Planning a trip to Europe can be a really daunting task for first-timers from picking where to go and
finding flights to choosing hotels and building itineraries - it's all a lot of stress but don't
worry I'm here to make it easy today I'm going to be walking you through step by step how to plan
your own trip to Europe Hi I'm Christina from happytowander.com I've been traveling around
Europe for the past 10 years and my goal on this channel is to help you travel Europe smarter so
let's walk you through the step-by-step process of planning your own dream trip to Europe This
is going to be a pretty long video but hopefully by the end of it you'll have all the tools and
resources that you need to plan your own trip and stick around till the end and I'll even give you
a free workbook that helps you do exactly that Alright so step one is understanding
the Schengen Zone Before we can talk about visas and entry requirements and all that you need to
understand what the Schengen Zone is so a lot of people assume that in Europe it's all border free
travel but that's actually not the case in all countries and the whole travel without borders
thing only actually applies to a certain zone known as the Schengen Zone granted this is a huge
group covering 27 countries but it doesn't include all the countries in Europe so a few notable
exceptions include the UK Ireland Bulgaria Romania and a lot of countries in the Balkan region as of
2023 these are the countries that belong to the Schengen zone so as you can see it comprises a lot
of the countries that a lot of first-time visitors will be visiting but it's important that you know
that distinction practically speaking with the Schengen Zone it essentially means that if you
stay within this zone of countries you're not going to need to go through passport control every
single time you cross the border an important note is a lot of people confuse the Schengen
Zone with the EU and even though there is a lot of overlap they're actually not the same thing
so there are a lot of EU countries that are part of the Schengen Zone and some non-EU countries
that are part of it as well so just keep that in mind that they're not the same now the reason it's
important to know this distinction is because that can impact which visas you apply for if you need
to apply for a visa and it also impacts how long you can stay in each of the countries that you're
visiting For more clarifications and examples I have written a full guide to the Schengen Zone
and you can find it on my website now after you wrap your head around that one we're going to move
on to step number two which is how long you're actually going to be spending in Europe and this
is a really important question to ask yourself honestly my first independent trip around Europe
I spent about six weeks and that felt like barely enough I would honestly recommend a 10-day minimum
if you're coming from overseas just because you have to make that jet lag worth it but of
course it really depends on how many vacation days you have to work with and don't worry if
you even have just a week to spend in Europe I actually have a video coming out in two weeks
time covering 40 different one-week itineraries for Europe so be sure to subscribe for that of
course choosing how long you're going to spend in Europe really depends on a lot of personal
factors so I'll leave that up to you the one thing that I will say is it is important to
keep in mind the time restrictions that you have on how long you're allowed to be in Europe many
non-EU passport holders are restricted to only 90 days within 180 days when you're visiting the
Schengen area and all the non-Schengen countries actually have their own specific rules on how long
you're allowed to stay so if you're smart about it and you actually wanted to spend longer than
90 days in Europe what you could do is spend 90 days in the Schengen Zone and then spend more
time outside of the Schengen Zone and then you don't overstay any of your allowances and you're
golden now after you figured out how much time you have to play with you get to decide the really fun
stuff where you're gonna go so I know that Europe looks really small on a map but it's important to
keep in mind that it's a very varied continent with a lot to see a really high density of sites
meaning that you're not probably going to be able to see every single thing that you want to see in
just a single trip so a lot of first-time visitors really assume that they're going to be able to
do this they're like oh I'm gonna go to Europe I'm going to cover the whole continent because
everything is super close together and yes things are a lot closer together than cities in North
America for example but it still does take time to travel between countries so my advice to you is to
really just pick a few destinations and not try to overcram your itinerary I remember when I was
planning my first backpacking trip in Europe and I planned the itinerary after like a few glasses of
wine and I looked at it the next day and realized it made no sense because I was trying to go to way
too many places and it just didn't add up but for shorter trips what I would really recommend
is you just pick one or two countries and explore them more thoroughly rather than trying to cover
a whole bunch of destinations in one go but how can you decide where you want to go so first of
all again cheap plug I do have 40 plus different itineraries for one week in Europe so you can
browse out on my website you can also look on my website for all the different places I visited
and can recommend of course you probably have a lot of places saved on your bucket list as well
usually when I start planning for a trip I'll hop onto TikTok or on Instagram, browse on Pinterest,
kind of get some ideas and just shortlist a few destinations now after you've picked where you
want to go the next step is to apply for visas and figure out any documents that you might
need for your Europe trip I of course can't give specific advice unless you're Canadian because
