A Strategy for Planning a Euro Trip Itinerary

I’ve noticed that many people dream about travelling through Europe for a few months, but only a handful of them actually end up doing so. After that, I decided to make a mini-research and see what the reason behind this could be. The most common one was something like: “It’s just too complicated.” At first I was judging them a little bit since my attitude is that if you really want something, you’ll do your best to achieve it. However, I decided to be a bit more open minded so I’ve realized that an idea of a Euro trip can be overwhelming in the sense of planning and organization. This is why I’ve decided to share my planning strategy hoping it will help someone make the final decision about that trip.

Events

Think about which events you’d like to attend during your trip. Whether it’s music or film festivals, carnivals or exhibitions, put them all on paper and organize them by countries and dates when they are held. If you don’t have any specific events, start your research, since this is the best way to infiltrate yourself into another culture and experience countries as a local and not merely a tourist. For me, it was concerts and music festivals, but it can be anything. Whether it’s the amazing Carnival of Venice or Oktoberfest in Germany. There’s a great summer outdoor cultural festival in July in Ghent, Belgium, as well.

Venice Carnival, Italy

Location

Having completed the previous step, you should now have a number of countries you are definitely going to visit during your trip. Now it’s time to add some more by using a different criterion – personal preference. List the cities you’ve always wanted to see or things you’ve always wanted to do. By this I mean famous sightseeing spots or tours. For instance, I am obsessed with World War I, which is why amazing Somme battlefield tours in France were a must-see for me. Let’s not forget about the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Big Ben and Piccadilly in London and seeing the northern lights in Iceland.

Somme, France

Contacts

Next on your list should be the people you know from European countries. Make a list of your international friends you’d like to see, since this is an amazing opportunity to do so. Not only will you be able to catch up with your friends, but you will also gain priceless info from them about the place you’re visiting, something you can’t find in any tour guide. Not to mention that you might even be able to stay at their place for a few days and save a few bucks as well.

Cost

Now it’s time to estimate the cost of your trip. The first group of costs should be the events and sights. The price of festival tickets, museum and tour fees is something you can check online. You can even buy the tickets in advance. Nevertheless, this is the first wave of expenses for you. After that, try to estimate the amount of time you’ll stay in each country and the accommodation expenses. This is where your foreign friends can help you out by giving you tips for finding cheap accommodation or by letting you stay with them.

If you follow these 4 key steps, you shouldn’t have any trouble. Now, all that is left for you to do is think of an exact order of visiting the countries. This will be determined by the time you have between the events and geographical proximity. It wasn’t that hard, was it? Now get to work, and have a great time on your trip!

*This article is a guest post by Marie Nieves.

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Author Bio: Marie Nieves is a lifestyle blogger who loves unusual trips, gadgets and creative ideas. On her travels she likes to read poetry and prose and to surf the Internet. Her favourite writer is Tracy Chevalier and she always carries one of her books in her bag. Most of her free time at home she spends walking her Labrador Retriever named Max. She is an avid lover of photography who loves to talk about her experiences. You can find Marie on Facebook or follow her on Twitter and Pinterest.