Guide to Europe Travel

If you want to travel as much as you want to breathe then this blog is for you. If you wake one morning and decide to travel to Europe next day then this blog is not for you :) If don't have much money just like me and still dream of travelling to Europe then this blog is for you :)

If you really wish to travel to Europe and save lot of money then you have to plan well ahead of time, unless you are very lucky. This is because Europe is not cheap. In 2017, we traveled to 6 countries in 2 trips. Alongwith my Itinerary I am sharing my 2 cents on saving some hard earned money while not compromising on fun and leisure. Of course, you really want to feel free, relaxed and want to have as much fun as you can.

If you are impatient and curious, I'll summarize my 2 trips immediately below and rest of the story with details of the trips will follow later.

Trip 1: 20 days (France, Switzerland, Italy)

Someone said, We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us. 19 days, 3 countries, Culmination of yet another bizarre travel itinerary. We only wish we had more time to experience the richness and beauty of Europe. Nevertheless, a great team work with my best travel buddy helped plan and execute this packed yet exciting excursion. Kudos !!
Day 7 - Lauterbrunnen, Jungfraujoch (aka Top of Europe).
Day 8 - Interlaken, Bern, Lausanne 
Day 9 - Go around Lausanne, Geneva. Reached Randa at 11:30 PM
Day 10 - Zermatt, Matterhorn, Grimsel Pass (closed), Fukra Pass. Drop off rental car at Zurich
Day 11 - Train from Zurich to Milan. Go around Milan.
Day 12 - Train from Milan to Tirano. Bernina Express ( Tirano to Chur via Davos). Bus from Chur to Milan.
Day 13 - Early morning Train from Milan to Venice. Go around Venice
Day 14 - Go around Venice. Late evening train to Pisa
Day 15 - Pisa
Day 16 - Early morning Train to Rome. Go around Rome.
Day 17 - Vatican City
Day 18 - Colosseum, Roman forum, Palatine Hill, rest of Rome
Day 19 - Flight from Rome to Boston
It's true, Adventure is worthwhile.

For all the places we visited, you can find in the Albums in the aforementioned hyperlinks.

Trip 2: 15 days (Iceland, Sweden, Norway)

Since we already had 6 month Schengen visa we decided to cover these countries before the VISA expired. We booked multi-city flight through WOW Air. Boston -> Keflavik -> Stockholm  and return flight from  Stockholm -> Boston. via Keflavik. We booked the flight immediately after coming back from Trip 1 for travel within a month which is unusual. Here we had to do trade off with flight tickets.

 Day 1 - Boston to Keflavik
Day 2 - Golden Circle
Day 3 - Reykjavik to Akureyri
Day 4 - Akureyri to Reyðarfjörður
Day 5 - Reyðarfjörður to Selfoss
Day 6 - Selfoss
Day 7 - Reykjavik to Stockholm. Rent the car from Stockholm Airport and Go around Stockholm
Day 8 - Drive from Stockholm to Oslo. Go around Oslo. Thanks to Vipin and Ankita.
            The entire Norway Itinerary is here
Day 9 - 11 - Oslo to Stavanger. Stay in Stavanger for 2 nights and visit Kjeragbolten
Day 12 - Bergen to Alesund
Day 13 - Alesund to Trondheim
Day 14 - Trondheim to Stockholm
Day 15 - Return flight from Stockholm to Boston via Keyflavik.
Norway

For all the places we visited, you can find in the Albums in the aforementioned hyperlinks.

VISA

For Indian Citizens you need Schengen VISA. You need to go to the embassy of the country where you will arrive first in the Schengan Zone (Point of Entry). In our case, our first point of entry was Paris, so we went to France Consulate in Boston to stamp our Schengen VISA. The Visa process is very simple and Straight forward. All the applicants need to appear in person to submit your application. They will ask few questions, thats all. It should not take more than a week for your passports to be ready to be picked up.

You should have your flight tickets, hotel bookings ready before your submit the application. They need a copy of all your reservations.

