One year ago, I decided I didn’t want to get stuck in a job and a life that I wasn’t satisfied with. I started making a plan to quit my job and travel. I didn’t know for what period of time I wanted to travel for, or rather, how long I could afford to travel. I just knew I wanted to go explore the world. I spent months looking at flights 6-8 months out and when I saw a one-way ticket from Denver, CO to London, UK for only $250, I booked it.
The next few months were exciting: planning out my top destinations, activities I wanted to do while there, and my budget for the trip. Knowing myself, I knew that I didn’t want to plan out the trip in total detail but rather, have a tentative itinerary and go from there. But there were definitely some things I knew I would need to figure out before I left! Here are my top tips for planning your next trip:
- Pick your destination(s)
This is, by far, the most excited part of planning your trip. You get to put into action a plan to visit the places you have been dreaming about! Before my trip, I hadn’t left the continent and I knew I wanted to go overseas. Europe had always been a dream of mine so I started narrowing down countries from there. It may be really hard to rule out places because, if you’re anything like me, you want to go everywhere! You will want to choose a few different cities or countries to visit (depending on how much time you have) and the type of activities you will do while there. A couple things to think about when deciding your destination(s): What will the weather be like at the time I am going to be there? How expensive is it to travel to and explore that country/city? Which brings me to my next tip…
- Determine your budget
You may feel the urge to just take off and not worry about money, but you’re going to want an idea of how much you have to spend. Your budget is going to determine how many place you can visit and the type of travel you can do. Can you afford to stay in hotels and Airbnbs or are you going to be staying in budget hostels? What type of activities do you want to do and how much is that going to cost you? Once you have an idea of your budget, it’s important to understand the conversion rate between dollars and that countries’ currency. You’re also going to want to know the average prices for meals and accommodation in each place and the cost of travel between the places you want to visit. For me, my biggest expense was travel since I was moving from city to city or country to country every 2-3 days. If you are staying in one place for an extended period of time, your biggest expense will probably be accommodation and activities. You are going to want to budget for some buffer room as well. Believe me; you are definitely going to spend money on things you never would have thought of. And once you’re over there, you aren’t going to want to have to worry about sticking to a tight daily budget, that’s just going to ruin your vacation and stress you out. So build in a buffer!
- Figure out your activities
As I mentioned before, much of this is going to be determined by your budget, but you should plan a few major things to do in each place you’ll be in. For me, I knew I wanted to see the famous Cinderella castle in Germany, go to the Guinness brewery in Dublin, and see the gorgeous Christmas markets in Prague. I mapped out a few things to do in each place I was going but left a lot of room to just meet others and explore. Pretty much everything else that I did on my trip, I looked up as I went along my trip. The people who work the front desk of your hostel or hotel should be able to give you some great advice on things to do in the area. They also tend to organize a lot of activities (especially hostels), and I took advantage of these as I mainly traveled solo and wanted to meet some fellow travelers. If you would like any suggestions on things to do in any of the place I went in Europe, check out my guides I’ll be creating over the course of the next few weeks!
- Know the basics of the language
This is a pretty big one, especially if you are going to places that do not speak English. I did a lot of research before I left on Americans traveling to Europe and this was one of the top things that came up. Americans are classically known to be the only nationality that doesn’t speak another language. And we tend to get the stereotype of being ignorant in this regard, thinking everywhere we go we can get by with only knowing English. Many place in Europe, the locals will know English to a certain degree but it is quite insulting to assume they know the language. That’s why I highly suggest knowing at least the basics of the language for each place you are going to. At minimum, the words and phrases I suggest knowing are: hello, please, thank you, excuse me, where is the bathroom, do you speak English, and goodbye. Even if your pronunciation is way off and you sound ridiculous, they will appreciate you trying. Another very helpful tool to use is Google Translate. I used this several times to speak to the locals when they didn’t know any English.
- Know the customs of the culture
This is another one that is pretty important to understand. Americans have a very distinct stereotype (that’s actually pretty accurate). We are known to be loud, obnoxious, and overly friendly to a fault. You may think that is totally find but spend one day in Europe and you’ll realize you stick out like a sore thumb. Europe, in general, is a collectivist society meaning that they like to fit in to their surroundings and view their society as a whole, not as a bunch of individuals; which also means they don’t like drawing a lot of attention to themselves and find it again, a little insulting when we do. Before you head out on your trip, do some research on the culture of the places you are going to so you can avoid any issues and fit in seamlessly.
