[0:00] hey guys welcome back today I'm giving
[0:02] you everything you need to know if
[0:04] you're planning on going backpacking
[0:05] around Europe I love to go backpack
[0:07] around Europe about a year ago it was
[0:09] June 28th of 2022 and it was one of the
[0:12] coolest things I've ever done in my life
[0:14] I had bought a one-way ticket to Spain I
[0:16] didn't know how long I was gonna be
[0:17] there I ended up staying for about four
[0:20] months going over I think seven
[0:22] countries in Western Europe I went to
[0:24] Spain France Italy Switzerland Belgium
[0:28] England and Scotland over that four
[0:30] month time period so most of my
[0:32] knowledge is in Western Europe but a lot
[0:34] of this still applies to Eastern or
[0:36] Central Europe too just the train
[0:38] systems aren't as developed when you get
[0:40] into like the Balkan areas or Greece so
[0:42] it's a little bit different but a lot of
[0:43] the facts are still the same step one
[0:45] you have to pick where you want to go
[0:47] and I don't think you necessarily have
[0:50] to completely plan out your route I know
[0:53] I had a couple places in mind that I
[0:55] really wanted to go to but I didn't
[0:57] exactly know the way that I was going to
[0:58] get there and I was playing planning
[1:00] about two to three probably about three
[1:02] weeks in advance because I was there in
[1:04] High season which is summer so if you
[1:06] are going in the summer time usually
[1:08] June through August you have to plan
[1:10] more in advance but if you're going in
[1:12] off season which is probably like
[1:14] September to may you have a little bit
[1:18] more flexibility with the places that
[1:19] you're booking and where you're going
[1:20] and how far in advance you need to do it
[1:22] because it's not as busy but when
[1:24] picking a place to go I really recommend
[1:26] just going on to Google Flights type in
[1:29] where you're currently located and then
[1:31] in the where you're going to search bar
[1:33] you can put in just Europe in general
[1:35] the whole continent and every flight
[1:37] that's leaving from your town like for
[1:39] me at Chicago to Europe is gonna pop up
[1:41] and you can kind of pick the place
[1:43] that's the cheapest to fly into a lot of
[1:46] times it's going to be places like Paris
[1:48] London or Amsterdam I find that those
[1:50] are usually pretty cheap in relative
[1:53] terms of flying to Europe but just
[1:55] picking the cheapest one to start at
[1:56] traveling within the countries or just
[1:59] to you within Europe in general is so
[2:02] cheap comparatively to coming from the
[2:04] US to go wherever you want to go so once
[2:06] you have that list of a couple places
[2:07] that you want to visit you can start
[2:09] mapping out a tentative route I don't
[2:12] think you should completely plan out
[2:13] your whole trip because you're going to
[2:15] learn so many places once you're there
[2:17] and talk to so many people that you're
[2:19] meeting and they're going to tell you
[2:20] about towns you didn't even know existed
[2:21] and I know I ended up finding out about
[2:24] so many different little small towns or
[2:26] just random places that are more like
[2:28] European people travel destinations
[2:31] compared to U.S people travel
[2:33] destinations once I was there and they
[2:34] ended up being some of my favorite
[2:35] places
[2:36] so come up with your list of roughly
[2:39] where you want to go and be realistic
[2:41] about it I have some people that comment
[2:43] on my videos and they're like I'm going
[2:44] to Europe for 10 days and I want to go
[2:46] to these five countries like are you
[2:48] even planning on seeing things in the
[2:49] country are you just trying to check
[2:50] that Ox off because I usually think it's
[2:53] best if you have only 10 days to go
[2:55] backpacking to do two countries that are
[2:58] touching like they're within super quick
[3:01] distance either that's flight or train
[3:03] ride from each other and then maybe
[3:04] three cities that once again are pretty
[3:07] close together that way you can actually
[3:08] get to enjoy your time there and you're
[3:10] not rushing from one country or one city
[3:12] to the next so once you have that rough
[3:14] idea of the places that you want to go
[3:16] next we're talking where you're gonna
[3:18] stay so personally I stayed in hostels
[3:21] pretty much the whole time that I was
[3:23] solo traveling in Europe hostels are not
[3:25] as scary as they seem they get a bad
