All you have to know before your first European trip.

                   

All you have to know before booking your  first European  trip

Your first trip to Europe will definitely intimidating . All the below tips will definitely gives you some confidence for your trip booking .All this tips are based on my travel experience traveled to Italy ,Tallinn and Helsinki . As i started planning , to be frank Italy was no where in my list. I wanted to visit Tallin, Estonia for new year.  Unfortunately Schengen visa appointment slot was unavailable at the time  . Later with the help of a travel  agency i got appointment slot for Finland, but that was also not my cup of tea ,at least  not for this time. It was rail strike on the appointment day and we couldn't make it. We were four of us planning for the trip.   Past few months it was a rollercoaster in case of getting all the document for Schengen Visa. We got our visa in six days after application but my sons application was not accepted because his father was not traveling with him. They ask for few affidavit and embassy attested consent letters as extra documents. After all the hardship and spending a fortune ,finally i got my sons passport with Schengen visa after five hour of my booked flight. It was not an easy process for me but i managed it .I have a separate blog for how to apply Schengen visa. Later after two weeks i booked my first solo trip to Tallin and Helsinki.

Transportation          

Public transportation in European cities are fantastic. All the cities are well connected with long distance running couches, trains ,trams, uber, taxi, airport shuttle buses etc. In my trip i used train, bus, taxi ,ship ,trams ,airport shuttle bus etc. One thing i would say is booking in advance. For my trips i booked every transports in advance except certain taxi rides. It all depend upon your budget and time. Plan in advance the places you wish to visit and book it through sites available. For trains there will be official sites ,book the tickets through authorized platforms. We use Trainline app in UK for booking train tickets. I used this same app to book trains in Italy. Prepare taxis and airport shuttle bus tickets from booking .com and GetYourGuide app. All the flight bookings was booked through Skyscanner. As i mentioned at the beginning ,i missed my first flight due to delay in receiving my sons passport. I booked an evening flight to Rome with Vueling Airlines. Flew back to London with Wizz Air. Booked with Baltic Air to Estonia. All the flights was budget airlines. There are 24hr Airport shuttle buses from City center to airport and back for 15 pounds per person. Airport buses drop you at city center or near railway station usually you can book it through www.omio.com or through GetYourGuide App. There are also share taxis in Italian Airports which can drop you in your accommodation . I felt Estonia is much cheaper than Italy. It all depend upon your destination country. Car rentals are also a common way for tourist who like to have time for there own wish. As a budget traveler i mostly walk to all attractions as possible.

                                    Accommodation

I am not a person who spend a fortune on accommodation .I love to stay in  cozy little  house or cabins but when in reality ,i prefer budget friendly accommodation unless it is a honeymoon. It is all up to your budget and purpose of your trip. If you are a person who is travelling for a stress free few days ,of course a cozy Airbnb or resort will be your preference. But in my case i spend time in room only for sleeping while on trips. I used booking.com and hostel world for my European trip. We chose Meininger Hotel to stay in Rome. It was a six bed private dorm with two big toilet and shower. Spacious ,clean and with all amenities. This group of hotels have budget friendly accommodation all over Europe and UK. Our second accommodation in Italy was in Milan was a bit flop. It was a hostel but it was just a bed and Toilet. Not even towels. I have stayed in hostels before but this one was unsatisfied. Unfortunately we had to stay there for three nights. When you choose accommodation  if your budget allows try to include breakfast with it. One way it can save your extra money on breakfast. We had breakfast included in hostel stay. A coffee and a croissant. Fun fact is that  I was still hungry after the breakfast ,my big Asian cravings. One more things about accommodation is try to book near to railway station or city center if you are travelling without a car. In Milan we had to walk 30mints to and fro from hostel to railway station and city center which was very tiring after a long day.

Food

Food  in Italy is expensive and offers myriad of eating options. We Asians prefers big meals to small. I was always hungry through out this trip. But we tried Pizza, Pasta, Gelato, Panini, Mulled wine  ,croissant, coffee and rest of the time MacD . My Indian cravings was at the peak and we ordered Biriyani twice knowingly that will be flop. No wonder it tastes different but was in a tiny box. So if you are traveling to Italy keep in mind food is expensive either you carry some ready meals or snacks or be prepare to order more. But in Estonia it was very different there were many options and the quantity was good. The hotel io stayed had a fancy restaurant. As it was my solo trip it didn't attracts me. There was a food court in Viru Mall near to my hotel. I went there twice and it had many options from Kabab to all sort of foods.

 Currency

Euro is the official currency of 20 out of 27 EU countries. Euro was the currency of Italy, Estonia and Finland. I exchanged some cash from a local exchange in Eastbourne and rest money was used through Wise card. It is a multicurrency prepaid card which can be spend in 190+ countries. There is a  virtual card as well. Google it ,you will get all the information. It is better to exchange some cash with you ,some of the rest rooms are paid to use. Talk with your bank they might have some scheme like in Lloyds which is my bank .In 7 pound charge we can you  debit card in Europe without exchange fee.

SIM

I used my same sim which i normally which i use in United Kingdom. My data usage contact explicitly mentioned that i can have free roaming in EU countries. So it is possible ,you have to contact customer service and enquire about roaming facilities in EU. So is it not a big deal. It you are traveling from any part of the world just make sure about roaming or you can get a sim from Airport. You can also get an eSim with unlimited data from Holafly or Wise. Sim cards are sold in Europe in departmental store ,mobile shops, even in some vending machine which coat about 10 Euro to 15 Euro. Lebara is reliable and cheap service provider.

                                                 Luggage 

As a budget traveler  booking cheaper tickets are the hard part. With budget Airlines they offer cheap ticket rate excluding baggage. We need to pay extra for baggage. What we did was. We booked tickets excluding baggage and add extra baggage for one persons ticket and we share money and luggage. For Italy trip we was four people traveling together so we book ticket for 65 pound for four of us with out baggage and paid 140 pounds for extra 23kg and we shared money. So we only paid 50 pound for one person including luggage. Doing this saves a lot of money. For my Estonia trip i was only traveling alone and Baltic Air offers ticket which include 8kg cabin bag with the ticket. That was a cool deal. So when you book check what is included in Ticket .If you traveling from UK or any of the European countries you will get flight tickets as cheapest as 20 pounds on way according to season. You just have to plan your trip ahead. Ours was an off peak season .So flight ticket rates varies according to season. But still there are ways in which we can do it in a way that is not a burden for your financial routine. Walking around with luggage in your trip is also not a good idea. Some of the hotel permit to leave your luggage even after and before checking and check out. There also luggage store in cities near railway stations. We stored our luggage in Florence as we check out from Rome and visited Florence on the go. It cost 10-15 pounds for a day.

I hope i covered everything .Now lets say about our Rome days.