Want to plan a trip to Europe, but don’t know where to start?

[March 4, 2019]

I am currently in the process of planning my 4th big trip to Europe, this time exclusively to Spain ❤ — with a focus on Andalucía (the Southern coast) and the Spanish Basque Country (an autonomous community in the north)!

Planning has been such a breeze this time around that I have been impressed (& surprised) at how significantly better I have gotten at this whole process! I have gained a ton of knowledge, skills, and instincts from our previous travels, which have made me much more efficient and confident in planning! I am by no means a travel expert, but I do feel that what I have learned so far could be helpful to beginner travelers, particularly my friends and family who have lots of questions about where to start (and how to afford it).

So, in this and the following posts, I’m going to try to break down the beginning steps I go through each time I start to plan a trip, including how to decide where to go, when to go, and how to get there without breaking the bank!

Deciding where to go…

It has always started with a clear “someplace” for me and developed into more from there.

2016

My husband (Gabe) and I ventured to Europe for the first time in 2016. This first trip was planned around Spain —more specifically, visiting Gabe’s family in “the motherland.” We flew over with Gabe’s dad (who generously offered to sponsor our flights), and spent our first 5 nights with family in Madrid and Tenerife, before continuing to other destinations by ourselves. There was very little sleep to be had, but our hearts and bellies were filled to the brim and overflowing! It was a fantastic introduction to Europe!

The trip was planned with Gabe’s Spanish heritage as the starting point and expanded from there. Because, if I was traveling ALL THE WAY to Europe (maybe for the only time ever!), I could not bear to leave without seeing — and eating pizza in — Italy.

Venice, in particular, had been at the top of my bucket list since I was like 13. I think it was the no-cars, floating city, connected by hundreds of canals thing that got me. Plus, The Italian Job (the 2003 movie) made it look SO COOL. Come to think of it, that movie may have planted the original seed in my head…

Anyway, I HAD to make my way to Venice, somehow! So, I began looking into cruises, pricing out flights & trains, and researching all sorts of options to make it happen!

In the end, our trip to Spain became a 19 day European Tour — including 7 airplanes, 4 trains, several taxis, and one gondola ❤— and took us from Madrid, to Tenerife, to Barcelona, to Paris, to Venice, to Florence, to Rome!

It was the trip of a lifetime!

Both magical beyond belief and utterly exhausting, this trip hooked us on the experience of travel! We came home hungry for more, and officially bitten by the proverbial “travel-bug.”

2017

Our second trip was planned around seeing the city of London with my immediate family (there were 5 of us).

We spent 6 nights in London, with day-trips out to Oxford, England (bc Harry Potter), and Brussels, Belgium (bc chocolate & waffles); AND visited 8 additional destinations all around the British Isles by cruise ship (bc we’re overachievers?)!

A portion of our family heritage is represented in England, Scotland, and Ireland, so this trip was also an interesting exploration into our roots.

We may have had a small disaster getting stuck between floors in an elevator, and having to be rescued (extracted) in the middle of the night by the London Fire Brigade, but that’s another story for another day. The rest of the trip was a success!

2018

If those two trips sound ambitious and complicated to pull off, it was actually our third trip that was the most challenging to coordinate. We planned the trip around the loose “themes” of German history & New Nordic cuisine (and coffee), which led us to visit: Copenhagen, Denmark; Munich & Berlin, Germany; Hallstatt & Salzburg, Austria; Prague, Czech Republic; and Stockholm, Sweden. We switched between 4 different currencies & languages throughout, and enjoyed a wide array of cultures and landscapes!

With reservations for 4 flights, 5 Airbnbs, 2 long bus trips, and 1 rental car, it had a lot of moving parts. But, it turned out efficient, budget-friendly (our cheapest yet), and seamlessly executed (though not without some stress and a run-in with food poisoning). We did and saw SO much, it was amazing!

Side note: there were 3 of us sharing only ONE checked bag (#frugal), so this trip also included quite a few loads of laundry at our half-way point. Please take a moment to reflect on how impressive this is…

This trip came together differently than I had originally envisioned, due to LOTS of research. As I researched, I discovered places I thought I would like to spend significant time (i.e. Prague, Czech Republic), places I was cool just passing through (i.e. Salzburg, Austria), and places I was okay skipping altogether (i.e. Vienna, Austria or Zurich, Switzerland). It’s very much a judgment call based on knowing yourself, your travel-buddies, and your budget — as well as your geographical limitations, for a particular trip (i.e. just because we skipped Switzerland last time, doesn’t mean we’ll never visit).

Starting to research…

Once I have a vision for the geographical area or a theme I want to focus on for a trip, I start by simply looking closer at the map. What cities or regions are close to each other?

I try to learn a little about each of them: language, currency (& conversion rate to USD), culture, traditions, landscape, weather, festivals, food, architecture, historical sights, museums, famous people who lived there, how locals get around, etc.

I do this by skimming guide books via the library (I find Rick Steves’ books to have super helpful summaries and to be the easiest to skim) and reading travel blogs. But, my favorite thing to do is watch videos about places I might want to go — whether Rick Steves or more contemporary travel vloggers.

Some of my favorite Youtube vloggers include The Bucket List Family, The Vagabrothers, Daneger and Stacey, and Flying the Nest. The nice thing about watching a video about a place is that it helps you get a lay of the land and visualize what it would be like to walk those streets.

Whether you prefer reading or watching videos, this research will give you the information you’ll need to compare and contrast lots of places and gauge how many days you might want to spend in each destination (based on the activities available, the size of that destination, your preferred pace, etc.).

It will also help you to get a feel for how to balance your trip between large, stressful cities (i.e. Berlin, Germany) and more low key spots where you can catch your breath (i.e. Hallstatt, Austria); or balance more expensive cities (i.e. Copenhagen) with less expensive cities (i.e. Prague).

Overall, the research stage is a lot of brainstorming, and note-taking, and feeling things out. And I, personally, love it!

Over to you: What “someplace” is drawing you in? 🌍

Look at a map, watch a travel-vlog, get out a notebook, and start envisioning the possibilities!

Then, check out my next post, “Tips for booking cheap tickets to (and within) Europe,” when you’re ready to nail down the dates for your next trip! ✈️