[3:26] reputation in the US I don't really know
[3:28] why because hostile culture is amazing
[3:30] and it is the best way to make friends
[3:32] it is the best way to experience this
[3:34] new way of travel and meet all these
[3:36] different people and easily have
[3:38] activities available to you a lot of
[3:40] hostels that you stay at have planned
[3:42] activities every single day that you can
[3:43] sign up for for like 10 euros and then
[3:46] you can go hiking with everyone you can
[3:48] go out to dinner with everyone they'll
[3:50] host trivia nights like they just have
[3:52] fun things always going on and that's
[3:54] how you can easily meet people for cheap
[3:55] when you're saying in hostels you're
[3:57] normally in a hostile dorm room that's
[3:59] just how it is you can also do a private
[4:01] room but honestly if you want to meet
[4:03] people and save money the dorm room is
[4:04] the way to go it's not as scary as it
[4:06] seems it's honestly it's a really
[4:08] interesting experience and it's cool and
[4:10] it's fun and I truly love traveling in
[4:13] hostels but it's just a completely
[4:15] different way of travel than you've
[4:16] probably ever done before you can also
[4:18] stay in airbnbs or hotels obviously
[4:21] those are pretty standard in the U.S too
[4:23] I stayed in a couple airbnbs when I was
[4:25] gone I loved it and I only stayed in two
[4:28] hotels I personally as a Solo Traveler
[4:31] don't like staying in airbnbs or even
[4:33] hotels when I'm by myself because
[4:35] there's not as many people around where
[4:36] is in a hostels you feel a lot more
[4:38] secure because there are people who
[4:41] you've gotten to know and staff that
[4:43] actually maybe not cares about you but
[4:45] they know who you are and they know you
[4:46] exist and so you've got people keeping
[4:48] an eye out for you I always recommend
[4:51] going on a hostile world to look up your
[4:53] hostels that you want to stay at you can
[4:55] type in the city and all the ones in the
[4:57] area will come up there's tons of
[4:58] reviews tons of ratings pictures
[5:00] everything Pro tip is to not book on
[5:02] hostile world you want to look them up
[5:04] there read all the reviews and then
[5:05] you're going to go to the actual hostels
[5:07] website and book directly through the
[5:09] hostel that's probably going to save you
[5:11] a couple dollars a night and a lot of
[5:12] times you can get some perks like free
[5:14] breakfast if you go directly through the
[5:16] hostel and then if you have to change or
[5:19] cancel or do anything with the
[5:20] reservation you're not going through a
[5:22] third party and you're just talking to
[5:23] that hostel directly and it just makes
[5:25] that whole process a lot easier next is
[5:27] all about Transportation I use the
[5:30] europass that is the pass that you can
[5:32] get for the train system within Europe
[5:34] if you are a non-eu citizen and this
[5:37] pass can cost anywhere from like 300 to
[5:40] probably like 800 US dollars depending
[5:42] on the level of pass that you get I
[5:45] think mine was about 500 to be able to
[5:48] take 10 trains over the course of two
[5:51] months they also have unlimited packages
[5:53] or different packages again these
[5:55] numbers are from last summer so I don't
[5:56] know what it's like now but if you're
[5:58] planning on taking a lot of long-haul
[6:00] trains like we're talking cities that
[6:02] are probably at least five hours apart
[6:05] it probably your cheaper option but if
[6:07] you're going to cities that are closer
[6:10] together I recommend busing I know when
[6:12] I went from Brussels to Paris my bus was
[6:15] only like 10 euros which was so cheap
[6:18] and so that made it worth it compared to
[6:20] taking a train and the bus that you
[6:22] usually go through is like Flix bus or
[6:24] at least that's what I used but there is
[6:26] an app called omeo which I used a lot
[6:29] when I was in Europe and that tells you
[6:31] all the different ways you can get from
[6:32] one city to the next so it'll tell you
[6:34] the trains buses shared cars literally
[6:37] any method of transportation that you
[6:39] can think of will be shown on that app
[6:41] and you can compare prices and even book
[6:42] directly through it with the trains in
[6:45] Europe please be mindful of the switches
[6:48] that you have to make and also the time
[6:51] between the train switches so you want
[6:53] to make sure you at least have an hour
[6:55] between your trains because a lot of
