Advice for your first trip to Europe.

Plan in Advance

            The book "Europe Through the Back Door" by Rick Steves is one of my favorite travel books of all time.  Rick has a great outlook on travel.  I hope you have time to skim through it or read it before you go.  I gave up giving advice to people on where to go, where to stay, etc.  Everyone discovers their own little treasures when they travel.  I would advise looking through Europe Through the Back Door and consider going where Rick recommends.

            It is important to plan in advance.  Planning ahead means knowing in advance how to avoid the headaches of finding a nice, cheap place to stay, how often the trains run from Point A to Point B, the cheapest way to go, etc.  I would encourage you to buy a good guidebook (or check one out of the library).  The best places to go when you travel are the out-of-the-way-non-touristy-small towns (although some places like Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, is a large-town exception).  I think Rick Steves' Book Europe Through the Back Door is the best for this type of travel.  In addition, he has a couple of books, Mona Winks and Europe 101 which are invaluable for background information and negotiating your way through the major art galleries of Europe without spending a lot of time or missing anything important.

            Do not try to follow a pre-set itinerary.  Changing your plans to see things you had not planned on usually turn out to be the best part of your trip.  Listen to other travelers you meet.  They always have the most current and reliable advice.  Always be on the lookout for people to meet.  I often buy some disposable cups and a bottle of wine or some food to share before getting on the train.  Nothing will allow you to meet people faster than sharing a bottle of wine or some food.  Rick Steves also has some recommendations on how to meet people in his book.

Do Not Over Pack.

            Do not over-pack.  There are very few things you have to take that you cannot buy in Europe if you really need them.  Take an ATM card.  When I get to a new country, I just find an ATM and withdraw cash.  The last few years I have found ATM's within minutes of every train station in every big city.  You avoid the hassle of banks and you get a good exchange rate.  Just make sure your password is only four digits long (some ATM’s in Europe still only take 4-digit passwords).  I guarantee you that you will have less hassle with an ATM card than with traveler's checks.  You still need traveler's checks for small towns in some Eastern European countries, so take plenty of traveler's checks and just deposit the ones you did not use when you get back from your trip. To find out if there are ATM’s where you will be visiting, try the Visa ATM locator or MasterCard ATM locator before you go.

Pictures

            Take pictures of everyone you meet.  In a year or two, the only pictures you cherish will be the ones with people in them (even yourself).  Scenery and buildings are nice, but you might as well buy a postcard.  Speaking of pictures and postcards, buy nice postcards to supplement your pictures.  Put the postcards in your photo album when you get back, along with your pictures.   The photographers are usually professionals, and have access to places and views you do not.  I also pack one of those wide-angle disposable Kodak cameras.  Some pictures really look better in a wide-angle lens, but carrying a heavy extra lens for your camera is not worth it.

Souvenirs

            Buy souvenirs.  If you see something you think you like, buy it.  You usually cannot go back after you leave.  What do you do if you bought things that you do not want?  Give them to someone as a gift.  They will feel good that you remembered them (even if you didn't).  Consider the $20 an added expense of your trip, small when considering the grand scheme of things, and the things you really don't want make the best gifts.  What is a drag is when you find something cool, buy it for someone, and then wish a few months later you had kept it for yourself.

Security

            Almost everyone that travels to Europe will eventually experience crime first or second hand. Luckily, if you are careful, the damage will be mostly to your psyche. It is unusual for tourists to be involved in violent crimes. The most common crimes are pick-pocketing and purse-snatching, although amazingly many folks are still taken in by hustlers such as money changers and street merchants.

            The most obvious advice is to keep your valuables where they can’t be stolen. This means the hotel safe and a good quality moneybelt. What might not be obvious is that you should also carry a wallet. Imagine that every time you want to buy an ice cream cone or board the metro that you have to dig under your clothes into your moneybelt, showing everyone around you exactly where your valuables are. Moneybelts are also susceptible to things falling out as you retrieve your money or ticket.

            Every morning decide about how much you will spend that day, and transfer that to your wallet along with your metro/bus multi-day pass, and phone card. The idea is that when you get pick-pocketed, your day will be ruined, not your whole trip. Never put more than you can afford to lose in your wallet (and never more than $15-$20). If you plan on spending a lot in one day, put a little in your wallet in the morning and then transfer more at lunch or as needed. Always keep your wallet in your front pocket. There is no reason to be foolish, even if you only stand to lose $20.

Accommodations

            Take overnight trains whenever possible, and occasionally pay for the couchette.  You will arrive at your next destination early in the morning, and you will have saved travel time and hotel expense for a night.  It is possible to sleep on a train without paying the couchette supplement, but you usually do not get a real good nights sleep.  As far as hotels go, youth hostels, traveler's hotels, and one star hotels are good.  They are made for the traveler, usually safe, and a good place to meet people.  Even better is to sleep in someone’s home, and observe the culture first-hand.  I am a big fan of imposing on people that I have met in the past that offered me a place to stay when I visit.  Sometimes they did not really mean it, but usually it turns out to be wonderful.  I also heartily believe in trying to keep a spot on the floor or room on the couch available whenever anyone visits me in the states, because, as they say, what comes around goes around.

            A good alternative is to pay for a private room in someone’s house.  In the summer, many people will hang around the train station trying to find someone to rent an overnight room in their house.  It seems a bit suspicious at first, but most of them are literally “little old ladies” trying to earn some extra cash.  It is great if you can get a meal included in the price, even if you have to pay a bit more.

           If you are going to get on an overnight train that did not originate from the city where you are boarding, pay the extra money for a reservation.  The beauty of a reserved seat is that you can kick someone else out of your seat if you need to, but you do not have to sit in it if you do not want to.  For example, many trains will only be half full, but the reserved cars are usually packed, because they do not space out the reservations.  If you find a car without many people in it so you can stretch out, just forgo your reserved seat.

Telephone

             Most countries now have good rates on prepaid phone cards.  There are two kinds of cards. The first kind has a smart chip that keeps track of your use. It actually is physically inserted into the phone. These are easy to use and available at most newspaper/tobacco kiosks. The second kind of card is similar to what we have in the USA. You first dial an access number, then a pin number, and then the phone number. These are fine, but the instructions are in the language of the country you are in and not in English, so you kind of have to figure out how to use them by trial and error. If you are going to be making a lot of calls back home (like calling home every day), shop around for a good phone card before you go.  I use the MCI card, which allows me to call my home phone for the same rate as if I was calling from home to that country.  Sign up for an International calling plan before you go, and that can mean ten to fifteen-cent-a-minute rates plus a small connection fee from most of Europe.

e-Tickets or Paper Tickets?

             Many travel professionals will advise you to carry paper tickets rather than e-tickets. They base this on the notion that if your plane flight is canceled you will have an easier time getting a flight on another airline if you have a paper ticket (e-tickets are not negotiable documents while paper tickets are negotiable documents). Although technically this is correct, they are wrong in their advice to carry paper tickets. You are thousands of times more likely to have your tickets lost or stolen than you are to need a paper ticket to catch a flight on another airline. Their advice is equivalent to saying, “Instead of driving in a car, which is very dangerous, always travel by motorcycle.”