I have returned home after a glorious month-long trip in Europe. It was the trip of a lifetime. I got to experience parts of five countries: Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy. I loved them all. They are each unique and have their own culture, language, scenery and food.
I wanted to share a few insights from my travels to aid you when you plan your next international trip.🌏
OK, the first one is sooo obvious, and I was warned, but did it anyway!
Don’t over pack! I watched the Rick Steves You tube video on packing in a carry on for a month long trip and thought “no way!” So I packed a big check-in bag PLUS a carry on!!! It was not necessary.
Next time (October) I’ll lay all my clothes on the bed, and reduce them by half. Then I”ll make sure I can coordinate and make at least 4-5 outfits out of each piece. If not, I don’t pack it. My goal is a carry-on ONLY for my next trip.
I also discovered scarves can make an outfit look different. Now in the hot summer weather, who wants to wear a scarf? But in fall, I think it will work perfectly. I’ll get to use those scarves I bought while on my Europe trip.
I can live with two pairs of shoes for a month! I packed five pairs, which was overkill! Next trip I’m wearing my tennis shoes and packing sandals. My black sandals are super comfy and I can walk in them during the day or use them for evening. My new Lone Peak tennis shoes are walking/hiking shoes, and super comfortable for walking 10 miles/day, which I did in Europe.
If you want to look European, don’t wear jeans every day! It’s so funny how different cultures dress. I realized European women wear skirts and dresses a lot, and of course shorts during the day for walking. But I saw very few people wearing jean shorts or jeans at all. Luckily I brought summer dresses with me. They happened to be the ones I bought on my trip to France four years ago!
Leave room for purchases! I love to shop! I will leave a little room for that dress, skirt, or blouse that I buy. This trip I bought a skirt, blouse, and hat. Love my new hat and it goes with everything. It came in very handy while walking the streets of Geneva in 95 degree weather.
App in the Air tracks how long the wait lines are in airports for checkin and security. I will use this app next time so I don’t show up to the airport too early. I heard and read about the nightmare Amsterdam Airport was so I was a little paranoid. 🙄
I arrived at the airport five hours before departure, and discovered security wouldn’t let me check in for my flight until four hours before departure, so I waited. Found a nice bistro and had breakfast! One last French pastry before leaving Europe. The check in was easy, it took 20 minutes. The security line was longer, one hour, partly because it was early in the day. As the day progresses, the security lines get longer. Tip: TSA does not work in Europe. You still stand in the long security line. If you like to people watch, you’ll see all kinds in the airport security line!
I found it worthwhile to upgrade from economy to economy plus for the extra leg room on the airplane. I don’t like being cramped, which economy definitely is! Plus, I snagged a seat on the side aisle, so I could get up periodically during my 10 hour flight.
When I was preparing for my trip, I read how unappreciated airline stewards/stewardesses feel. So I bought a box of chocolates for them and gave it to them shortly after take off. Boy did they appreciate it.👍 We got special “travel bags”, attentive service, and many thank yous. It’s such a simple thing to do, but pays off tremendously and you make them feel appreciated. Win! Win!
Learn a few basic words in the language of the country you’ll be visiting. Please, thank you, you’re welcome, good day. These go a long way to making people realize you’re trying. It was kind of funny, though. By the fifth country, I caught myself using French instead of Italian! No biggy, they realize you’re English and switch into it quickly. English does seem to be the universal language in the larger cities. In the rural areas, not so much.
Smile! 😊 People everywhere respond with a smile. It makes them feel noticed and it’s a great way to start a conversation.
If you know me at all, you know I’m not a shy person. I can start a conversation with just about anybody, and did! I met people from Portugal who encouraged me to try a home exchange. I met a young couple from Liechtenstein who were film producers. I invited them to Oregon 🙂 Young people are curious and love to travel. It’s fun talking about their education, work, family, and culture.
When traveling, I found it worth the money to hire a personal tour guide or take a small guided tour in each city. It’s a great way to learn about the history, culture, food, people and what to explore on my own the next day. Our young tour guide in Geneva, Margo, was a native and college student. She gave us a great tour and it included tasting six different chocolates!🍫 Our tour guide in Venice, Ermanno, was fantastic. He also was a native, knew the history (and there’s lots of it) and we walked all over Venice, so got to see more than the tourist sights. It gave us a much better look into daily Venetian life.
Getting around was made easier because we rented a car. We Americans love our cars! For the most part it worked great. Europeans love their tunnels and tolls! However, parking was an issue in most cities and expensive! Next time we’ll take the train between bigger cities and rent a car for our excursions to the smaller towns.
We were very intentional in our trip planning, and I suggest you do the same. We stayed a minimum of two nights in each location, three and four nights at places we knew we wanted to explore/hike more. One night is not enough! You don’t get a chance to experience the town with just one night’s stay.
Be bold and try new foods! You might like it 🙂 I made a conscious effort to try “local” foods wherever I was. Swiss fondue is sooo much better than American fondue! I never knew chicken and fish could be prepared so many different ways, and Italian beef thinly sliced is delicious! And the cheese! I can’t pronounce most of it, but I had it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!! And the French pastries. 🥐 I love how flaky they are. I ate them at least once a day.
Thank goodness I was walking 6-10 miles/day so I didn’t gain weight from all the fantastic food I ate!
My takeaway is that each city and country is unique. I love hearing all the different languages, and miss that now that I’m home. We are all part of a bigger picture, and can communicate with smiles and conversation over great food. We are alike, in that we love our family, our country, but want to learn from each other.
Be curious, explore, travel, make new friends!
Ciao!