[6:56] times the trains run late or things get
[6:59] delayed problems come up with the train
[7:01] and you don't want to miss your
[7:02] connecting train because there were
[7:04] times when I got completely screwed and
[7:06] I ended up being stuck in a town for an
[7:08] extra eight hours because my first train
[7:10] was late and I missed my connecting
[7:11] train for the most part the trains are
[7:13] really nice but do not rely on them to
[7:15] have Wi-Fi because that's something that
[7:17] I expected when I was going is that all
[7:19] the trains were going to have access to
[7:21] Wi-Fi and it was really only maybe 20 of
[7:24] the time that I actually had working
[7:25] Wi-Fi on a train no matter if it even if
[7:28] it said it had Wi-Fi it still probably
[7:30] won't work the other option you can do
[7:32] is flying which I personally don't like
[7:35] as much because of how long the process
[7:37] takes like yes the flight might be a lot
[7:39] shorter than the train ride but you
[7:42] normally have to Uber out to the airport
[7:44] and then you have to go through security
[7:46] and get to the airport a couple hours
[7:48] early and it ends up being just as long
[7:50] as the process as the train would have
[7:51] been and the trains are a lot easier
[7:53] because they're usually in the center of
[7:55] the city not on the outskirts like the
[7:56] airports and you can get to them easily
[7:58] usually you can walk or take public
[8:00] transport and then take the train to
[8:02] your next place that's just a personal
[8:04] decision planes are also great to but
[8:06] remember on a lot of the cheap flights
[8:08] in Europe if your bag is bigger than a
[8:10] carry-on you're gonna have to pay for it
[8:12] whereas trains baggage is completely
[8:14] free next up is currency and anything
[8:17] money related while you're in Europe the
[8:19] European countries you definitely need
[8:21] to look up to see what type of currency
[8:23] they use because not every European
[8:24] country uses the Euro a good bit of them
[8:27] do but not all of them so you need to
[8:29] see what type of currency they use and
[8:31] then you also need to look up the
[8:32] currency exchange rate this is just so
[8:34] that you kind of can keep track of how
[8:36] much money you're spending when I was
[8:38] there last summer it was luckily a
[8:40] one-to-one for the Euro to the US dollar
[8:41] so pretty much every Euro I would spend
[8:44] was like spending one US dollar but then
[8:46] when you go to the UK and that was
[8:48] pounds at that time I think it was a one
[8:51] to like 1.5 so every one pound was a
[8:55] dollar and fifty cents of US dollars so
[8:57] you're spending a little bit more every
[8:59] time you pay than you would have in the
[9:01] Euro I also recommend having cash on you
[9:04] at all times when you're in Europe one
[9:06] it's usually what they take on public
[9:07] transport a lot of the times it's either
[9:09] gonna be coins or money that they want
[9:11] and you're taking the buses around which
[9:13] I really recommend you do and also
[9:15] sometimes restaurants in local markets
[9:17] and stuff will prefer cash over your
[9:19] card and so it's just nice to have a
[9:21] little bit on you especially if you're
[9:23] going anywhere in Eastern Europe
[9:24] compared to Western Europe they use a
[9:26] lot more cash than they do card and you
[9:29] don't need anything crazy I think I
[9:30] would take out about 300 Euro every
[9:33] single time that I went to the ATM which
[9:34] was not often and that would last me
[9:37] like a month and a half I also recommend
[9:39] you look into a travel credit card
[9:40] there's a PSA on this if you're not good
[9:43] with credit cards please do not do this
[9:45] but if you are and you want to start
[9:46] getting into travel hacking and just
[9:48] having a travel credit card in general I
[9:50] really recommend the Chase Sapphire that
[9:52] is the credit card that I use and the
[9:54] reason you use it is one you get like
[9:57] three times the points on any travel
[9:59] purchase you make with that card so you
[10:01] get a lot of bonuses with flights I've
[10:04] only paid for like 20 percent of flights
[10:06] that I've taken this year because I
[10:07] mostly just use all my points on my
[10:09] flights and I get free flights all the
[10:10] time my last flight to Hawaii which
[10:13] would have been about a thousand dollars
[10:14] round trip I just paid for in credit
[10:16] card points and it cost me nothing but
[10:18] what the card is also good for are most
