Planning A Trip To Europe
So, I’m going to start getting into blogging again especially since I’m going to start planning a trip to Europe next year.
Personally I’ve never been out of the United States…ever. Not even to Mexico or Canada, so I’m really excited to start planning this trip. I know it’s WAY in advance considering I won’t be traveling until next year, but I think the more prepared I am for it, the less shock it will be a month before the trip. For now it’s pretty much getting mentally prepared of being on my own for a couple of weeks thousands of miles from home. My first concern for now is money which is probably the first thing anyone thinks about when taking a long trip anywhere. I’m not too worried about it as I plan to start saving now putting away $200 from each of my paychecks and I should have my goal of $4000 put away within 10 months. While I don’t plan on spending $4000 by any means I do want to have a surplus just in case. It’s always better to have more money than not enough. My plan with that is to have ~$2500-$3000 in my checking account as I will be primarily using a debit card not a credit card and leave the rest in my savings and let someone back stateside be able to transfer the money if need be. Not sure how much safer that is but it sounded good in my head.
My buddy Alex has written up a fantastic site that pretty much goes very in depth of what to expect, what to pack, and what to do in certain situations while traveling. The site is Ultimatepackinglist.com. I give major kudos to Alex on this one since I’m going to be basing most of my research from this site and the external resources it provides.
So why do I want to take this trip? Simple answer: because I never have. But that’s just the simple answer. As long as I can remember from social studies classes, history classes, and from the three years I took in French is that people are different. Learning about other people and cultures has always fascinated to me in some way shape or form. After all America only occupies ~5% of the world meaning there is so much to learn out there. You can only learn so much from textbooks and teachers. I honestly believe there is so much out in the world to discover and this trip I’m planning next year is just the beginning.
As far as where I want to go? I haven’t really decided on that yet. There are 4 main countries I would really like to visit in my lifetime. The United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland, and Greece. Obviously those are just the ones I REALLY want to visit and of course I want to visit more but they are on the top of my list before I die. As far as this trip is concerned I would like to visit one of the four and possibly another (on the list or not, it doesn’t really matter just as long as I have a great time). So I would love to hear anybody’s experiences from anywhere in Europe to help make my own decision. Just as a guideline maybe I’ll pick something completly different. That’s the nice thing about starting to plan now…I have plenty of time to make the decision which I gotta say will probably not be easy.
Well thanks and I hope to hear from you all soon!
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Austria!!!!
How did I spell Europe “Eurpose”?
I would say go to the UK fırst. It ıs easy to get around there sınce they speak englısh and I personally really lıke London. Parıs ıs cool. Amsterdam was pretty easy to get around ın and Berlın too. You wıll have a good tıme wherever you go.
Yeah I’ve heard from a couple of people that the UK is a good place to start and it’s on the top of my list so I may go there. It probably depends on my fundage though because I’ve also heard its a bit more expensive due to the USD -> Pound Conversion compared to the USD -> Euro Conversion.
First off – thanks for the mention and high praise bud. Really appreciate it!
It’s going to be an amazing experience for you. There’s a certain calm and inner self confidence in one’s self that you really only get from traveling alone. It’s amazing and the general concept behind the old Australian “walk about” you really do have the chance to “find” yourself and become comfortable in your core confidence in your ability to face interesting situations, keep your head and resolve them.
Pull up google earth, turn on the images/photo overlay and explore a few places in different countries you think you might want to see.
Also, keep in mind time of year!
Hey Alex, anytime I’ve just started and you’ve been more than helpful to this point!
I’m probably going to be looking into fall of 2010 but not 100% positive yet. I was also thinking of taking little trips around the US to get the 1 bag packing thing down.
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Will keep you updated as I check places out and as my plans change!
great stuff here
Austria!!!!