ULTIMATE GUIDE TO BACKPACKING AROUND EUROPE | what it costs, budget travel tips, how to find hostels

[00:00] hey guys welcome back today I'm giving

[00:02] you everything you need to know if

[00:04] you're planning on going backpacking

[00:05] around Europe I love to go backpack

[00:07] around Europe about a year ago it was

[00:09] June 28th of 2022 and it was one of the

[00:12] coolest things I've ever done in my life

[00:14] I had bought a one-way ticket to Spain I

[00:16] didn't know how long I was gonna be

[00:17] there I ended up staying for about four

[00:20] months going over I think seven

[00:22] countries in Western Europe I went to

[00:24] Spain France Italy Switzerland Belgium

[00:28] England and Scotland over that four

[00:30] month time period so most of my

[00:32] knowledge is in Western Europe but a lot

[00:34] of this still applies to Eastern or

[00:36] Central Europe too just the train

[00:38] systems aren't as developed when you get

[00:40] into like the Balkan areas or Greece so

[00:42] it's a little bit different but a lot of

[00:43] the facts are still the same step one

[00:45] you have to pick where you want to go

[00:47] and I don't think you necessarily have

[00:50] to completely plan out your route I know

[00:53] I had a couple places in mind that I

[00:55] really wanted to go to but I didn't

[00:57] exactly know the way that I was going to

[00:58] get there and I was playing planning

[01:00] about two to three probably about three

[01:02] weeks in advance because I was there in

[01:04] High season which is summer so if you

[01:06] are going in the summer time usually

[01:08] June through August you have to plan

[01:10] more in advance but if you're going in

[01:12] off season which is probably like

[01:14] September to may you have a little bit

[01:18] more flexibility with the places that

[01:19] you're booking and where you're going

[01:20] and how far in advance you need to do it

[01:22] because it's not as busy but when

[01:24] picking a place to go I really recommend

[01:26] just going on to Google Flights type in

[01:29] where you're currently located and then

[01:31] in the where you're going to search bar

[01:33] you can put in just Europe in general

[01:35] the whole continent and every flight

[01:37] that's leaving from your town like for

[01:39] me at Chicago to Europe is gonna pop up

[01:41] and you can kind of pick the place

[01:43] that's the cheapest to fly into a lot of

[01:46] times it's going to be places like Paris

[01:48] London or Amsterdam I find that those

[01:50] are usually pretty cheap in relative

[01:53] terms of flying to Europe but just

[01:55] picking the cheapest one to start at

[01:56] traveling within the countries or just

[01:59] to you within Europe in general is so

[02:02] cheap comparatively to coming from the

[02:04] US to go wherever you want to go so once

[02:06] you have that list of a couple places

[02:07] that you want to visit you can start

[02:09] mapping out a tentative route I don't

[02:12] think you should completely plan out

[02:13] your whole trip because you're going to

[02:15] learn so many places once you're there

[02:17] and talk to so many people that you're

[02:19] meeting and they're going to tell you

[02:20] about towns you didn't even know existed

[02:21] and I know I ended up finding out about

[02:24] so many different little small towns or

[02:26] just random places that are more like

[02:28] European people travel destinations

[02:31] compared to U.S people travel

[02:33] destinations once I was there and they

[02:34] ended up being some of my favorite

[02:35] places

[02:36] so come up with your list of roughly

[02:39] where you want to go and be realistic

[02:41] about it I have some people that comment

[02:43] on my videos and they're like I'm going

[02:44] to Europe for 10 days and I want to go

[02:46] to these five countries like are you

[02:48] even planning on seeing things in the

[02:49] country are you just trying to check

[02:50] that Ox off because I usually think it's

[02:53] best if you have only 10 days to go

[02:55] backpacking to do two countries that are

[02:58] touching like they're within super quick

[03:01] distance either that's flight or train

[03:03] ride from each other and then maybe

[03:04] three cities that once again are pretty

[03:07] close together that way you can actually

[03:08] get to enjoy your time there and you're

[03:10] not rushing from one country or one city

[03:12] to the next so once you have that rough

[03:14] idea of the places that you want to go

[03:16] next we're talking where you're gonna