[10:21] travel credit cards that you look up are
[10:22] good for is that when you use them in a
[10:24] different country you don't get charged
[10:26] a fee so a lot of times if you were just
[10:28] to use your normal debit card you would
[10:30] be charged like three percent of
[10:32] whatever the purchase was as an exchange
[10:34] rate fee and when you use a travel
[10:36] credit card you don't get that fee and
[10:37] so if you're gone for a long period of
[10:39] time it's nice because that number does
[10:41] add up if you're just going on a week
[10:42] trip you can probably get away with it
[10:44] it's not that big of a deal but if
[10:45] you're going to be anywhere for an
[10:47] extended period of time it's definitely
[10:48] worth it to look into a travel credit
[10:50] card or just a card in general that does
[10:52] not have those fees the one thing that I
[10:54] didn't have that I wish I did was a card
[10:57] like a Charles Schwab Bank account or
[11:00] one of those other kind of foreign bank
[11:02] accounts where you can pull out money
[11:04] from an ATM with out getting hit with
[11:06] those transaction fees because I know
[11:07] every time I pulled out money from an
[11:09] ATM it ended up costing like an extra
[11:11] fifty dollars in just the exchange rate
[11:13] fees but to make it a little bit cheaper
[11:15] when you are at the ATM make sure you
[11:17] deny their conversion because the ATM's
[11:19] conversion is going to be a lot more
[11:21] expensive than what your base conversion
[11:23] would be so you want the conversion rate
[11:25] to come from your bank instead of the
[11:26] ATM you'll see it when you swipe your
[11:28] card in you go to collect how much cash
[11:30] you want out it's going to say accept
[11:31] this conversion rate or decline this
[11:33] conversion rate you want to decline it
[11:35] and it's still going to give you the
[11:36] money it's just going to have that
[11:38] exchange rate be taken from your bank
[11:40] instead of what the ATM wants if you are
[11:42] planning on staying in Europe for a long
[11:44] time or honestly anywhere for a long
[11:46] time and you want to be able to save
[11:47] some money doing work exchange is a
[11:49] great way to do it I'll do a whole video
[11:51] on this but I went through the
[11:53] organization World Packers and I did two
[11:55] volunteer experiences while I was there
[11:57] so one was at a hostel in Spain for two
[11:59] weeks and the other one was at a bed and
[12:01] breakfast in France for another two
[12:03] weeks and that saved me a month of food
[12:05] in a comedy so there are ways to get
[12:07] around the idea that Europe is super
[12:09] expensive as long as you're willing to
[12:10] put in a little bit of work and do
[12:12] things a little bit non-traditional
[12:13] other ways you can save money are
[12:15] definitely by taking public transport
[12:17] and so that's using the buses whenever
[12:19] you're in a city instead of ubering I
[12:21] know I only ubered like two times and
[12:22] that was if I had like a really early
[12:24] morning planes or flights and the bus
[12:26] systems are relatively easy to figure
[12:28] out or the trans systems or literally
[12:31] any type of public transport in the city
[12:32] and once you figure out the first city
[12:34] pretty much every city after that is
[12:37] similar so it definitely gets easier the
[12:40] longer you're in Europe now we need to
[12:41] talk about your phone and how you're
[12:43] going to be able to have signal to talk
[12:44] to people while you're gone I personally
[12:46] use Verizon as my phone service provider
[12:49] and Verizon unfortunately is like one of
[12:52] the only providers that does not connect
[12:54] with SIM cards so if you put a new sim
[12:57] in your card which a lot of people do
[12:58] when they go to Europe it just does not
[13:00] work with these phones I don't know why
[13:03] I don't know the science behind it
[13:04] that's just what I've heard and
[13:05] everything I've looked up so I got the
[13:07] Verizon travel plan for my phone and I
[13:09] think it was a hundred dollars a month
[13:11] it was like eight gigabytes of data 200
[13:13] minutes of calling and a thousand
[13:15] incoming texts and a thousand outgoing
[13:16] texts which is not a lot but it was
[13:19] honestly really good for me because I
[13:20] was not on my phone at all for four
[13:22] months unless I was in the hostel
[13:23] attached to Wi-Fi in my bed at night and
[13:26] besides that I just couldn't go on it if
