Deciding on an Itinerary

The next step is a bit harder - deciding what you want to see, and how best to arrange your trip to see it all. The most common entry and exit points to and from Europe are London, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, and Milan, and it is generally cheapest to fly in and out of those cities (see Chapter 4, “Getting There” for more on this). Once you have a rough list of what’s important to you, and a rough itinerary, you can start thinking about when and how to get there. When you’re doing your planning, don’t plan too rigidly. When you get to Europe you will hear of places, meet people, and find out about events that may cause you to change your plans. Leave some days open so you can do this along the way.

A word of advice about how much to plan to see. A typical list of the “must-see” cities might include London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Prague, Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, Madrid, and Vienna. But notice that if you were to spend a week in each place - and allow, say, twelve days for moving around - you’d have to spend from June 1 through August 28 in Europe to visit them all. You would also miss Greece, Ireland, Scandinavia, Scotland, and Switzerland completely, be wretchedly sick of traveling by the second month, and arrive home totally exhausted.

The point is this: you can’t see all of Europe in one summer, and it’s not even fun to try. Remember, you only get one chance to see a place for the first time, when everything is fresh and new. The first time you see Paris, give it the five days or so that it deserves. Going there for a day will simply be unsatisfying and will inevitably diminish the experience the second time you go. I’m not one of those snobs who claims you have to spend weeks in a place to really say that you’ve been there. I am saying, however, that if you try to do and see too much your trip will become a blur of trains, hostels, museums, paintings, and churches that all run together after a while.

Plan realistically. Figure out what is really important to you, go see those cities or things at a reasonable pace, and don’t get caught up in the “I’ve got to complete my list” syndrome. If this is going to be your only trip for a long time, it’s understandable that you want to see as much as possible. But when you’re in Europe, if you ever feel you have to go sightseeing, rather than you get to go sightseeing, you’re pushing too hard. Take a break at this point. Planning to visit a beach resort, or just making a long stay in one spot about halfway through your trip, is a good idea if you think you might need a bit of a rest.