Tallulah's Top Ten Tips to Travelling: Europe
This time last year, I was preparing for the trip of a life-time. Four months of back-packing around Europe with my boyfriend, best friend and her partner. Having only travelled as far as Asia and never without my parents, it was quite a daunting experience, but one that I will never forget.
I only wish that I could go back in time to the beginning of last year, when we were sitting around my dining table planning our trip. I wish I could tell myself everything that I know now. I get it, you live and learn. But if I can help someone who is about to embark on their European adventure, I am not going to hold back. So here are my top ten tips to travelling Europe.
1. Planning early: Like anything, the earlier you plan, the cheaper things are. We booked one hostel for two nights at the last minute so that we had somewhere to go when we flew into Paris. This ended up costing something ridiculous like $70 each per night for a tiny room. This is true for accommodation, busses, trains and planes – so if you are on a tight budget, plan ahead! It also means that you can factor in all of the amazing events happening in Europe, like music festivals, Oktoberfest and La Tomatina. There is so much going on, so research the ones that you want to go to and fit it in with your plan. But, in saying this, if we had planned our trip to a T, then we wouldn’t have ended up in amazing places like Utrecht, a small university town near Amsterdam, or Grunau in Austria, where the river is so clean that you can drink straight from it. I think the key is to have a balance. Don’t leave booking everything until the last minute, but make sure you have room to move. Also download apps like OneTravel and Flight Scanner to find the cheapest flights within Europe – flights can sometimes be cheaper than taking the train a catching a bus.
2. Pack Light: I know, I know. You’ve heard this a thousand times. But trust me it’s important. And while I followed my own advice and packed only the necessities (mostly), my boyfriend turned up to the airport with a pack so full and so heavy that I don’t think he could have fit anything else in there if he tried. Remember that you aren’t going to a third world country – European countries will have everything, if not more, than what you would find in Australia (minus vegemite – that is something you will miss dearly). So don’t pack four months’ worth of tampons. And remember that you will have access to washing machines, so you do not need a hundred pairs of underwear. You can also buy things like umbrellas and drink bottles over there if you need them, so don’t waste precious space. Another benefit to packing light, is that if your bag is small enough you can take it on as hand luggage for flights within Europe and avoid hefty luggage fees.
3. Airbnb: If you are travelling in a group, definitely look into Airbnb. We saved so much money because between the four of us it was cheaper to rent an apartment than it was to stay in a hostel. Not only that, but the owners of the Airbnb houses were incredibly generous people who would give us food, wine and insight into their city or town. Hostels get especially pricey around the time of big events, so Airbnb was a fantastic option for us. But, it did mean that we didn’t meet as many people as we had hoped. This is where hostels are great – because you meet new people and make life-long friends. We stayed in hostels a few times and met incredible people who we planned to meet up in other parts of Europe. Even after my trip, I have caught up with some of the people that I met in Europe. So, in my opinion, having a balance between hostels and Airbnb could help you to save money, but also meet new friends.
4. International student card: If you are a student, or if you have been accepted into university, make sure you get an international student card! I know you can get it through Student Flights, and I’m sure there are many other places. My friends and I unfortunately put too much trust in our travel agent, who didn’t tell us this, we definitely should have done more research. As a result, we couldn’t get the discounted prices on entrance fees to museums, galleries, tours or transportation. We spent so much more money than we should have. It was a simple mistake that I urge you not to make. Make sure you get an international student card, because quite often they won’t take your university card from Australia.
5. TripAdvisor: This is a backpacker’s bible. It will give you reviews and ratings for almost every restaurant, activity and hostel. We only found out about it half way through our trip and it would have saved us from falling into many tourist traps. For instance, when we were in Dubrovnik, we were sold tickets onto what was described to us as a party boat, with an open bar, music, snorkelling and more. When we arrived we turned to see what appeared to be a retirement village excursion group hobbling towards us. There was music, but it sounded more like the Titanic soundtrack than the funky tunes we were promised, and the only alcohol available was cheap wine and grappa (a Croatian traditional spirit which tastes like pure ethanol). But the best thing about TripAdvisor is, that if you do have a bad experience, you can give them a bad review and hope that it prevents someone else from being mislead! It also allows you to download the map of the city you're in, so you can use the app without needing Wifi.
6. Vegetarians/dietary requirements: Quite often, the language barrier and difference in culture may mean that dietary requirements, like if you are a vegetarian or vegan, can get confused in translation. We had this issue in Eastern Europe in particular. One of the people I was travelling with is a vegetarian, and people did not quite understand what that was. Apparently vegetarians eat chicken and fish! So you’ll have to know exactly what you’re ordering and what is in it – never take their word.
7. Take a holiday … from your holiday: Travelling is not as relaxing as people’s Instagram photos make it out to be. It’s exhausting and hectic moving from place to place so often and you’re constantly on edge because you’re in an unfamiliar environment. Your pack will get heavier and heavier, you’ll be sore, hot and bothered some days, unable to continue. You will miss your family, your pet – you’ll end up hugging any dog or cat that you see. It’s important to take some time to go somewhere nice like Croatia, the Greek Islands or anywhere that you deem relaxing, and take time to chill. Don’t worry about all of the tourist attractions, sometimes sleeping in or having a day sun-baking at the beach is more important, for the sake of keeping you sane and healthy. At first, I was so caught up in having to see and do everything in every city. It took time to realise that some things were not worth it. Be smart, and don’t wear yourself out.
8. Tours: Bus tours like Contiki, Topdeck and Busabout are a great way to meet people and are a fun way of getting from city to city, but if you are an introverted person, it may not necessarily be for you. Also, the people you will meet will largely be from Australia – maybe a few from New Zealand, so if you are looking to meet locals and avoid the beaten track, then these tours also are probably not for you. Making your own way around can be more affordable, too. But, if you want to play it a bit safer, and like to party, then by all means book a bus tour – they are lots of fun! But they are all different, so again, do your research and see which one best suits you.
9. Getting around in a city: Definitely do some of the guided tours – you will never learn so much about a place. We did some incredible walking tours in Berlin, The Czech Republic and Rome. They were amazing, and some are free! So look out for those ones. They will often just ask for a tip at the end if you enjoyed it. Also, I would highly recommend walking or hiring a bike for a day to see the city. You stumble across the most interesting things when you wouldn't expect. Why waste time and money on trains and buses when you can walk or ride.
10. Know your finances: There’s nothing worse than worrying about how much money you have on your trip. Know how much money you have at the beginning, and come up with a realistic budget so you know approximately how much you can spend each day on accommodation, food and other things. This will stop you from overspending, running out of money and having to ask for a loan from your parents. It’s also important to know that things do come up, you might need to go to the hospital, and trust me those bills can get expensive, even when you do have health insurance because you won’t get that money back straight away!
Quite often it is the things that go wrong which are the most memorable. We couldn’t have planned that we would get trapped inside our Airbnb apartment building at the crack of dawn, having to wake up two elderly women and attempt to speak Portugese to ask them to let us out so that we wouldn’t miss our plane. We couldn’t have known that we would get split up and have to make our own way from Paris to Brussels and find each other without any mobile phone data. We definitely couldn’t control our travel agent telling us the wrong day for our flight home and only realising it the day before we were meant to leave. But these are things that we now look back on and laugh about. I would highly recommend researching everything to the best of your ability before you go, and learn from my mistakes. Don’t get me wrong, things will still go wrong, but they will only make your trip more memorable and you’ll have great stories to tell when you get home!
Bon voyage!
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