that's what I am and entry requirements do vary based on where you're from or what passport you
have if you are Canadian however and I believe the rules are the same if you're from the US
or from Australia you do not need a visa to enter the Schengen Zone you're allowed to enter without
applying for any Visa beforehand that said as of 2023 you do need something called an
ETIAS which stands for European Travel Information and Authorization System form which is a very
quick thing that you can do online you pay a small fee but that's not the same thing as applying
for a visa don't worry visas take a lot longer to apply for and it's just generally a more stressful
process but the ETIAS is not that difficult now the best resource for finding out which visas
you need is your own government's website okay when you're Googling things be sure to seek out
only official sources because I found that when you search up visa requirements and things like
that you often find a lot of third-party websites that are just trying to persuade you to purchasing
their services so the first step is to find your official government website and they can detail
all the different requirements that there are for entering different countries with your passport
now moving on to step five the exciting stuff is time to book your flights to Europe now before we
go into the step by step something I definitely consider getting is a travel friendly credit card
before booking your big trip just because you are probably going to be spending quite a bit
of money on your flights and on your hotels and just general spending so it really makes
sense to have a credit card that rewards you for your spending because you're going to be
spending that money anyway so you might as well get some points for it so I personally have the
Amex Platinum and I really do love it I think it's super worth it you know that the fee for that card
is super high but at least for the first year with the welcome bonus you actually are able to
get a free round-trip flight to Europe essentially so I think it's really worth it and I can highly
recommend that card but that is just another topic for another day so if you're looking for more tips
on securing cheap flights I do have a full video all about that but right now I'm just going to
walk you through the process that I typically use so the first thing I'll usually do is I'll hop on
Google flights which is my go-to tool these days I used to use a lot of Skyscanner but Google Flights
just makes things super easy and so I prefer them these days first off what I'll do is I'll go in
and type my departure airport if you are lucky and have multiple airports to choose from let's say
you've got multiple airports in your city or other airports close by that you don't mind traveling to
if It means a better deal then you can type in with the passport codes the different airports
that you are searching up and then in terms of the destination if you already have a specific
destination in mind of course you can just type that in but if not then you can also just type
Europe because then it'll show you the cheapest flights just going to all the different countries
in Europe and oftentimes that'll save you a bunch of money if you just fly into a cheaper airport
and you have some flexibility so for dates again if you have a specific date you can enter them
or you can just enter a rough estimate and I'll show you in the next step how you can then look
at a bunch of other dates at a glance so let's say you're not really sure but you know you probably
want to go for a week in June at some point so just throw that in there and then search
so once you're here in this map view then what you can do is you can you can click on the
calendar here and you can click flexible dates and then that'll allow you to search different
flight options depending on how long you're going for so let's say a weekend one week two weeks and
also you can select the time frame so you can do a one week trip in the next six months for example
or specifically a one-week trip in February June July whenever so I'll usually have a little bit
of a play with that and then I'll look around at the map at a glance and see where are the
cheapest flights where can I fly into that is the cheapest so when you look at the list if you see
one that you like in particular you're like oh I don't mind going to London the flights there look
cheap so then you can click there and then after that you can click view flights and then you have
my personal favorite tool the date grid that you can click on so there's actually a button that you
can click click date grid and it shows you on a table how the prices fluctuate depending on when
you leave so it'll be like okay well if you left a few days earlier then it can actually be cheaper
so there's a lot of really cool tools that you can use in Google flights which is why I really really
like using them and so that's just the general process that I use for finding cheap flights
again you can repeat this process for different cities comparing prices and ultimately you can
decide which one you want to go for the one thing I will say is after you do choose your flight what
I tend to do is I always book directly with the airline just because I feel like that gives you
a lot more protection if anything ever goes wrong airlines tend to have way better customer service
than some of those third parties now step six is to book your accommodation after you've got your
flights it's time to decide where you're going to sleep now I personally love using aggregators
like Google or booking.com just to do my initial research because I feel like they offer a lot of
tools that help you whittle down your options and if you're interested in the step-by-step process
that I use to book my hotels and everything I'm releasing a full video all about that next week
so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss that but for now here is a quickest rundown so in terms of
your accommodation options you've got a huge range from the cheapest like hostels and guest houses to
