Greetings, we're about 10-11 weeks away from leaving on our first trip and I am wondering what I should be doing...
I think I have a good start on what needs to be done planning wise, but I am wondering what you experienced travellers do.
Thanks for your input!
Judy
Taken care of having your mail, newspaper, yard work , pets etc tended to in your absence ?
notified your banks? done a test pack? arranged or any meds you need?
arranged for having your bills paid while gone?
have all the tickets that need per-purchase done?
if so, just relax
Where are you going? (Mostly just curious but it could be pertinent.)
Have you made all of your lodging reservations? This is imperative if you have not done already. If you ahve done, then reconfirm about a month out.
Do you know how you will travel between locations? Some reservations may be advisable to secure discounts on trains or flights, but at the very least I like to have a potential schedule laid out so I am not researching a bus or train the night before.
Have you purchased tours or tickets for places that might be overbooked or require advance reservations like The Louvre, The Galleria Borghese, the Vatican?
I make a spreadsheet for each trip with a basic day plan and options, as well as a list of sights and sites we want to see with their days/hours of operation and cost so I have the info at my fingertips.
Make a packing list and do a practice pack to ensure you are efficiently packed and can manage your bags. (Hope you are doing carry-on only!)
Contact your bank & CC company about a month out to advise you are traveling abroad and where.
@Joe.... yes... about half of that is done. Bills, banks, credit cards, etc.
If you plan on buying new shoes/boots for the trip, now is the time to do it so you have ample opportunity to break them in.
If you're normally a little flabby and inert like me, start walking daily with the goal of being able to do 3-mile chuncks easily. You'll walk a lot in Europe!
Map out how to get to places on foot like hotels and laundromats allows you to save money and pack lighter.
Familiarize yourself basic language skills for travel greetings especially.
A little closer to your departure:
Arrange for newspaper deliveries to stop
If you have plants or pets, arrange for their care
Notify your banks and credit card companies of your travel,plans
Get an International Driver's Permit if you will be driving in Europe
Think about whether or not you need travel & medical insurance
Order enough prescription meds, if you take any, to see you through
If you can, get some foreign currency to get you through the first day
Check the weather history where you will be travelling
Ensure passport expiration dates are OK
Confirm all hotel reservations
Relax and look forward to a great first trip
All good advice from the other posters. Would only add that we find that starting a checklist of things to do, from the important to the mundane, really helps us stay organized. Have had a general travel checklist for several years and we just keep adding to it as lessons learned present themselves from previous trips. Particularly helpful for us since we've learned from hard experience that we can't trust to memory to ensure that the various tasks get done before departure...lots of trial and error (mostly error) talking here. Senior moments anyone?
Might add that the list includes arrival procedures as well as the usual departure concerns - basically, we mentally rehearse the first day's activities to ensure that we don't overlook something at the other end when we're tired and jet lagged.
Hello Judy. I think it is good that you are asking for advice or suggestions or information. I think a good trip to Europe is a trip that is well planned. It is not necessary for travelers to plan for what they will do every hour, or every day, in Europe. But I think travelers need to have much information (alternative places for overnight accommodation, places for eating food, location of train stations, location of bus stops, etc.
On the subject of what to bring to Europe, the standard advice to people going on their first trip to Europe is :
(1) Put every thing that you want to bring to Europe, in a pile on a floor. Bring half of those things with you to Europe.
(2) Decide what is the total amount of money that you will spend in Europe. Be prepared to spend twice that amount (200 %) of money.
Good advice above. I am a great believer in checklists. My pre-travel checklist has now grown to about 8 pages, with sections of items that are time-bound: 90 days before departure (eg ensure passports are current and valid), 30 days before departure (eg check functionality of all tech gear, cameras iPad, etc. and repair/replace/update) etc. plus detailed packing lists. I also have a detailed "day of departure" checklist & timeline, plus a day-by-day trip plan document with all crucial details. I keep all these documents in paper and electronic form handy - they're never out of reach while I'm traveling. My friends make fun of me and say I'm obsessive about details (I don't argue) but I think having everything immediately handy takes most of the stress out of travel and lets me enjoy the trip more. YPPV.
no need to try to reinvent the wheel
I would go ahead and pack your bag. Try on everything you are taking to make sure it still fits. A pair of slacks that fit perfectly two years ago may not fit now. Leave yourself time to go out and get replacements for clothes that don't fit or are no longer in style.
I order some of my clothes from a catalog (L.L.Bean) so I must allow for enough time for my new things to arrive before my trip. If you need to order anything from a catalogue to take on your trip, do it now. This way, you will avoid last minute panic, having to run out to get one thing you need the day before your flight.
You wouldn't believe how many people spend a year planning their trip to Europe, buying plane and train tickets, making hotel reservations, but wait until the day before they go to the airport to pack their bags.
Judy,
One thing very few people do is something we always do. On the day of departure we turn off the water supply at the meter next to the street. We then turn on a couple of faucets in the hose to drain the lines. A neighbor had a hose to the washing machine burst while in France. It was the next day before it was discovered and the water supply turned off. $37,000 worth of damage.
This sounds really basic, but make sure the reservation for your first night's hotel (or other accommodation) is made for the day after your flight leaves the States.
Have a great trip!
We did have a bit of an annoyance on the most recent trip, which went from May 5-June 11. On May 28, we tried a withdrawal from our bank card, and were denied. I had to make a call to the bank to determine what went wrong.
For my bank, only 30 days of foreign notification are kept. After 30 days, you need to renotify. So our notification expired. i had to renotify about all countries we were visiting.
