Tips on traveling to Europe

How to prepare for your Euro Trip

1) Upon receiving your visa make sure you book your flights according to your given Visa validity. *Don’t overstay your visa. Make sure to abide with its rules so you won’t have a problem when applying for a new one.

2) Check the weather of your destinations so you will know what to pack. Although this would only probably give you a glimpse of the possible weather of that day.

3) Pack light (if you can) but seriously… this is a must especially if your going to ride the trains a lot and you wouldn’t have anyone to help you with your luggages.

*There are stations that would not have lifts and escalators too.

4) Choose the right bag, yeppppp bag!!! There are really a lot of pickpockets in some cities in Europe which we personally had encounters with in Paris and Rome.

Anti-theft bags would truly come in handy, I can recommend Pacsafe because it’s what we used while travelling in Europe, aside from the crossbody bags, we had this neck bags we wore inside our clothes that had our passports, money and other cards that we won’t be using often.

Just like in any other country, use common sense and proper precaution when traveling by metro, crowded places and sketchy streets. Always be alert especially on metros, pickpockets usually come by pairs/group.

Try to blend with the locals. I was the only one in our group who did not have an incident with pickpockets.

What helped me probably is making sure my bag is always locked, i don’t use my phone inside the trains, i hold my bag close to me and is always in front. If there are people trying to stay too close to me, I move and show people I am alert and watching my valuables. Look smart. Use common sense also, sometimes they make a situation to distract you. Most importantly, pray.

5) Plan your itinerary and book long distance/fast trains or flight at the earliest possible time as you will save money whilst doing so.

6) Book attractions online or in advance to make sure you will have slots this is especially applicable on super popular ones like, La Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell in Barcelona, Accademia in Florence and etc.

7) Don’t forget to call your bank for your credit cards and atm cards so they will know you will be travelling and we’ll be using your cards abroad. Setting up your 4 digit pin for credit cards is also a must.

8) We always need internet when traveling especially because it’s almost always DIY, on this trip we availed of the Big Sky Nation pocket wifi, and we even had a discount because of the BDO promo. They deliver the device to you and pick it up days after returning to the PH. Very convenient but do take note there were times during our trip that the connection was slowwww.

9) Pack the right shoes. We had minimum of 10,000 steps per day during our trip to Europe.

10) We are all a different kind of travelers… whether you like your itinerary to be like a marathon or a stroll in the park, be sure to have time to soak in the vibe of each countries/cities, learn the culture and get lost.

11) Respect the culture of each places your visiting, and a bit of research would def come in handy.

12) Make sure to have extra copies of your itinerary and other important documents such as your passport just to be safe.