more expensive like hotels and of course there's Airbnb and VRBOs you know like vacation rentals
that are kind of this awkward in between so I'm gonna quickly run through the pros and cons of all
these different accommodation options now hostels are a great option if you're on a budget and or
if you're looking for more of a social experience so in terms of oros hostels in Europe can actually
be really nice there's a lot of really beautiful hostels in Europe and they're very nice for the
wallet as well with options for private rooms in addition to dorms if you want a little bit
more privacy hostels are also just really great in general for meeting new people if your goal is to
make some new friends let's say you're traveling alone hostels really are the go-to option of
course the flip side of that is you don't get much privacy and honestly even the nicest hostels will
seem quite bare bones compared to nicer hotels and they're kind of an introvert's nightmare
so if you're an introvert like me hostels might not be the best choice now the next tier budget
wise would be guesthouses which are typically smaller than hotels and usually involve a few
rooms typically ensuite at their property now pros are these guest houses are usually cheaper
than hotels and they feel a lot homier they also tend to feel more personal because the owner often
greets you and shows you the room so it feels more like you're kind of supporting a small
local business however the cons are they tend to be more modest and how have far few amenities in
hotels they can also be less convenient because there's not usually like a 24-hour check-in desk
so you do have to coordinate a little bit with the owner of the guest house and then we have hotels
which tend to be larger properties with familiar amenities like a check-in desk breakfast etc now
when it comes to hotels one really important thing to keep in mind is that hotels in Europe actually
operate on a different star system to what we're used to in North America so whereas in North
America if you're staying at a one-star property you kind of know what you're expecting one star
kind of means like low quality like not not the best right whereas five star usually you could
expect a certain level of niceness the system in Europe is actually quite different so the star
system there is actually based on a checklist of amenities so I've personally stayed in a lot of
really nice two-star properties in Europe that are just smaller and don't necessarily have like all
the big amenities but they've been really really nice so remember to keep that in mind when you're
looking at the different accommodation options now in terms of choosing hotels you'll be choosing
between either a chain property like you know Hiltons and Marriott or you can choose Boutique
properties which are usually more One of a Kind personally these days I'm more inclined to pick
boutique hotels when I can but I do admit there is a nice reliability when it comes to chain hotels
and of course if you're also racking up loyalty points or anything like that then it does make
sense to stick to a chain but that's a decision for you to make boutique properties vary from city
to city so I'm not going to talk too much about that I will say if I've ever stayed somewhere
really spectacular that I recommend I always link to it on my website now on to the last option
which is vacation rentals like Airbnb or Vrbo now I used to be a really big fan of renting on Airbnb
because it was a really budget-friendly option once upon a time and you could save a lot of
money too by cooking at the property that you're renting but these days with extreme fees and just
like hosts that are a little bit out of control I don't actually think it's the best option anymore
especially if you're looking at shorter stays, Airbnbs can come with a lot of additional mental
labor you have to correspond with your host you have to organize a meeting time sometimes they'll
ask you to do chores before you leave so there's a lot of different considerations to be made when
you're booking an Airbnb so if it's just for a few days I personally don't think it's worth it now
the last tip I'll offer is to always book direct most of the time hotels will offer some kind of
incentive for travelers to book directly with them just so they can avoid the additional fees that
they get when people book on booking.com so for example a lot of places will offer free breakfast
or they'll give you a small discount so if you're looking to save some money it never hurts to check
out the official hotel website and see if the price is better or you can actually just call
them and be like hey I noticed at Booking.com the prices like this is there something that
you can offer me if I book directly it doesn't hurt to ask. Now step number seven is to choose
how you're going to get around here so I will say overall public transportation in Europe is
fantastic and you're probably not going to need to rent a car unless you're going to be doing lots of
nature stuff or you're planning on visiting more remote locations like little villages so overall
I'd say to keep your life simple stick with public transportation my first move is I usually hop on
Omio and this is a really great free tool that you can use to compare transport options from point A
to point B so let's say you're going from Paris to London it'll show you all the different buses
all the different trains all the different flights and then from there you can kind of suss out which
option is probably the best now if you want to learn more about the cheap ways to travel around
Europe I do have a full video all about that but I'm going to quickly run through the options from
cheapest to most expensive and their pros and cons so first is buses buses or coaches is what they
call them in the UK now the pros of these is you know they're really really cheap there's a lot of
budget companies that offer bus travel and you can get from one city to the next for like 10 bucks
and usually you're dropped off somewhere close ish to the city center so it's quite convenient