- Figure out what you’re packing
This will highly depend on what time of year you are traveling, where you are going, and how you are traveling. I knew I was going to be moving often so I went with a backpack as my choice of luggage. This allowed me to easily pack up and travel to my next spot. If you are choosing a few different destinations and spending a prolonged period of time in each, it may make more sense to pack a suitcase. This is something you’ll have to determine far in advance so you can pack accordingly. With a backpack, you won’t be able to fit quite as much and it will have to be lighter than if you were lugging around a suitcase since you will be carrying it on your back. Once you chose between a backpack and suitcase, it’s time to figure out what you’ll be bringing with you. Packing for summer is very different than packing for winter, so do some research on what kind of clothing items you should bring with you. For packing for winter travel, check out my YouTube video called “Packing for backpacking Europe in the winter”.
- Book your flight and accommodations/travel
There are several apps you can use to find the cheapest flights to your destination, including: Hopper, Skyscanner, Kiwi, and Fareness. These apps will track different flights for you and alert you if the prices fluctuate. If you are flexible on the dates, you can find a really great deal! Once you do, make sure to book it right away! I purchased my one-way ticket to London months before my trip but made sure to book my ticket back before I left as well for a few reasons: to avoid any questions from customs on how long I was staying in the country, to know how long my trip would be, and to not have to worry about booking my flight back while enjoying my travels. Other than my to-and-from flights, I also booked my accommodations before I left. I wanted to have a general idea of where I would be each night. But, again, knowing myself, I knew I wouldn’t stick to my original plan. So I made sure that most everywhere I booked could be canceled and fully refunded up to 3 days beforehand. You definitely do not need to book accommodations until a day or two before you arrive but if you want to make sure to get the best deal and not have to stress about where you are staying, I would suggest booking it a little ways out. I used www. Booking.com for all of my accommodations and it worked perfectly!
- Prepare your phone/apps
Before you take off on your trip, you will need to figure out what you are doing with your phone service. You can do one of three things: get an international plan with your current provider, go without a data plan and rely on wifi (which is pretty prevalent in most of Europe), or get on a European plan. When I left, I suspended my current plan with Verizon and once I landed in London, the first thing I did was get a limited plan through Vodafone. I was able to purchase a set amount of data and could use it throughout all of Europe. I did have to “top up” a couple of times, meaning I purchased additional data throughout my trip. But this worked out great, I highly suggest you doing the same. Total, I spent about $50 for data for a month and a half. At home, I spent about $100/month for unlimited data so that was a steal! Even with this data though, there were times that my connection was spotty. I went to a few isolated places in northern Scotland where I didn’t have data and also lost service a few times when traveling underground. This is why I downloaded offline maps of everywhere I was going. This allows you to use Google maps as normal, without needing a connection. This was a huge life saver a few times for me and it allowed me to save my data. Some other apps that I would recommend downloading before you leave are: booking.com and/or Airbnb, Google translate, GoEuro (to book trains, buses, and flights), Flixbus (if you are going to take any buses), and Citymapper (to navigate big cities). I used Booking.com and GoEuro practically every day!
- Get everything at home sorted out
There are a lot of reasons why people don’t just leave everything behind and go on a trip: families, jobs, cars, pets, rent etc. If you are serious about taking a trip, there is definitely a way to make it work! If you have a family, this may be quite a bit more difficult but it is possible to plan a vacation with little ones. Or treat yourself (and spouse) to a short vacation while the kids are having their own little adventure with friends/family. If you have a cat or dog, you can find someone to watch them while you are gone. Same with a car, you can most likely find someone that would be willing to let you keep it at their place. And with your job, you will have to figure out if you can take that time off of work or if you are ready to leave your job. Rent is a hard one but you can work it out. If you are renting and have a lease, time it so you leave on your trip once you lease ends. If you own your property, you could pay a management company to help you rent it out while you’re away. There are many factors to think about before heading out but there is always a way to make it work. I have a cat so I started putting it out there to friends and family and I had several people tell me they would be willing to watch him while I was away (for 45 days!). And with my car, I had a friend who was driving an old truck that wasn’t working well anymore; I offered to let him drive mine while I was gone and he was ecstatic! Other things to think about: loans and bills – make sure they are set up to automatically deduct, your credit and debit cards – call your bank and let them know where you are going and how long you will be gone for so they don’t put a freeze on your account, and suspending your phone.
- Get ready to have the time of your life
Once you’ve planned your trip and taking care of all your responsibilities at home, get ready to have the absolute best time of your life! Travel is the gift that keeps on giving. You will learn things about other places and cultures but, most importantly, about yourself. You will make memories that will stick with you for the rest of your life and you will never regret getting out there an experiencing the world. Don’t be afraid to go out and travel on your own either. I spent a month traveling by myself and, let me tell you, it was the best thing I could have done for myself. The beautiful moments I got to experience and the friendships I met along the way would never have happened if I hadn’t ventured out solo. If you have any questions on solo travel, please send me an email and I’ll assure you you’re making the best decision for yourself! Now get out there and have the best time exploring the world!
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