The 10 things I wish I knew before I backpacked Europe

To say I was unprepared before I went off to Europe for three months was an understatement. It’s not that I didn’t read up. I knew some things- I knew to pack earplugs for the hostels. I knew to use a credit card that waived international fees and have more than one card on hand in case one was lost or frauded. I knew how to spot a good restaurant. These are very important things! If you don’t know these already or are just starting out, I recommend the book How to Travel the World on $50 a Day.

However, there were some really stupid mistakes I made that I would like to save you from. They were stressful, in some cases, embarrassing.

10. Hostel booking is per person.
Okay, this is the most embarrassing one right at the top. Before Europe, I had never actually stayed in a hostel. Never. Weird, right? But imagine my embarrassment when I had only booked one bed (hey, I’m with my husband, it’s a co-ed room, we only need one right?) and then on arriving in Dublin, found out it was per person. And there were no more beds left. Oh boy, good start, right? What an idiot.

9. Balance flexibility and structure.
When we got to Europe, I was SO excited about the complete freedom we had. We had nothing to come home for in the immediate future. We had no idea where we’d end up. We planned on taking the cheapest flights and buses until we were getting short on cash, knowing we could use the points I had saved up to fly home. This was FREEDOM. I would only book one night at a time at hostels and Airbnb so we could follow WHIM and WHIMSY on our spiritual quest! (and also bail if the room turned out to be a dud.)

Yeah, here’s the thing- if you wake up at 9 and need to be checked out of your hostel by 10 and you have a 30lb backpack and no idea where you’re headed next, it’s a bummer. And a little scary. What if there is no place available? What if it’s hella expensive? Even if you’re keeping yourself free, make sure you’re booked around busy times like festivals, holidays, and weekends so you don’t get stuck. It’s totally ok, especially if you decide you like a certain hostel or Airbnb, to just book the next few days in advance. You’re going to have plenty of adventure in your life already, right? It’s okay to add structure in there.

8. Be realistic about how far you can walk, especially if you are unclear about how wide-spread public transport is.
Okay, so this one time we found a great place to stay in Galway (again, still in Ireland, can you tell it’s where we went first? Get all those mistakes out early!) It seemed a little far out of the way, but foreign countries are not always super google accurate. Ireland, for example, is not really into street numbers. After we had walked for several hours exploring the town, we set off to our Airbnb… only to discover it was eight miles away. About five in (as it was getting dark) we had to call our hosts and beg casually for a pick-up. Embarrassing. And although the walk back to town the next day was beautiful and full of thatched-roof cottages, it was also hard on our newbie backpacker backs.

7. You do not need to bring that extra pair of shoes. You do not. Do. Not!
Yeah, but I can just ship anything I don’t need back to myself right? That’s what I thought until I sent my first package back in Spain and found it cost $70! Ah! Do you know how many pintxos I could have eaten for that kind of money?? 70! 70 delicious pintxos!

The truth is, you can buy almost anything on the road you’re really in dire need of. Backpacking long periods is also money-saving in that it discourages you from buying needless souvenirs. If the question is “do I like that thing enough to carry it on my back for the next ten weeks?” the answer is usually no. Cha-ching, cha-ching! More money for pintxos!

6. Know your data options.
Do you have a cheap international data plan available with your carrier?Is your phone jailbroken so you can use foreign sim cards when traveling? My husband’s phone was paid off so he got a local sim card. Mine still had a little money owed so it was useless unless I wanted to pay $30 for every 500mB (which goes very quickly, let me tell you.) This meant half the battery life when we were out. Speaking of power, always carry a few charging bricks with you so you don’t get stuck in a strange place without a phone. While we’re talking about your digital life abroad, have you thought about how you’re going to back up photographs and information while you’re on the road? It doesn’t matter what your plan is as long as you have one. You’ll be really sad if you lose all those beautiful snapshots of how much fun you’re having because something happens to your phone and nothing was backed up.

