Edward2005

I've assembled my top 5 tips (+5 bonus tips) for planning a European trip on your own. If you're an experienced traveler, then there's probably nothing revolutionary on my list. But for new travelers it may be helpful to have them in one place and in what I consider to be their order of importance.

1. Pack Light

One bag, 16-18 pounds with gear, max. You will be walking with your luggage a lot more than you expect. Multiple heavy bags make getting from one city to another a real chore and introduces a number of problems. Vacation is for fun, not for problems. Packing light solves this.

Besides, you won't need much of the stuff you plan to pack. When packing for the trip, review every item you plan to take and decide whether you will use it enough to justify hauling it around. "This might come in handy" is not a good reason to pack an item. Know that you will definitely use it at least once before allowing it into your bag. Pack the toothbrush, leave the selfie-stick at home. Europe has everything, so you can always buy it there if you decide to leave it home. In fact, why do you even own a selfie-stick? Someone should strike you.


2. Spend Money to Save Time

Americans get precious little vacation time, so don't waste any of it just to save a little money. Yes, the hotel on the outskirts of Paris is cheaper than the comparable one in the city center. But everything you want to see is in Paris' center, so you will have to spend time *and* money to commute to the center every day. That so-called cheaper hotel will end up costing you more - count on it.

Research time-saving options for popular attractions. City-wide museum passes and museum appointments let you bypass long lines and can save you hours!


3. Decide Your Vacation Priorities

What exactly are you planning to do in Europe? Relax and unwind? Dash through a checklist of historical and cultural landmarks? Get off the beaten path to explore towns you've never heard of? Explore in depth a few particular places of interest to you? Generate vacation envy among your friends? These are all valid reasons to visit Europe but some of them are mutually exclusive. You cannot see 10 cities in 14 days *and* relax. Choose carefully.


4. Big Cities Aren't All That

Paris, Rome, and London are world-class cities. They are high on everyone's Europe wish-list for good reasons. But there is so very much more to Europe than big cities. If all you have seen of Italy is Rome, Florence, and Venice then you haven't seen Italy. Not even close. If a European told you he had visited New York, Chicago, and L.A. and had therefore seen the U.S., how would you react?

Rural areas have their own cultural quirks, smaller crowds, bizarre festivals, great food, unique and off-beat history, and often great beauty.


5. Building Your Itinerary

a. Put the cities and towns you want to visit in a logical geographic order.

b. If you don't want to dash through Europe, then plan on at least 3 nights in each city. If you *want* to dash through Europe, then plan on at least 3 nights in each city.

c. Buy and read an up-to-date guidebook so you don't look like a moron. That $2 Paris-2005 guidebook from a second-hand store may end up costing you several hundred dollars because you were too cheap to spend $25 on a current one. And different guidebooks have different perspectives, so don't rely on just one.

d. Seek advice from experienced travelers. Folks on the Fodors board and elsewhere have a wealth of person experience and are willing to share. Consider their input carefully!

e. Relocating to a new city takes about 1/2 your sight-seeing day, assuming there are no delays.

f. There will be delays. Strikes, road construction, accidents, and floods happen in Europe just like anywhere else.

g. Plan for a few days off because travel can be exhausting. If your trip is more than two weeks, put a 2-3 day break near the middle. No museums or cultural obligations; just sleep in, read a book, or whatever relaxes and recharges you. See tip #10.

h. Fly open-jaw -- fly into one European city and return home from another. This eliminates back-tracking and saves time although it may cost a little more, but see tip #2: Spend Money to Save Time.

i. Adjust your itinerary to make sure the things you want to see are available when you are there. Some museums in Paris are routinely closed on Monday, others on Tuesday. Others may be closed for an entire year for refurbishment.

j. Don't be a slave to your itinerary. It should serve you, not the other way around. Feel free to ditch it on the fly if a great opportunity pops up. The advantage of a pre-planned itinerary is that it lets you know what you might have to sacrifice to take advantage of that great opportunity. I once took a surprise road trip with some new English friends to see a football match, but I had to sacrifice my planned outing to see Charles Darwin's Down House. It was an easy choice.

k. There will be many places you would have liked to visit, but which you simply did not have time for. Boo-hoo. Plan a return trip and be thankful for what you were able to experience. Realize that a rushed itinerary makes for a miserable trip.


