(lively jazz music)
- Hello, and thank you for joining us
for another Legacy Travel Travel Top Five list.
This time, we're gonna be doing the top five things
that you might not know about traveling to Europe.
And we've got Katie with us. - Hi!
- And Alyssa. - Hello!
- And this is a very hard list for me,
'cause I wasn't sure how many people
who have been to Europe, not been to Europe,
so, we'll see what we come up with.
So, I'm gonna kick off, okay?
- Go for it.
- Mine is gonna be the passport.
You know you gotta have a passport,
but certain areas may require you to have it
where it does not expire for six months out,
three months out, nine months out.
Just make sure where you're going,
what the rules are as far as your passport
and when it expires.
Some of them are tricky.
You hate to get over there
and it turn out that you gotta buy a passport
because it's expiring in the next couple months
and you can't get in the country.
- Not a good thing. - No.
What is your number five?
- My number five might seem very basic
but it's good to know.
A lot of people speak English.
Clearly I can't, but--
(group laughing)
They speak many languages.
In their school systems,
they learn many languages as they grow up.
So people speak English, and it makes it really,
for us in the United States to travel there.
- Absolutely.
What's your number five?
- My number five is that in most countries,
well, actually all the countries in continental Europe,
they actually drive on the right side of the road.
There's a huge misconception
that everyone drives on the left side of the road in Europe.
It's just The U.K., Ireland, Malta, and Cypress.
So if you're thinking maybe you wanna get a rental car
and you're not so sure,
you wouldn't be comfortable doing everything opposite,
don't worry about it.
Places like Tuscany or Spain,
I think you really want the car.
So that way, you can feel a little more comfortable.
- Good, number four for you.
- Sure!
My number four is jet lag.
So you're crossing quite a few time zones to get over there,
so my recommendation is, if you can, sleep on the plane,
and stay up all day once you get there if you can.
My very first time to Europe, I took a nap,
and it messed me up for days.
So stay awake that first day.
- My number four is that a lot of churches
actually have dress codes.
If you're going somewhere--
- Oh, that's a good point. - I didn't think about that.
- Especially in Italy, Philip, remember this.
- I know, I know.
- If you're going somewhere like St. Mark's in Venice
or the Vatican, that's a huge one.
Everyone has to have their knees covered, that includes men.
Women and men need to have their shoulders covered,
think closed-toe shoes for men.
So, you don't wanna miss something like that
just because you're wearing shorts or a tank top.
- Good point.
My number four is gonna be,
here, when we buy a bus ticket, train ticket,
that's all we need.
That's not the case in Europe.
A lot of times, you buy the ticket,
and then you have it validated.
Stick it in a little machine and it punches it.
You get on the train and they check the ticket
and yours isn't validated, you're gonna get hit with a fine.
You may even have to go to the police station
and talk about it.
So buy the ticket, good step, get it validated.
That's an important part of it.
- That's a good one.
- Number three.
- Number three, I have to take a look.
Okay. - Me too.
- So my number three is that dining in Europe
is at a much more relaxed pace
than Americans are used to. - Boy, you're not kidding.
- And I personally like it for the most part.
Sometimes, I don't wanna be scarfing down my food
and then running across the city,
but don't wait for your waiter to come to you.
If you have somewhere to go,
don't be shy about flagging them down,
asking for the check, and getting out of there.
'Cause otherwise,
you'll sit for two hours wondering what happened.
- Yeah, we're going to Italy tomorrow for this group
and we were saying, "Okay, we've gotta stop for lunch."
And the tour operator says, "Okay, that'll be three hours."
We're not stopping for lunch.
That's crazy.
But no, you're right, that's a very good one.
My number three is you wanna have coins with you.
There will gonna be places where you can go to the restroom
but they make you pay if you go.
So have Euro coins with you
'cause you have to pay a lot of places
to go to the restroom.
- That's my number three.
- Oh, we did it together! - Yep, I didn't know that
when I first went, and I was surprised.
So coins are important.
- Good deal, you and I matched.
Number two, I think I'll kick off number two.
Okay, comfort thing.
