i know this video is what you've all
been waiting for so today i'm finally
sharing my thought process when i
planned my first europe trip from the
budget to the itinerary as well as basic
information about the visa processing
i solo traveled around europe in the
summer of 2019 for one whole month well
it wasn't 100 solo travel because at
some point i met up with some relatives
and a few friends so basically a part of
the trip was shared with them but
nevertheless i still traveled solo
in case you are not very familiar europe
is a continent with around 50 sovereign
states or countries and there is this
area or zone called the schengen or
schengen area i'm not sure which is the
correct pronunciation but i've heard
both
so this area is comprised of 26
countries namely switzerland france
germany italy and the others for the
complete list you can check the link
down below if you will be traveling to
any of these 26 countries you only need
one visa which is the schengen visa and
we will talk more about it later in this
video whenever i travel i always start
with determining my budget i know some
of you want to know mine and my actual
expenses but as much as i wanted to
share that i believe it is much better
to guide you on how to create your own
instead aside from that i was working in
switzerland at that time so i was
already in europe basically
but just to give you an idea i used to
search this up on google europe trip on
a budget filipino because i'm a filipino
just to be specific and by reading all
the useful posts i could say that a
realistic cheap budget would range from
100 000 to 150 000 pesos or 2 000 to 3
100 u.s dollars per person
yes that is only for one person so if
you will travel with someone then you
just have to multiply your budget with
how many will be traveling to europe
so say for example you determined that
your budget would be 100 000 pesos or 2
000 us dollars let's just start with
this amount and you can always revise
this as you plan your itinerary
with your budget set the duration of
your trip how long will you travel i
know not everyone can afford to be away
for so long because of their jobs and
other responsibilities yes there are so
many things to do and see in europe but
you don't have to see everything on your
first visit
the budget range that i mentioned
earlier would normally last for two
weeks or more if you plan well
that is enough to see around three to
five countries or cities so say for
example you plan to travel for two weeks
now let's look for cheap flights look
notebook it's best to wait for your visa
to get approved before booking anything
my favorite website to search for cheap
lights is sky scanner because it has its
feature to search flights everywhere on
the cheapest month
if you will scroll down you'll see the
first european country with the lowest
fare which of course is just an
approximate amount if you will scroll
down further you'll see the other
european countries and their approximate
amounts looking at the first five or ten
usually it's the first five they are
less than thirty thousand pesos or six
hundred us dollars
that being said you should budget thirty
thousand pesos for your round trip
flight to europe just make it your
benchmark if you will be coming from a
different continent like asia then
expect that your airfare to come to
europe will take much of your budget
so your overall budget is 100 000 pesos
30 000 of which is for your airfare now
you're left with 70 000 pesos for
accommodation food activities and
transportation within europe itself now
let's plan your itinerary this is what
my map looks like based on my actual
itinerary i was able to visit 8
countries and 18 cities towns and
villages but that was in one month now
it's your turn what do you want to see
and do are you a nature lover then go to
those countries known for their
beautiful landscapes like switzerland
they love architecture castles nightlife
famous landmarks
your interests will definitely play a
huge role in planning your itinerary
list down all the countries and cities
you want to visit if you need
inspiration you can check my european
series which i will link down below if
you need more you can also check the
expert in european travel rick steves
and ryan shirley's channel it has a list
of must-sees in europe so say for
example you want to go to berlin germany
paris france interlaken switzerland
venice italy and rome italy three days
for each city so that's 15 days in total
so how are you going to travel from one
place to another
don't worry because there are so many
modes of transportation in europe you
just have to choose if it's country to
country you can go by plane it's
actually very cheap in europe but you
have to know that these planes are very
small and only made for short haul
flights since countries in europe are
just beside each other
yes your airfare will be cheap but if
you have bags with you whether it's a
carry-on or for check-in you have to pay
an additional fee that is usually the
case with budget airlines
if you don't want to travel via plane
the most common mode of transportation
in europe is the train city to city and
country to country trains are fast and
reliable but expensive good thing there
is a pass called urail it is an
all-in-one rail pass or train ticket
that gives you flexible access to most
trains across europe if you are a non-eu
resident your rail pass is what you
should get don't confuse it with the
inter rail pass because that is only for
european residents although they are
practically the same
while this pass could be a very good
deal i opted not to buy one because
after doing the math i realized that
traveling via bus is the cheapest option
my favorite is flixbus
buses in europe not only travel city to
city but also country to country the
only downside is the duration of the
ride usually it takes 12 to 19 hours
depending on the proximity of your
departure point to the arrival point
that's why i tend to travel overnight
via bus it also saves me money on
accommodation when it comes to traveling
within the city the most common modes of
transportation are trams and buses
sometimes fairies depending on the city
or town
usually the cities offer a travel pass
or a tourist travel card valid for 24
hours 48 hours and even 7 days when i
was in venice i bought a 24 hour travel
card which allowed me to travel without
