hi everyone I'm back and I'm blonde
which somehow makes me feel more
qualified to talk about how to do a
basic trip to Europe when I say basic I
really mean anyone that's in the
position to do an extended trip to
Europe or another continent after
college is very lucky should be very
grateful is privileged to do so but I
know this is the time of year the people
are graduating thinking about doing this
no matter what situation you're in I
know planning an extended trip like this
can be stressful even though you're
literally planning a vacation it can
just be very nebulous in terms of where
to start how to make sure you're getting
the best deal all the good stuff so I
want to make sure I tell you guys
through every element top to bottom of
how to play in this first stop I want to
introduce you guys to today's sponsor
which is going to be Skillshare I
figured if you're adventurous enough to
wander around Europe for a month
you're probably adventurous enough to
want to try to learn some new skills and
that's why I wanted to give the first
500 of you to click the link in the
description a free two-month trial to
25,000 plus classes that Skillshare
offers especially if you have some
downtime before you head out on this
trip they have classes to learn Spanish
in preparation for your trip they have
photography classes you can get those
euro pics nailed down they have
meditation to keep you calm in the midst
of things I even found courses the other
week about how to travel around the
world for cheap and how to plan a gap
year for cheap it's basically like
instead of me giving you guys this
advice from my personal experience it's
actually qualified professionals that
know what they're doing giving guys the
tips and tricks so they have everything
from design to business and coding there
are already 7 million people using the
platform and it's really really
affordable once you're off the free
trial only 10 bucks a month and a
premium membership gives you unlimited
classes so you'll never run out of
things to do to keep your mind fresh
post-college
if any of you are worried about that
it's real so like I said link in the
description to try out skill share but
it's limited to 500 people so make sure
you get down there now and thanks the
skill share for sponsoring this alright
Jack it off cuz we're getting into the
real stuff here
and it's hot because California is
finally getting into our weather so step
number one on your euro vacation pick
who you want to go with easier said than
done honestly this can be tricky think
of people you've traveled with before
and you trust that our easygoing slash
just pick people who you don't think
you'd get sick of after a month that
could be one person that can be so low
honest you might be safer to just go
alone because you know you'll never get
tired of yourself you can always meet
people along the way but figure out who
you're going with first lock it down
because you do not want flaky people
coming in and out like oh wait I want to
join and then they back out number two
pick the season most of you are probably
thinking summer because it's the kind of
post-grad season slash if you're already
in the working world when you get most
vacation time usually but if you
graduate early or if you start your drop
a late in the fall those shoulder
seasons and the spring in the fall are
wait G / to travel and it's also way
less crowded number three and I'm going
chronologically here just FYI what date
range is possible for the group so
what's the very very earliest you could
leave and take a flight and what is the
very very latest you'd have to get back
take into account who's gonna take you
time to move out if it takes you time to
move into the new living arrangement
you're gonna have post-college
think of all that and get a solid range
like a maximum possible range that
initial international flight getting to
Europe and the one coming back are gonna
be most expensive so give yourself
freedom to find the cheapest departure
date over a longer window number four
figure out your entry and exit points
into Europe flights within Europe and
trains within Europe are so cheap I
would not worry about where you end up
landing first off if it's Iceland you
can take an easy flight to London for
like 50 euros or pounds if it's Rome
that's a great starting point what I'm
saying here is the first flight you want
a book is that initial and final leg
finding the cheapest points number five
the flight apps and sites that I'd use
to determine the cheapest entry exit
points are hopper Google flights Scott's
cheap flights skip flag and sky scanner
really quickly debrief on all of those
if you're not familiar with each one
hopper is good for right now
so before you actually book the tickets
and you want to figure out one of the
cheapest dates you basically put in your
departure points or from me like SFO or
San Jose and while you're headed to and
it'll give you alerts to say hey your
flights are probably going to go down
and become cheaper and wait to buy or
hey your flights are just gonna keep
getting more expensive by now and that