[03:18] stay so personally I stayed in hostels

[03:21] pretty much the whole time that I was

[03:23] solo traveling in Europe hostels are not

[03:25] as scary as they seem they get a bad

[03:26] reputation in the US I don't really know

[03:28] why because hostile culture is amazing

[03:30] and it is the best way to make friends

[03:32] it is the best way to experience this

[03:34] new way of travel and meet all these

[03:36] different people and easily have

[03:38] activities available to you a lot of

[03:40] hostels that you stay at have planned

[03:42] activities every single day that you can

[03:43] sign up for for like 10 euros and then

[03:46] you can go hiking with everyone you can

[03:48] go out to dinner with everyone they'll

[03:50] host trivia nights like they just have

[03:52] fun things always going on and that's

[03:54] how you can easily meet people for cheap

[03:55] when you're saying in hostels you're

[03:57] normally in a hostile dorm room that's

[03:59] just how it is you can also do a private

[04:01] room but honestly if you want to meet

[04:03] people and save money the dorm room is

[04:04] the way to go it's not as scary as it

[04:06] seems it's honestly it's a really

[04:08] interesting experience and it's cool and

[04:10] it's fun and I truly love traveling in

[04:13] hostels but it's just a completely

[04:15] different way of travel than you've

[04:16] probably ever done before you can also

[04:18] stay in airbnbs or hotels obviously

[04:21] those are pretty standard in the U.S too

[04:23] I stayed in a couple airbnbs when I was

[04:25] gone I loved it and I only stayed in two

[04:28] hotels I personally as a Solo Traveler

[04:31] don't like staying in airbnbs or even

[04:33] hotels when I'm by myself because

[04:35] there's not as many people around where

[04:36] is in a hostels you feel a lot more

[04:38] secure because there are people who

[04:41] you've gotten to know and staff that

[04:43] actually maybe not cares about you but

[04:45] they know who you are and they know you

[04:46] exist and so you've got people keeping

[04:48] an eye out for you I always recommend

[04:51] going on a hostile world to look up your

[04:53] hostels that you want to stay at you can

[04:55] type in the city and all the ones in the

[04:57] area will come up there's tons of

[04:58] reviews tons of ratings pictures

[05:00] everything Pro tip is to not book on

[05:02] hostile world you want to look them up

[05:04] there read all the reviews and then

[05:05] you're going to go to the actual hostels

[05:07] website and book directly through the

[05:09] hostel that's probably going to save you

[05:11] a couple dollars a night and a lot of

[05:12] times you can get some perks like free

[05:14] breakfast if you go directly through the

[05:16] hostel and then if you have to change or

[05:19] cancel or do anything with the

[05:20] reservation you're not going through a

[05:22] third party and you're just talking to

[05:23] that hostel directly and it just makes

[05:25] that whole process a lot easier next is

[05:27] all about Transportation I use the

[05:30] europass that is the pass that you can

[05:32] get for the train system within Europe

[05:34] if you are a non-eu citizen and this

[05:37] pass can cost anywhere from like 300 to

[05:40] probably like 800 US dollars depending

[05:42] on the level of pass that you get I

[05:45] think mine was about 500 to be able to

[05:48] take 10 trains over the course of two

[05:51] months they also have unlimited packages

[05:53] or different packages again these

[05:55] numbers are from last summer so I don't

[05:56] know what it's like now but if you're

[05:58] planning on taking a lot of long-haul

[06:00] trains like we're talking cities that

[06:02] are probably at least five hours apart

[06:05] it probably your cheaper option but if

[06:07] you're going to cities that are closer

[06:10] together I recommend busing I know when

[06:12] I went from Brussels to Paris my bus was

[06:15] only like 10 euros which was so cheap

[06:18] and so that made it worth it compared to

[06:20] taking a train and the bus that you

[06:22] usually go through is like Flix bus or

[06:24] at least that's what I used but there is

[06:26] an app called omeo which I used a lot

[06:29] when I was in Europe and that tells you

[06:31] all the different ways you can get from

[06:32] one city to the next so it'll tell you

[06:34] the trains buses shared cars literally

[06:37] any method of transportation that you

[06:39] can think of will be shown on that app

