 18 year olds for their age because 1) i’m not that far off in age, and 2) god knows i WISH i were still 18 shame. it’s more of that mindset i look down on, which, i suppose, anyone can have regardless of age (but which, from my experience, is seen more among younger people than older ones). i do think it’s good that you care about how you and your age group are represented and seen and no doubt you are a credit to your age group for that. and hey, you like oscar wilde! that’s always a good thing

He said “it seems that all the 18-year-old’s travel.”
He didn’t say the were all idiots.
Might help to read LTB’s post (yes, I do realize they’re a bit long from time to time )

As for the shoe being made in the first place… well, because there are a lot of cases where it does fit.
If you choose to get annoyed by that by all means, go ahead and let it get to you.

I agree that there is no correct and proper way to have fun and experience Europe, though some ways, to me, are a bit preferable to others. As you say, the topic and the definition are subjective—and they may change as the years go by.
Certainly there are complete idiots in my age group, IMHO we have an aging frat boy in the White House right now.
I get labeled as a soccer mom all the time. No doubt there are other labels to apply: narcississtic baby boomer, old hippie, blah blah blah. If I got all upset every time someone mentioned old people on this or other backpacking messageboards, I’d be spending all my time seething in self-righteous indignation.

This subject is easy to answer for me.  I will be “old” (41) in June…  Nowadays, the average(healthy) woman is living till almost 81, and the avg. male’s life-expectency has increased from 73 to 77 1/2 in just the past 10 years or so.  That in mind; at the age of thirty, you are not TOO OLD for anything!  Get out there and enjoy life, because you only have one!   Also, women are not rushing to have babies before they are 25 these days.  Many are not settling-down, and having a child or two until they are 33 to 36 yrs of age…   
 
At 30; you are not even half-way there baby!
 

While there is no proper way to have fun, there are some rules that should be followed.  We all acknowledge that there are a large number of 18-20 years that go to Europe mostly just to party (This has never made sense to me, just party at home).  Nothing wrong with partying while there, I reccomend it.  But, a lot of them are crossing cultural lines.  For example, when you hear someone shouting in the streets or by obnoxious in a year to can pretty much count on it being in good old American English.  These people are idiots and make Americans and back packers in general look bad.  There is a greater propensity to find people in this age group who don’t look for or respect other peoples customs.

Very true Cil.   But of course, that is the difference between someone who IS mature, and someone who THINKS they are mature. Age has nothing to do with it.

Which is again subjective to what your own personal definition of maturity is. One’s own definition of maturity could be completely different than someone else’s, and it doesn’t mean you are right or wrong, it just comes down to one’s own perception.

I do think age does have something to do with it, although I do vehemently think it is unfair to say it has everything to do with it, most of the time I would like to think it does depend on the particular person, I just don’t like to label or categorize.

And lastly I don’t think that maturirty has anything to do with defending something you hold to be unjust. That is a dangerous concept.  That claim would mean that revolutionaries such as Che Guevara or John Lennon were “immature” for speaking out against what they deemed to be unfair. I believe it is much more of a matter of personality than anything else. Some people will walk down the street and see someone get mugged and just keep on walking, others will stop and do something about it.

I did read LTB post. And he did say that all and not most the 18 year olds that travel are idiots. Perhaps you should be the one who reads his posts more clearly.

I am still not sure why it is the younger people in this post who are continually being criticized for our reaction to LTB’s post. We aren’t the ones calling people idiots. We are simply just trying to reverse what we feel is an unfair and miscontrued conception. If someone walked up to you and called you an idiot how would you feel? Annoyed at the very least. Unless you are completely apathetic, in which case you have every right to keep walking and meet up with Mersault and Co.

And for everyone who likes to think that I am the one over-reacting because I didn’t say “oh yeah, right, us 18 year olds are just so stupid and immature, feel free to walk all over us,” let me just remind you that atleast one of you has responded to each and every post I have thrown out there, so now I can say you are equally over-reacting to my over-reactions.[]

Well now K3NN3TH, what an excellent point.  But I never claimed it to be anything other than my own opinion.  I can not help if one reader interpret it as such, after all, it’s such a subjective thing, the internet, free speech etc. 

And it would be awfully tiresome if one had to put that into EVERY POST one makes would it not?

In that case, I suggest you make use of the little edit button, where you call a fellow poster immature for defending their view.

Of course, just so it’s clear.  It’s only my opinion.

 
 
Edited to say that:  If you are gonna make a argument against generalization of a group, perhaps you should not claim to say you speak for ALL the “younger” posters out there.  Also, what one defines us “younger” is highly subjective too.
 
Also for record:  Not over-reacting.  Just highly amsused.
 

Exactly, your opinion. And as for “drinking and pissing” over someone else’s culture, I think you are over-looking the fact that  there are plenty of Europeans, albiet perhaps mostly the younger ones, who love to party and drink with others Europeans, and also Americans, Canadians, and Australians. My friends Thilo, a German exchange student, loves to party and drink with us over here in America, and said he loved partying with other Americans while he was living in Germany. He certainly doesn’t feel we are “pissing” over his culture.

So again, I just want to stress that although some of you might have your own preferences, like Cil said, in what they like to do while in Europe, it doesn’t mean others aren’t entitled to their own without being idiots. Some people, age aside, like to spend their time walking through cathedrals and museums, others prefer to go to pubs and clubs and party, and some like to do both. Niether is right or better than the other. And I don’t think that people my age should be looked upon so condescendingly because of the way the choose to live their lives. You don’t see younger people attacking older people for being boring and smug, we respect your life-style, please respect ours, remember you are supposed to be the mature ones.

