Solo travel is generally no big deal even if you’re a woman (wow that sounds…bad… haha)… the worst thing you’re likely to get is unwelcome advances from dudes, but I mean you could get that at any college campus in the states, ya know?

As for weather… the places will be “green” but I can’t really claim they’ll be pleasant. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 40 degrees F and raining the whole time you’re in Ireland…ditto with Paris. Italy will be a little milder, but only relatively so. I’d plan on low fifties for a high in Rome.

But yeah, in most of Europe you do have to worry about the rain this time of year, as it could really get to you. That said, as long as you stay busy and don’t have any delusions of beach bumming in 40 degree weather, you can still have a great trip

Thousands of women travel solo in Europe each year. In terms of personal safety, you’re safer in a major European city than you are at home. However, any solo traveler needs to be smart and take some basic precautions with your gear and particularly your valuables. The most important thing is to avoid looking like a lost tourist who’s busy reading the map and won’t notice someone snatching your purse.

Why do you want to rent a car in Ireland? Bus and train will be far cheaper and you should be able to get just about everywhere with public transportation. Dublin has some of the worst traffic jams in Europe and is a total nightmare for driving and parking. While some of my favorite times in Europe involve having a car to explore some rural place in Europe, I don’t recommend driving for solo travelers (or 1st timers). Driving in a foreign country (even an English speaking one) is a full time job for 1 person. Navigating, “spotting” (looking for road signs, parking places, route markers, advertising signs for hotels and attractions) and map reading is a full time job for another person.

Is your total trip three weeks, or four? I think Ireland, France and Italy is pretty ambitious for a total of three weeks. You’ve got a lot of travel time involved in getting between these three areas and you could easily spend two weeks in any one of these countries.

Have you thought about flying to Shannon instead of Dublin? Sometimes you can find cheaper flights from the US and it may work better for your visit in Ireland. Also, an open jaw flight (into Dublin, out of Rome) would make a lot more sense for this itinerary. You’ll lose a full day getting back to Dublin.

Thanks for the tip on driving solo in a new place I can see the issues that carries. Will it be easy to get on a local metro or something to get to western Ireland? I want to explore castles and such. I haven’t started planning the sites i’m going to see, I’m still planning my transportation… that’s next on the list. Do you have any suggestions to which airlines will have and “open jaw” from Cali to Ireland then Italy back to Cali?

About the weather.. I don’t mind the rain… but backpacking in the rain might become terrible… should I take this into consideration and go in the later spring?

THANKS!!!!

I would, but the flight would likely cost a bit more. That said, I don’t know how different the weather would be in say March than January. I’ve always had the maxim that being cold and wet sucks equally whether it’s 33 or 53 degrees

Rain will probably be the dominate weather almost anywhere in Europe until mid May, so I wouldn’t count on avoiding rain by going later. It will be warmer in April and May, but it will still be raining. I kind of agree with Feight:

Why is backpacking in the rain more terrible than doing anything else in the rain?

I would use the multi-destination option on expedia, orbitz or travelocity to find some basic pricing for comparing open jaw flights to round trips and to compare a package that includes your flight to Paris to buying that ticket separately. Then go to individual airline sites or other options from the “cheap flights” forum to find the ultimate best deal. Travelocity shows LAX-Dublin on 1/5 and Rome/LAX on 1/26 at $814 compared to $775 for R/T LAX-DUB. I doubt you can back to Dublin for $50…

Rain will probably be the dominate weather almost anywhere in Europe until mid May, so I wouldn’t count on avoiding rain by going later. It will be warmer in April and May, but it will still be raining. I kind of agree with Feight:

Why is backpacking in the rain more terrible than doing anything else in the rain?

I would use the multi-destination option on expedia, orbitz or travelocity to find some basic pricing for comparing open jaw flights to round trips and to compare a package that includes your flight to Paris to buying that ticket separately. Then go to individual airline sites or other options from the “cheap flights” forum to find the ultimate best deal. Travelocity shows LAX-Dublin on 1/5 and Rome/LAX on 1/26 at $814 compared to $775 for R/T LAX-DUB. I doubt you can back to Dublin for $50…

Use the links on this site to check bus and train schedules in Ireland: http://www.irelandex…

That’s certainly an odd question, and I’m not sure why it would affect your decision to visit these countries, but here’s my answer:

Ireland is always very green, and northern France is similar to, maybe, Virginia and North Carolina (if you’re familiar with the US). Italy’s heavily-populated Po Valley region (where Milan and Turin are located) is also more temperate. However, southern France and most of Italy have a Mediterranean biome: like California. Mediterranean biomes receive almost all their annual rainfall during a roughly 6-month period spanning late autumn, winter, and early spring. During this time of year, Mediterranean biome regions look very very green. The rest of the year (late spring to early autumn), there is very little rain, and the grasses and shrubs that cover much of the countryside dry up. There’s still green, but less of it, and you see more brown and golden colors in the countryside (like what southern California or northern New Mexico look like, pretty much describes much of Southern Europe). It’s very beautiful, and in fact I prefer the region in the summer. Even within the Med biome there’s a lot of variation. Some Med biome areas can be very green, and others very arid. The eastern edge of the Adriatic-Ionian arm of the Mediterranean, for example, receives more rainfall than most other areas of the Med, so the whole area ranging from northeast Italy, down the Croatian coast and into Greece’s west coast is very green by Mediterranean standards, even in summertime. On the other hand, some areas of Spain’s interior or Greece’s Cycladic Islands are quite arid. Most of Italy and southern France are pretty average by Med standards (as far as “how green”).

Additionally, most of the trees in northern France and Italy’s Po Valley region are deciduous trees, so they lose their leaves in the fall/winter, similar to northern Europe and northern North America. In the Mediterranean biome regions of southern France and most of Italy, a lot of the trees are evergreen pine trees, which create a very green look in the winter time (but are susceptible to forest fires in the summer, because even though their leaves remain green in the summer time, these trees become very dry during the dry months). Hence why forest fires are common in Southern Europe, and in American states like California and New Mexico.

IMO, Europe, as seen by the typical tourist, is gray. There are green parks in every city, and there’s color if the sun is shining, but on a rainy day, everything is pretty much gray. Dublin is a gray as any other city.

Are you leaving from LAX? What dates are you looking to depart & return?

Thank you so much for your comments!!! i have apprecaited them so much! I’m going to price everything out for both Jan/Feb trip & May/June trip. I’m either going out of LAX or SAN and leaving 1/20 – 2/10 or if I change my trip to later it will be 5/20- 6/10.

THANKS AGAIN!!!

just carry pepper spray
and if someone messes with you spray them
just keep in mind it takes like 20 seconds till it actually does something to the perosn, but when it does effect them. oooo, itll hurt and they wont do anything to you.
worst experence i ever had!

I would also look at daylight hours. Do a google search
look up sunrisesunset.com and GoBuzzs.com
In June, the sun sets around 10:00pm in Paris and just a bit earlier in Rome.
Summer flights cost more, but you will have more enjoyable hours to tour, visit, explore and enjoy the city. Plus there will be more people to mingle with and you will have to pack less clothes. Will you enjoy the cold weather, maybe in the 30-40 degree range, possibly with wind, rain or even snow while you stare at the Eiffel tower or would you rather lay on the lawn and have a picnic with temps in the 70’s. Weather effects your entire trip esp. the clothes you pack. Winter may requires scarf, hat/beanie and gloves. Let us know what you decide.