way you'll have peace of mind knowing
that you booked it at the right time to
get out the best deal Google flights is
my favorite app because it allows you to
book and figure out multi city trips
it's not super convenient if you book a
round trip to Europe for example if you
go from New York to London and then you
end up on your euro trip closer to like
Hungary you don't want to have to get
back to London to get back to New York
if that makes sense so Google flights is
great for those multi city trips
plugging all those in and it also does
the tracking functions similar to hopper
skip flag is actually a site that got
sued by United for how good it was at
finding deals it's a little complicated
to explain how it does it but basically
it'll find flights that have cheap
layover that you can take advantage of
so if you want to learn more about how
you know connives those cheap prices you
can google it scott's cheap flights is
similar to hopper this one is pretty
unique and it does the work for you of
finding out the cheapest places to enter
and exit your up so play around with it
see what is cheap for the dates you want
to go it'll tell you if there's a really
good bargain one week you can pay for a
subscription actually that tells you a
bunch more cheap flights and then
Skyscanner is the flight app you want to
use when you're in Europe booking those
short little flights from you know
London to Berlin or Denmark to Italy or
whatnot
once you have booked your initial flight
and your very last flight now I get to
configure what you want to do within
that so within your month long or two
months long and by the way if you're
gonna go to Europe I suggest doing at
least two weeks just because the flight
is so long getting over there you might
as well plug and stay for a little while
longer than you would usually do and
you'll never have the ability to take
such extended periods of PTO so two
weeks minimum like I've had people go
for what two or three months that loved
it so give yourself a lot of time to
plan the stops in between point A and
point B you might have some cities
you've always wanted to go to like
Barcelona or Prague or I've always
wanted to go to the Amalfi Coast if you
don't have cities like that ask friends
or people you know of that have studied
abroad they'll give you the most
incredible niche spots the spots that
aren't just Paris or London like the
more beautiful like Annecy France or
Casilla in the South of France
I think France is the most magical place
in Europe but that's no secret base in
my Instagram's so for having trouble
deciding
in places I actually looked to travel
vlogs to decide between those stops just
seeing what looked you know maybe the
most fun or had the most to do and then
once you know the general spots you want
to go within Europe figure out when you
want to be where this could be tricky
the first way I'd you know break it down
is is there some spot you need to be at
in a certain date is there a music
festival in London on July 24th you have
to be there for is there a specific
place you want to be for the fourth of
July or you probably want to book the
bigger more popular cities on the
weekdays and the smaller cities on the
weekends so you balance out the busyness
but figure out if there's like tentpole
dates you have to be in certain places
and that can help you figure out when to
be where and then for me the most
concerning part was like how many days
do I need in each spot so there's a
couple of articles and resources I
checked they're linked down below for
the article reddit is a good source to
check TripAdvisor is a good source to
check baseline I would say book every
spot for a minimum of two nights just
because if you come in you know Thursday
night and then you have to leave Friday
it just doesn't give you a lot of time
to like settle in you know so you want
to have two nights that way you don't
have a day where you know you check out
in the morning and then your next
flights at 9:00 p.m. you're gonna be
walking around with your huge suitcase
or your huge backpack all day so move
them to nights just so you don't feel
rushed is what I would say once you have
how many days you want to be there and a
general path through Europe of where
you're going when you want to make it
pretty linear to just cuz it's a lot
cheaper to go from like Paris to
Amsterdam than it is to go from Denmark
to Italy if you know what I mean three
options to get with in Europe one trains
two flights three buses and that's my
order of preference actually number one
trains are great because they usually
take you to the city center directly
whereas a flight usually those airports
are further out of the city you're gonna
have to figure out the public transit to
get in there and if you're landing late
you don't have to do that mental math
and figure that out especially with the
language barrier so I would say trains
are get great because they're usually
pretty central you don't be baggage fees
some of those cheap European airlines
charge you for your bags so trains don't
