Travel Tips

Someone pointed out a budget travel article to me sometime last year, but I didn’t care much for it, so I’m not going to link it here. But it got me to thinking about my last backpacking trip to Europe. This post is an old draft from October 2007. I’m just now getting around to finishing it up for you.

Now, first of all, somehow I scammed a friend into paying for my plane ticket from San Francisco to Paris about 10 years ago. It was a situation where her folks weren’t going to let her go without a companion so the money had to come from somewhere and by golly, this is how it was going to get done. It was her decision to do this, never my suggestion. She made the offer and I merely accepted.

I saved nearly all year for it since my friend called me sometime her final year of college and said she wanted to backpack in Europe for a month. Fine with me. I was living with roommates/family that were willing to let me pay a month’s rent late. I diligently paid down my credit cards, paid my student loans on time, and banked about $800 cash before I left.

To plan the trip we did several things.

1. We joined Hostelling International. That got us discounts across Europe at youth hostels. We used their pre-booking service to reserve rooms. This was absolutely essential in places like Paris, which are extremely popular during the summer months.

2. My friend had an ISIC card. It’s an international student ID card and helped her get cheaper admission to many museums. I was no longer a student, but I would let her pay for us and often the ticket taker would assume I had one too. When they didn’t, that was fine, I paid full price.

3. We did Eurail passes. To get the Youth price, you must be under 26. I think I was 24 at the time. I’m too old now so I might as well get the Adult 2nd class ticket these days. But yes, you can save quite a lot. We went from Paris to Madrid, to Barcelona, to Geneva, to Brussels, to Paris, to Munich to Geneva, back to Paris. Eurostar/Chunnel tickets were separate and I went to Brussels alone since I couldn’t afford the Chunnel. My friend left me alone to pick up another friend in London who couldn’t afford a full two weeks with us.

4. We ate really cheaply. We got breakfast at our hostel every morning without fail. We then bought fruit, snacks, bread, cheese and meat for lunch everyday. We only dined at restaurants at night. Since we weren’t big drinkers, we got vin du pays and shared it at the youth hostel, which is mighty entertaining. Take a pocketknife, bandanna, and canteen/water bottle. You will find them essential on your travels when it comes to dining.

5. We traveled light. I used a backpack that carried about 4,000 cu inches. It wasn’t very much, but that meant I kept my possessions to a minimum and my souvenir buying down. The only things I have from that trip are pictures and a pair of hiking boots because my regular sneakers just weren’t cutting the mustard. I spent a lot on them, and while they were worth it. I should have tried to buy better boots at home on sale. But I had no idea that running shoes were actually terrible for this sort of trip. Chalk this up to serious inexperience about hiking and traveling. Sneakers were ok in the past, but definitely not for this kind of trip.

6. Do your research to maximize your adventure! I got the Rick Steve’s Guide to Museums. I read it and was very specific about which museums I wanted to visit and gave them a priority. I studied art history and my friend has less of an interest in it, so she let me dictate a little of what to see. We had a really good time because Rick’s books are very informative, right down to a walking path through the museum that will take you efficiently past the major highlights. I kid you not. He will be specific about which staircase to take.

On a different trip to Italy, I used The Blue Guide to Rome. That was an extremely wonderful book. Don’t get too hung up on Let’s Go and Lonely Planet. If you are interested in a special location or topic, get the book and do the research since it will enhance your visit. Say if you are going on a wine trip in France, get a book that will teach you about the terroirs so you can figure out if you want to go to Burgundy or Bordeaux.

Rick Steves wrote a really great overview about guidebooks. Having used many of the guidebooks he’s listed. He is spot on with his descriptions of the books. Use this to help you decide between guidebooks. And I completely agree, get the latest copy you can. Absolutely borrow an old one from a friend, but when you are ready to go, get the latest copy for yourself, within 12 months of publication. Guidebooks are periodicals, and just like a magazine their information has time-value.

7. We didn’t have a crazy nightlife. Sure I went out on La Rambla in Barcelona and ended up dancing close to all night. I hit a bar or two with some Catalans I met in a Belgian youth hostel when I was by myself. But I didn’t pack a fancy outfit to wear clubbing and skipped all that entirely on this trip. Hanging out with the kids in the youth hostel was much more fun and conducive for conversation than a noisy club.

8. Work the network. Now that I’m older and have some extremely well-traveled friends, I can leverage those connections into couch surfing for a night or two in far flung locations. I haven’t taken advantage of it, but I have put people in touch with each other and had good reports about the outcome. Be prepared though to take a gift or some sort of thank you for the host.

I stayed with my pen pal’s parents when I stayed in Switzerland. I hadn’t written my pen pal a letter in 5 years. But out of curiosity, I called his parents’ house from Geneva out of the phone book and took a trip out to see them finally. It was really nice. I hope he gets to visit me in DC one day. I ended up sending a present later for his mother when I found out she likes to collect a special type of figurine.

9. Think about working on your trip. I haven’t done this, but I know someone who worked on his grandmother’s potato farm in Finland for part of the summer, prolonging his stay in Europe by a few weeks. I also had a friend who picked cantaloupes in Israel because he wanted to save money and travel longer on a trip around the world. Basically he was a migrant farmer, you know, the kind we try to keep out of the US. You do what you can if you want to keep traveling and since he was with a friend, he said it wasn’t too bad. Obviously, this route isn’t for everyone. But there are more formal work experiences you can arrange as well.

Ok, that’s about it. I hope it gives you some ideas for your next trip.