High Life A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Braving the Wiles of Europe via Rail and Going the Bus Route

Parlez-vous Francais?

Sprechen sie Deutsch?

Parlate voi Italiano?

No? Neither do Alicia Ariati and Heather Giuliano, but their lack of fluency in foreign languages hasn’t kept them from masterminding a jam-packed, six-week European vacation.

Nor has it prevented fellow El Toro High School senior Amanda Ankenbrandt from signing up for a packaged tour of the Continent this summer.

Ariati, 17, and Giuliano, 18, plan to travel Europe by train, visiting nine countries in 39 days. By going light and staying in smaller hotels, they hope to keep costs to a minimum while soaking up a maximum of culture.

As schools and teachers have become increasingly wary of sponsoring student trips abroad, more teen-agers like Ariati, Giuliano and Ankenbrandt must either rely on their ingenuity to design a dream vacation or turn to a travel agent.

Ariati and Giuliano started planning their vacation last summer. They will use a Youth Pass to ride trains around Europe, stopping for a day or two in France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Austria, Germany and Belgium.

For $360, the Youth Pass provides one month of unlimited passage in second-class accommodations for young people ages 18 to 26. For $500, youths can purchase a two-month pass. Second-class passage has less-spacious seating and carries more locals than tourists.

“That’s the best way,” said Nancy Decker, a travel agent with Happy Traveler in El Toro. “The only other way is if you went on an escorted trip on a bus, but most students don’t want to do that.”

For travelers who desire a higher level of comfort, there is the 15-day Eurail Pass, good for passage in first class and available for $340. A Flexi-Pass, at $198, is good for 15 days, but purchasers can ride the train only five days within that time.

“The hard part was trying to schedule train times,” Giuliano said. “It was hard to get everywhere we wanted to go in such a short time.”

Besides trekking across the mainland, the pair plans to take a Hovercraft--on which they will ride on a cushion of air--across the English Channel to England, where they will stay with friends. The Hovercraft ticket runs another $120. Once in England, they will need to buy more train tickets if they want to get around as their Youth Pass is not valid in that country.

“When we started planning, there were about 20 different places we wanted to go,” Ariati said. “We had to narrow it down to the places we really wanted to see.”

Both girls have been to Europe before, but they still look forward to visiting William Shakespeare’s home in Stratford-on-Avon, taking in the “Sound of Music” tour in Salzburg, climbing the Eiffel Tower and floating down the Seine on a boat tour of Paris.

“In Nice, we’re going for the night life. . . . Venice for the same reason,” said Ariati, adding that they have reserved plenty of money to spend in Europe’s nightclubs, where admission prices vary from $8 to $10 in U.S. currency.

Other highlights on their agenda include spending a day in Monaco and playing in the casinos of Monte Carlo at night, visiting the Black Forest in Germany and celebrating Bastille Day with the French.

For accommodations, the girls will stay in cheaper, European-style hotels that feature communal bathrooms. They figure to spend about $30 a night.

By traveling on the Youth Pass and staying with friends or in less-expensive hotels, they hope to keep the cost of their trip to about $2,000 each. This includes $860 for a round-trip airplane ticket and some extra money for food.

Teen-agers can explore Europe for even less by staying in youth hostels. For $15 to $25 a night, young adults up to age 25 can share a lodging house with other travelers.

“You get a directory of youth hostels before you go and you just do it as you go,” Decker said. “They don’t work with travel agents or anything like that.”

Avoiding large hotels not only saves money but also affords visitors better opportunities to meet and interact with European natives.

“I’m looking forward to meeting all the people and getting to know the different cultures,” Giuliano said. “To experience life there, not just as a tourist but living like they do.”

Said Ariati: “I’m really looking forward to experiencing the small-town life of Austria and Switzerland.”

The girls remain undaunted by their lack of fluency in European languages. Giuliano, though, does have four years of high school French to her credit, but Ariati will have to rely on three years of Spanish classes.

“In Italy, Switzerland and Austria, I guess we’ll be using sign language,” Ariati said, “In most places, though, someone speaks English.”

Decker agreed: “Germany, Switzerland and Austria are easy to get around in because you can always find someone who speaks English. France and Italy are a bit harder because they’re more stubborn about speaking English.”

While being able to speak a country’s language isn’t crucial, Giuliano strongly suggests that students planning trips find out about local customs.

“You should talk to other people who have been to Europe so you know a little bit of what to expect, about how you’ll have to act,” she said. “You can’t just go over there and be a macho American and expect people to adapt to your needs.

“I would recommend students to get a lot of books and information. ‘Let’s Go Europe,’ published by Harvard students, is really good. I would also recommend going with someone you get along with, someone who wants the same kinds of things you want.”

Ariati warned: “Get a travel agent and get a flight as soon as possible.”

Despite the inherent hassles of designing and arranging a European vacation, Giuliano said that she preferred this to a packaged tour.

“With a tour, there are some things that you really want to do, but it’s also what they have planned,” she said. “I’ve been on a tour before, and you don’t have as much freedom. You go to more touristy places. I think this time we’re going to go to more local places.”

While those two are riding the rails of Europe, Ankenbrandt will be busing across the same panorama with a conventional tour group.

Her trip, called the “European Experience,” will make stops at various cities in England, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands and Italy over 24 days. A history professor who has taught at the American school in Madrid will guide and lecture.

“It’s a fast schedule,” Ankenbrandt admitted. “I’m hoping to go back in a couple of years by myself, but this was the easiest way to go now.”

Ankenbrandt’s adventure includes tickets to a performance of “Les Miserables” at a London theater, a cruise on the Rhine River, time to visit with friends and relatives in Germany and a tour of Italy’s major cities.

Total cost for her trip: $3,400, which includes bus transportation, air fare, lodging at the finer hotels and, usually, two meals a day.

Since she will be in the company of a tour group, Ankenbrandt is not concerned about safety. “The only think I’m concerned about is not having enough time,” she said.

Ariati and Giuliano, though, have had to consider the matter of safety more carefully.

“It’s two girls who don’t speak the language traveling alone,” Giuliano said. “We’re not going to go places that we think are unsafe.”

And Decker advised: “London is fairly safe at night, but if you’re going someplace like Italy or France at night, you’ve really got to be careful.”

“We’ve talked about it,” Ariati said, “and if we feel uncomfortable in a situation, we’ll get out of there. We live in a protected place, and people don’t realize you can do things in El Toro that you can’t do in other parts of the world.”