Planning a Euro Trip in the Winter
Russell and I started planning a Europe trip in June. Our Euro trip was not going to be until December… Yes, we planned this trip for 6 months. He moved to Nigeria for work in July, and I was staying in Virginia, so this trip was the one thing we had to look forward to! We were not going to see each other until December. Since this was a big deal, and I had a total of 17 days off for winter break (perks of being a teacher), I wanted to explore as many countries as possible. I used a free website called RoutePerfect.com, which really allowed me to explore my options. You can map out a vacation, and you can actually choose whether or not it is a romantic, friends, family, or solo vacation. It gives you the best way to transport from city to city or country to county, and was totally user friendly!!! After exploring the website, pinning great spots on Pinterest, and using my own personal bucket list, we mapped out a 17 day vacation where we were going to visit 6 countries and 8 different cities. However, one of the countries was Belgium, but with current events we went ahead and cancelled, which actually worked out for the better!!
Therefore, our 17 day trip was going to include 5 countries and 7 cities. It was going to be a VERY packed itinerary, but with only one previous time in Europe, a jammed packed schedule was exactly what I wanted!
We decided to book everything ahead of time since we were sort of “noobies” to the whole backpacking ordeal. We booked flights, trains, and hotels. After looking at the prices of Air B&Bs around Christmas time, we soon realized that hotel prices were equivalent to most nice places. Remember- we were not going to see each other for 5 months, so we wanted to splurge on our places we were going to stay. This may not be for you if you are trying to save as much money as possible. However, for Russell who was staying in Nigeria, having a nice and comfortable place to sleep was at the top of the priority list. Believe me when I tell you- it was a GAME CHANGER.
HOTELS
I completely understand when people want to save money and stay at hostels while they are backpacking all over Europe, but if you are staying for about a week to 3 weeks around Europe I think it is great to have a hotel to stay at!! As Hilton Honors members (HIGHLY recommend signing up!) we were able to get free breakfast and free internet at the cities that we booked hilton hotels! Plus, the people at the hotels speak English and are willing to accommodate your every need. You don’t need to worry about the sheets being washed, shower shoes, and/or sharing the bathroom or bedroom with other guests. However, hotels, air b&bs, or hostels is all about what is important and what is not.
FLIGHTS
We took a flight from London to Berlin, Munich to Rome, and Rome to Paris. If your traveling long distances and only have a week to 2 weeks in Europe, I would suggest you fly as much as possible. Flights from country to country in Europe are reasonably cheap, and it saves you TIME that you don’t want to waste. **Note: If you are flying with EasyJet- you need to print out your ticket before you get to the airport, and you are only allowed ONE carry on bag/personal item**
TRAINS
DO NOT BUY A TRAIN TICKET AHEAD OF TIME!!! You can buy your train tickets at the station without any problems. I found out the hard way that having a confirmation number will either make things more difficult for you, or the company will actually not exist at the train station so you therefore will buy another set of train tickets. LONG STORY SHORT- Wait till you get to the station. Look up the trains that are going to your destination, and then buy them at the station.
BACKPACK VS. SUITCASE
I was so stressed out about if I wanted to bring a suitcase or a backpack around Europe in the WINTER. This meant that I was going to have a lot of heavy bulky sweaters/pants. I went ahead and purchased the backpack because I figured it was going to be easier to walk around airport to airport and train station to train station with just having everything on my back. We both purchased the Osprey Farpoint 55 backpack, and it ended up being the perfect bag! It is different than usual hiking backpacks because you don’t have to take all your clothes out to get to that one shirt or pair of socks you wanted to wear. It zips open like a regular suitcase, so that you don’t have to take everything out and you can see everything. It also has a smaller backpack that can up-zip and be used separately. My fiance sometimes used the smaller backpack when walking around a city. We both would also un-zip the smaller bag when we got on the plane or train to have our iPod, wallet, etc in it. I also recommend buying packing cubes to keep your clothes tightly together. I liked having the ability to take out the packing cube with my shirts in it or pants, etc. It just saves some time and stress when packing your bag back up for your next destination!
