Planning a Trip to Europe: Where Do You Begin?
If you’re like many retirees who are now considering international travel and want to plan your own travels, your foremost question is, ‘where do I begin?’ In our twenty-plus years of international travel what we found most frustrating about the planning process was that no one book or website contained all the answers to our queries. As we planned and traveled, we cobbled together information, finding a little bit here and little bit there. We found guide books by Rick Steve’s and Frommers to be very helpful in learning about destinations, but what we still needed was a guide to help us with each step of the planning process.
To plan and manage our own travels, we began compiling our notes along the way. We documented what worked and what didn’t. After years of traveling, we’re confident in our planning process and actually enjoy putting in the time and work, knowing that it will result in an enjoyable trip.
We’re sharing our notes and insights to help you, our fellow retiree Euro-traveler (or wannabe). We know that these tips and strategies will help you enjoy your planning, anticipate potential challenges, and travel with confidence.
You may first want to consider whether you enjoy planning and doing the Internet searches to create your European travels. As former academics, we’re both very familiar and comfortable with planning a project and conducting the necessary research to make it happen. We’re not suggesting that you need to be a skilled and professional researcher, but it helps to have a well thought-out plan (i.e. travel itinerary).
As international travelers ourselves, we understand the anxiety that goes along with planning and preparing for the journey. Of course, you can always contact a travel agency, and they will do the work for you. Relying on those types of companies is perfectly fine, and, as we began our travels some 20-plus years ago, we relied on others to plan our trips. Our first long, European adventure was a 21-day Mediterranean cruise, where all we had to do was pay the price and show up for the ride. However, as we became more seasoned travelers, we came to understand the exact aspects of travel that we enjoyed and aspects that we did not enjoy. With this knowledge, we began carving out travel itineraries on our own that suited us specifically, cutting out all of the unnecessary bits and pieces of travel that were not of interest to us.
Throughout the years, we’ve had friends say to us, ‘wow, that trip sounds amazing, who helped you plan it, or who is your travel agent?’ They always seem surprised when we say we planned it ourselves… followed almost always with, ‘I don’t think I could do that.’
Well, you CAN do it, it just takes some time and patience. As mentioned above, planning and researching the trip is crucial. Though we have some of this travel knowledge ingrained in our psyches by now, we still rely heavily on computer research and published guide books. Travel options and modes are constantly changing, so that means we have to stay current with the most accurate, timely, and appropriate travel information.
Much of the information we gather is trip specific, determined by the destination and length of our current travel. But some of the information applies to any trip to Europe. That common set of details is the backbone of this comprehensive planning guide. For example,
- What types of travel documents do I need (passports and visas)?
- Is it necessary to buy travel insurance and what kind is most relevant?
- How do I set up a travel itinerary?
- What are my best options for transportation while traveling to and within Europe?
- How do I book the best lodging for me?
- Maybe most importantly…how do I determine a travel budget?
These are among some of the important questions that we help you answer for your next European trip.
We put together a comprehensive planning guide to help you. We were not able to find this information all in one convenient place so we wrote a book. You can find the book on Amazon here.