[13:28] you do not get the travel planned
[13:31] through your provider you can do the SIM
[13:33] card route unfortunately I do not have
[13:36] any information about SIM cards in your
[13:38] phone just because I've never personally
[13:39] done it I have heard it's relatively
[13:41] easy and you can get them at airports or
[13:43] at train stations whenever you arrive in
[13:45] a new country but I've never done it
[13:48] myself next topic is the bag that you
[13:50] need to bring I personally had a 55
[13:53] liter off spray bag it was a backpack it
[13:56] fit all my belongings in it and then I
[13:57] had a 13 liter Offspring daylight pack
[14:00] on my front so I had the big backpack on
[14:02] my back the other one on my front and
[14:04] that's pretty much it for my bag
[14:06] situation if I was to go again though I
[14:08] would force myself to do a 40 liter on
[14:10] my back and still probably keep the 13
[14:12] on my front just because what I had was
[14:15] still way too much stuff even though it
[14:17] was practically nothing it just gets so
[14:19] annoying when you're moving around so
[14:20] much to be lugging everything around
[14:22] with you and so I know it seems like you
[14:24] don't have anything with you but when
[14:26] you're backpacking you really don't need
[14:28] that much you're going to new cities
[14:29] constantly so wearing the same thing
[14:31] isn't that weird because you're not
[14:33] around any people that would have seen
[14:35] you in the previous outfit and you just
[14:37] kind of start wearing the same things
[14:39] over and over again because everything
[14:40] just gets so jumbled in your bag that
[14:42] you're just taking whatever's off the
[14:43] top and you start to realize that things
[14:45] just aren't that serious and it doesn't
[14:46] really matter what you look like but I
[14:49] personally still like looking cute so I
[14:50] still had cute dresses and cute skirts I
[14:52] would just re-wear them and then you
[14:54] also want the bare minimum for all your
[14:56] toiletries and makeup I can do a whole
[14:58] video talking everything about what to
[15:00] pack for your backpacking trip with
[15:02] actual clothes and shoes and all your
[15:04] toiletries and all the random travel
[15:07] accessories that you would need for your
[15:09] bag and just to have in general so stay
[15:11] tuned for that because I think I
[15:13] actually packed pretty good when I went
[15:14] suitcases are just personally a no-go
[15:17] when you're going to grow up for an
[15:18] extended period of time even if it is a
[15:21] carry-on size when you're in hostels the
[15:24] only option that you have to store your
[15:25] bag is in a locker and you kind of have
[15:27] to sometimes like smush your bag in
[15:29] there and you just wouldn't be able to
[15:30] do that with a true suitcase and so for
[15:33] safety and lock reasons you're gonna
[15:35] want a backpack also because backpacks
[15:38] are a lot easier to lock and become more
[15:40] theft proof than I think a suitcase
[15:42] would be I had locks on every zipper and
[15:44] then you also have a lock for your
[15:46] locker so no one's going to take your
[15:48] belongings I was in hostels for four
[15:49] months like I said and I didn't have one
[15:51] single thing stolen from me other random
[15:53] bags that you may want are a fanny pack
[15:55] or some type of crossbody purse that you
[15:58] can always leave in front of you instead
[16:00] of behind when you're walking around for
[16:02] theft proof reasons and or a tote bag
[16:05] the tote bag comes in such handy
[16:07] especially if you're solo traveling
[16:08] because you'll end up just wanting to
[16:09] bring activities with you so I would
[16:11] always walk around with my journal and
[16:13] my Kindle with me at all times and then
[16:15] I would usually like pick up lunch or go
[16:17] buy something like I would always need a
[16:19] true bigger bag and when I was leaving
[16:20] the hostel for the day I probably wasn't
[16:22] coming back for hours so a tote bag was
[16:24] 100 worth it to fit everything but then
[16:26] it also can double as a beach bag
[16:28] finally this is how much it's going to
[16:30] cost you or how much you should save for
[16:31] your trip I know when I was gone for the
[16:34] four months including my plane ticket I
[16:37] spent roughly nine thousand dollars
[16:39] total which isn't actually that crazy
[16:40] when you think about being gone for four
[16:42] months now I did have the total of one