There maybe some comfort issues
as far as a couple things like
everything's gonna be smaller,
as far as the cars and the hotel rooms.
It's gonna be a little bit smaller.
Also, comfort-wise, if you're used to ice,
that's not a big thing there.
So you ask for ice, you may get a cube.
So be ready for that.
- My number two is check to see
what kind of adapter converter you need
for traveling to different countries.
If you go with just your iPhone charger,
it depends on the hotel,
but there's a good chance you won't be able
to plug in your electronics
if you don't have the appropriate adapter converter.
- That is absolutely, 100% correct.
- My number two was actually
to be prepared to pay to use the bathroom.
- Okay, okay! Sure! (ladies laughing)
- And one thing I will say just to build on that,
because it catches people by surprise,
honestly, it's second nature to me now, I forget about it,
but a lot of restrooms,
if you don't have coins but maybe have a $5,
they will make change.
They have a little machine there,
but they don't take credit cards.
So you will be left to go find somewhere
to buy a soda or beg for change.
So just make sure you have actual cash on you.
- Actually, when I did the list, that was my number two.
I said, I can't have number two be going to the restroom.
But anyway, so, okay!
(group laughing)
- I didn't think about that!
(everyone laughs)
- Sorry about that.
Number one, I think, is you, right?
- My number one was you can explore Europe
in many different ways.
River cruising is huge,
you can take a train through Europe.
Doing a tour can be really insightful.
So make sure you talk to your travel advisor,
let them know where you're wanting to visit,
and what the best way to experience
that country or countries would be.
- Okay, so my number one was actually
Alyssa's number five, I think,
that very many people speak English.
I think a lot of Americans
are worried about the language barrier
so they look to somewhere like England or Ireland
for a first trip to Europe.
You don't have to worry about that.
But my number one comes with a very big but.
People in Europe really appreciate
when you learn a few phrases in their native language.
To me, that's a big thing
even if it's just to say please or thank you,
order a beer.
They are so impressed when Americans
make the effort to learn just a few words
so I really recommend doing that.
- Yeah, that's a good one.
For me, my number one
is gonna be as far as money conversion,
the way I do it I think is the best way to do it,
we do an ATM when we get over there.
And you go probably to a bank is the best place to do it.
Use the ATM 'cause their conversion rate is gonna be better,
typically, than the little kiosks you see.
And there may be a service fee with it,
but it's much less than the service fee
you're gonna pay to the money changers or whatever.
So go there, ATM, check with your banks,
and some of them will have special deals
with certain types of banks over in abroad,
and see who has the best deal as far as exchanging money
and do it at an ATM, you get a better rate.
Anything on the board you left out
that you thought might need to be mentioned
that didn't make your top five lists?
- In terms of dining tipping--
- That'd be good! - Or just tipping in general,
it's not as big there.
They expected a little bit more.
- But it's a thing.
- It is a thing. - It is a thing.
People think that you don't tip in Europe,
you do, you don't tip as much.
- Right, exactly.
- But yeah, I think we get a bad rap
because sometimes, Americans don't tip anything,
and they really do kind of expect maybe a 10% probably.
- Especially in the touristy areas.
I actually once in Italy had someone run out to me
because I left a small tip.
They're like, "You forgot your money."
I said, "No, it's for you.", but yeah.
- I have one more.
Uber exists in Europe.
- Yes, it does.
- And my very first Uber I got ended up being a Tesla,
and it was five Euro.
So it was nothing.
So it was super cool, so just keep that in mind.
- [Woman] Talk about saving your money for the next trip.
- I like that. - Oh, yeah.
- Oh, yes! - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So yeah, if you have Euros left over,
instead of exchanging them back,
you may wanna just save them
'cause you're gonna be going back.
Put them somewhere safe.
- Put them somewhere you remember.
- My golden retriever,
I don't wanna know how many Euros she chewed up,
but it was a lot, and they were scattered all over the bed.
Yeah, yeah, a lot, Loper. - Shout out to Loper.
- Yeah, shout out to Loper.
(group laughing)
Anyway, thank you all for joining us for this one.
Go to Europe, have fun, and expect some cool things,
and see you next time.
(bright music)