For those of you who gave advise re: 18-yr-old traveling to Eastern Europe...

....alone in February, starting in Kiev. I am happy to report that he will be home on Monday. Wiser, hopefully. He was not kidnapped and sold into the slave trade as I feared. He was not mugged or slipped a mickey and robbed, as could very well have happened.

He did lose his passport after his ATM card was eaten by the ATM, and was stuck in the train station in Croatia on a Friday night while the embassy was closed. But --- this is really nuts --- the hostel back down the road a couple of nights found his passport, gave it to a commercial bus driver who was going in his direction. That bus driver searched for him until he found him in that train station! That could have gone badly.

And that same night a young German couple befriended him and drove him to their home in Germany and then while he was sleeping they bought him a train ticket so he could meet up with an American friend with an ATM card.

But he did sleep in freezing weather in the snow in a park while he had pneumonia, in order to save money.

So I consider him pretty lucky. He stayed in hostels and mostly hung around with young people from around the world who were also poking around Europe.

Today he's in Amsterdam. Hmm.

who helped when he needed it and didn't kill himself sleeping in the snow under those conditions.

I'm sure it was a life changing and expanding adventure.

He's probably seeking medical treatment in Amsterdam. Yeah, that's it.



:hi:

sounds like a fabulous adventure. I am so jealous!

Glad it turned out okay.

I did a trip around australia and SE asia, though I was a little older at 25- and remember times that could have been seriously bad turn out to be amazing, thanks to a generous or helpful stranger. Those memories always remind me of why it's important to give a hand to others whenever possible, maybe your 18 year old will feel the same way! :)

And I honestly didn't think he would be safe throughout the three months. He was lucky. And he watched a lot of episodes of Man v. Wild in his youth. Ha!

both of which were extremely helpful. Good for him.