Welcome, friends! While I am off in Japan, I have collected a lovely team of bloggers to share a variety of guest posts about travel, fashion, and everything in between! I will be back from my adventuring soon, but in the mean time please enjoy these wonderful ladies :)
I am very happy to welcome Ella of Paper Umbrella today! I love all of the DIYs, recipes, style posts, and the little things about life that she blogs about. Her writing and content is just so authentic that I always leave her blog feeling like I actually know her in real life. Hope you enjoy her post!
Last summer I traveled around Europe for a few weeks with my
boyfriend, and the process of planning – and the trip itself – was a huge
learning experience. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have been given so many
opportunities to travel, and I’ve learned a lot through my previous travels – how
to hop on a moving river bus in Thailand, how to shower in a bucket in
Tanzania, how to say “please” and “thank you” in many languages, the ins and
outs of bartering in a language you don’t understand, how to not kill your
little brother when sharing a hotel room for weeks on end…but traveling around
Europe this summer was the first time I was planning my trip, traveling
around, and being a true tourist completely on my own. I learned a lot and
picked up a few helpful tips and tricks along the way, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to share!
Depending on where you are traveling, what you should know
beforehand will be different. If you’re unfamiliar with the culture you are
about to go explore, be sure to do a bit of reading first! Learn about what is
and isn’t appropriate in terms of dress, interactions, dining, etc. Try to
memorize a few basic terms in the language. Knowing these things will make it
so much easier to connect with locals, and hopefully help you have a much
richer experience!
These tips apply more to an experience similar to the one I
had in Europe, but I’ve also tried to include a few general tricks I’ve learned
throughout my travels that apply almost anywhere!
PACKING
Invest in (or borrow)
a backpacking backpack. It’s way easier than lugging around a suitcase, and
if you plan it out carefully, you should probably be able to check it on the plane
so you don’t ever have to pay baggage fees.
Taylor usually had the honor of carrying our day bag as well ;)
Use packing cubes. This will save
you from an explosion of clothes every time you try to find anything in your
backpack. I didn’t want to buy cubes, so I used those plastic bags that sheets
and comforters come in and they worked perfectly. Pack all your
electronics/chargers in a separate little bag. Remember your plug converter!
Pack layers and neutral
basics. Pack mostly neutrals, and a few pops of color that will go well
with most of your basic pieces. Make sure all of your tops can go with whatever
bottoms you bring. This is a time to read up on what is appropriate for you to
wear! Also only bring one fancy outfit.
You won’t end up wearing the second one, I promise. If you must, bring a few accessories to change it up.
Leave room for a
couple souvenirs. But don’t leave too
much room! Limiting your space is a good way to prevent over-shopping ;)
Wanna know a big money-saving secret? Don’t get your money/stuff stolen! Hey, that sounds like a good
idea, doesn’t it! Get one of these locks for your bag for when you need to let
it out of your sight/sleep on a bus/train/plane. Never carry your wallet in
your back pocket, and always wear your purse across your body and in front of
you.
Take a money
belt. I know, I know, it’s dorky. But there will be times when you need to
carry around a lot of money (and probably your passport), and you really don’t
want to risk getting that stolen.
Make photocopies of
your passport and other important documents, and put them somewhere
separate from your actual passport. Just in case!
This wasn’t an issue in Europe, but many other places I’ve
travelled don’t have toilet paper in their bathrooms (sometimes you can buy it
outside). So bring your own toilet paper!
I usually carry around those little packets of tissues.
PLANNING
Plan out your trip. When
you’re on a budget, it is really important to plan out your trip beforehand.
Leave some room for spur of the moment adventures, but try your best to do the
bulk of the planning ahead of time so you don’t have to stress about money or
time once you’re there. Things will be much more enjoyable that way!
Check out your travel
options and buy as many tickets as you can before hand. Originally I was
just going to buy a Eurail pass, but it turned out it was cheaper to just buy
individual train, bus, and airplane tickets in my particular situation. There are some things that aren’t
included in the original fee for a Eurail pass, so if you’re travelling in
Europe, be sure to look into that.
Buy (or borrow from
the library) guidebooks and tear out or make copies of the pages you’ll
need and important maps! There’s rarely a need to bring the whole thing and you
can throw the pages you’ll need for each day into your purse.
Use Airbnb. Doooo
it! We found that Airbnbs were actually cheaper than most youth hostels, and were
usually in better locations (that is, if you just rent a room, not the whole
place). Also, you get to meet super cool people and can ask your hosts for
advice on where to eat and what to do. I love getting the inside scoop from the
locals (it will also save you a ton of money).
Sweet little details in the apartment we stayed at in Paris.
ADVENTURE TIME!
Don’t eat in touristy
restaurants! If they have big plastic menus translated into five different
languages and with pictures of each dish in the front, don’t eat there. Avoid
the main touristy streets. You will save so much money and the food will be
much better. Do a little spy work to see where the locals are going or, better
yet, ask some locals!
In general, try not
to be a tourist and find free entertainment. Find out what
your Airbnb hosts like to do for fun! We often chose one (or two) expensive
touristy thing that we felt we really couldn’t miss, and then spent the rest of
our time exploring the city and trying out free/cheap sights. Don’t go see
something just because you feel like
you should (we didn’t go to the Louvre in Paris because we just really weren’t
that into the art there – WHAT?!?!).
All the best views are usually free!
Have all the picnics.
This was one of my favorite things about our trip. I loved the days
when we would go to a little deli, grab sandwich makings and a bottle of beer,
and find a little park to eat in. We made sandwiches for lunch most days, and
had cereal at our Airbnb for breakfast. Since we were in Airbnbs we were also
able to make our own dinner some nights - this way we could splurge a little when we went out!
Use a budgeting app. We really had to stick to a budget throughout our trip, so we tried to enter the money we spent into an app to keep track of everything. We used Quick Budget and it was really helpful.
If you’re traveling somewhere where tap water is safe to
drink, make sure you bring a reusable
water bottle. Buying bottled water constantly can really add up.
Take notes! If
you ever go back, you will want them…or maybe someone else will want them! My
dad obsessively takes notes and keeps business cards/brochures/maps when he
travels and those often came in handy for us.
Have so much fun!!! (oh,
and maybe try to squeeze me into your suitcase if you can?)
If you’re planning on traveling around Europe (or if you’re
just interested) and want to see what we did on our trip you can see the posts
I wrote about it (and the little movies we made) by clicking these links!:
2. Tops x 4: long-sleeve shirt, t-shirt, tank top x 2.
3. Colder weather tops x 2: jacket, sweater.
4. Shoes x 3: heels, flats, sandals/flip flops.
Pack smart and travel light! I hope you find my tips useful. :-)
Hello Foreign Room readers! I'm Melyssa and I regularly hold down the fort at 
