What kind of gifts do they give in Japan to commemorate the occasion? Business card cases? Jewelry? Fountain pens?
It was fascinating to learn that in Milan, the gift for new adults is an Interrail pass.
An Interrail pass allows European residents unlimited rail travel throughout Europe. You can get them for a short or long period of time, with the benefit of getting to travel wherever you want by train through 33 European countries. The cost depends on the plan and your age, but no matter what the cost, it’s still regarded as being a great deal for those who want to take a trip by train.
Milanese who turn eighteen set out on the first great adventure of their lives during their long three-month summer holiday, making full use of their Interrail passes and traveling around with their friends. Because they can go to any of the 33 countries in Europe, they can visit any country or city they’ve ever wanted to see—and what typically happens is that before they know it, they’ve come up with a long, expensive travel itinerary. Then they put their heads together with their friends and the long discussions begin.
After working out time off from their part-time jobs, calculating their spending money, the cost of lodging and food in the places they want to visit, how to get around efficiently, and so on, they might come up with (for example), a twenty-day tour that takes them from Milan to Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, and Barcelona.
Thanks to cell phones and the internet, it’s more convenient than ever for Europeans to travel around Europe, and from my observations, it’s especially easy for young people. They don’t have to rely on packages offered by travel agencies—these days it’s easy for anyone to throw together a custom plan.
So what do these young people think when they return from their first big adventure?
“I knew Milan was the greatest city ever!!”
Not quite.
Compared to the rest of Europe, Milan somehow feels unsafe. The most popular city is Berlin. There are a lot of young people there, they’ve developed an interesting social system, and the kids seem to like their free sense of fashion.
Make no mistake—your average Italian will certainly turn their nose up at the Germans’ lack of fashion sense, but I’m guessing that the young Milanese must be secretly envious of the way that Germans don’t judge people by their style choices.
Speaking of young people traveling, have you ever taken a trip on a shoestring budget? Hitchhiking and camping your way along?
The young Milanese who put together extensive travel plans and then spend as little as possible on them also run into problems when they can’t get on the trains they want or have unexpected expenses—and it’s certainly conceivable that they will run out of money before they planned to. If they get to the point where they don’t have the money for another night of accommodation, they can use a German-developed long-distance bus system called the Flixbus, or a French rideshare system called Bla Bla Car, and somehow manage to get home eventually.
The selling point of all these transportation systems are their low prices and environmental friendliness, but the drawback is that with Flixbus, for example, the police stop it more often than usual to check for illegal immigrants when it gets near a national border, which really increases the travel time. Apparently it can take two or three times as long as going by train. The “Bla Bla” in Bla Bla Car means what it sounds like—idle chatter—making it an interesting system where you ride with strangers, splitting travel costs and chatting.
All of these conveniences have been developed in the app age and are quite well-designed!
