Here are a few things that we have found over the years travelling independently around Europe and beyond. Apologies some of these things are blatantly obvious

Financial/Medical

This is the most important section.

We have the following suggestions:

• Check to see if your mobile phone contract has free roaming for the country visiting, if it doesn’t then consider alternatives like Skype.
• Get a credit card that allows free non-sterling cash withdrawals e.g. Barclaycard traveller card.
• Never use a debit card. If it gets cloned, or you are a victim of identity fraud, then you can end up with no money.
• Take two separate cards, a Mastercard and a visa, in case one of these is not accepted. This is particularly true if you use American Express as it is not accepted in may places, even in the UK.
• Take currency, if the local currency is not available then take Euro’s or US dollars.
• Leave cards in hotel safe if you are not going to use them.
• Carry cash, but only as much as you need, in case you have your wallet or purse is stolen.
• Copy passport – In some countries you are required to carry some form of ID.
• Take a copy of your insurance certificate to demonstrate cover. If your travel insurance is from a bank/building society policy then ask them for a document to prove cover.
• Make sure that you have sufficient travel insurance and are covered for what you intend to do. For example standard insurance wouldn’t cover you to ride as snow mobile in Lapland.
• Get a copy of medication prescription from your doctor. What is okay in the UK may be banned elsewhere.
• Check with doctor’s to see if there are any vaccination that maybe required.

Planning

Once you have decided where to go, now’s the time for thinking and planning.

• We like travel guides and maps so we normally have these ready when planning a trip. The map helps identify the best areas to stay for access to the main attractions.
• Book early for flights and hotels to get the best deals.
• Book a hotel that is central to the area that you are going to visit. It maybe cheaper out of town but you’ll incur cost of buses, Taxi’s, Trains and Trams.
• Make a holiday list so that you don’t forget to pack anything.

Booking

Things to consider when Booking, we have split these in to two separate parts as these are not always booked at the same time. The flights will be available in some cases before the hotel accepts bookings.

Accommodation

We use Booking.com as they have a loyalty program in which you can get a 10% discount after you have completed so many bookings. The discount is not always available. Also on occasions booking via the mobile app gives a better price than on the website so make sure to check this too. It also means that all our bookings are in one place.

Booking.com allow different bases, see below, the cost can vary widely. On a trip to Warsaw we went for option 1 if we’d have gone for option 4 then we would have paid double.

1. Room only and pay upfront
2. Room only and free cancellation
3. Bed and breakfast and pay upfront
4. Bed and breakfast and free cancellation

In the current Covid times free cancellation has become much more important.

Travel

User skyscanner for finding flights. There is an option to show a chart of indicative prices, moving one or two days can save a lot of money.

Book taxi too and from home to the airport as soon as flights have been booked.

• Look at business class, very occasionally these are not much more expensive and you get
  • hot meal on the plane
  • Airport lounge access
  • fast track security
  • priority boarding

Out with 1 Month

If the airport is likely to be busy then think about book fast track airport security.

Airport lounges, these give food and drink for a single fee. Have a look at possible deals with companies like holiday extras.

Check in online as soon as this is available so that any problems can be sorted.

Book attractions, we have been caught in Amsterdam when we couldn’t get in to the Van Gogh and Anne Franks museums.

Within 1 Month

Consider getting a tourist card, these give free or discounted entrance to some attractions and can include free public transport, can be very useful for getting from the airport.

Plan what you want to see but try not to make the list to exhaustive or you will end up just ticking boxes

Check roaming charges in Belarus for example it was £1.20 per minute for a call, 30p per text and 60 per per Mb of data.

Contact hotel to enquire how much a taxi costs. It will often be slightly more expensive but can be worth it as it will be charged to the hotel and you won’t be ripped-off. There are occasions like in Nice where the hotel charges 50 euro to travel less than 5 miles, we just got the bus for 5 euro.

In more unusual destinations, we contact the hotel asking the following questions:

• Do you supply toiletries?
• Is there an AMT Nearby?
• Do you accept credit cards?
• Is there a safe deposit box in the room?
• Do you serve vegetarian food (no meat or fish)?
• Do you have laundry facilities
• Is there Wi-Fi?
• Do you accept, or exchange, Euro’s?
• Our flight is landing at XX:XX, are there any facilities to store luggage until check-in is available.

Within 1 week

Look at bars and restaurants using TripAdvisor or other travel website.

Have a card with a few phrases in both English and the local language so you can be understood. The phrases we use are:

• Can we have the Bill please
• Do you have a Toilet
• Do you Speak English
• Goodbye
• Hello
• I am Vegetarian
• I don’t eat meat
• No
• Please
• Thank You
• Two Beers
• Two Glasses of Red Wine
• Yes

Download sat nav for the country visiting, we use Navmii which downloads the maps to your phone so there is no need to worry about data charges. The maps are free, as at 2021, and has a walking mode so you won’t get lost.

Print off boarding passes, or have mobile passes on two phones just in case battery on one runs out.

Airport Security

The advice of what you need to take out varies between airports, some say take kindles out other say leave them in your hand luggage. The advice given to us once at Manchester airport was, if in doubt take it out.

So to prevent getting stopped take the following out of your hand luggage and put in a tray:

• Camera’s
• Electrical devices e.g. Hairdryers
• Kindles/Laptops/Tablets
• Keys
• Medication
• Phones
• Power banks
• Watches
• Wallets

During Stay

If you have a late flight, enquire about the cost of keeping the room. In some cases, a short time after standard checkout time will be free. The worst case scenario is you pay for an extra night.