Our European Vacation!

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This Summer we were lucky enough to be able to take a 19 day grand tour of Europe. I thought it would be easiest for me to play travel agent so I could ensure that we would be able to do everything we wanted on our own time. Whew, I was partially wrong about the amount of time required to plan such a detailed vacation. I started by mapping out the cities we wanted to visit. Then booked the flights across the pond. Afterwards I booked our transportation throughout Europe, we ended up doing half trains and half flights. Then I booked lodging. And then I took a few months off - big mistake!



Planning what to do while there turned out to be a daunting task! How do we decide which activities are most important? How do we make sure we save enough time for food? Will there be enough time to go to the bathroom in between scheduled activities and worse will we have to pay for it!? I cannot emphasize the help of Rick Steves throughout the entire process. His books were a serious lifesaver in planning and the execution of our trip. I rented the Europe 2014 from the library and used that to plan everything. We also purchased the Pocket Guides for London, Rome, and Paris, and honestly I think I would have bought them for all 7 cities if I could go back. He provides absolutely priceless tips for visiting, itineraries, food, and transportation. https://www.ricksteves.com/europe



I also need to mention how influential others' suggestions were. I asked friends who had traveled abroad and many of their suggestions could not have been any better. Thanks for Jordan, Jenice, and Alex for their stellar suggestions and help. This is a wonderful place to start if you have no idea what to do or what to eat when you travel. After I had some ideas of what we wanted to do I started booking. You may be surprised to find out that many things do not really allow you to just show up and visit anymore. Many attractions require tickets with a timed visit to be purchased online in advance. This was a bit of a surprise to me, but I am so glad I pre-planned. It made much of the trip way easier! 


I had a relatively detailed itinerary we pretty much followed, but we were also flexible and open to new adventures! I am going to attempt to blog each city we visited with a detailed list of what we did there each day. I also want it to serve as a digital journal of the trip we took, because honestly in a few years I am sure some of the details will be a little fuzzy! If you have any questions or want to know more about our trip - please let me know. Sharing information and tips are the best way to get the most out of your trip!

















Things we learned:
-Get an international SIM card. I underestimated how much data I would need. I promise you it adds up quickly- google maps, Trip Advisor & Yelp for food, sending messages to family and hosts. It is way worth it!
-Speaking of apps for food, I would say about 30% of restaurants in most cities were on those apps. We found so many places that weren't. So feel free to use them to get an idea, but also don't be afraid to try someplace new. Many places have menus posted outside, so you know what you are getting into before you sit down.
-Take the train as much as you can! Our flights were often delayed, unorganized, and stressful. I guess that is what you get when you fly RyanAir and EasyJet. Sometimes the flights were unavoidable, but even if I had to spend a little extra money to travel by train - I would SO do it all by train.
-Ask for Tap water in places where it is safe to drink. Everyone charges for water, mainly because it is bottled. But when a bottle of water with lunch costs you around 8$ then it is really not worth it! Also you should know they don't do refills there :)
-Wear comfy shoes! We thought we had brought comfy shoes, but ended up with a billion blisters.
-Learn a little bit of the languages where you are headed. You don't need to be fluent, but you should be able to say basics like hello, goodbye, please, thank you, etc. It also makes you seem a bit less touristy.
-We did not have any issues with pickpocketing. I'm sure that is not the case for everyone though. We did have problems with pushy sales people trying to force us to buy things on the street, namely flowers or something. I learned it's best to smile and not speak. Dustin continued to say 'No Thank You' and they would just keep on following us. Maybe they thought I didn't speak English? Who knows, but they left me alone.
-Summer is hot and crowded. We knew that, not much we could do schedule wise. The worst part of this were the large, obnoxious tour groups who take up massive quantities of space and pay no attention to blocking you from things or walking in general. 
-Be flexible! We had plans that fell through, and (especially me) had to take a deep breath and roll with it! Not so easy for a type-A, but we made it work!
-UNDERPACK! I cannot emphasize this enough. You would be shocked to realize how little you actually need. It is easy to do laundry in sinks throughout your trip. And we left with plenty of space in our bags, but returned barely able to zip our bags closed.


Our Itinerary
Day 1: Travel to London
Days 2-4: London
Days 5-6: Brussels
Days 7-8: Amsterdam
Days 9-10: Venice
Days 11-13: Rome
Days 14-15: Barcelona
Days 16-17: Paris*
Days 18-19: London & travel home
*Originally our stay in Paris was supposed to be 3 days with 1 day of travel, but we re-routed to attend a futbol match at Wembly!

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