[16:45] month of volunteering during that time
[16:47] which helped keep my costs low but it
[16:50] still would probably have only been
[16:51] around 11 000 if I didn't I usually say
[16:54] for rule of thumb the best price to save
[16:57] up for and plan for per month for one
[16:59] person is about two thousand five
[17:01] hundred dollars that's enough to where
[17:03] you're not gonna feel stressed of not
[17:05] having enough money and still have a
[17:07] little bit to splurge on something you
[17:09] want to buy or a certain Excursion you
[17:11] want to go on and still be able to eat
[17:13] out sometimes like it's a flexible
[17:15] budget with the 2500 but you can
[17:18] definitely do it for cheaper I know
[17:19] there was some months that I was there
[17:21] that I only spent 1 100 but it also
[17:25] depends on the country you're going to
[17:26] so I would do some research in knowing
[17:28] kind of the cost of living in the
[17:30] countries that you're going to because
[17:31] if you're going to anywhere in the
[17:33] Balkans or somewhere in like Portugal or
[17:36] Spain it's going to be a lot cheaper
[17:38] than if you're going to England just the
[17:39] nature of the game and how things are
[17:41] you just really need to pay attention to
[17:43] kind of the sheep first expensive
[17:46] countries and maybe plan your route
[17:48] accordingly if you know what your budget
[17:50] is staying in hostels is obviously going
[17:52] to keep your price low finding the
[17:54] cheapest flights are going to keep your
[17:55] costs low not eating out all the time is
[17:58] going to keep your costs low if you're
[18:00] staying in hostels they almost always
[18:01] have kitchens and you can make meals and
[18:03] go grocery shopping most of the time
[18:05] people people are not going to steal
[18:06] your food once again I never had anyone
[18:08] steal my food so there are ways to keep
[18:11] this a lot more budget friendly some
[18:13] other random tips I have are one please
[18:15] make sure you download your map of the
[18:17] city that you're going to before you get
[18:19] there there was a time when my train got
[18:21] in in Lake Como into this tiny little
[18:23] town that I was staying in and I had
[18:25] zero signal I only knew the number of
[18:28] the bus that I had to get on and I knew
[18:29] the name of the town and that was it and
[18:32] I had to figure out my way it was the
[18:33] most stressful day of my life I was
[18:35] contemplating everything debating going
[18:37] back to Milan just was completely
[18:39] screwed because I've had forgotten to
[18:41] download my map and I just kind of
[18:43] assumed that I would have signal when I
[18:44] got there and so it's definitely
[18:46] something for your safety that you need
[18:47] to do a lot of people use Google Maps I
[18:50] personally use the app maps.me which is
[18:54] essentially the same thing I just really
[18:55] liked it because it also had hiking
[18:57] trails on there too and it's just the
[19:00] app that I was recommended and I
[19:01] personally loved it so just make sure
[19:03] you download offline apps so that when
[19:05] you get to a city you know where you're
[19:07] going it's pretty much all the knowledge
[19:09] I have on backpacking Europe or at least
[19:11] my quick version of it if there's any
[19:13] specific topics that you don't think I
[19:15] covered please just leave them in the
[19:16] comments box below and I'll get back to
[19:17] you or I'll maybe even make a whole
[19:19] video on it I had the best time of my
[19:21] life it was after I had graduated
[19:23] college so it was kind of my graduation
[19:25] gift to myself that I had been saving up
[19:27] for and planning and it lived up to
[19:28] every expectation that I could have
[19:30] imagined so this is your sign to go
[19:32] backpacking her up if you've been
[19:33] wanting to so I hope you guys found
[19:35] today's video useful about how to go
[19:37] backpacking around Europe and I really
[19:39] hope you booked that ticket and you go
[19:40] because it will be the best time of your
[19:42] life I promise it's worth every single
[19:43] Cent but if you like this video please
[19:45] make sure you like And subscribe down
[19:47] below my content is all about how I
[19:49] travel with my nine to five and
[19:50] traveling in her 20s and navigating this
[19:52] weird time in our lives so if you're
[19:54] interested in more of that please make
[19:56] sure you subscribe and I'll see you guys
[19:57] next Thursday