limits via public transport on water and
on land so look at your itinerary again
and identify what is the cheapest and
most practical mode of transportation
for each destination it's better to
compute per city say for example how
much will it cost to travel from berlin
to paris via plane train or bus you can
use rome to rio for this but when it
comes to booking i will do it directly
from the airlines railway operators or
bus companies online
now it's time to find out accommodation
costs if you will be traveling alone as
a pair or a group of three friends then
staying in the youth hostel is the
cheapest option if you'll travel with
family it's much better to just stay in
an airbnb i always book my accommodation
in agoda that is where i find the
cheapest lodging and what i also like
about booking here is that you can
cancel for free you can also book now
and pay later which is really helpful
when applying for a visa when you apply
for a visa you need to show proof of
your accommodation and by booking in a
gada with free cancellation you won't
raise money if in case your visa got
denied by this time you should already
have an idea how much your
transportation and accommodation will be
so to complete your budget allocate
money for food and activities i'm not
very adventurous when it comes to food
and i don't really eat a lot so usually
my food budget is low but i usually buy
groceries from the supermarket and i
just prepare my own food in the hostel
hostels usually have a common kitchen
where you can cook and store your food
so that really saves me money sometimes
i buy ready to eat meals too
these meals tend to come in large
servings so whenever i have leftovers i
save them for later
when it comes to activities i rarely
join a tour because i love doing it on
my own i prioritize free things to do in
a city a landmark i could see for free
or attractions with free entrance there
are a lot of those actually and i only
set aside a budget for those activities
or attractions i'm willing to spend
money on like summer skiing in
switzerland and visiting bran castle or
dracula's castle in romania now let's
move on to the visa application you have
to check if you need a visa to visit
europe for us philippine passport
holders we need a schengen visa it is a
short stay visa that allows you to stay
in schengen for a maximum of 90 days
within a 180 day period for tourism or
business purposes
let's go back to our sample itinerary so
you will visit germany france
switzerland and italy where should you
lodge your application the general rule
is used to apply in the country where
you'll stay the longest in this case it
should be the italian embassy since you
plan to stay in italy for six days but
what if the number of days is equal per
country then submit your application in
the country of your first entry in this
case it should be germany
although the schengen visa allows you to
stay in europe for a maximum of 90 days
they won't normally grant the maximum
validity because it depends on your
planned itinerary
for the list of requirements i will just
link it down below and just highlight
some of them is this video the list is
standard for all countries in schengen
but even so each country is independent
of the other
some countries are known to have high
rejection rates and some are very
lenient so you may want to consider that
in planning your trip but of course it
always depends on the documents you will
be submitting if they are convincing
enough the embassies will check if you
have sufficient money to travel to their
country and that you will only visit for
tourism
one of the requirements is proof of
financial means it can be supported by
your bank statements investments base
slips or certificate or contract of
employment submit as many as possible
this is very important another
requirement is flight preservation like
i said earlier look for cheap flights
but don't book yet it's best to book a
flight after your visa is approved but
what will you submit in the application
well just a reservation there are
airlines that let you reserve flights
for free but most of them would require
a minimal fee so when you find a cheap
flight just reserve it and submit it as
part of your visa application
another tip for you is to travel to
cheaper european countries i like this
list from price of travel which is
updated yearly 56 cities were ranked
from the cheapest to the most expensive
this will give you an idea of which
countries are the cheapest and the most
expensive the cheapest cities i visited
during my one month europe trip based on
this list are bucharest budapest and
krakow and the most expensive are
interlachen and venice i've been to
london in zurich as well but on separate
trips if you're wondering if you need to
bring crash with you during your trip
you may choose not to
most shops accept cards i myself was
able to travel around europe by just
using my card in case you decide to use
a card as well it doesn't necessarily
have to be a credit card i actually
don't own one just a debit card will do
for small payments that only accept cash
i just withdrew money for that matter
just look for the atm of a local bank
and withdraw money from there the most
popular european countries are part of
the schengen zone but if you want to
travel to other countries in europe that
are not part of it like turkey and
romania you can actually use your
schengen visa to enter you just have to
check those countries that accept the
schengen visa in place of that country's
own visa and of course there are
countries in europe that won't accept
schengen visa like the uk the uk is not
part of the schengen and as a philippine
passport holder we would need a uk visa
to go to the uk
since this is your first time traveling
to europe you may want to exclude the uk
why because you have to apply for two
visas and with all the requirements it
can be so stressful there is also a
chance that only one will be approved or
the other will be issued late but this
is just my opinion
actually my initial itinerary included
the uk but then i realized i won't be
able to receive the visa at that time so
i decided to just set another mini
europe trip for the uk and it was easier
that way with proper planning and enough
savings you will be able to go on a
europe trip as well i hope you learned
something from this video don't forget
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