Well, you’ve come to the right place. Browse these boards or run a search – your questions are common and you’re sure to find some valuable answers and information. You shouldn’t have any problems as a solo female traveller – plenty of people do it – and it sounds like you have a fairly good idea of where you’d like to go. It might be helpful to sketch out a rough itinerary and start working out prices of airfare and transporation.

Sounds like an interesting first time itinerary. One thing to take into consideration is that those are very expensive countries to travel in, esp. with the current strength of the British Pound and the EU. You may want to mix in some Mediterranean Europe (Italy/Spain/Port), or Eastern to bring down the price if you are at all interested, but just my two cents….

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Wow…you will have a great time. Here are my suggestions…start looking into a Eurail Pass that will work well for you and your travels…it is the best way to get around Europe! Also consider the no frill airlines…they are the way to go! Finally…do your hostel research depending on where you want to go and see if you need to get an International Hostelling Card…it will save you if you are staying in a lot of there hostels…good luck and once you narrow things down to cities…we can try to help you more.
Personal Recommendations:
DDay Beaches in Normandy, France (there is a ferry that goes from Cherbourgh France to Ireland that is covered on many Eurail passes…that’s something to consider too!)
Edinburgh, Scotland
Wicklow Mountians, Ireland
Salzburg, Austria
Lucerne, Switzerland (Zurich is terrible…so, don’t bother)

I wouldn’t try to see more than 1 country per week, so I would cut out at least 2 countries from the list you have. I’ve travelled around Europe solo loads of times and never had any problems.

Andrea, I think every thing has been mentioned, but I would like to mention that I as a female, have travelled quite a bit on my own and have never come across any problems. I would meet up with fellow travellers at the hostel and always found someone to hang out with at night time and for making plans for the next day.
Enjoy yourself in Europe and take lots of photos

Thanks for all the tips. I appreciate it. I am just a little nervous about traveling alone. I would rather not go alone but it has come down to either go alone or don’t go. So I am going alone. My biggest worry is getting around in the big cities. Any suggestions on good maps? I am planning on taking a compass as I have a terrible sense of direction.

Once you have traveled alone you will love it and see what benefits there are to being just with YOU. Common sense is the only traveling partner you need. The cities are fine as long as you know what areas to stay out of and don’t spend a lot of time out at night after dark alone. But you can always meet up with people in hostels and go out at night with them. Get city maps when you arrive,tourist offices usually have them for free. Get a good travel book, I like the Lonely Planet books personally. Research a lot of what you would like to do and see online ahead of your trip. Check out train schedules through www.raileurope.com or go to the country’s train sights. Same holds true for ferry schedules,Irish Ferries between Britain and Ireland. I t is amazing how one’s sense of direction becomes sharper when you are forced to navigate on your own. This trip will see you coming home so much more self reliant than you ever thought you could be and you will feel SO GOOD about having done it on your own. Go and enjoy. Europe is a feast for the senses and doing it alone will bring you a greater perspective on yourself and the beautiful places you will experience!!!