do that there's like minimal security I
love looking at the countryside it
actually gives you a better view into
what Europe looks like between the major
cities
thing I want to say for trains is that
you may be tempted to buy your Rail Pass
do the math try to book all of your
trains you know one by one
add up the total and see if that's
cheaper than a year I'll pass it was for
me I think generally your rail is better
if you have a longer trip like more than
a month so test it out it might not be a
great deal actually the second option of
flights that's where you want to use
Skyscanner and flights are good if
you're going a little further or a
distant you know for garden from London
to like Barcelona you're probably gonna
want to take a flight for that and you
can get some pretty cheap deals
sometimes it's cheaper than trains and
then third option of buses flicks buses
are pretty cheap will take a little
longer but if you're trying to be
affordable buses are probably the
cheapest option here okay we got through
flights and transportation now I want to
walk through lodging and where you're
gonna stay the options you have with
lodging in Europe are one hostels to
Airbnb zand three hotels so hostels
should be the first place you look it is
the true way you're supposed to backpack
around Europe like that's the way our
parents did it in America we don't
really have hostels so it's pretty
unique too extremely cheap I will say
for traveling with a group this is where
preferences and lifestyle choices come
into play what I mean by that is some
people want to stay at a nice hotel and
some people want to stay at the dirt
cheap one usually it comes down to how
you're raised like for me my family
would cram four people into a Best
Western room and we'd sleep two to a bed
like just get it cheap because our
philosophy was you know you're gonna
leave in the morning and come back at
night so you're not gonna be spending
much time there unless you're staying at
like a resort you know on like a
tropical island like in generally hotel
doesn't matter or lodging doesn't matter
a huge amount just keep that in mind
people might you know have their
tendencies and preferences here but I
would suggest number one hostels because
they are the most affordable option
think about it if you're in Europe for
30 days if you pay hundred bucks a night
for a hotel that's three thousand
dollars that's a lot of money just to
pay on the lodging so hostels can range
from being like 10:00 to like 80 bucks a
night usually hostel world or hostels
calm are the resources you want to check
for those
and read the reviews see if it's close
to the city center see if it is air
conditioning see if there's a good
subway nearby there's a kitchen those
things they matter to you so definitely
read the reviews to figure out which one
and it's that you would like but those
are communal option but you're coming
from college most likely and you're used
to that so I'd stick to hostels but
Airbnb and hotels sometimes can be
cheaper if you're traveling with a group
of two or more I would do the math and I
check for every city pick out you know
four or five hostels pick out four or
five Airbnb s do the price comparison
sometimes when you divide it up Airbnb
can be cheaper or a hotel can be cheaper
and it is a nice break from the hostel
life you know maybe there's a laundry
machine in there you can do your laundry
you can just kind of rest a little bit
more have your private space so maybe
one or two the legs you want a book Eyre
B&B or hotel it will say Airbnb has a
horrific cancellation policy so be
warned I might even choose a hotel over
at Airbnb just for that purpose you
never know the weather conditions you
never know what's gonna happen to event
wise in that city to you know tutor you
from going there so hotels and hostels
generally have better cancellation
policies and if you are gonna go to a
hotel make sure to get your rewards
points that's kind of the only pro of a
hotel of that you know you can get
rewards points for staying there and if
you're staying for thirty days in Europe
you can probably get some good you know
rewards points that way
so once you've evaluated all your
options for each city in terms of what
type of lodging make sure you create a
spreadsheet of every single arrival time
that your bus or flight or train lands
in the city because I've made the
mistake before where I get time zones
mixed up and I booked the hotel for one
night later than I should have
especially with like overnight
situations like just be careful and make
sure you really understand which nights
you need to wear I clearly don't have
time to talk about what to pack or how
to prepare or what to do while you're in
Europe so give me a comment down below
if you think I should do a video
specifically on that kind of stuff or
let me know what you want to hear from
me about I actually I'm kind of running
out of video ideas at this point so it
appreciate some recommendations no
matter what you know topic they are so
thank you so much for watching I'll see
you guys in the next video and Katherine
you