Travel Tips for Europe
Tips for Traveling to Europe
Recently I wrote a handout to give to people for whom we arrange trips to Europe. I thought I’d share it with you here!
As you prepare for your trip to Europe, please allow us to share with you some tips that we’ve learned from prior trips. These are all just suggestions. You might not find each of these items or suggestions useful, and there may be something else that you find to be vital. We’d love to hear your feedback.
Health:
Basic medicines – In a foreign country your familiar brand of cold medicine won’t be available. Even if something similar is available, you may not know it because the label may not be in English.
Travel Insurance - Your health insurance may or may not cover you overseas. Even if it does, you will have to pay out of pocket for anything that happens and hope to be reimbursed (at the out of network rate) upon your return.
Safety / Security:
Make color copies of your passport prior to your departure. Put a set in your suitcase and leave another set with a trusted friend at home. (Having these copies will speed the process of replacing your passport in the event you lose yours.)
European touring doesn’t lend itself to carrying a purse. Instead, bring a daypack or travel bag of some kind. When choosing this bag, keep in mind body mechanics and security. You can find bags that are reinforced with metal cables so that they can’t be quickly cut from your body by a thief on the move. I’ve never had anyone even try to cut a purse off my body..but you never know.
Consider a money belt. Wearing your extra credit card, your big money and your passport in a money belt under your clothes. It will be with you at all times and protected from pick pocketers.
Cost Savings:
You may save some dollars if you bring a water bottle with you and refill it along the way.
Beware when you rent a car. Only take additional coverages if you actually intend to. Car rental counter people tend to rush through the rental process and have been known to trick you into buying coverages that you don’t need. Find out what your own car insurance covers before you leave and make yourself familiar with the laws of the country to which you are traveling.
Get your cash from ATMs rather than “Cambio” booths. (Talk to your bank to find out what they charge for international transactions. Also, warn them and your credit card companies that you’re going to be out of town so they don’t fraud alert your card.
Comfort:
We’ve tried to arrange for perfect weather during your trip, but you might want to pack an umbrella or a rain poncho.
Depending on the type of place you’re staying, don’t count on the little travel sized toiletries that you find at the hotels here. Take a small bottle of shampoo, lotion, etc to make sure you’re covered.
Wash cloths are primarily an American phenomenon. You won’t find them even at very nice hotels in Europe.
Remember sunscreen and sunglasses.
In cool weather, dress in layers. Layers are easier to pack, and easier to take off and put on as your comfort requires.
Pack Ziploc bags of varying sizes. You will find them handy for all sorts of things.
Be sure the shoes you take to wear while touring are nice and broken in. New shoes may cause blisters.
Speaking of blisters, pack a supply of band-aids. We especially like the band-aid brand blister bandages. They are magical when you have a fresh blister and are looking at getting up and doing it all over again tomorrow.
Communication:
Call your cell provider before you go. Find out what your particular situation is with regard to voice calls and data. Add an international data plan if you need / want to. Turn off data roaming if you don’t want to use it.
If you don’t want to use your cell phone at all, http://www.lonelyplanet.ekit.com/ekit/home is a good way to keep in touch with home.
Energy:
Your camera and cell phone will continue to need power (probably more than usual!) while you’re on the road. Look at the power supply and see if it will accept European voltage. If you’re unsure, ask the manufacturer. If it will accept European voltage, you’ll only need an adapter to physically make the cord fit into the power outlet. If it does not, you’ll also need a converter to convert European voltage to US voltage.
Be especially careful with hair appliances. More than one client has burned hair from an overheated hair appliance, even one plugged into a converter. I’m not saying that every hotel room will have a hair dryer, but every hotel room in Europe I’ve ever been with has had a hair dryer. If you absolutely must use a straightener, I would recommend investing in one with dual voltage.
Logistics:
Bring a journal. You’d be amazed out how quickly you can forget the details! Writing down the name of the hotels where you stayed, the restaurants you enjoyed or the name of your gondolier, as well as other details, can help you recollect your trip more completely later. It also helps when you’re documenting your pictures later.
