Planning your first trip to Europe? Here are few quick tips I wish I had had before going.
Euros: Currency Exchange
A lot of places in Europe accept credit cards; make sure you get one that doesn’t charge a fee for using it out of the country. And be sure to let them know when you’ll be traveling. I used a Capital One Venture card which also let me earn points toward travel.
We discovered that the best way to exchange dollars to euros was to go to an ATM when you arrive; you will get whatever the current exchange rate is, no hassle. Currency exchanges charge a higher rate and they will tack on a service charge.
Power: Dual voltage vs. single voltage AND adapter vs. converter.
We learned by chance that most of our phone and camera chargers are dual voltage; we had no idea. i.e. Nikon battery charger and laptop charger. If yours is dual voltage it will say ‘Input: 110-240v’ which means all you need is the european adapter. You can now plug directly into the wall. If you have a charger that is 110v ONLY, then you will also need the converter (converts 240v to 110v). A lot of places sell a set that contains both the power converter and the european plug adapter. (see links below)
Charging on the go:
Another thing that came in handy while we were traveling was a portable USB charger. (see links below) When you’re out sightseeing all day you don’t have time to stop and charge your phone which you’ve been using to navigate the city and take tons of photos. You can charge the charger while you are in for the night and use it to keep all your USB devices charged while you’re out. We were a group of six and it seems that at least one of us always needed some extra juice to get us through the day.
International Calling Plans:
There are several ways you can stay connected while traveling. We opted to get a plan with our carrier, AT&T, that let us pay $10 for each day we needed to call, text or email. At the time it was the most economical choice for us. I’m not very tech savvy and therefore I found this ABC News link that has more helpful information.
Travel: Different ways to get around Europe.
You’ve probably seen the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Well, that’s what it was for us. We flew from Denver, Colorado to Paris, France and then took a Lyft/Uber to our Air B&B. After a couple days in Paris we took the high speed train to Marseille where our friends picked us up in a rental van and we continued on to Nice and boarded the ferry to Corsica. After a week driving around the island, literally, we took the ferry to Livorno, Italy and drove to Florence; three days later it was another train ride to Venice for a few days and a water taxi to the Venice airport to get us back to Paris for our trip home. Whew! The point I’m trying to make is that all the forms of travel were super easy to maneuver and now that we’ve done it all once it will be really easy to confront the next time we go.
As is with most things it’s best to book early on any mode of transportation you choose.
Dining: Go with the flow.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, Venice, Italy – Getting lost in adventure!, we stayed in a lot of Air B&B’s where we were able to shop and prepare some of our meals. Of course we also wanted to experience the local cuisine which was generally pretty good. I think the consensus was that the favorite meal during our trip was the hamburgers at Cocorico in Paris.
Breakfast:
While charcuterie is great on occasion, you will find it dominates a lot of menus and is even served as breakfast; you will be hard pressed to find anything more than a soft or hard boiled egg. I witnessed more than once, friends coming back from a trip to Europe and commenting how all they wanted right now was an American breakfast! Even after an internet search all I came up with is a link to Spoon University where someone else made it their quest to find one. You can always ask your server. My guess is that maybe you can find something more “American” in the upper end hotels. Feel free to send me information and I’ll update it here. Good luck!
Coffee:
The other thing you will have a hard time finding is a regular cup of coffee. I’m not a big coffee drinker so it wan’t a big deal for me even though I do like a latte now and then. My recommendation is to either pack yourself a french press or take some instant coffee packets. For more on the coffee situation abroad check out this article from AFAR.
Wine:
Bottles of wine in both France and in Italy are very reasonably priced. We ordered a bottle with dinner in Florence and paid about 32 euro (approx $36 at the time) for a bottle that would have cost us closer to $80 here in the U.S. If you’re curious about the cost of wines in Europe , or anywhere, there’s a great app called Vivino where you can scan the bottle with your phone and learn all about how it rates, how much it goes for and read 
reviews by others.
Favorites:
Last but not least, you of course can’t go without trying all the staples; crepes, chocolate croissants, gelato, pizza by the slice, and the paninis. Don’t plan to diet while on your trip because everywhere you go the food is displayed in windows like glimmering packages just begging to be opened! Bon Appetite!
