Last month, I finally booked my plane ticket for my upcoming trip to Europe! From August 7 to September 4, 2012, I will be exploring three countries I’ve never been to before: Greece, Italy and Spain.
This will be my second time in Europe. In college (10 years ago!), I visited England (London) and France (Paris) on a weeklong spring break trip with my professors and classmates.
This time around, I’m going alone. No family, no friends, no tour guides. I’ll be spending one full month exploring Greece, Italy and Spain on my own terms. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared, but I’m also incredibly excited! Here are some details about how I’ve gone about planning my trip so far.
Get (or Renew) Your Passport
If you plan to travel out of the U.S. to Europe, you will need a passport. I already had one, but when I was moving from my Airbnb room in Charlottesville to the Craigslist one I’m living in now, I realized that my passport had expired back in December! I’d gotten my first passport in 2002 and they are only good for 10 years. I submitted my renewal application at the beginning of May and got my new passport back about six weeks later. If you’re in the U.S., you can renew your passport here or apply for your first passport here. It’s crazy how a simple task like getting a passport can seem daunting when you are a beginning traveler, so get on it if you haven’t already!
Figure Out Where You Want to Go
I already had plans to travel abroad since last year, so I just had to narrow down where, exactly, I wanted to go. Originally, I thought I wanted to spend a few months traveling the world, visiting several countries and continents during that time. Little did I know just how much money that would cost! Given my limited budget, I had to narrow down my itinerary. I asked myself one simple question: where have you always wanted to go? My answer: Italy! It’s my ultimate dream destination because of the food, of course. From there, I was able to tack on Greece and Spain, two of my other “must-see” countries, which seem relatively easy to get to once I am already in Europe.
Save As Much Money as Possible
I grossly underestimated how much money it would take to spend a few months out of the country. With my original plan of jetsetting around the world, I would have needed a million dollars. Well, maybe not a million, but way more than the $5,000 I had envisioned.
Over the past year, I’ve been able to save up about $3,000, so that is my budget for my monthlong trip to Europe!
Find Low-Cost Lodging
Create a Budget for What You Want to Do
I plan to travel light, as I did in Honolulu last winter. My main expenses are my plane ticket from/to DC ($1,200), local transportation between countries ($200), lodging ($700) and food ($600).
As I mentioned, I’ll be staying exclusively in hostels instead of hotels and I’ve deliberately chosen ones that offer free breakfast to save on the cost of meals. Beyond that, I don’t plan to do much “touristy” stuff that costs money besides a cooking class and a day trip here and there. For sightseeing, I plan to take advantage of all the FREE walking tours and museums that are available in each city.
Book Your Flight
This is the most expensive single item in my budget. My plane ticket cost me $1,200. And that’s after researching all the best possible flights, sales, deals and airport combinations online until my eyes felt like they were going to bleed out of their sockets. I used Kayak, Skyscanner and Expedia to do some initial research, but ended up booking directly with American Airlines because they had the cheapest flight that also allowed me to maximize my frequent flyer miles. With my Europe trip, I’ll finally have enough miles for a free roundtrip flight!
Because I’ll be visiting multiple cities/countries, I booked my ticket to fly into one European city and out of another:
- Washington, DC to Athens, Greece
- Barcelona, Spain to Washington, DC
Rosetta Thurman is a nationally-recognized author, speaker, mentor and coach dedicated to helping women create their ideal lives.
I just love your spirit & willingness to get out there and live life examined…
Nice tips too! :)
Hi Rosetta,
LOVE your blog and just purchased your book. Like you, I feel the need to simplify my life and do something different! Taking my first Europe trip to London for Christmas – SOLO! Yes, I’m scared but it’s scarier to think of missing out on this opportunity because I was waiting on people to join me. Still checking into flights; I found one for 930 round trip, trying to see if it goes down. Wish me luck!
I hope the ebook is useful to you! You should be able to find some good flight deals to Europe during Christmas depending on where you’re flying from. But it’s off season so the prices may come down some. I waited until about a month before my trip to book my flight and the prices ended up coming down about $300. Be sure to check kayak.com, skyscanner.com and Expedia to compare!
Hi Rosetta! Congrats for the book!
I don’t know if you alredy heard about RTW . It’s a ticket with reduced prices for a trip “round the world” .
More in: http://www.oneworld.com/flights/round-the-world-fares/
or
http://www.staralliance.com/en/fares/round-the-world-fare/
Love your blog and read it ever I can (I’m from Brazil).
