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8 ESSENTIAL THINGS TO PACK WHEN TRAVELING TO EUROPE

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“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” – John Steinbeck

 

 

 

 

WOW, first off thanks for sticking with our blog, we’re already 2 weeks into 2018 and we’re only on our first post of the year.

 

It was a long European trip, and story for that matter, the brunt of which was after we got back from our European trip on New Year’s day, we found ourselves sick with flu like symptoms, which kept us, or myself particularly, bedridden for the first week of the year, the second week when I thought I was bucking the cold, I nevertheless found myself spotted in red, having been the recipient of an allergic reaction from the over the counter medication I consumed the week before, that eventually earned me a trip to my Doctor wherein she wasted no time in prescribing oral steroids.

 

So after two weeks of having been home, we are finally well, rested and recovered from the travel bug and the cold bug for that matter. For that, I am truly grateful.

 

So, on to my first post of the year, and surprise.. It’s related to travel, who would’ve known 🙂

 

For you who’ve only recently read my journey, I’ve been doing this debt-free journey for almost a year now, but had to put on the brakes last month, to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary with an unforgettable trip to Paris, London, Venice and Rome, of which you will be hearing about in the subsequent weeks.

 

We’re chockful of tips now that we’ve finally been to the famed European sites, and will definitely share the most frugal ways to make the most of your travel whether your first or your umpteenth time.  Since we concede there are always things to be learned and experience gained that will make it a better travel experience the next time around.

 

Without further ado, in keeping with our travel theme for the beginning of the year, we’ve put together these essential things that you need to bring or consider bringing when you travel to the European continent.

 

 

First off;

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AC ADAPTERS

 

We constantly travel Asia for the better part of our lives and are familiar with how AC  or power outlets are different in other Asian countries as compared to the US, so naturally, we assumed and also researched that the plugs would also be different in Europe, so here’s what we brought.

 

Having this AC adapter is a must and when you can find something with USB ports, is even convenient since you can right away use them to charge your cell phones or any small electronic that you may have. Also bear in mind that in Europe, as in other parts of the world, the AC voltage is different, they have 220volts as compared to 110volts in the US; this means that if you’re bringing small gadgets, make sure they are 110/220 volt compatible. Moira brought her favorite hair straightener and guess what, it was 110V and she never got to use it there, so plan accordingly.

 

One thing you don’t have to worry about are cell phones, laptops and camera chargers since they are auto volt and will readily work without any issues.

 

 

 

EXTRA COMFY SHOES

 

Moira and I did some YouTube research before planning our trip and we won’t name names but the more famous travel gurus on YouTube suggested that wearing sneakers was an ‘American’ thing and that Europeans can always tell which ones are the Americans out of a crowd by the sneakers they wear. Totally bad advice period.

 

We wore our casual comfy shoes instead of our walking ‘athletic’ shoes in heeding this seemingly reasonable advice but lo and behold, we get to Paris, our first stop, and in the dead of winter, almost everyone’s wearing athletic shoes, including the Europeans who would’ve mocked an American wearing tennis shoes, well they were wearing them too, in all brands shapes and sizes; so bottom-line, don’t believe the hype of wearing fashionable shoes over comfortable ones, when in doubt, wear the most comfortable shoes that will get you by at the end of the day, since in Europe, people walk more than they ride, so naturally, you have to wear what will give your feet the most support and comfort; and don’t forget to bring orthotics if you have to, I did, and my feet have thanked me a lot on our trip J

 

 

 

(CONVERSION FREE) CREDIT/DEBIT CARD

 

I know this is a personal finance blog and I’m supposed to encourage you to not use plastic as much as possible  but from our experience, especially in Europe where the Euro and British Pound are worth more than the dollar, it makes sense to use plastic, provided you make sure your credit card does not have conversion fees.

 

You can also use cash and that’s actually preferred but you have to make sure you convert your money, by visiting your bank or your Auto Club beforehand, to buy your notes in advance; you will get much more favorable rates to the tune of almost 20 % more.

 

The conversion rate stateside will be like 1 Euro is equal to $.85 cents, whereas if you buy there, which is what we did, you will only get like $.67 cents per Euro, and its worse in London where the greenback only yielded us like $.60 cents whereas it’s close to $.72 if you had bought it in advance stateside.

 

So do your research, if you can buy your notes in advance and pay cash, that should work out, but for convenience sake, if your card has a no conversion fee feature, I’d suggest to use that instead and reserve your cash for small purchases like snacks, souvenirs, and similar items.

