Travel advice

Relax and enjoy. You will get lost, you will get on the train going the wrong way, things will happen. Just let these experiences make your travels enjoyable.

Pack light.....change my whole way of thinking and travelling.

Since the advent of TSA locks, use zip ties to secure your luggage instead. Now, I always have a bunch on hand and they are extremely useful!

Take half the stuff and twice the money. Go Griz.

I second what Bob said, pack light, it also helps you in the fact you have less to keep track of. As the old saying goes, no one has ever said "next time I go to Europe I'm taking more stuff!"

I learned two important things from Rick, "pack light and carry on" and "you have to find your own back doors", but I think the most important thing I learned from him, on accommodations, in his own words, "the more you spend, the bigger the wall you build between you and what you came to see". Forget the expensive, starred American chain hotels. Forget the booking websites and TravelAdvisor. Go right to the source, town websites. There you will find the best cultural experience at unbelievably low prices. When I spend less each time, I can go back more often.

Fly into the city where your trip starts. Don't try to save money by flying into somewhere else because it's cheaper. Check and double-check that you have packed everything before you leave. I switched my medicine into a different package and then packed the empty box, forgetting that the pills weren't in there. On my first night in Europe on my trip, I had to call home and have my family send the pills (it took 11 days for the pills to reach me because I kept changing cities and had to have the package forwarded). Pay attention to carryon rules for your airline. Don't check anything if at all possible. But if you do check a bag and it's lost, your trip can still go on as long as you have your passport, money, and means to get money.

Sarah has a good point. Start a packing list know. Review it periodically. Is there anything else to add? Do I really need this? By the time it comes time to go, just use the packing list as a guide to pack. Everything you need, nothing forgotten.

For me, one of the most important things is to have a healthy travel budget. I would rather put off my trip for a year or two so that I am not in a position where I have to watch every cent I spend. I certainly don't waste money, but I always come home not having missed out on doing and seeing everything on my wish list. Also I like to have accommodation for my first couple of nights at my first destination booked before I leave home.
I always allow more than enough time to catch flights/trains and would never consider a plane transfer window of less than 3 hours.

I think the most important advice was before my first trip to Europe and that was to make it my own experience. I don't even remember who told me, but I have chosen to do just that every trip. I will listen to people's suggestions, but take it all for what it is---free advice. I don't want to re-live someone else's trip..I want my own experience.

Building on Sarah's advice. Along with flying into where you are starting your trip, fly out of where it is ending (i.e. open jaws, multiple destinations).

The best travel advice I ever got was: Be flexible. Sh*t happens. Deal with it.

Take good, supportive shoes. If your feet aren't happy, you're not happy. Also: Be nice to people. It comes back to you.

Keep an open mind. Don't compare your home country with the country you are visiting out loud in a negative manner while you are out in public - you never know if the people around you are understanding every derogatary word you just said. Talk with local residents, ask front desk clerks and shopkeepers for restaurant ideas. If at all possible, go on walking tours your first day in any city and ask the tour guide all your questions. Try the local specialties even if it sounds kinda gross (talking about things like haggis here and not that maggot cheese in Italy). Do lots of research online at multiple travel forums before you start making plans. Find out what holidays and school vacations are being celebrated in the countries you are visiting so you are not surprised when things are closed. Try and find new back doors - don't follow the pack. See if there are local festivals going on in any of the towns or cities you will be visiting. Never eat at restaurants that are right around major tourist attractions. Learn at a minimum - please, thank you, excuse me and do you speak English? in the language of where ever you are going. Use Google Earth streetviews to see where you are going to and get oriented, to see what folks are wearing, find landmarks, etc. Use www.hrs.com to find hotels. (sorry Lee)

To not try to see/do too much, or cram in too many destinations, on a single trip; rather, KNOW that I will be coming back. A whirlwind trip of one or two days at each destination left me tired, cranky, and sick and tired of being on trains and busses. Whenever I read of similar itineraries on the Helpline,"because who knows when we'll be able to go again," I wince.

