hi friends welcome back to my channel if
you're new here my name is angela and i
am headed back to europe for another
month-long trip if you've been following
my channel for a while you know that a
few months ago i was actually already in
europe and i went to 10 different
countries i did a mediterranean cruise i
went solo traveling for a little bit and
then i met up with my friends for the
last portion of my trip and immediately
after that trip i came home and i was
like i need to go on another trip so i
started doing my research originally i
wanted to go to asia because my sister's
gonna be going on exchange there so i
figured i would head over there with her
and pop over to a couple of different
countries but while i was looking into
the prices of plane tickets i realized
that it was so expensive i don't know if
it just this year or the timing or what
but the cheapest flights that i could
find with like three different stops
were like over two thousand dollars and
the flights that were non-stop or had
like one stop were like over twenty five
hundred dollars so i figured with that
amount of money i could do so much more
traveling in europe so in this video i'm
going to take you through the process
that i went through to plan this trip
what my itinerary is what kind of
research i did as well as give you some
tips that i learned along the way that i
think would be helpful for anybody out
there who's planning their next trip if
i'm looking down a lot it's just because
i have my laptop here which i have all
my notes and everything on so first i'm
going to go through my itinerary with
you and show you what i have planned for
this trip which countries i'm going to
and what i'm planning to do and then
i'll go into kind of the nitty-gritty of
how i plan my trip and the tips that i
have for you as well so first i'm going
to take you through my itinerary that i
have basically finalized at this point
what i like to do is just make a
spreadsheet and in the top row i just
have the date the time the itinerary
some notes
as well as the price so that i can kind
of add it all up at the end so i'm going
to be flying out at night on august 6th
and arriving in reykjavik in iceland on
august 7th and i'm going to be flying
with my mom because i'm doing the first
portion of this trip with her so we are
going to be in reykjavik for basically
three days and then we are going to be
flying to brussels on august 10th and
then staying in brussels for me five
days but my mom's actually gonna be
heading back to canada on the fourth day
that we're there so i'm gonna be
spending the last night at a hostel and
that is the beginning of my solo travel
period of this trip so the day after my
mom's flight home i'm gonna be flying
from brussels to budapest and i'm gonna
be solo traveling in budapest for
basically around four days on the fourth
day i'm going to be taking a bus
actually from budapest to bratislava it
takes around three hours so basically a
three hour bus from budapest to
bratislava which is in slovakia which i
am super excited to check out because i
saw a few travel vlogs about bratislava
a long time ago and i was really
intrigued by it so i'm gonna be only
spending one day or one night in
bratislava and then the day afterwards
i'm actually taking another bus from
bratislava to vienna and that's only
around like an hour bus so it's really
really close from bratislava to vienna
so then in vienna i'm gonna be spending
around three days there and then i'm
going to be going to prague which i am
going to be taking a train for so the
train takes around four and a half hours
i think so it's pretty long train ride
i'll arrive at around 7 pm at night i'll
stay there for around three and a half
four days ish and then on the 24th i'm
going to be flying from prague to milan
which is where i'm going to be meeting
up with my friends from exchange that i
haven't seen in quite a while so i'm
super excited to meet up with them in
milan and then we're going to be heading
down to cinque terre the next morning
actually and spending three days in
beautiful cinque terre which i'm so
excited about i've seen so many pictures
of the beautiful colorful houses and
everything so we're gonna be chilling in
cinque terre for about three days all
together and then on august 28th i'm
taking the train from monterosso which
is in cinque terre back to milan and i'm
going to be spending two days in milan
just on my own before taking a flight
from milan to reykjavik and then
reykjavik back home to toronto so that
is my entire itinerary laid out for you
and then moving on to how i plan this
and like what kind of tips i can give
you basically as i mentioned before i
have everything written down in a
spreadsheet and i have my spreadsheet
color coded so i have my transportation
in yellow and then i have any activities
that i'm doing in green and then i have
my accommodations and all that
information in blue that is how i like
record everything and make sure that i
have all my transportation from each
place i have all my accommodations
booked and everything so that is how i
like to keep track of it in my
spreadsheet but basically when it came
to planning this trip my first step was
looking for the cheapest flights and
unfortunately when i got back from my
first trip and went to new york and did