A laminated foldable city map is great to have. Most of them have a map of the subway system as well.
Finally, a small compass (even a small cheap one) can be a lifesaver when navigating around a city where you’re not sure which way is north.
Packing for France – In Flight
How do I pack for a European trip?
On this trip, we’ll be nine and a half hours in flight going over and almost eleven hours coming back. That’s a lot of time to try to be comfortable and entertained.
I’m carrying a lot more on board than I would if I were on a 2.5 hour trip to Cancun. Here’s a list:
Scottevest: This is more to carry things IN than an item itself
iPad 2: Movies are downloaded and ready to go. I also bought a headphone splitter so my traveling companion can be entertained too.
Larabars: Healthy snacks in case my hunger schedule doesn’t match the schedule on board. Plus..airplane food….
Stand and External Keyboard for iPad2: To stand the iPad up for easier viewing, or for typing blog posts if inspiration hits.
Paperback book and Photography Magazines: Reading material is very important. I also have books downloaded to the iPad, but you still need paper for before and after you’re allowed electronics.
Fold Up Blanket
Travel Pillow: (I have high hopes for this new pillow I bought.)
In Flight Kit: I put together this kit a few trips ago and it has served me well.
- Chap Stick
- Shout Wipes
- Pair of Fuzzy Socks
- Purell
- Floss
- Toothpaste
- Toothbrush
- Mini Mag Light (so you can find stuff when the cabin lights are down)
- Kleenex
- Cloth Hanky
- Hand Lotion
- Cough Drops
- Stickers
- Sleeping Mask
- Bleach Wipes
Of course, I’m hoping to sleep quite a bit too. Between sleep, what I’ve brought, and the two meals that will be served on board, I should be to Paris in no time. Right?
Do you have any more tips for me? Tell me in the comments.
Packing for France – Clothing
How do I pack for a European trip?
This is the part of packing that I really don’t like. I’m not that into clothes even at home, so deciding what to take a trip is something that I can find myself procrastinating until the last minute. Nevertheless, I felt it was important to force myself to think through everything and get it ready.
On this trip, I’ll need a set of clothes for each day. Daytime activities on this trip will be mostly walking around exploring and taking pictures. I’ll keep it pretty simple. I bought some new turtlenecks and fleece tops from Lands End in bright colors. I’ll wear them each day with a pair of jeans. Pretty simple.
It gets more complicated in the evening. Since we’re on a river cruise we’ll have to go to dinner each night and there are only 136 other people on the boat, so it’s harder to fade into the background. I don’t want to embarrass myself. On an independent trip, if you wear the same thing to dinner several times, no one but your traveling companion would notice. Depending on who your traveling companion is they might not notice either.
I’m a big fan of Chico’s Traveler Collection. I have a good assortment of the basic pieces, then a different way every night to make it seem different. Either a blouse, or a scarf or a jacket can make a big difference. Jewelry plays a big role too.
So, what I did was sit down and create seven different outfits (one for each night of the cruise). I took a picture with my iPhone of each outfit. By going ahead and assembling each outfit I was able to make sure I had everything I needed.
As far as the actual physical packing of the clothes, there are many places where you can read about techniques for putting clothes in suitcases. What I did with my evening clothes was make a big stack of them and roll them all together. Nothing I brought wrinkles badly, so I feel confident that this will do the job until I unpack in the cruise cabin.
For my daytime exploring clothes, I used an Eagle Creek Pack-it Folder. Incidentally, I always use Eagle Creek Pack-it Cubes for underwear and socks. Rather than having individual pairs drifting around my suitcase, There are all together and organized.
What is your favorite tip for organizing your clothing for a trip? Tell me in the comments.
Packing for France – Toiletries
How do I pack for a European trip?
To do a good job at packing your toiletries and not end up on your trip longing for a forgotten item requires forethought and planning. Here are a few tips that will help.