Never skip an opportunity to pee.

"Use www.hrs.com to find hotels" Warning: Use HRS (or Booking, et al) only if you don't care about costs. Using any booking website, IMO, is like purchasing p2p tickets on RailEurope - you get less sel·ction and then only the higher price properties. In my last 3 trips to Germany, I've spent 40 nights in 21 places. Two were places I've stay at in the past. For one town, Hall in Tirol, I had to book through town's TI office. The other 18 places I found using the town websites and contacting the places directly. For this study, I went back to the websites for places where I'd stayed and up-dated rates when necessary. Only three of the places I stayed at (7 nts) could even be found on Booking and HRS, and they were €56 more on the booking websites than what I got going directly to the hotel's website. For the rest of the nights, and sometimes there wasn't even a booking website's property in the town where I wanted to stay, I tried to use the same criteria that I used on my own (single room, always WITH BREAKFAST, private bathroom when possible, near public transportation, take the lower priced accommodations). For those remaining 33 nights, I spent €1116 vs. the €1575.75 (+41%) offered on HRS. So, if you can, use town websites. If you can't, be prepared to pay more.

Ditto to don't try to see it all. See what you enjoy seeing; do what you like doing. Also as to packing light--remember all you really need is your passport and credit/debit cards. You can always buy a toothbrush and underwear.

Pack lightly. This, too, shall pass (night trains, mosquitos, long lines). ASSUME YOU WILL RETURN!

Pack light. Bring photos of your pet. (Especially dogs). We have made good friends by stopping to admire a locals' dog and chatting and sharing photos of our puppy. Since we are budget conscious, Picnics using quality food from grocery and/or specialty stores. Advance purchase train tickets and reservations for museum/attractions whenever possble. It is an experience, enjoy!!!

All you really need is your passport and your ATM card. With cash you can get almost anything else. Using plastic is usually just going to make you go somewhere more exensive. Unless I can get a significant savings by buying rail tickets in advance (eg, German Rail Sparpreis), I buy my tickets as I go.

The Red Warning thing is a bit over the top don't ya think? Seriously though, why not start a new thread to discuss hotels, where to find them, etc. instead of hijacking this one with red warnings? Love ya Lee, but having come from the hotel industry and knowing something about it, I am still sticking with hrs.com for FINDING hotels. Notice I didn't say booking them, I said finding them.

I like Frank II's advice about being flexible. Especially flying standby, we've got to have plans A, B, and C ready to go. Sometimes we catch the first flight, sometimes we're in the airport 12 hours, sometimes we have to come back the next day. Along with that one, we have to be like scouts and be prepared. Have alternate plans, bring all the phone numbers we need, bring maps. But, also, don't forget it's a vacation. Don't get so wrapped up in plans that you don't relax and enjoy.

"You're on YOUR vacation, do what YOU want and relax." "Always bring a wash cloth, never bring towels." "'Must-see' implies herd mentality."

Pack light Be flexible Behave like a guest Have a sense of humor Avoid tourist traps

I don't feel that explaining the rationale behind my advice, on a thread that asks, "What is the best piece of travel advice you have to offer?" is hijacking the thread, but perhaps we should start it as a whole new thread. I started doing that a few years ago, creating a page for my website which would allow people to pulldown of selections of methods and a database from those responses, but some people discouraged me from pursuing it. But, adding to this thread, even if youuse booking websites only to find properties, you still have the problem that your selection is too limited and only it includes the more expensive properties that are willing to pay the booking sites listing fee. Using my own search method, I have found so many places that were less expensive and more convenient than those from the booking websites, that I have no confidence in booking websites. Further, the booking websites don't give you contact info for the properties. That is very telling, because if they really had something to offer from their services, they would mind your going direct. But they keep the contact info hidden because they know they don't have anything to offer. Find a place you like on a booking website and try to find it's contact info on Google. You'll have to sort through pages of listings from Booking.com, HRS, TravelAdvisor, etc, to find it, if you even can. I've compared a lot of listings I've found on my own with what booking website have to offer. For the most part, the properties they list are at a price competitive to what I found on my own (with a few glaring exceptions), but, although they claim big savings, they don't deliver.

pack light.... embrace cultural differences rather than criticize them... be spontaneous occasionally.... pack lght...
did I forget to mention pack light?....