 

 

OVER THE COUNTER MEDS

 

This one should be a no-brainer but we forgot to bring some and we paid the price when Moira got sick in Venice. We had to look for a pharmacy, and we were fortunate enough to, but when it came to picking which over the counter meds to buy, we were totally unprepared for the amount of Google translating we did in reading through labels, since big surprise, everything was labeled in Italian J good thing the pharmacist was onsite that day and spoke a little English, he recommended a Vicks medicine, similar to a Theraflu here, but it was expensive and downright nasty according to Moira 🙁

 

So bottom line, don’t be afraid to bring your favorite OTC meds since you don’t want to go through the hassle of reading foreign labeled meds and end up translating it.

 

 

 

SMALL LUGGAGE

 

 

I mentioned it earlier and it’s worth mentioning again, you’ll do a lot of walking in Europe so pack as light as possible, if you can bring small luggage that would help you tremendously.

 

Cars are small in Europe, I guess they’re the number one buyers of smart cars, you know, the two-seater cars that you think you can move with one arm in the parking lot, those are most of the cars you’ll see there, and if you Uber, you’d most probably get one of those, and if you’re lugging a big suitcase, it’s going to be hard.

 

Another justification for bringing small luggage is you’ll travel a lot by train, and if you’re taking coach or regular class, the overhead luggage rack isn’t as big as the airplanes and you’ll most probably have a hard time squeezing in your carry on if it’s the regular size.

 

 

SOLAR PHONE CHARGER

 

So you’ll do a lot of Google translating, taking pictures, Google Maps search and everything else on your cell phone and guess what, you’ll run out of juice by midday, one thing that saved us during our time there was our solar charger.

 

 

You can pick one up at Amazon for a decent price, we have a Teryei brand and it worked out pretty well. At night we charge it along with our phones so it has power by the time we need it, and during travel, it charges itself via the solar panel and it continuously keeps our phones powered up.

 

Believe me, you’ll be using your phone a lot and you will need this.

 

 

 

 

 

CELLPHONE ROAMING SERVICE

 

Before leaving LA, I had researched an alternative to our expensive ATT mobile service and decided to switch to Sprint, it not only saved us $100 a month, but it also came with international roaming (3g slower service) in Europe; meaning our phones worked while we traveled in France, UK and Italy and it was decent; what I did not have was high speed service, and you will need it when using Maps, Uber or the audio google translate service, which is very cool.  You can talk into the app and it speaks the translation back, it also works when you’re holding it to someone while they speak in order to translate; bottom line, we needed one phone with high-speed LTE service to have these apps working.

 

Sprint has an add-on international roaming service for $25 per 7 days, which was plenty enough for us, and if you need a day here and there to have the high-speed service, Sprint only charges $5 per day for that, so it was convenient and cost-effective.

 

Whatever carrier you’re with, make sure they have similar service that you can use or sign up for prior to or while there, this will make your travel even more enjoyable and efficient.

 

 

PATIENCE

 

One thing that’s good about traveling is you learn how other people live. You discover other cultures that you can learn from.

 

One of the things we learned in our travels in Europe is that unlike here where our culture is fast paced and geared toward productivity, Europeans are more laid back, relaxed, and not in a hurry. It’s evident in their dining or social gatherings, they take their time; enjoy their food or drink, as well as their company. Same goes with everything else, whether in the airport, shops, you name it, they are not in a hurry, so if you see a long line that seemingly takes forever to unravel, it eventually will, it just takes time 🙂 so don’t fret, enjoy the moment, and always remember that “when in Rome, do as the Romans (or now Italians) do”.

 

I guess the overarching theme that Europeans tend to espouse is, “don’t worry, be happy” same as the song 🙂

 

That’s all we can think of for now so hope they help.

 

IN CONCLUSION

 

Whether it’s your first time traveling to Europe or if you’re a seasoned veteran, I hope these little tips resonate or make sense, again, it’s not about how prepared you are, but how you handle the journey. As in life, you’ll encounter all sorts of things on your trip, the key is to not get bent out of shape, understand you’re on vacation and just passing through, and ‘it too shall pass’.

 

All the better to be prepared but again, when things don’t go the way you plan them, ‘Don’t worry, Be Happy’  🙂 especially when you’re in Europe.

 

Do you have other tips that can help fellow travelers headed to Europe, please do share or comment below.

 

Thank you All and until the next post…..

 

It’s not the destination but the journey that counts …. so enjoy it.

 

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