5. Read the fine print with budget airlines.
Caveat Emptor- Buyer beware! There are lots of amazing deals out there. In Europe, it’s possible to grab a plane from Copenhagen to London for $14 and then London to Ibiza for $30. Fantastic! But if you’re not careful, you’ll lose your savings and more through not reading requirements on budget airlines.

Learn which airlines are more associated with “budget” fares- these are ones to be extra wary of. Ryanair and Spirit, for example, are notorious for surprise charges. Their carry-on required sizes are extra small, for example, and you may have to rely on the kindness or negligence of your particular stewards to let you slip through without extra fee. Their online check-in times close super early. They charge extra if you don’t pre-print your boarding pass before arrival.

We scored a $30 flight from Dublin to London, but with all the mistakes my husband and I made not reading the fine print in advance, we realized on arrival to the airport we might be charged a full $300 in fees! Yikes! We decided last minute to let our flight go without us and buy new $60 tickets to Liverpool instead. All the scheduling chaos could have been avoided if we had been more mindful of the rules when we booked our original tickets.

4. Take extra care of traffic. Even a cyclist can DESTROY you.
Nice is a busy pedestrian city. There are scooters, cycles, cars, trucks, and buses all over the place and the margins between street and sidewalk are not as clear as, say, New York. Plus, as you explore a new place it’s easy to get distracted by all the exciting things around you. In my case, I walked too closely in front of a stopped bus (the light was red) and was totally owned by a cyclist who had not begun to slow down. He went flying, I went flying, and I literally couldn’t tell you how I ended up with so much road rash because I don’t remember anything between Brian screaming and me looking down after getting up and actually seeing how much damage I took. Wow, those stress hormones, huh? I didn’t feel a thing. Hadn’t even realized that I was covered in blood when I said how okay I was. I was very lucky it was just a cyclist. Don’t make that dangerous mistake- stay very aware of your surroundings, especially in busy areas.

3. Protect your gear!
When the lens fell out of my UV filter and shattered on the pavement as I was swapping filters, I debated replacing it. Imported items were extra expensive in otherwise-cheap Spain. Why bother replacing a filter that doesn’t really do anything anyway? Because this $30 filter protects my $100 lens when the lens cap is off. I replaced it. That meant that when I tripped spectacularly in Carcassonne while taking a picture and landed camera-first on the pavement, it was only my filter that was bent and scratched not my lens. I was able to remove it temporarily and keep taking pictures another day. The beautiful featured photo on this post? It would never have been taken if I hadn’t bought that UV cover. Good job, past me.

2. It’s totally okay to have rest days.
If you had told me that while I was in the South of France, I was going to spend a whole day sitting on the couch watching Netflix, I would have been super mad at myself. What a waste! How could I not be out exploring the amazing place I was in?

If you’re a go-go-goer like I am (I’m really not the all-inclusive resort kind of girl,) taking a full rest day on a trip sounds crazy. But as your trips get longer, they become 100% necessary. I was tired. I had been hit by a bike. I could barely walk and my knees were all shades of purple and red and green. For the first time in my life, I found myself in a beautiful place wishing I were back home. Taking a day doing a home activity sated that urge and gave me the strength and mental energy to explore again.

And the number 1 thing I wish I knew before I left?

1. There may come a time that you want to go home. And that’s okay too.
I thought that once I was on the road, I might end up on it forever. I met many cool people who did that- people who started traveling and five, ten years later were still out there, having amazing adventures. Whatever your timeline is, there may come a point where you’re tired and road weary and need a break. That doesn’t mean you can’t go back or that there won’t be a next time. Italy, Fiji, Angkor Wat will still be waiting for you. There will still be Chinese kids to teach English and waves to surf in Costa Rica. But be real with yourself- being real about your needs and desires is what got you on the road to begin with and you need to keep listening to that while you’re out there. Coming home at any point is not a sign of failure.

Remember, the hardest step is that one out your front door. Once you’ve done that, the rest is easy.

Have you gone for a long-term trip yet? Are you dreaming of it? Comment where you’d like to go or have been below!