"Pack the old socks and underwear that you were going to replace soon anyway and throw it out as you move along. Use the regained space in your baggage for souvenirs."
(my grandfather) I did the same with an old pair of workable shoes last year in England, too.

Ed stole my #1 best advice: "pee when you can, not when you have to". Pack light goes without saying. I travel solo, so my goal for every trip is to get out of my hotel room, even when it seems scary (dinner alone still sucks). Also, I never leave home without travel packs of kleenex, hand wipes, dental floss, duct tape, and safety pins (the last three will fix just about any wardrobe malfunction, luggage mishap, or hotel room trauma).

CL...why is it that lunch alone feels okay, but dinner feels like you have no friends??? In St. Maxime's once (on the French Riviera) I did not want to do dinner alone so I bought a little pizza from a carry out place and went down on the beach to eat.... Bonus..there was no one else there and I had this whole area of the Mediterranean to myself...so another bit of travel advice is... Don't be afraid to travel alone...it definitely has its benefits

Jennie, For the first timer going over to Europe for 3 weeks or more, I would have some definite advice. Don't get stressed, overwrought..you might get lost, go the wrong way on the bus, train , so what. Be resiliant. As long as your physical safety is not endangered or broke, you're fine. Take common sense precautions against pickpockets without being fearful. Remember if the Europeans can travel in each other's countries, Italians going to Germany, Swedes going to Spain and Italy, Germans going to Hungary, etc...you can do it too. Pack wisely...I say this instead of packing light. I like to have supplies on hand when I need or want them. Read a variety of sources to prepare for the trip, especially one over a month, such as Frommer's, Michelin, Rough Guide, Let's Go, don't just rely on reading RS and his backdoors' travelling philosophy. You can still wing it, but over all, have a survey as to where to go. Have a fair notion as to how much you want to spend, ie, how much luxury you can do without, for the most part, on the trip if you're going solo or as a pair. Consider staying in hostels, university dorms, Pensionen, Privatzimmer arrangements, eating in train stations and dept. stores (the locals do this), taking night trains that are over ten hours long, whether or not you can sleep, (if you absolutely can't, then be prepared to pay for a hostel/hotel)...set and know your priorities when you're travelling. Have a bilingual dictionary or phasebook, or make a list of train station vocab, especially if you're going to CZ, Hungary, Poland, Slovak Rep. My first time in Prague was in July 1973, arrived at the train station to see all the signs were in 3 languages: Czech, German, Russian. It was no problem dealing with Czech officialdom then since it was all in German.

"Smile and people will help you." Advice from a nervous boyfriend-now-husband as I prepared to fly to Copenhagen for my first trip abroad. Smiles are universal. People are people. You'll work out the language thing with gestures and some common words. Beer? Vino? :-) I have every confidence that I would figure out how to communicate with someone visiting Columbus, Ohio, who didn't speak any English. I always make sure to know greetings, the word for 'please' and 'thank you,' and how to say, "I'm so sorry that I don't speak May we please speak English?"

Be prepared to be shocked but pretend not to be. Straight-laced USA standards do not apply to Europe. Deal with it or don't go.

Travel as if it is possible that we are not god's chosen ones doing the place you are visiting a favor for lowering your standards enough to grace them with our presence. It is possible that they have the good life figured out better than you - even if your house is bigger.

Lighten up and keep a sense of perspective. How many times here and in our personal experiences have we heard people say their trip was just ruined because of a minor problem? It was foggy when they went up the Eiffel Tower, or their rental apartment was poorly decorated, or they didn't know they couldn't cash travelers checks. Death, serious illness/injury, and natural or man-made disasters will ruin a trip. Anything less should be suffered through and then made into a good story. (I refer to my own story called "The Last Time We Went Camping.")