[06:41] and you can compare prices and even book

[06:42] directly through it with the trains in

[06:45] Europe please be mindful of the switches

[06:48] that you have to make and also the time

[06:51] between the train switches so you want

[06:53] to make sure you at least have an hour

[06:55] between your trains because a lot of

[06:56] times the trains run late or things get

[06:59] delayed problems come up with the train

[07:01] and you don't want to miss your

[07:02] connecting train because there were

[07:04] times when I got completely screwed and

[07:06] I ended up being stuck in a town for an

[07:08] extra eight hours because my first train

[07:10] was late and I missed my connecting

[07:11] train for the most part the trains are

[07:13] really nice but do not rely on them to

[07:15] have Wi-Fi because that's something that

[07:17] I expected when I was going is that all

[07:19] the trains were going to have access to

[07:21] Wi-Fi and it was really only maybe 20 of

[07:24] the time that I actually had working

[07:25] Wi-Fi on a train no matter if it even if

[07:28] it said it had Wi-Fi it still probably

[07:30] won't work the other option you can do

[07:32] is flying which I personally don't like

[07:35] as much because of how long the process

[07:37] takes like yes the flight might be a lot

[07:39] shorter than the train ride but you

[07:42] normally have to Uber out to the airport

[07:44] and then you have to go through security

[07:46] and get to the airport a couple hours

[07:48] early and it ends up being just as long

[07:50] as the process as the train would have

[07:51] been and the trains are a lot easier

[07:53] because they're usually in the center of

[07:55] the city not on the outskirts like the

[07:56] airports and you can get to them easily

[07:58] usually you can walk or take public

[08:00] transport and then take the train to

[08:02] your next place that's just a personal

[08:04] decision planes are also great to but

[08:06] remember on a lot of the cheap flights

[08:08] in Europe if your bag is bigger than a

[08:10] carry-on you're gonna have to pay for it

[08:12] whereas trains baggage is completely

[08:14] free next up is currency and anything

[08:17] money related while you're in Europe the

[08:19] European countries you definitely need

[08:21] to look up to see what type of currency

[08:23] they use because not every European

[08:24] country uses the Euro a good bit of them

[08:27] do but not all of them so you need to

[08:29] see what type of currency they use and

[08:31] then you also need to look up the

[08:32] currency exchange rate this is just so

[08:34] that you kind of can keep track of how

[08:36] much money you're spending when I was

[08:38] there last summer it was luckily a

[08:40] one-to-one for the Euro to the US dollar

[08:41] so pretty much every Euro I would spend

[08:44] was like spending one US dollar but then

[08:46] when you go to the UK and that was

[08:48] pounds at that time I think it was a one

[08:51] to like 1.5 so every one pound was a

[08:55] dollar and fifty cents of US dollars so

[08:57] you're spending a little bit more every

[08:59] time you pay than you would have in the

[09:01] Euro I also recommend having cash on you

[09:04] at all times when you're in Europe one

[09:06] it's usually what they take on public

[09:07] transport a lot of the times it's either

[09:09] gonna be coins or money that they want

[09:11] and you're taking the buses around which

[09:13] I really recommend you do and also

[09:15] sometimes restaurants in local markets

[09:17] and stuff will prefer cash over your

[09:19] card and so it's just nice to have a

[09:21] little bit on you especially if you're

[09:23] going anywhere in Eastern Europe

[09:24] compared to Western Europe they use a

[09:26] lot more cash than they do card and you

[09:29] don't need anything crazy I think I

[09:30] would take out about 300 Euro every

[09:33] single time that I went to the ATM which

[09:34] was not often and that would last me

[09:37] like a month and a half I also recommend

[09:39] you look into a travel credit card

[09:40] there's a PSA on this if you're not good

[09:43] with credit cards please do not do this

[09:45] but if you are and you want to start

[09:46] getting into travel hacking and just

[09:48] having a travel credit card in general I

[09:50] really recommend the Chase Sapphire that

[09:52] is the credit card that I use and the

[09:54] reason you use it is one you get like

[09:57] three times the points on any travel

[09:59] 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