Planning A Trip to Europe
Is All About Time

The things that you decide to do, eat, see, and experience, will be
the most important factors that contribute to the success of your Europe travel vacation.

They'll influence the outcome of your trip, and whether it turns out to be good or bad, exciting and fun, or just routine.

You can’t see all of Europe in a few weeks. So be selective when you develop your Europe travel itinerary. Create a plan for what to see and do.

Above all, be flexible.

Time forms the fundamental structure for planning a trip to Europe:

Time to understand where you are and get your bearings.
Time to sightsee and visit museums, monuments, and attractions.
Time to move between cities, towns, and points of interest.
Time to understand the people, their habits, their culture.
Time to relax, to enjoy, to immerse yourself in your surroundings.
Time to step off the narrow tourist track and absorb what you see.
Time to eat. Time to sleep...and, time to make up for lost time!

The first thing to do when planning a trip to Europe is to focus on the cities.

No matter where or how you do your travel research, you'll find compre-hensive information to help you decide which city sights and attractions are most important to see, and which ones you can set aside.

Europe’s major cities overflow with compelling historical venues, astounding architecture, 'must see' museums, and other places that are imperative to visit.

History and culture are everywhere. And they're often overwhelming!

The Focus of Europe Travel Planning

To do this, you need to know something about where you're going and what you're going to see, before you get there.

One of the best ways to familiarize yourself with where you're going is to study the layout of each city you'll visit. Create a mental bird's eye view, and form a visual map in your mind.

Learn the locations of major points of interest: the airport, your hotel, museums, architectural sights, attractions and events. [Be sure to review this on your flight over, so you have a fresh visual reference of direction when you arrive.]

Do some online travel research to learn the customs and culture of the people. Read up on local etiquette, traditions, and daily life.

Then, take your overseas travel plan a step funther and look beyond Europe's big cities to the smaller towns and rural areas, where prices are usually better.

In Europe every city, region, province, and country re-lives their history with anniversary events.

They reinvigorate pride in their culture with celebration and pageantry.

European festivals are frequent. They're welcoming. And they’re everywhere.

When planning a trip to Europe, estimate as best you can the approximate times for your sightseeing options.

This will help you determine how long to stay in each loca-tion, and how many nights you need to allow for each over-night 'stop'.

There’s nothing more caustic to a Europe travel vacation than having to rush through a sight, a museum, or historical venue, barely seeing what you went to Europe to see.

Or to miss it altogether, because you don’t have enough time.

Use the following examples of 'must see' venues to include in your overseas travel plan for major European cities. Note the minimum times you'll need to explore them:

• The Great Museums: [The British Museum, The Louvre, The Prado, The Reiksmuseum, The Uffizi]: 3 - 5 hours
• Historical Sites [The big C’s - Castles, Cathedrals, Cemeteries, and Cities [think medieval Bruges or Vatican City]: 2 hours – whole day
• Local Festivals: [Queen’s Day, Keukenhof, Bastille Day, Carnivale, Oktoberfest]: half – whole day
• Unique Events: [Changing of the Guard, Edinburgh Tattoo, Christmas Markets]:2 - 4 hours
• Day Trips: Versailles [Paris], Toledo [Madrid], Stonehenge [London], Pompeii [Rome]: whole day
• Area Overview: Street markets, City Tours, Walking Tours, River Tours: 2 – 4 hours
• Savoring the Local Scene: As much time as possible!

Along with the actual time you need to visit a sight or attraction, you also need to allow for travel time to and from your sightseeing venues.

Local traffic; train, bus, or underground schedules; the weather; ticket and admission lines; even other tourists each impact the time you need to allow for a sight or attraction – as wll as getting to and from them.

And each can affect your actual 'sightseeing time', especially if you're traveling through Europe during peak season.

Planning a trip to Europe during the busy tourist season will add time to everything you see and do.

The Most Important Part of
Europe Travel Planning

When planning a trip to Europe it’s normal to try to include as many major sites in your travel schedule as possible.

But it’s actually more important to combine your historical and cultural activities with some 'kick back' time for rest and relaxation.

You need to give your body and brain a chance to catch up from the intense stim-ulation traveling around Europe creates.

Sheer fatigue plays a role in daily activities. Especially as the time difference between your home and destination begins to catch
up with you.

Never schedule intensive sightseeing for the day you arrive overseas. Or when you’re exhausted from being constantly on the go.

Allow time to rest, regroup, and regain your strength, along with your travel perspective.

Pause to enjoy a sidewalk café, a stroll through a garden, or a bench in a park to people watch.

Or just to take a nap!

Once refreshed, you’ll be better able to see and do the things you want, without falling prey to the over-absorption and stimulation traveling through Europe creates.

Plus you’ll better remember - and more fully enjoy - each European travel experience.

Planning a trip to Europe is about creating balance.

It's one part planning, one part doing, and one part making sure your Europe travel plan doesn’t blow up in your face!

You do this by researching your trip, scheduling your travel time wisely, and taking time to enjoy what you see and do when you're traveling in Europe.

And when you return home, you’ll remember the wonderful things you did, and ate, and saw.

Not what you wished you’d had time to do.

And what you missed!

Budgeting For Travel lets you know your money will last as long
as your trip.

Create a Travel Itinerary for Europe and bring your trip to life.

Does your Europe Travel Plan include everything you want to
see and do in Europe?

Use your Travel Budget to keep your travel costs under control.

Will your Travel Attitude increase the benefits of traveling?


Return from Planning A Trip To Europe to Getting Travel Ready

Remember, life goes on at home and you’re not there to keep it in line. The longer you’re away from your normal routine and responsibilities, the more your travel experience will begin to diminish.