We have just got back from one of the best Euro trips I have experienced. It was an action packed 10 days visiting three different countries and making the most from this short time abroad. A few things contributed to making this such an amzing time. I have highlighted below how I managed to achieve this and the few key points which may help you along the way in planning your next holiday:
- Choose your travel partner well
Travel with someone who is on the same page as you, and by this I mean that you either are both night owls or early risers, enjoy being spontaneous or both have to have set plans daily. The most important thing I am wanting to gain from a trip is to get to experience as much of the destination as I can, but without feeling too much pressure if things change and we miss out on one or two places which were on our list of must-see. Being on the go the whole time is exhausting, coupled with sleeping in different beds and new environments, this often means I run out of steam towards the end of the day and need to have some downtime. It helps if your travel mate feels the same way. For instance, we would both be exhausted by late afternoon and were happy to go back to our room and chill without making plans for the evening. After an hour or two’s rest though, we would have a shower, put on some makeup and get out there to experience the city once again.
- Allow time for unplanned roaming
As organized as I like to be when planning trips, I do love to leave a lot of time for unplanned activities. So besides the tours I book beforehand, and generally that will be one per city when visiting for only three or four days, the rest I will make up as I go along. I love to chat to waiters and other people we meet along the way to find out what they recommend close to the places we are staying. Quite often one can spend a lot of time getting to places only to discover there were great attractions literally on your doorstep which you never knew about.
- Research the destinations transport systems
To eliminate any stress and panic, I will always have a basic idea of the destination I am visiting – I will know their transport systems, costs of either using public transport as opposed to taxi, and distances from the centre of the city in relation to where I choose to stay. On this trip we used the trains in Amsterdam, uber, tram and water-taxi in Istanbul and uber again in Paris with the exception of one trip on the metro (and that was enough of a deciding factor for me to know I would not be using their metro again). You can decide what works best for you, but I find when having to haul luggage in and out of trains and onto metros and then either walking or catching a taxi to your destination, this may save you a few Euro, but the stress of having to do all that can easily be outweighed by getting a direct taxi/uber from the airport. if you are traveling with someone then the costs of a taxi become that much more affordable. For instance our trip into Paris from Charles de Gaulle was 42 Euros. So quite pricey, but when we worked out individual costs, if we had used the train into Paris and then the metro and perhaps a taxi to our accommodation, we would have saved under 10 Euro in total. The entire trip took 45 minutes and we arrived at our destination ready to unpack and get out there and explore.
- What you pack in your bag
I must say I really struggled choosing what to pack for the trip this time. We were going to three different countries and the weather was predicted to range from early teens in some places and up to 28 deg C in others. I also wanted to keep my packing light as I had to manage and carry my bag the entire time. This meant I had maximum of 16 kg I could load in my suitcase which needed to hold two weeks worth of clothing, toiletries, shoes etc. In hindsight, I could have packed three pairs of shoes – my Nike cross trainers were worn daily. I also wore a pair of comfy leather sandals and a pair of mules. I packed in another three pairs of shoes which were an absolute waste of space. Lightweight long pants/jeans, long and short-sleeved tees, a light weight denim jacket, along with two dresses, a few under tops for layering, a puffer jacket and an all-weather jacket were basically what I wore the entire trip. I packed in a few fancier tops but only wore one
- Booking tours
I have never been a fan of organised tours, but these days there are so many people offering the most amazing city tours. You can find one tailored to your specific needs as there are literally hundreds of experiences on offer in most cities. I used Airbnb experiences to book a few, as well as TripAdvisor. Viator is also a good site to book on, but you will find a lot of the tours are duplicated on other sites. In my experience, by booking something for your first full day in a city, you really get such a good idea of the place, and whether it’s a food, walking, cycle or historical site tour, (and if you lucky, you can choose one with all these components included), you land up having a much better idea and orientation of the city, and this makes the rest of your time easier in choosing perhaps places you would like to re-visit or avoid.
Was this guide informative enough? Please let me know if you would like any more info
THE MOY LIFE 