Europe Travel Tips – Everything I Learned from My 2 Month Post-Grad Trip

Sometimes, I still can’t believe I took that 2 month Europe trip. When I look back on it, I think of all the good & not so good memories, all the things I learned, and all of the things I wish I knew beforehand. Every trip has its ups and downs, whether its long trips like mine or a weekend getaway. Having had some unexpected experiences, there are quite a few Europe travel tips I want to share with you so that you can make the most of your next trip!

If you want to read about how this trip came to be, read my post here

What I Learned

Make sure your important items are secure!!

This refers to things such as your passport, credit cards, cash, phone, etc. As basic as this may sound, it’s easy to just stick your phone in your pocket or forget to zip up your purse as you turn your attention away for one second. However, that one second makes all the difference. Keep your belongings out of sight and hard to reach to prevent pickpocketing!

Using the Eurail Pass

I used the Eurail pass for my whole trip (which I recommend if you’re planning on visiting many cities). One thing I did not know until the end of my trip was that you could reserve your seats online. Therefore, there were a couple of occasions where the train we originally planned to take was sold out. We would then have to wait hours for the next one by killing time at the train station.

While you can reserve tickets at the ticket offices in the station, I would recommend only doing this either right when you land in a city (book tickets for your next city) or a day or two before your next train. That way, you have a much better chance of reserving for your desired time. The other option is to do it online.

Take the train from the airport to the city center

For most European cities with airports, there’s public transportation in the form of the metro or bus that will take you right to the city center. If you’re looking to save money, this is a much cheaper option that hailing a taxi or rideshare! Since most airports are quite far away from the cities themselves, you can expect to pay quite a bit to get there by car. For the metro, tickets are usually only a couple of euros!

It’s ok to not have everything planned out ahead of time

Plans can change unexpectedly. Maybe there’s a taxi or metro strike and you can’t get to your intended destination. It’s ok to not have everything planned down to the T. Sometimes, the best memories come from the most spontaneous last minute decisions

Give yourself rest days or dedicate parts of the day to relaxing

It’s easy to burn yourself out if you plan activities for all day, everyday. Set aside time to just relax in your accommodation or find a nice park or bookstore to spend a couple of hours. You won’t be able to enjoy anything to the fullest if all you can think about is how tired you are or how much your legs hurt!

Try to find which apps are most popular in your destination

I think this mainly applies to food & transportation. For example, Lyft & Uber were offered in some countries, but we found that Bolt, a European rideshare app, was often cheaper and operated the same way! For food, we used La Fourchette (The Fork) in Paris.

Many public restrooms are not free

This one was tough.. Whether it was at a train station or shopping area, restrooms required you to insert coins in order to get through. Please remember to carry around some spare change with you! Otherwise, you’ll find yourself fumbling around for money when you just reallyyyy need to go.

Wear comfortable shoes

Ok, this one also sounds like a no brainer. However, you know we all pack items that we think would go great with an outfit just to find out an hour later that it was not a great idea. I think a good pair of sneakers always does the trick!

Water is usually not free

Unlike America, where they serve you tap water for free, Europeans will charge for the bottles of still or sparkling water. Having made this mistake myself, it’s better to not ask if they have tap water. Save yourself from the weird looks the server will give you if you raise the question.

If you’re a student, always check if an attraction or museum has student pricing

This is one of the things my friend & I didn’t do at our first couple of attractions, as we didn’t know if it only applied to European students. If you’re buying tickets in person or the people checking tickets ask for ID, just remember to carry your student ID with you! I think this is really helpful, especially for college students trying to travel on a budget. The few euros you save here and there really add up.

Take a solo trip

This was one thing that was always on my bucket list, but I was always too scared to go through with. However, having spent a few days by myself traveling in Vienna, Austria & Bratislava, Slovakia, I think it’s a great opportunity to step out of your comfort zone & learn to be comfortable in your own presence. For example:

• The idea of eating alone used to terrify me. I would rather skip the meal than eat alone… but I couldn’t really do that for days straight. Taking little steps like reading a book as you eat or remembering that everyone else is too focused on themselves to pay attention to you really helps!

Solo travel also teaches you how to be responsible for literally everything – food, directions, planning, etc!

The 2 months I spent traveling around Europe will forever be one of the most memorable things I’ve done. I also feel I’ve grown quite a bit as a person from having to handle so many aspects of the trip I had never been in charge of before. I think very few things can teach you about the world the way that traveling can. After all, you get to observe and learn from the cultural differences among various countries!

I hope you take whatever opportunities you have to travel and see all that this world has to offer <3

Happy exploring,

Cindy