(Gotravelings.com) Instead of desiring to travel to all places or eat every foods, you have to calm down and plan carefully your journey to have the very first perfect backpacking trip to this old continent.
You want to eat pasta in Rome, stand on Eiffel Tower, come across the red street in Amsterdam, or join in the party in Munich .... It is just when you have the whole year traveling in Europe, or else, you only can choose places based on your capability.
1. Right choices
Europe is a continent which has rich culture and history, and countries here connect with each other strongly. You cannot go to all the countries in a journey (except you do not care about money and time). If you try to go as many as possible, your time spending for train, bus, plane will make your trip shorter.
Europe nations are small in square, but rich in cultural and historical places. Photo: Google Images
So what is the secret? You might choose the best 5 places must go. It can be drinking beer in Hofbrauhaus, Munic, Germany; or eating tapas in Barcelona; or visiting Tate Modern in London. Bookmarking all the important places that you have chosen, then spread the trip around those places. When you can define which countries or cities you want to go in the allowed time, the next step is find the way to get there.
10 days are normally suitable for backpackers' wallet. Traveling alone in Europe is easier than in any other continent, because most of European can speak English. You can book a hostel room or transportation ticket online. You should find (or hunt) cheap flight tickets for months before your trip start, sometimes even year before. You should remember that using inter-city or inter-country buses will be cheaper than that of train or plane. You had better find and compare the prices before buying.
You should not miss the symbolic places like the Colosseum arena in Rome (Italy), Eiffel Tower in Paris (France), Charles bridge in Prague (Czech Republic), etc. Those are really amazing places. Many posts in a lot of forums engage travelers to discover new places, but you don't have to follow all of it, especially in your first trip to Europe.
You also don't have to follow everything written in the guide book. There are many restaurant you want to try but are not written in the book, but you can be more opened by experiencing new things. If you read about the Louvre museum (Paris, France) is the place you must go, but you are accidentally lost in the Blek Le Rat world (the famous graffity artist) with a lot of his works on the walls, you can spend times to discover both of them.
2. Travel by season
July to September is the high traveling season in Europe when you have to share spaces with millions of other travelers. Hotel, hostel, dormitory are mostly full or high price; train, bus, and plane are also harder to book.
One thing you should take notice is to travel to Europe at the right time, participating into some festival in this old continent like Oktoberfest (beer festival in Germany), Biennale (modern art exhibition in Italy), La Tomatina (tomato festival in Spain), Tomorrowland (electric music in Belgium), Exit (summer music in Serbia), etc, you will definitely have the unforgettable memories. There also one thing you should consider is the fee and expenses, and you should book all the services 3 months or more before.
3. Know how to protect yourself.
You go a thousand kilometers to go to different cities with lots of new things, so don't waste your time drinking beer or wine in a bar, hotel, or hostel. Step outside where a lot of amazing things are waiting for you.
July to September is the high traveling season in Europe when you have to share spaces with millions of other travelers. Hotel, hostel, dormitory are mostly full or high price; train, bus, and plane are also harder to book.
Therefore, you can think about Autumn or Spring time, and if you are not afraid of the cold, you can go in winter. You will find everything easier and more peaceful like it is only for you.
Winter in Austria is cold, peaceful, and not very crowded will be an ideal place for your traveling. Photo: autocarhire.com
One thing you should take notice is to travel to Europe at the right time, participating into some festival in this old continent like Oktoberfest (beer festival in Germany), Biennale (modern art exhibition in Italy), La Tomatina (tomato festival in Spain), Tomorrowland (electric music in Belgium), Exit (summer music in Serbia), etc, you will definitely have the unforgettable memories. There also one thing you should consider is the fee and expenses, and you should book all the services 3 months or more before.
3. Know how to protect yourself.
The first time in Europe, you have to take care of yourself from being cheated. Sometimes, the offer for cheap price or some winged words might attract you. In this case, being wise and cold-head will help you to stand up from the attracted words from sexy girls in Amsterdam, or street vendors in Paris. The feelings of a backpacker this time have to be strong. If you don't feel safe, you'd better to quickly go away to another place.
If you still have times after traveling to main cities, you can think about Budapest, Krakow, or Lisbon. These cities will surely bring to you a lot of surprises.
Learning some basic sentences of local language, you can at least know how to greet and ask "do you know English" in local language.
Pack your baggage lightly, you don't need 3 jeans in the summer or big coat in the Autumn in Europe. The 1 liter shampoo bottle can be replaced by the small convenient packs or a soap. Remember, you are backpacker.
But you need to have at least one decent clothes such as a t-shirt, long trouser, or shoes when you plan to hear opera in England theater or eating dinner in a restaurant in Berlin.
4. Spend money at the right places
Although you are backpacker, sometimes you still have to pay a big amount of money to experience the special characteristics like going on the gondola boat in Venice, enjoy the afternoon tea in London, drink German beer and eat smoked pork, etc.
Although you are backpacker, sometimes you still have to pay a big amount of money to experience the special characteristics like going on the gondola boat in Venice, enjoy the afternoon tea in London, drink German beer and eat smoked pork, etc.
Bring as much money as possible, especially small money, visa card, traveler check (type of check for traveler which can be changed into money). Visa card will allow you to buy flight ticket back home, and you don't need to put it with cash. Cash should be put in different places. Europe is beautiful and the people are friendly, but there are bad and good people everywhere, so you should take care of your safeness first.
You should have visa card (or master card) and cash to guarantee the expenses for your trip.
Photo: us.123rf.com.
You go a thousand kilometers to go to different cities with lots of new things, so don't waste your time drinking beer or wine in a bar, hotel, or hostel. Step outside where a lot of amazing things are waiting for you.
Working hard and saving money for your own journey, sometimes, you can be mean to yourself when you are at home, but generous when traveling.
The final things is to enjoy every single moment on your trip.
The final things is to enjoy every single moment on your trip.
- Hoai Nam -
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