[USA] Can an 18 year old plan a budget trip to France
I’m thinking about going to travel during the next winter break. I have 2 friends who live near Paris, who can show me around and help with the language barrier. There’s a few things I need to figure out though.
•Obtaining a Passport: From what I have read it seems like I won’t need to get a VISA to get a passport unless I’m staying over 90 days. This website says I have to apply for a passport through a French Consulate which is in major cities. The closest one to me is in D.C which is a bit under 2 hours away. Would my Drivers license, Birth Certificate, and SS# be enough?
•Staying in France: I will ask to see if my friends parents would let me sleep and shower with them, but if I can’t I’ll need to plan ahead just in case. My American friend told me there are places called Hostoles in France where there’s a bunch of people who share a room and shower and it’s really cheap like $8 a night. I haven’t found anything like that online. I will have to find cheap places to sleep at. I’m not sure if French hotels require you to be 21 to book like some American ones do, I will be turning 19 in the spring so hopefully that’ll be old enough.
•Money: My assets currently only combine to around $5k. I might not be wealthy enough to travel yet, and even if I am, I want to spend as little as possible. I’m afraid of the possibility of not finding hotels cheap enough. The tickets I can afford. I will have to convert my USD to euro too, but I hear exchange rates are cheaper in France and I’ll have to figure out how the hell I even access the exchanges. I’ll probably convert a little before going in case of emergency, then do most while I’m there. I’d like to find someone to come with so it’ll be easier to pay for hotels and shit but all my friends are broke and boring, so I’m not counting on it.
UPDATE: I forgot to include the language barrier. My friends will help solve that and be tour guides but I’d still like to know what tips you have to learn the language. I could see if I can take a French course over the summer or during my fall semester.
Any advice you have will help. If solo traveling to France at 18-19 is delusional, tell me now.
Submitted January 13, 2018 at 04:54PM by KG1212 http://ift.tt/2mz0CP4
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