Make your time in Europe a walk in the park

It was the sum­mer of 2008.  I had just landed in Kiev, Ukraine with my pass­port, $20.00 US, and not much else. The cus­toms inspec­tor didn’t speak a word  Eng­lish, and I didn’t have a Ukrain­ian point of con­tact, nor an address of res­i­dency. Was I wor­ried? Cer­tainly not, and the trip proved a com­plete suc­cess. I had exper­i­mented with min­i­mal­ist travel on a pre­vi­ous trip to Europe, and extend­ing it fur­ther was a great expe­ri­ence. This time I hopped on the air­plane with no con­crete plans, no train tick­ets, and no room or board sched­uled.  Over the course of a month I got to see seven spec­tac­u­lar coun­tries, and not once had a seri­ous logis­tics prob­lem.  Although plan­ning may be a com­pul­sion, or even a joy for you, I rec­om­mend plan­ning at least one trip by not plan­ning at all.

No cash?  You’ll end up sav­ing money

In the past, my par­ents went to AAA and brought hun­dreds of dol­lars in traveler’s checks before a trip.  Oth­ers go to the bank and get large amounts in for­eign cur­rency.  Besides being a has­sle, the exchange rates are usu­ally bad, and you have the bur­den of hav­ing a lot of cash that could be poten­tially stolen (pick­pock­ets are a fact of travel).  As I have found in both West­ern and East­ern Europe, credit cards are nearly as ubiq­ui­tous as they are in the US. And given the right credit card, the exchange rates are always within 1% of mar­ket value, far bet­ter than any cur­rency exchange ser­vice will give.

But some­times cash is nec­es­sary, and ATM’s are easy to find. Again these pro­vide excel­lent exchange rates, off­set­ting any fees you incur. A cur­rency exchange cen­ter often charges 5%.  If your bank applies a $1.50 fee, you will recoup that cost with a with­drawal of $30.00, less money than is com­monly with­drawn, abroad or not.  More­over, sev­eral online banks and credit unions that don’t main­tain their own ATMs, such as Charles Schwab, offer reim­burse­ment on all fees incurred at ATMs, even for­eign trans­ac­tion fees. Rather than try­ing to plan how much money you need in each coun­try, sim­ply take out what­ever you need once you get there.

Eng­lish is rarely a problem

When decid­ing if to travel inter­na­tion­ally, some peo­ple are appre­hen­sive about get­ting stuck in a remote loca­tion where no one speak­ings Eng­lish.  I have been to 17 dif­fer­ent coun­tries, and 95% of the time I’ve found per­sons who can speak Eng­lish. I don’t mean to sound eth­noo­cen­tric, but the Eng­lish lan­guage is spo­ken well through­out the world, and in an emer­gency chances are you could find some­one who would be will­ing and able to help you. That hav­ing been said, when abroad, make an attempt to at least learn some basic phrases, as the effort will be thor­oughly appre­ci­ated by locals. I find com­mu­ni­cat­ing with local peo­ple to be some of the most fas­ci­nat­ing expe­ri­ences one can have abroad.  From pur­chas­ing train tick­ets to find­ing some­thing to do that day, com­mu­ni­cat­ing with a non or poor Eng­lish speaker forces you to see things from a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive.  You have to be accept­ing of their efforts, and try to fill in the sub­tleties lost in trans­la­tion.  Once back in the U.S., order­ing food is no longer a novel expe­ri­ence.  You’ll miss the chal­lenge of inter­act­ing with a for­eign cul­ture, work­ing together to make the trans­ac­tion a pleas­ant expe­ri­ence for both parties.

Where to stay? Com­par­i­son shop, and decide that day

Last time I was in Europe I stayed at the best hos­tel in each city, the choice of air-conditioning, and the option of with how many peo­ple I wanted to share a room.  And I did this most often mak­ing my reser­va­tion a day before I arrived in a city.  If I wanted to stay some­where for an extra few days, it was never a problem.

This is all pos­si­ble using the Inter­net and online hos­tel reser­va­tion ser­vices.  I have pri­mar­ily used hostelworld.com and I have been impressed every time I use them, whether in Ljubl­jana, or just tak­ing a week­end trip to Mon­treal for a ten­nis tour­na­ment. These ser­vices show the attrib­utes of each hos­tel, and the rec­om­men­da­tions of peo­ple who have stayed there.  Using these ser­vices can almost ensure a pos­i­tive stay. It is reas­sur­ing when you get off an overnight train to Belgrade after hav­ing to sleep in the hall­way, and your hos­tel invites you in with a smile, air-conditioning, and a fresh cup of Turk­ish coffee.

Not sure what to do?  Ask someone!

Numer­ous times I’ve found myself in a city with­out a good thing to do; tour books can only go so far. Whether at the hos­tel or a local mar­ket, most peo­ple are more than happy to offer great things to do in a city.  Wouldn’t you love the oppor­tu­nity to show some­one the high­lights of your city? Inhab­i­tants often know over­looked gems, and the per­sonal story behind each choice is far more intrigu­ing than what you’d find in a vis­i­tor center’s pamphlet.

If all else fails, find an Inter­net café

Unlike in the U.S., Inter­net cafés are still a sta­ple of Euro­pean cities. If you’re feel­ing lost, need to pay a bill, or want a cheap way to con­tact some­one, an Inter­net cafe is the way to go. Inexpensive and reli­able, these cafes can pro­vide you with the world, or at least every­thing you could access from your home computer.

From these loca­tions you can use sites like Wik­i­travel or Lonely Planet to help pick your next des­ti­na­tion, then book train tick­ets, hos­tel reser­va­tions, and find things to do once you get there. Inter­net cafes also are usu­ally run by or employ younger peo­ple. They may be bet­ter at speak­ing Eng­lish than aver­age and depend­ing on your sit­u­a­tion may be able to help you avoid the pit­falls of a city, or find a local night­time hot spot.

There is less you have to worry about than you might think

When I com­pleted my first trip to Europe, I asked my bus tour guide what he thought my next trip should be. He rec­om­mended some­where more exotic than Europe, such as Africa or India.  The point is, West­ern Europe is not a big change in cul­ture from the U.S. And with the tools avail­able to the mod­ern trav­eler, going there is eas­ier than ever.

The dangers from pick-pocketers and other haz­ards still exist, but many fears about for­eign vaca­tions are sim­ply unfounded.  To fur­ther test this sys­tem, later this sum­mer I will be attempt­ing a trip using these same prin­ci­ples for Viet­nam and Cam­bo­dia, and I’m excited to be push­ing my com­fort level ever further!