as well and the cons are you do have to deal with traffic and oftentimes it's just not as nice or as
comfortable as taking a train now the next option is trains the pros of trains of course is that
they're very comfortable very scenic and it does feel like a very European experience especially if
you're like me and you come from somewhere where Intercity rail travel is just not really commonly
used another great perk is that you do arrive in the city centers and it can be very flexible if
you get a rail pass the cons of course is that train travel isn't always the fastest I mean it
depends on where you're going but it's not usually faster than a flight and it can be very expensive
especially if you're booking last minute the next option is flights the pros of course is that it's
super quick sometimes it can be very cheap as well if you're using European budget airlines the cons
are that you arrive outside of the city center because the airport's never actually close to
the center and it can be expensive for flights if you're booking last minute and of course there's
the environmental impact of flying as well now step eight we're getting into the itinerary
planning it's time to decide what kind of stuff you're gonna do when you end up going to Europe
so if you've gotten this far in this video I think it's pretty clear I am a planner and I
really do like knowing what there is to do in a place before I get there so I can maximize
my time now as fun as it is to be spontaneous I do think it is important to do at least some research
before you arrive to the destination because the last thing that you want to do is to be wasting
precious time in the destination trying to decide what to do and trying to figure out what you're
going to be spending time doing when really you could use that time to eat spaghetti you know so
here is how I find fun things to do wherever I go so first I hop on Google of course and I Google
things to do in the destination then the next step is I'll usually skim through whatever blogs and
listicles come up just to get a general sense of what the top touristy things to do are and then
if I see any that I'm interested in I'll hop on my Google Map and I'll start now this is where a lot
of people will stop their research but honestly I think that's really just the bare minimum and
so usually what I'll do is I'll extend my research and try to find like more hidden gems and things
that aren't commonly recommended so my next stop usually is I'll go on Atlas Obscura which
is a really cool website that highlights unusual things to do in a place again I look through star
a bunch of places and that's it then I'll hop on social media TikTok is actually my personal
favorite search tool it's a great search tool compared to Instagram and you can usually get
a lot of wonderful ideas especially in the food and drinks here so again I'll go through TikTok
I'll search up places to eat in X place and then I'll star the places on my Google Maps and last
but not least I will usually look on local blogs especially event and news ones because then you
can see if there's any cool events happening or any cool pop-ups happening in your destination
so you might be wondering why I start all these places on Google Maps and just left them them
so the reason that I do that instead of making a list is when you have the stars on a map then you
can actually cluster the different activities based on location and that can be really handy
when you're in a destination because if you're walking around and you look at your map you can
see oh actually like this cute coffee shop I saw on TikTok is really close to where we are
so then you can just casually stop in and that is a lot easier to manage I think than having
just a list of places because then you don't know where exactly those places are and it can
get kind of messy and here's a pro tip if you are really struggling to organize all the different
activities that you want to do usually if you type in destination plus itinerary there's probably a
travel blogger out there like me who has put together an itinerary already that you can use
for inspiration. Alright lastly we're on to step nine which is choosing what to pack now I have a
lot of other videos and articles about packing so be sure to check those out but here are some
general tips to keep in mind I'm a big believer in traveling carry-on only especially when you're
traveling to Europe because navigating cobblestone streets and really stuffy Metro systems is not
ideal if you've got really heavy bags at the very least any suitcase you bring make sure you're able
to carry it because sometimes you'll find that you know there aren't elevators everywhere you
might have to Lug your suitcase up some stairs so yeah be sure to either work out beforehand or make
sure that anything you bring is like a suitcase that you can personally carry yourself I'd also
really recommend buying packing cubes if you're new to this channel you might not know this I am
obsessed with packing cubes I love them so much they're really cheap and they're just a reusable
tool that you can use for every trip so make sure to grab a set of those because honestly they can
keep your clothes so organized and overall what I would do is pack just a week's worth of clothes
in all instances even if you're traveling for two weeks or three weeks because you can do laundry
on the road and it just makes more sense to pack lighter that way apart from that I think packing
is just a really personal thing and you should just wear whatever makes you comfortable but
if you do need some inspiration I have two free printable packing lists that you can steal from
my website at one for winter and one for summer so there you have it from start to finish how to plan
your own trip to Europe I hope that was useful and if you're looking for that free workbook
I promised you can find it right here thanks for watching if you want more practical travel videos
just like this one be sure to like and subscribe and I will see you next week thank you byeeeee!!