Planning

I couldn't insist more on Planning. It is THE MOST IMPORTANT aspect of all our journeys. We would spend our weekends or nights on just planning out our itinerary including, what route to take, which places to visit, hotels, etc. Below are some strategies we followed:

  1. Flight to Europe are expensive. So we wanted to go for a longer duration. 15 - 20 days. It would be best if you can plan for a month and get the most out of it. Planning for a week wouldn't make sense economically.
  2. Ration your leaves. I have been saving my leaves for the last 2 years so that I can take a month off for Europe. I didn't travel to India for 4 years. Instead I saved all my leaves for Europe. So plan accordingly.
  3. Since we have to apply for Schengen VISA, it would be best to apply for the country which is nearest to you location. Then fly into that country and then rest of other places in Europe.
  4. There are number of factors that your life depends on. You want everything to fall in place as planned. Personal life, work, VISA, etc. Summer 2017 was our only window of opportunity that we could've travelled. So lookout for the best opportunity / timing. There are always so many things to do in life..

Flight Tickets

For travel on May 18, 2017, we booked our flight sometime in early January. Boston to Paris and return flight from Rome to Boston. Air France. Flight was extremely comfortable. It was red eye flight.

Hotel Reservations

One strategy to spend less money is to strike best deals in Hotels. Our budget for hotels are really low, around $50 in Europe. This is because we really need just a roof and a bed. We want to book all our hotels with breakfast so that we don't have to spend on lunch.:) With enough heavy breakfast you can get through half a day at least :) We stayed in the below hotels during our trip. If not having a car, then another strategy is to book hotels next to the train stations. You save on cab money.

Paris : 2 nights. Hotel Kyriad Paris Bercy Village, Paris
Zurich : 2 nights ibis budget Zurich City West, Zurich
Engelberg : 1 night - Hotel Cathrin, Engelberg (for Mount Titlis)
Meiringen - 2 nights - Panorama hotel Brünig Kulm
Lausanne - 1 night Hôtel des Inventions, Ecublens
Randa - 1 night - Hotel Klein Matterhorn Randa, Randa
Zurich - 1 night - Stay At Zurich Airport Hotel
Milan - 1 night - 43 Station Hotel, Milan
Venice - 2 nights - Hotel Spagna, Venice. This is very near to train station (3 mins walk without crossing any bridge). Walking with bags over bridges can be extremely painful experience :) And water taxis are outrageously expensive.
Pisa - 1 night - Hotel Touring Pisa, Pisa
Rome - 3 nights - Domus Castrense, Rome

We tend to do more research through all the travel websites and get the best deals. More often Orbitz has got some of the best deals. And we earn lot of Orbucks :)

Train Tickets

We booked Train tickets via Trainline. They have the best prices when compared to raileurope. First we booked Paris to Zurich train ticket via raileurope and then realized it was little expensive. I would prefer Trainline. Then rest of the train tickets we booked from Trainline. All are e-tickets so you need not worry about picking up the tickets in Europe. You can book well in advance to get the best prices. Train tickets tend to become expensive when you are closer to the travel dates.

Rental Car

Switzerland: We booked rental car in Zurich for 8 days to travel around Switzerland. We booked it from Budget for $238. Luckily we got a diesel car., which is good for mileage and you spend less on fuel. Make sure you get a good car if you want to do any of the mountain passes, like Furka Pass.
Iceland: We booked from ACE for 6 days for $396.
Sweden & Norway: We booked from budget again for 7 days at $256

I never take car insurance as I use Chase sapphire Credit Card and it covers for car rental insurance in foreign countries. Just imagine by how much your budget would blow up had you taken insurance. Add $30 per day and do the math !!

