I wasn’t quite sure what I would write about, for this post. I am writing this in sunny Dubrovnik, Croatia. While I will share the experiences we are having during this trip another time, I thought I’d give my readers a break from talking about the cities we travel to and share some tips that we’ve picked up so far for when you’re travelling to Europe for the first time.
When we start planning a trip, the obvious place to start is to choose a destination.
I would like to throw a dart at a map one day and just go there. Perhaps, even arrive at an airport and just choose. Hayley is not quite there at this time.
It’s not to say that she is lacking an adventurous spirit. She just likes to have some sort of plan. I suppose we all like to have some sort of plan. While my wish to travel on a whim will come true one day, for now, we will stick to an organized approach.
The first trip to Europe that we planned back in 2019 was very busy.
When travelling to Europe for the first time you normally only had a finite number of vacation days and wanted to pack in as much to see as possible. This trip carried a true itinerary, complete with a binder full of information. All our visits and tickets were bought far in advance. This required us to have all the sights and places literally planned out to the hour.
While this did allow us to maximize every minute that we were away, it really didn’t give us much time to enjoy the local culture or venture outside of the itinerary to see something unexpected.
It was amazing to see so many things in a short period of time. However, we were so tired when we returned, that we actually booked an all-inclusive trip to Jamaica a few months later. It was there that we could enjoy some real “down time”. We love all-inclusive resort stays. It gives us time to unwind.
We don’t typically venture off the resort to do excursions. Instead, we sit by the pool or on the beach. We enjoy the luxury of eating and drinking as much as we want when it suits us.
Trips that take us to visit cities are a different undertaking especially when travelling to Europe for the first time. We are still figuring out what works best for us.
I think that’s the key to a great holiday.
What we regard as a great trip might not be for others. Some people love cruises. We have no interest in being on a cruise ship, it’s just not for us.
When we decided to make a change and move to the U.K., travelling was our top priority. Europe had ignited our passion to travel and we wanted more. Living in the U.K. allows us to have quick access by plane to so many places.
Our trip last month to The Netherlands and Belgium was planned around the Tulip Festival at the Keukenhof Gardens. After we decided on the length of time we wanted to be away, we booked our flights based on flight availability. There are quite a few airports that have flights to Europe that are easily accessible from our location in Sheffield.
Without a car, we have to consider how we are going to commute to our departing location. Manchester Airport is a breeze to get to by train, so it has become our first choice.
Once our flights were booked, we used Google Maps to determine the cities that we wanted to visit.
Our plan is always to maximize our time by commuting by train between destinations. This is beneficial when it makes the most sense, both financially and geographically. It is easy to be enticed by the low cost of flights between cities in Europe, especially with the low-cost carriers.
This can be deceiving, however. Since some of the carriers use lower-cost airports, sometimes the cost of commuting to and from these airports can offset the savings on the flight itself. There is also the time that it takes to commute. In addition to the fact that you have to arrive at the airport two to three hours before your flight. While also taking into consideration baggage allowances, security and customs if needed.
Our first choice is always to move from city to city by rail.
The major stations are located inside the city and you can show up fifteen minutes before departure. There are also many more options when it comes to departing times, giving more flexibility. We had eleven days to work with, so next was to choose the different stops and how long we wanted to stay in each city.
If the plan is to visit the city center and see the popular sights, we have found that two nights are perfect. One full day in a city is enough if the interest is in seeing some sights and moving on.
When travelling to Europe for the first time, this approach does make for a busy trip but you do have the ability to see more.
We had planned the cities and had points of interest that we wanted to see. Not everything was planned out every step of the way so we enjoyed being able to see what we wanted at a pace that suited us in that moment.
It also let us stay in a particular spot for longer if we were really enjoying that experience and move on if we were not. Once we had our route planned, next were the accommodations. Hayley and I both prefer Airbnbs most of the time. The reason being it gives us a place to prepare food for ourselves instead of eating at restaurants two or three times a day.
It’s not only for dietary reasons, but this can also save a lot of money.
We found the cost of short-term Airbnbs to be too high for this trip and decided to stay at hotels. There were more choices with locations as well. We set a budget for each night and tried to stay reasonably close to that while getting a good location and a decent room.
There are so many different websites to book with. Some claim the best rates, but in our research, we found the rates to all be very close. When travelling to Europe for the first time this can be confusing. We use hotels.com to take advantage of their “book ten nights, get one free”. This saves us money in the future when we do choose to stay in hotels.
Every destination is different as well.
This current holiday in Croatia, we are staying in Airbnbs for longer and rented a car (we only booked Airbnbs with parking). There is no rail network down the Adriatic coast and while there are buses, there are limited options and times.
We also wanted to have more downtime instead of constantly being on the move and having a car at our disposal has allowed us to travel outside the city limits and travel city to city on our own schedule. I can’t stress enough, that this is what works for us.
There is not a “best” way to travel, any kind of travel is amazing in its own way. Plan what is best for YOU, your interests, lifestyle and budget!
Here are some other suggestions for travelling to Europe for the first time, based on our experience.
- Luggage: We choose to travel light. One carry-on bag and a personal item (backpack/purse) helps us save money on checked bags and means we have to carry less. Ladies, if you do want to bring a purse, make it a large one. A bigger purse means more space to put things. Dudes, consider a fanny pack. They are very handy and much cooler than you think. if you really don’t want to wear it around your waist, throw it over a shoulder and it becomes a crossbody bag. Bring a packable backpack They are perfect for day trips and give you another bag while away. When we are city hopping, we use forty-litre backpacks. They are the same size as a roller bag, but dragging a case down cobblestone streets and up stairs is a HUGE pain. If you have a car, roll away.
- Necessities: Bring what you NEED, not what you want. Plan out a few interchangeable outfits to save space, the footwear you need (not heels) and bring travel laundry soap to wash your clothes during your trip. You do not need fourteen days worth of socks and undies. Buy a travel charger for your devices. Most devices now do not need a power converter and having dual voltage appliances such as blow dryers means you don’t have to pack heavy inverters.
- SIM card: This one speaks more to our North American friends. We use Giff Gaff, based out of the U.K. for our phones. Yes, they are the provider we use at home as well. But you can order a SIM card on Amazon for $5 and fire up a plan for a month (or longer based on your needs) with no contract and you can roam without fees across Europe. Simply activate your card before you depart and share the number with your friends on iMessage or WhatsApp. You will also get up to 20 gigabytes per month if the plan you choose covers it. It’s also less than £15 (or $25 CAD) which is less than what you would pay in roaming fees. It also means you don’t have to rely on Wi-Fi to communicate and can post all your beautiful travel photos to your social media at any time. You’ll get unlimited talk/text, which might not help you call back to North America, but will give you the ability to easily call tour operators or Airbnb hosts without incurring international charges. If you do need to make international calls, you get a £5 credit when you sign up and it’s just 2 pence per minute.
- Credit Card: Avoid the extra 2.5% fee for international purchases by getting a travel card that is free of this charge. This way you are only paying the currency exchange. There are tons of different travel cards available, choose one that lets you maximize the points you can earn and have great sign-up bonuses. This way you can earn free travel in the future. Most places also allow you to tap your debit card, again you only pay the exchange. This can help you manage your budget and avoid extra costs on your bill after your travels.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our blog on Traveling to Europe for the first time. Keep your eyes peeled for more tips as we travel more and more!