all my graduation stuff that you may
have seen in my vlogs after that period
when i started looking more closely at
booking flights the prices had already
gone up by a lot last time i booked a
trip which was in may and so when i was
booking those the flights were insanely
cheap i flew to london and back from
dublin from toronto and together those
two flights only cost me like less than
400 canadian which is insanely cheap but
this time i'm booking i'm booking for
august which is like peak travel season
and so when i was looking for flights
the cheapest option that i could find
was to fly to reykjavik and then flying
from reykjavik to everywhere else in
europe flights to reykjavik at the time
were around 750 so that's how much i
booked my return flight for i definitely
could have gotten cheaper flights if i
booked earlier so definitely do that if
you can but right after i booked those
tickets it was basically like impossible
to find anything under a thousand so i
snagged the 750 tickets as fast as i
could the way that i look for flights is
usually through google flights or sky
scanner those are the two sites that i
use the most when it comes to looking
for flights so like i guess in terms of
buying the main flight into europe my
biggest tip is really just to fly during
non-peak season i could totally see like
the big difference between when i flew
in may versus when i'm flying in august
like the pricing is basically double and
then also just being flexible with your
flights i was willing to fly to anywhere
in europe because i know that once you
get to europe flying within europe is so
much cheaper than if i were to like buy
a flight to one specific destination so
not being too picky about where you go
will definitely allow you to have a lot
more options and those options be way
cheaper than being like i need to do a
direct flight to this place on this day
speaking of that how i end up choosing
my locations is i am relatively flexible
my kind of like main priority when
booking and choosing my locations is are
there cheap flights and accommodations
in those places in terms of flying to
reykjavik it's not cheap in terms of
accommodations at all it is crazy
expensive actually but the flights were
the cheapest and i've never been to
iceland that's been on my bucket list
and so i wanted to check it out anyway
so i was like why not that's another
like criteria i guess of when i choose
my location just places that i've never
been to on this trip i am going to a few
places i have been to such as prague and
vienna but i went there when i was like
less than five years old so i don't
remember anything and i want to go back
and they're like really really popular
beautiful cities that i've heard amazing
things about and i totally don't
remember so i am going to be going back
to those places i'm also going back to
italy which if you saw my previous vlogs
you know i just went there during my
mediterranean cruise but it's italy i
freaking loved it it's been like top of
my bucket list forever so any
opportunity to go back to italy when my
friends were like we're gonna be in
italy for a while i was like ah let me
join you there because pizza pasta
beautiful views what more can you ask
for so i am going back to italy but
mainly just to go see my friends who i
haven't seen in quite a while and then
in terms of choosing my location i
personally just prefer bigger cities
more like touristy cities i would say
especially when it comes to solo
traveling i know that there are so many
beautiful cities that are like not
touristy and like not as popular and
i've been to a lot of those as well but
when it comes to solo traveling i prefer
going to the bigger cities just because
first of all i can basically reach
everything through public transit which
is usually excellent in these big cities
there's also a lot more to see in like a
smaller area and a lot of good food so
that's typically why i prefer going to
big cities and they're usually way
cheaper to fly into as well moving on
how i choose my transportation as i
mentioned through my itinerary i'm going
to be taking planes trains and buses so
when it comes to traveling in europe you
do have quite a few different options
for those longer distances i obviously
am going to go with a plane especially
in europe it can be really cheap to
travel by plane actually you can get
plane tickets for so cheap like some of
my cleaning tickets that i've bought are
like 20 or something crazy like that
that you could never find here in canada
but when it comes to those shorter
distances like i mentioned in that kind
of like patch where i'm going to
budapest bratislava vienna and prague i
do prefer taking trains and buses just
because they are pretty convenient the
good thing about trains and buses is
that they usually leave from the city
center instead of having to go to an
airport that could be like an hour away
they usually pick you up like right in
the city center super convenient
location you don't have to go and like
wait a few hours in an airport or
anything like that when it comes to
deciding between these transportation
options i typically mainly just look at
the price you usually have the option of
flying like low-cost carriers in europe
that would be like ryanair easyjet wiz