Five Quickie Bonus Tips:

6. Give the Local Language a Shot, Even if it's English. Using the polite local words, even if your pronunciation is terrible, shows you're at least trying. Locals will cut you a lot of slack just for that.

7. Hire a Local Tour Guide Here and There. A good guide can make a stuffy museum or boring city block come to life. I get a lot more out of ruins and art when I understand what I'm looking at.

8. Connect with Locals. It's fun and they know their town better than any guidebook. I didn't even know what a Depeche Mode was until new friends in Munich dragged me to a concert on a lark. Now I have all their albums.

9. Connect with other Tourists. Maybe they found a hidden gem somewhere. Or maybe they got sucked into a tourist trap and can offer you a warning. Or maybe they're just fun people. Go find out!

10. Ignore Your FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Vacation is not a competition. It's ok to miss something that others consider a "must-see." One glorious day in the Swiss alps instead of visiting the Jungfraujoch with the mobs, I spent the entire day on a porch doing absolutely nothing -- and it was everything I thought it could be.

Sassafrass

Especially 10!
Numbers 5-j and 2 as well.

nukesafe

Good, commonsense tips. If everyone followed them there would be much less need for this Forum.

mikedallas23

Good list, one I would add is:

Google Maps now has a public transportation option, so it will tell you walk 100 yards to corner of A and B, take Bus 62, go six stops to corner of C and D, etc. Can be a good money-saver if you are looking for an alternative to taking taxis everywhere. Works best in major cities obviously. Also, download the language pack of the country you are visiting in Google Translate so that you can still use it offline if you are in, say, a restaurant with foot-thick stone walls.

sundriedtopepo

Good list but I can't agree with this one:

'Someone should strike you.'

dwdvagamundo

I like 2, 4 and 10. although they're all good.

nukesafe

I use Google Translate all the time, but "download a Language pack"? From a computer dummy; how does one do that?

mikedallas23

nukesafe, if you open the Translate app on your phone and click on which language you want to translate to, it brings up the full list of languages that are available. For the most common ones there is a down arrow to the right, click on that arrow to download the language pack to translate offline.

Jean

I feel like I'm the only one who ever mentions doing laundry. Plan where and how you're going to wash your clothes. Select a travel wardrobe that can be washed and dried overnight and/or doesn't require special cleaning if you hand off to a hotel or laundromat. It goes without saying (but I will), this is especially important if you plan to pack light and/or travel in warm weather months or if you plan a fast-paced, no down-time itinerary.

WoinParis

I never pack light for a family holiday.
We usually have 20 kgms (what is a pound ?) and I'm the donkey carrying the luggage.
I never download a language on my Iphone. I use googletranslate if need be. But one can usually communicate in whatever language he knows and gestures help.
I never take a tour, I find these a waste of time actually.
I get lost whenever I can, that makes me discover something unplanned.
I just follow the plan and don't let it guide me - the key is adaptation and flexibility.

nukesafe

Thank you Mikedallas23! I'll only need German and French for this trip even though my Son lives in a Walloon speaking section of Belgium, they will all probably speak English better than I. None the less, it will be handy to have a reference when I am not on WiFi.

Iwan2go

Great idea! I Iike having so many of the tips we give to newbies all in one place.

We do find personal tour guides to be worthwhile. There have been times we would have walked right past something, but our guide stopped, gave us some historical context, and it all came alive.

Sarastro

Overall I think that your post is excellent Edward2005. Several observations:

<i>That $2 Paris-2005 guidebook from a second-hand store may end up costing you several hundred dollars because you were too cheap to spend $25 on a current one.</i>

Where´s the evidence supporting this statement? I have the opposite viewpoint. The Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe has been each reliably in one place since they were constructed. What could possibly be so vividly inaccurate in a guide book dated 2005? Certainly prices and visiting hours might change but these could be just as inaccurate in a guide book dated 2017 (with a 2016 publish date). By the time any guide book is researched, written, edited, published, distributed, and ultimately purchase by an inquisitive tourist, much of its more timely information will have been changed.