1) Pick the right toiletry kit. Since this series of posts is about packing for a trip to France, one consideration is lack of counter space. European hotel rooms rarely have any at all, and our cabin on our river cruise will certainly not have much, if any. So, it is important to have a toiletry kit with a hook so that it will hang on the wall. You can hang it from a doorknob, the top of the mirror, a light fixture or maybe even a hook. Another great asset in a toiletry kit is lot of pockets or dividers so that you can keep everything in the right place rather than rummaging around a big open bag. The toiletry kit I picked for this trip is the REI Ultimate Shower Kit. I recently retired my Eagle Creek Travel Gear Pack-It Wallaby. I would have just replaced it with another Wallaby since it served me so well for so long, but I just wanted to try something new.
2) Small Containers. I hope it is already obvious that it isn’t good packing technique to carry around full size containers of most things. For this trip, I’m using GoToob Silicone Travel Bottles. They are great and squishy and even have suction cups so you can easily affix them to the wall in the bathroom or the shower.
Or, if you want to purchase small sizes of your favorite items and you can’t find them in that section at Target, take a look at http://www.3floz.com/ or http://www.minimus.biz/
3) Planning. I tend to do better if I pack well ahead of actually leaving for the trip. This gives me longer to remember things I’ve forgotten. It also gives me time to really evaluate each choice to see if I really need to bring it or not.
When it actually comes time to fill the toiletry kit I sit and actually imagine the process of showering and getting ready in the morning. As I come to each step in the process I pack the appropriate item. If it is an item that I will still need to use in the days leading up to departure, I put it on a “last minute packing items” list.
I also keep a “need to buy” list so that I can jot down things I still need to pick up (usually at Target).
Unless you’re packing a separate medication / first aid kit, you might also consider including those items in your toiletry kit. Think through some of the ailments that you commonly get either at home or while traveling and bring items to treat them.
Here is a list of the items currently in my toiletry kit:
Eyeglass Cleaner
Chapstick
Hair Clip
Body Lotion
Shampoo
Body Cleanser
Baby Powder
Deodorant
Razor
QTips
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Dental Floss
Hairspray
Enough makeup to make me minimally presentable
Bandaids
Blister Band Aids
One dose of cold medicine (enough until I can find somewhere to buy it if I need it.)
Immodium AD
Small Bottle of Advil
Small Bottle of Benedryl
Alka Seltzer
What toiletry item can you not do without? Tell us in the comments.
Packing for France
How do I pack for a European trip?
Ten days from today I am going on the Avalon Scenery for a river cruise through Burgundy and Provence.
I do travel alot. Usually, though, it is to a beach destination. I can pack for a trip like that in my sleep. Packing for a trip like this will require a bit more thought and planning.
So, I thought I would write a few articles about the process of planning and packing for this trip. Maybe you can learn from my experience.
There are a few primary considerations when starting to think about what clothing to pack. Temperature and activities planned are two important ones.
I checked weather.com and it looks like right now in Paris the highs are in the mid 50′s and night time lows are in the mid 40′s. Now, to this Texan, mid 40′s are pretty chilly. For that matter, mid 50′s are sweatshirt and fleece weather.
The dear friend accompanying me shares my enthusiasm for photography. (Although she is actually talented, as opposed to my hit and miss methods.) I’m assuming much of our daytimes will be spent wandering around taking photographs. That means that I’ll need comfortable warm clothes for daytime. I’ll need seven dress up outfits for eating dinner on the boat. That will be the real challenge.
Another challenge to consider is that if I forget something, it won’t be very easy to replace it. When I recently traveled to Oregon for my nieces wedding I was able to just take my rental car over to the local Target store. Along the river in Southern France there may not be a Target store nearby.
So, how will I solve these challenges? First of all, I will start packing today. In fact, there is already an open suitcase in my bedroom where I place things I think about as I think about them. I find that the more in advance I pack, the less I pack. If I pack at the last minute, I feel less sure of my choices, so I tend to bring everything possible.
So, it’s time to start making lists. Do you have any tips for me? Add them in the comments.