that sort of airline or you can travel
with regular airlines a big difference
that i see when it comes to buying plane
tickets you can look at the price and be
like oh my gosh the low cost carrier is
so much cheaper than the regular airline
obviously i'm going to choose that but
when you're flying with low-cost
carriers you have to make sure that you
look at the luggage and i personally
only travel with carry-ons but even with
carry-ons a lot of low-cost carriers you
need to pay for your carry-on on top of
your plane ticket and that can actually
get pretty pricey i don't remember which
airline it is but there's one airline
where the carry-on is just like 60 euros
or something and so when you add that 60
euro on top of your plane ticket price
sometimes it's the same or even more
expensive than a regular airline one
thing that i also look for when i'm
choosing my flights or transportation or
anything is the timing of the flight or
the train or the bus when it comes to
like flying i prefer midday afternoon
flights just so i don't have to wake up
that early and i'm also not arriving
super late a lot of the times when it
comes to like traveling for cheap like
when i was in europe last time i did
have to take a lot of morning flights
and on those days that i have super
early morning flights i'm so anxious
that i'm going to miss my flight that i
get like no sleep that day so when i
can't avoid it i try to avoid those
super early flights where i need to get
to the airport at six in the morning and
then i have to wake up at like three
because it takes an hour to get there
airport and all of that so my preference
is midday flights obviously if there's
like a really cheap flight or a flight
that i need to take on that certain day
i will take it in the morning but i just
don't love the anxiety that i have to go
through when i have an early morning
flight and then the other thing is not
flying into a city super late because
then it's hard to get to your
accommodation sometimes like the
check-in time close and then you're
screwed one kind of issue that i ran
into with flights this time when i was
planning is that for my flight from
prague to milan i originally looked at
flights on the 23rd and i had seen a
flight that was really cheap and i was
planning to book that and see my friends
that day but when i looked into it the
flight arrived i think at midnight so
that means that i need to somehow get
from the airport to my airbnb that i was
planning to stay with my friends at like
one in the morning if it was delayed or
if it took a while for me to get off the
plane or anything like that i was gonna
have to figure that out at like one in
the morning when i did a little bit more
research there was no trains from the
airport at that time they stopped at
like midnight i think and i would
essentially highly risk being stranded
and so when i looked closer at that and
saw that that was the timing of the
flight i was like absolutely not so i
ended up booking a flight the day
afterwards another thing that i make
sure to consider when choosing my
transportation is the location that it
departs and arrives and also its
proximity to my accommodation being
really careful of where a plane will fly
from is also super important an example
of this is that when i was looking at
flights from brussels to budapest they
had a lot of low-cost carrier options
that were pretty affordable but when i
looked more closely i realized that all
of the low-cost carriers fly from an
airport that is like an hour and a half
away from the city i was looking into
that like what the heck why is the
airport so far and then i realized that
if i took the flight with brussels
airlines it flies from the actual
brussels airport which is way closer and
convenient to get to so definitely make
sure that when you're looking at your
flights you're specifically looking at
the exact airport that it's leaving from
because sometimes if you type in just
like the city that you're flying from
it'll give you an airport that's like
far away and not convenient at all so
beware moving on to accommodation this
time around i am staying in airbnbs
hotels and hostels so those are
typically your most popular options for
hotels i typically book off of
booking.com and for hostels i'll usually
book them off of booking.com or a hostel
world those are just the ones that i
gravitate towards but i'm pretty sure
there's like a lot of good options out
there one tip that i do have for booking
accommodations through these channels is
that for some reason when you use like
the app of some of these websites they
actually give you a better deal like
especially for booking.com i book almost
like everything on booking.com just
because i like the filters and like how
it displays everything but when i'm on
my phone app they give you like a mobile
deal and it's actually cheaper than if
you just booked it off the website so if
you are looking for slightly cheaper
accommodation sometimes booking through
the app will get you the better deal
speaking of that obviously when it comes
to accommodation my first priority in
choosing is always price it obviously
depends on your type of accommodation as
well as the city that you're in during
my solo travel part as well as with my
mom we're seeing in a private room in a
hostel with my friend in italy on the