I should suggest that one purchase any guidebook, preferably a used guidebook of any date for background information and to formulate an itinerary but confirm any pricing or other changeable information on the internet before he leaves home. Exactly how will a 2005 guidebook vs. a 2016 guidebook cost someone several hundred dollars?


<i>Give the Local Language a Shot, Even if it's English. Using the polite local words, even if your pronunciation is terrible, shows you're at least trying. Locals will cut you a lot of slack just for that. </i>

Anglophones write this all too often. It´s a nice idea but noting more. It is highly unlikely that any resident would have any opinion, one way or another, about how much French you may or may not know. There is absolutely no requirement and very minimal need to study French before your visit. Obtaining and studying a menu translation book will be a much more productive use of your time.

I do not want to discourage anyone from learning French or any other language but I do object to the misconception that somehow someone learning a few words of French and attempting to use them will be held in higher esteem than someone who does not. It´s just not true.

What will more likely happen, if a tourist does attempt a conversation with someone French, is that the Frenchman will ignore any attempt to converse in his language and make every effort to communication with you in English.

WoinParis

I must say that I much more encline to be helpful if somebody says at least 'bonjour'.
I have the impression he/she is trying to be nice.
If the tourist says 'hello' I have the impression he is polite.
If he doesn't even say hello I am pretty sure I will not help.
But you need no more than 10 words.
Like Nihaa Xie Xie Kampai in Chinese.
3 words actually.

Edward2005

"That $2 Paris-2005 guidebook from a second-hand store may end up costing you several hundred dollars because you were too cheap to spend $25 on a current one.

Where´s the evidence supporting this statement?"

I am exaggerating for effect. Sure, the E.T. is in the same place it has always been and always will be, but other things about it can change. When and how you can visit, security procedures, options for avoiding long waits, and so on.

Hotel and restaurant recommendations can certainly change. New attractions can appear and old ones may be closed for a year or more for refurbishment or change locations. Recommendations for local guides and walking tours can change. A 2005 Paris guide probably did not list any options for tours on those little electric two-wheeled thingies you see these days. Options for city-wide museum or metro passes can certainly change. Neighborhoods that were old and run-down in 2005 may have experienced a rebirth and now be worth a visit.

Yes, an experienced visitor can research all this on his own without a guidebook, but a good up-to-date guidebook has all this in it so you don't have to do nearly as much legwork. And new visitors may not even think to look for any of these details because they don't know what they don't know.

bilboburgler

I think old guide books (and all guide books are out of date) are fine, I often tour France with pre-war ones, stuff doesn't change that fast and I'd not choose a hotel or restaurant out of one.

marvelousmouse

I like guidebooks as much as the next person but pretty much everything you mentioned in your last post is either 1) not going to cost you money or 2) may not apply anyway due to renovation, special holiday hours, closures. Or possibly 3) not useful. I think I've used guidebook restaurant sections maybe twice. At all. And those were pastry shops.

As for 2- I don't trust guidebook hours at all. I get my overview from a guidebook, then I check the individual websites. On this last trip: the concierge was wrong, the guidebook was wrong, the tourist information desk was mostly wrong, the seasonal city guide was wrong. You know who was right? The website.

The "wheelie things" are advertised everywhere- and those neat revitalized neighborhoods- well, I might go, but I don't think many first time visitors would go anyway unless the concierge or friends recommended a restaurant there.

It could cost you, sure. But time and hassle, almost never money.

Sarasto- I understand your point, but it did seem to go smoother when I used a few words of the local language. People were more patient. And more importantly, it was useful when I could kind of understand what was going on- like in Germany- but harder when I had no idea- Italy.

WoinParis

Tu sei bella, ti amo and due birre con pizza will get anywhere you want to go.
It is more romantic than 'Du bist schoen, I liebe dich und Zwei Bier mit Kartoffeln und Sauerkraut' !

marvelousmouse

Lol, woinparis. True! Never had any trouble eating in Italy and that's the most important part! But I was thinking more along the lines of navigating the post office...the clerk and I confused each other so badly it took at least a half hour to work it out!

bilboburgler

The use of the basic courtesy phrases is just that. Why would you not use them?