That is so cool! Sounds like it will be a fun filled trip! Oneika the Traveller’s blog has tons of tips and “what to sees” for those countries.
THANK YOU for the tips and the reminder. I’ve always dreamed of traveling Europe on the train, but with me moving recently and juggling lots of other changes, I think I started to get sucked into the daily grind and new expenses. This is right on time to help me stay on top of what I really want long-term.
Please, please, please blog during the trip, as these are among the three countries I want to visit, too!
I am sooo excited for you. You will have a blast! I went to Germany for 3 months for work and traveled around Europe on the weekends and it is still one of the best things that happened in my life thus far. You have nothing to worry about with hostels. They are safe and a great place to meet people for a temporary time. If you haven’t already, check out Sandeman’s free walking tours. link: http://www.neweuropetours.eu/.
I took a free tour in Paris and also in Berlin. I highly recommend them. Also, the other tours they offer are all greatly cheaper than other companies. You have to do a lot more walking on those tours but that is the whole point. I saw a lot more than if I was on a tour bus.
Also, in the hostels, take some fruit and pastries and have that for lunch! I hardly ever ate lunch while I traveled in Europe. I always ate a huge breakfast and then most times had a cheap dinner. Food is not important for me in travel so it is not a big deal but this might be different for you. If you can, rent a bike also to travel around in cities that you are in. Such a great idea to see places.
I hope you document your trip here because I love to see people of color getting out there and traveling a we don’t do it enough. Congrats!
Yay!! That’s great to herar! I have been to Europe in the past (most recently to Iceland), but I am now focusing on Asia and South America as they are a little cheaper. :) I think traveling solo is super empowering. I just spent 3 weeks traveling alone in India (granted two weeks were on a very small group tour). You’ll have a great time. Let us know how we can be of help!
Rosetta, BFFs bandmate, Nate “Suave” Cameron was just on tour out there and he loved it! Im going to find out if he has any suggestions and also if he has a twitter so perhaps you all could connect that way. Enjoy your trip! It sounds amazing…and im sure you’ll keep us posted on all the exciting happenings!
Went to Italy last year; beautiful country & good food. Haven’t gone to the other 2 yet; should be able to visit both within the next couple of years though. Enjoy.
I’ve been to Rome and Athens. Athens is cool, and my friend said that the islands are really good to go to. When I was there though, in the middle of the day, it seemed like certain businesses were closed. My friend said the Greeks really love the siesta concept o.o;; But, we went to like a market where they sold dresses and things, so that might be fun to check out. I think most, if not all of it, was made in Greece so it’s sustainable.
I liked Rome more than Athens – mostly because of all the gelatto (SO DELICIOUS) and Rome has all these cool ruins laying around as you walk through the city. Which is great. The food is good in Rome.
I’ve never been to Spain though. :D
Hope you have fun!!
Rosetta you will love Italy. Took my second trip to Europe in 2000 one month 5 countries was truly a blast. Hostels are your best bet for accommodations. Also check out PBS travel guru Rick Steves travels in Europe bought my eurail pass on his site.
The travelers who post on his web-page give great tips on traveling in Eurorpe on a budget. Enjoy the gelato nothing like it. Must see Trevi fountain late afternoon and heading into the evening.
Have a great time and enjoy all the attention from the Italalian guys.
Thanks for stopping by, Penny. Appreciate your tips! I’ve heard a lot about the Italian guys – looking forward to getting my flirt on for sure LOL :)
I just love everything about your blog. I’m currently planning a much longer trip to Europe (Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark); I’m hoping to relocate to one of these three countries. I’ve been needing a radical change in environment since my brothers were murdered a few months ago. So after I’m done writing my dissertation, this will be my gift to myself. Let me just restate that I love everything about your blog–your willingness to be vulnerable, your willingness to be happy, and your determination to live freely in our world. Maybe one day our paths will cross outside the “virtual” world :-). Thank you for being a beneficial presence on the planet.
Natasha – I’m so sorry about your brothers. I can’t imagine what that experience must be like for you. I appreciate you reading here and sharing your journey – a change in environment seems like the perfect gift to yourself! If you have a blog, please share the link with us here (if you feel comfortable), so we can follow your European adventure :)
I’m so excited for you, Rosetta!
I will finally make my first European trip in Nov…London :-)
Awesome! I wish I could have gone to Europe in the fall – flight are a bit cheaper then. Will be awesome to hear about your London trip!