Incident: Couple of months later after Trip 1, I received a fine of $150 for speeding in Switzerland...lol. Incidents do happen :) and I do not regret :) as I had more fun than I could ever imagine.:)

Public Transport vs Rental Car

Going around cities like Paris, Zurich, Rome, Milan, Oslo, Stockholm we relied on Public Transport. Every city has a day pass which enable to take unlimited rides the whole day. All these cities has very good public transport and it would be meaningless to take car in these cities. You really don't want to spend half a day in just finding the parking. Parking is also expensive within cities compared to public transport. From Paris to Zurich we took the TGV Lyria high speed rail in which journey time was 4 hours 33 mins. All of Switzerland we had the rental car. There were lot of advantages:
  1. It was very convenient to move around. No time limitation. No waiting for trains or buses.
  2. We could get cheaper hotels little far off. 
  3. After doing some math we realized public transport in Switzerland is expensive compared to rental car.
  4. Switzerland is too scenic. We could go to places where it would be impossible by public transport. For example, Mountain pass like Furka Pass, Valleys, Lakes, etc.
We rented the car in Iceland and Norway as well. The landscapes in these countries are too good to miss. Since places are far off, it didn't really made sense to rely on Public Transport. Iceland doesn't have public transport, So either you can take book with tour cars/buses or drive yourself.

Currency

I used Credit Card (with no foreign transactions charges) all over the place. Sometimes you might need cash, for example, street shopping. I used Charles Schwab debit card. It has no foreign transaction fee for using ATMs in foreign countries. I used the ATMs few times to withdraw Euros from local banks. I also applied for Chase Sapphire Credit Card before travel so that I do not have to pay car rental insurance. I did not carry any euros before leaving for Europe. Don't waste time is exchanging for Euros, I bet you will be disappointed after realizing the exchange rates that you will be offered. Also, debit card is required for filling up fuel at gas stations. They won't accept credit cards.

Mobile Phone/Plan

I think you can do without any phone plan. Save money.:) You can use Hotel WiFi to access the internet while you are in Hotel. Why do you need internet while travelling in Europe? We downloaded all the Maps offline in Google Maps. It helps in Navigation while driving.

However, we took Project Fi. Its 20$ per month and 10$ for 1 GB. But its pro-rated. If you use 100 MB, it will cost you only 1$. As soon as we left Boston we kept our phones in Airplane Mode. We never used the phone connection. If you want to call overseas you can call while you are in Hotel and use the Wifi instead. Whatsapp calling or Google Hangouts if you have enough balance in Google voice account.

Since Project Fi works only on google phones, I purchased a used nexus 6p in craigslist and sold it for the same price after I came back from Europe, since I no longer needed it. I disconnected the Project Fi plan as well.

Honestly, you don't need phone connection while in Europe. You'll really enjoy offline :) Imagine you are in 80s..life without phones :)

Going around Cities

We took the 3 day pass for Rome, 2 day pass for  Paris and 1 day pass for Zurich, Laussane, Milan, Oslo, Stockholm. It was very convenient to hop in and hop out of the metro/Trams/Buses. All the attractions are well connected with public transport. Also, public transport is best for the environment. :)

SH!T Happens

Incidents will happen !! (at least for us), but nothing will stop us from having fun...lol. Yes, don't let unfortunate incidents keep you down :) Nothing goes precisely as planned.

  1. We lost our passports in Mexico,
  2. Stopped by cops in Belize, Mexico, Iceland
  3. Had scary experience in Guatemala / Belize border
  4. Lost DSLR at Paris Airport for an hour and then later we found it.
  5. Broke my DSLR on the day we arrived in Paris
  6. Forgot my tripod in Top of Europe. Next day we found it. Then 2 days later it broke. 
  7. Forgot my dashcam holder in the rental car in Iceland.
lol...There are numerous stories and I can go on forever, But, me and Arnika we just laugh when we remember all these memorable incidents, and how we dealt with it...its just funny...lol...

So SH!T happens and will happen...Fix it, think on your feet, find a solution immediately, go with the flow and continue to have fun...loads and loads of fun :)


Exploring an alien country for the first time is a different ball game altogether :) Its so much fun !!

Please leave a comment if you think this was helpful. It will encourage me to write more.:)

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