The call was not collect since I could not figure out how to make a collect call in Germany. The full cost came to $7.50, which isn't much since I could then make a withdrawal again.
Thanks for all the replies!
So far I have done:
book airline tickets, and reserved our seats,
book ALL hotels,
book a rental car for a week,
buy travel insurance,
book some trains,
got a no-fee credit card,
got a no-fee ATM card,
bought new walking/hiking shoes and I am breaking them in,
renewed both passports,
gathered all clothes (and yes they all fit. LOL) Plus I am in the process of gathering all misc odds and ends that we'll need, as well as all toiletries, etc.
**What I have NOT done yet:*
get an International Drivers Permit,
CONFIRM hotels,
notify our banks and credit card companies of our travel plans,
buy any converters for electronics,
order prescriptions,
arrange for a CDW letter (I need to wait till it's closer to departure time)
And for Laurel: We're going to Germany and a little Austria. Yes, I do know how we will travel between locations. Trains for 2 weeks and a car for one week. Yes I have started a 'test pack' and yes we are bringing carry-ons only. We'll wash as we go.
So I guess it sounds like we're on the right track. I still need to start making copies of things, as well as mapping out our routes and writing down some directions from the train to the hotel, etc.
So thanks to all who answered. The flood incident sounds scary. Maybe it's something we'll look into.
I'm sure I'll be back a dozen more times before we leave.
Judy :)
Couple final notes from our recent trip:
buy any converters for electronics,
I hope you mean "adapters". See https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech/electric-adapters-converters if you are not sure.
I don't see the need for the international driver's permit.
She mentioned going to Austria. People on this forum have been saying that you do need it for Austria.
That said, be aware that the international permit is only valid in connection with your national one, so never leave that at home. We learned that the hard way.
At ten weeks out I obsessively check the forums, study Google Maps, scour Tripadvisor and do obscure Google searches looking for new information. Now is when you should book any reservations for timed entry museums or sights. I'd also switch to T-mobile if possible. Are you familiar with using a GPS?
I start with a rough idea of where and how long the trip will be. I used to have several ideas in mind a good flight deal would decide where I was going. Now I have an idea and shop for the best flight.
The first thing I do is study options, places to go and things to see. I try to build as exhaustive of list as possible getting information from guidebooks, forums, trip reports, TV shows, newspaper/magazine travel articles, etc. Then I rate them as must sees, good to see if I have time, or not interested. You should ask the people you travel with to peruse the list and, at least, point out the ones they would really like to see.
After that I start building an itinerary. For me two must sees equals one day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon with lunch between. I don't schedule any "good to see" sights but build a list with information to keep handy for when time and energy permit. If you can't live with missing a "good to see" sight, it probably should be listed as a "must see".
One full day of activities means I need to stay the night before and the night after (two nights gives you one full day). In places with only one must see, I try to schedule that as a stop enroute on my travel days ( moving between two overnight stays in different places). I know how many days I have so I let the things I really want to see dictate how far I can go rather than defining where I want to go and squeezing in as many must sees as possible. Some places I'll want to see a lot more than the average traveler. Other places it's just the opposite. I can't give you a rule of thumb how long to visit a town or city because only you really know your own preferences.
At the same time I start building, and refining, a pack list. How warm or cold is it going to be? Do I need clothing for any special activity (swimming, hiking, skiing, etc.). Do I really need this? How much will I use that? I start knowing the maximum I will pack, in terms of size and weight, then keep refining it until I have clothes, all mix and match that serve multiple purposes, for every need inside of the limit. Traveling light is so much better IMO, so I seem to be a little lighter each time and can't imagine how I ever needed to check a bag (or even carry a full size carry on).
Ultimately, you learn a little more each time you travel. Right after the trip, while it's fresh in your mind, save some notes about what you could have done without, what you wished you had, anything you would do differently.
You mentioned getting a ATM card, as in singular. I suggest taking two. One for you and another one for companion on two different accounts. If one is lost you are still in business. Same for Credit card.
Your cell phone chargers work fine if on the side it says 110-240. Just need a plug in Adapter for that country. Might consider taking a mobile charger along.
Do not take bulky items you "might" need. If you do, just buy it.
Do not worry about looking like a tourist. You will. Along with 5,000 other tourists.
It's just about time to start planning your next trip ☺
I don't see the need for the international driver's permit. We rented
a car in France, and they used my US license without a problem.
This is bad advice. A car rental agency may not require an international license, but the French police certainly will if they pull you over.
It's just about time to start planning your next trip ☺
Bahahahaha!! Let me get rid of this pesky mortgage and then we can talk! LOL
With regard to "...writing down some directions from the train to the hotel...", go to googlemaps.com. In many cases there will be aerial views, birds eye views, and street views that will allow you to "walk" the route before you ever leave home so the landmarks will be familiar. Takes some experimentation to get the hang of it, but it's a great tool.
TC--- I LOVE Google maps street view! I use it to "visit" all over the world.
The websites for our hotels have walking directions from each train station. I will copy them into my notebook.
How do people deal with tickets, hotel and car rental agreements, etc. I have them printed out. Separate envelopes?
As an aside: I had my first (of many I am sure) nightmares about this trip. Ugh... I'm the type to practically puke before a dinner party at my house so I can hardly wait to see how high my anxiety levels ramp up closer to the day. Lol.
When the anxiety level ramps up, simple sit in your most comfortable chair, inhale and exhale deeply and slowly ten times, and follow up with a glass of good wine. Works every time.