first night we're gonna be staying at a
hostel in milan i love staying at
hostels a lot of people are like iffy
about hostels they're like scared of
them they're like grossed out by them
but i've had amazing experience with
hostels you have so much more
opportunity to meet people and cheaper
than hotels usually not always another
thing that i take into consideration is
obviously the location that's like most
important for me i try to look for
accommodations closest to the city
center or close to metro and train
stations i typically like to find the
ones that are like the closest to the
city center and even if i am paying like
a little bit more money for an
accommodation in that area i think it's
worth it because ultimately you're
spending less money on public
transportation another thing i look at
is obviously ratings i look at the
accommodations that have the most
reviews and the best ratings another
thing i take into consideration is free
cancellation it is usually a little bit
more expensive so you want to see if
like the price trade-off for having it
be free cancellation is worth it but if
it is just like a few dollars usually i
do pay for it just in case something
changes during my trip and my last tip
when it comes to hostels specifically is
that i personally like to look for the
ones that offer a little bit of privacy
whether that's like an enclosed capsule
or just has like a little curtain that
you can close so that's something that i
personally like to take into
consideration as well so now that we've
kind of gone through how i choose my
transportation and how i choose my
accommodations my last kind of point is
how i choose my activities my main way
of choosing restaurants and things to do
in the city is primarily just to watch a
bunch of youtube videos like the vlogs
that i make i love to watch other
people's travel vlogs as well just to
see what are the top attractions what's
worth seeing what foods are good and all
of that so that's how i like to do most
of my research and then i like to go in
google maps and i create lists for all
of the top attractions and restaurants
and like must do things in the city and
so i have like a bunch of these lists
for so many different cities i can like
put it here and like scroll through them
and you'll just see how many lists i
have so if you want any of these lists
you can definitely comment below and i
will try to send the link out to you for
a certain city if you're looking for it
i personally don't like to pre-plan my
activities too much before going to a
destination i like to choose what i do
the day of or the day before and just be
a little bit more flexible and
spontaneous with that but if is like an
organized activity that i want to take
part in i will book those and i'll put
them into my actual itinerary so for
example when i'm in reykjavik i want to
do like the golden circle tour so for
that because we're not renting a car i
booked a tour for that through viator
and the good thing about booking through
viator is that they are usually like
free cancellations until like a day
before so it's actually really really
convenient anyways yeah aside from those
activities that i pre-booked i just like
to have my google maps of all the places
that i've marked down when i get to a
city and then kind of like figure out my
route figure out how to hit the must-see
attractions when i'm in a certain place
and so that's basically how i like to
travel and then also when it comes to
solo traveling i really like to go on
free walking tours just like the best
way to kind of learn more about the city
and to meet other people as well and i
usually book those on guru walk so for
those i usually like to schedule those
for my second day when i'm in a city
just because the first day i usually
just arrive and i'm pretty dead tired
from my transportation so i just check
into my hostel or my hotel and then i go
explore the city by myself a little bit
then on the second day these free tours
are usually in the morning i find so
i'll wake up go do the tour hopefully
meet some people learn about the city
and then during those tours the guides
usually give some really really good
tips and recommendations so then i can
use those to kind of help me plan the
rest of my trip to know what i should be
checking out for sure and what i can
skip also the good thing about that is
that if you do meet people from your
free walking tour you can hang out with
them for the rest of your trip or for
the rest of that day so that's why i
like to do them pretty early in my trip
so with all that being said that is
essentially how i planned my one month
trip to europe which i'm going to be
leaving for very very soon and i am so
excited for because i love travel
obviously but yeah that is basically my
entire itinerary for my upcoming trip
and how i planned it i hope this was
helpful for you if it was helpful make
sure to give it a like and subscribe for
more of my videos my next video is
probably going to be my packing video
for how i pack for my one month in
europe in just one carry-on so make sure
you stay tuned for that and obviously
all of the other vlogs that are going to
come out soon afterwards from my actual
travels in europe so stay tuned for all
of those and i will see you in the next
video bye