RE, Oscar Wilde is awsome!

I never claimed to speak for all the young posters here. But if you read through the post, Mengde and dee_tucker also didn’t seem to apppreciate LTB’s comments. If they disagree with my comments, then I’ll be the first to say I am only defending my own views.

And as for the definition of “younger” I thought it was pretty blatant within the context of this post. LTB chracterized all 18-20 year olds as idiots, so therefore I refer to that age group as the “younger” ones. So it really is bojective in terms of this post.

And for the record: I think you are a highly amused over-reacter. Pride, pride, pride…[]

You’re all acting like a bunch of 18 year olds! now stop it! []
 
Travel is what you make it.  There is no proper reason to travel.  People of all ages do all kinds of crazy stuff in the name of travel; carry refrigerators around, walk across deserts, quit good paying jobs, bike across continents, go to europe and only visit london/paris/rome, get drunk/stoned, abstain from&nbspartying, etc, etc.  So just go do your thing. 
 
My only rule is be courteous and respectful when you are in someone else’s homeland. 

Well said rob.

rob_co2, how darn you imply that behaviours of 18 yr olds are not acceptable!  Don’t you know how K3NN3TH feels on the topic?![]
 
I actually did read all the post, I think what is blatantly obvious is HIGHLY subjective.
 
It’s a pity there is not a font for sarcasm. 
 
I hope we haven’t scared the original poster hurr111. I should make some attempt to insert some comment that is relevant to the original post.  So here it is:  IMHO 30 is not too old to go backpacking.  Respect the country’s laws and customs and you are good to go.

apyf how dare you say that saying it was blatantly obvious is highly subjective! I see that your saying that it is HIGHLY subjective to say it was blatantly obvious is higly subjective in itself and therefore only a subjective view of what you seem to believe is subject and not obvious, and my own subjective view says that it was not highly subjective to say that which you see as highly subjective and therefore will not accept my sunjective statements as subjective as you claim they are, thus the only conclusion that we can both agree on is the subjectiveness of our own conclusions which leads to the subjective agreement of our own subjective opinions in a quite illogical albiet subjective and highly amusing conclusion that the only thing objective is the knowledge that we are subjective.[]

Hurr I hope we didn’t scare you away! you should definitely go!!!

Nope I am still here…Read through the whole thread Quite the debate I caused. I am pretty sure I am going to go…Just need to work out some of the details…

lol what great drama! im glad i decided to just read and not put forth my argument. Kenneth mate you spoke well on what I also felt. My fingers would have been a tired lot had i entered in. And im certainly glad to hear that hurr is still going haha.

Im 20, and travelling to europe this summer with a buddy for the second time. Im by no means ashamed to say I enjoy hanging out with people my own age, but with that being said I will hang with whoever. I think it’s immature to bash anyone’s travelling motivations, that shows a lack of tolerance. If people who are younge want to get ‘drunk, party, have stories and see the world’ that’s a decision I think you have to respect, whether or not it’s the reason you yourself travel. If someone wants to be more conservative and loves architechture and stuff, you have to respect that too. I don’t see why anyone would get so bent out of shape over younge people wanting to be younge!
 
And thats what really’ grinds my gears.
 
C

Well said. []

I did a Europe backpack trip as a 23 year old and then last year dragged my wife through hostels in central, eastern europe and Italy (me as 30yo her as 28yo never been to Europe before).  No worries at all, the wife loved it too.  The demographic of hostels is very mixed and there are always some good people about.  Sure you can find a pack of idiots whose parents have paid for their post-college trip but you just let them do their thing.  I personally work too hard to earn my money to see a country only by the inside of its nightclubs so I don’t want to be at the hostel unless sleeping or eating breakfast and the great thing is, whatever your plan – you can do it and meet some fantastic people to get tips from, have a laugh and a beer with and you never know you might even meet someone nice enough to keep in good contact with – then you have a free bed (or couch) for another trip.  You don’t get that so easily staying in a hotel.

That is one of the things that helped to get me to consider going on this trip. I have a friend in Vienna that I have had for a couple years and he has been trying to convince me to come visit him for a while. Him and his Girlfriend are so excited that I am comeing that they are trying to hook me up with their friends in Budapest, Prague and Rome to show me the sights and how the locals really live! So they may not have a bed for me to sleep, but having the chance to interact with the folks in their own culture is well worth it.

 
Cuzzin E say thems not the only thangs grindin yer gears

Ed, I also did the hostel and camping thing in my 30s, and the last time I stayed at a hostel it was in Oslo, I was 39, so don’t give your age any thought.  And as someone else mentioned, I met people who were much older than I.  In fact, it might help you in some situations. 
 
Several years ago, in the late 90s, I was in London and went to check out a club called the Hippodrome, it had a long line, and bouncers at the door that only let in “cool” people at that hour, but rather than go to the end of the line, I went straight to the front only to politely ask how long the wait was, and the guy just unhooked the chain and told me to go in, and the other&nbspeople waiting in line went nuts, they were not happy.  I don’t know if he just wanted to piss people off or not, but I think it was my age. ??
 

I am going to Italy & France in a few weeks and I will be staying in Hostels… I am 31.  Never too old my friend.