We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into...
First off, you need to balance flexibility with
preparedness. Showing up in Munich without hostel reservations was taking
spur-of-the-moment traveling too far to one extreme (hence the $200 a night
hotel room), while trying to plan every intricate detail of the trip caused way
too much stress and frustration on the opposite end of the spectrum. My advice
is to figure out a rough itinerary of where you want to go when, and book
hostel/hotel rooms for as many places as possible within a two-week window. We
figured out that we should start booking hostel rooms for one country when we
were a country behind: start looking up places for England when we were in
Germany, etc. It worked pretty well, and that way you weren’t hit with
cancellation fees if you’d planned too far down the road and things had to
change.
Just a typical German party, right?
Always preorder anything you possibly can! If you
buy tickets the day you need them, they’re sometimes double the price of
advance tickets. When we tried to get from Dover to Newcastle, buying tickets
the day of cost us 140 euro each, yet just the night before they’d been listed
as 70 euro each. The same goes for entrance tickets into sites like La Sagrada
Familia and Monet’s house in Normandy. You’ll do much better if you buy tickets
at least a day ahead. Usually you can go online, buy the tickets and print them
off. Sometimes, though, you have to go to actual train stations. The hike over
is worth it though to ensure a spot and a better price.
This place did not have pre-ordered tickets available... or any tickets at all
There’s more to countries than their capital cities.
When we started planning our trip, I was excited to see places like London and
Madrid. I’d heard a lot about them. Faeth wanted to see “the country” and
little towns, and I thought she was crazy. Small towns are not only difficult
to get to, they’re boring—who wants to see a bunch of farms? Yet when we
actually arrived in Europe, I discovered she had the right idea. Some of our
favorite spots were tiny towns like Crianlarich and Dover. Cities can be fun,
but they can also be packed full of annoying city goers, annoying tourists and
lots of other annoying details: pricey food, pricey hostels, pricey everything.
I’m not saying you should skip all cities; we had a lot of fun in London and
Munich and places like those. But if you want a real, full glimpse of the
country’s culture, I recommend you figure out a way to visit the smaller towns.
They seem more authentic because they’re not tourist traps. They’re more
relaxed so you can catch your breath between dodging across national borders. They’re
often cheaper (unless you’re in a resort town), and it’s fun to explore them
and discover places and sights you’d never heard of before.
Queens for a day!
You can’t see everything. You just can’t. Even if
you give yourself a week in Paris, you won’t see everything you could. There
will still be famous sights you haven’t visited. And that’s okay! Instead of
trying to cram a billion things into a visit, focus on the things you really
care about—and forget about the “famous” stuff everyone gushes over. When Faeth
and I visited Paris, we only had one day to explore the city. I really wanted
to see the Paris Opera House, and she wanted to see a library. We did, and we
had a blast! You know what we didn’t see? The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre
Dame, the Arch de Triumph and a ton of other “must see” locations. And that’s
okay! You can always come back to a country for another visit. Focusing on what
you want to see instead of checking off famous sights is a lot more fun.
Chilling out can be as fun as city-hopping
Take a breather. A long-term trip overseas is
extremely taxing, both physically and mentally. Our backpacks weighed a good 20
lbs at least—mine was probably more like 30 lbs with all the stuff I’d crammed
in! Carrying that from hostel to hostel was hard work. On top of that, Faeth
and I walked almost everywhere because we were too cheap for public
transportation. We were pretty exhausted every night when we hit the hay. I
know friends who try to cram 10 major cities into four weeks, and I think they’re
crazy. Your trip isn’t going to be fun if you’re running around like a chicken
with its head cut off. You need down time. Take a day to just relax at the city
gardens or chill at the beach. Find a quiet corner to tuck yourself away in for
a night.
The lady behind us wishes *she* had splurged on some ice cream...
There’s a limit to prudent thriftiness. This is
especially important for college kids overseas. Faeth and I are both pretty
cheap, and we figured we’d be fine living in $10 hostels and eating bread and
cheese every day. For the most part, that worked. But sometimes, you really should
pay a little more. You won’t get that much sleep if you stay in hostels for two
straight months. You need to buy yourself a hotel room every few weeks, just
for one night’s rest. The same goes for food; there’s only so long you should
live off bread and water. And while I highly recommend walking everywhere while
traveling, sometimes you should break down and buy a taxi when you’re trying to
lug your backpack to an airport and are in a time crunch. It’s less stressful
(and less sweaty!), and you’ll only be out 20 euro. In the long run, it’s not a
big deal.
Faeth gets her swag on... don't be afraid of looking silly if you're having fun!
So, there you have it: six travel tips so you don’t make the same mistakes we did. Now you can make new mistakes totally original to your trip! Don’t worry… mistakes happen. They’re inevitable. If you tackle them with flexibility and a good attitude, you’ll have a funny story to share with friends later. (“Hey, Faeth, remember that time we couldn’t find a hostel in Munich and ended up in Austria at 12 a.m.? That was such a crazy night!”) Traveling is about exploring new cultures, meeting new people, and discovering more about yourself. When people hear about my trip to Europe, they say, “Wow! That must have been the trip of a lifetime!” In a way, it was. I got to spend two months with my best friend exploring a continent. I learned a ton about myself and about the world around me. It was an incredible blessing. But it’s only one trip, a “starter” journey that opened my eyes to the countless opportunities to explore the world. This wasn’t the trip of a lifetime—it was the first in a lifetime of trips.
Stay tuned for our next travel adventure!
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