At Youth Works Hub, we love sharing the real journeys of our community. Gemma and four friends from Italy spent two weeks travelling across Europe by train with DiscoverEU, from Lucerne to Graz. DiscoverEU is an action of the Erasmus+ programme that offers 18-year-olds the opportunity to have a short-term individual or group travel experience throughout Europe. Each successful applicant is entitled to a travel pass and a DiscoverEU discount card. Here is their story, written by Gemma.
Last updated: November 2026.
By Gemma Bagnatori
🇮🇹 Meet the Travelers
Gemma Bagnatori, Irene Balsamo, Viola Borella, Emilia Lenzi, Valentina Simoni — five girls from Italy who love to travel and explore new places together.
📖 Their DiscoverEU Story – Written by Gemma
We are five girls from Italy who love to travel, and this summer we had the opportunity to explore Europe thanks to the DiscoverEU program. Our journey lasted two weeks and we visited the cities of Lucerne, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague and Graz. It was the perfect route because we alternated small quiet cities surrounded by nature and capitals full of art and opportunities.
In those days we visited museums, walked so many kilometres that our feet hurt, tried typical dishes and met people from all over Europe. We took lots of trains, and feared to get stuck in some remote town at night when the one that should have brought us home was cancelled (in the end we managed to take another one and we were moved in first class!).
We slept in hostel rooms with other people, which wasn’t always easy, but it gave us lots of funny stories to tell our friends. One of our favourite memories is the last evening in Amsterdam, when after hours of raining the sky opened up with an amazing sunset lighting up the city.
Finally, here’s an advice for anyone who is thinking of doing Interrail: if you have the opportunity, do it! This experience was special in every part of it, even the unexpected, and it made our friendship grow stronger. We made so many memories that we will cherish and keep in our hearts for the rest of our lives.
— Gemma Bagnatori (Italy 🇮🇹)
DiscoverEU is part of Erasmus+, the EU Programme in the fields of education, training, youth and sport for the 2021-2027 period. Our guide on what DiscoverEU is explains who can apply, and green travel in Erasmus+ and ESC covers sustainable travel in the other projects of the programme.
Thank you, Gemma, for sharing your story 💙 Have your own Erasmus+ or ESC story? Send it to Youth Works Hub and we will feature it here, so other young people can see what is possible.
More stories from our community: Serena's Erasmus+ and DiscoverEU story · Silvia's Erasmus+ and ESC story · Lorenzo's Youth Exchange in Portugal
👉 Erasmus+ projects: youthworkshub.org/?tab=erasmus-projects
