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Planning Our First European Adventure


Depending on who you ask, I'm either an incredible planner or the worst ever. There are certain areas of my life (especially my job as a teacher) where I'm almost always on top of things, with a plan and system for everything. There are other times (i.e., planning what I will clothe my newborn child with) where I completely blank, overlooking such details. So imagine how intimidating it was to try to plan a ten-day trip to Europe.


I'd traveled enough to know that having a couple of things (restaurants, activities, etc.) "scheduled" each day would be wise, in order to avoid the stress of having to make decisions when jet lagged and out of our element. That idea guided my planning.


We first tried to nail down dates, flights, and lodging in all three cities. With tickets to watch golf at The Open on Tuesday and Thursday, we knew we'd need to spend at least Monday through Friday in Liverpool. We looked at some bigger airports in Europe that could get us close to Liverpool but would allow us to see another area/city before making our way there (and maybe help us save a little money on flights). That's how we decided to fly into London. Initially, we booked an airbnb in London, but a month prior to the trip, we decided to cancel that and stay in a boutique hotel in Notting Hill. After further research, we realized that we would've spent most of our time in London getting to and from the airbnb as it was so far out of the city center.


Because of the Open, lodging in Liverpool was pretty limited, even though we began looking immediately after getting tickets. However, we found the best hotel and had such a great experience there.


On the back end of our trip, I knew Ireland was somewhere Ben had always wanted to go. I began planning by scouring airbnb and google for a place that was perhaps luxurious or cozy enough to post up and do nothing if we wanted to, after a busy week exploring. There were a lot of incredible looking castles that I found, but we ultimately decided to stay in an airbnb in Lisdoonvarna. It was off the beaten path, which came with its own challenges, but gave us direct access to the Cliffs of Moher and meant we'd get a break from all the tourism. There are few things worse than investing time and money into a vacation and returning feeling like you need rest, ya know?!


When booking lodging, especially at hotels, I was initially nervous of scams or inaccuracies in photographs. To combat those worries, I sifted through many reviews and even looked places up on other platforms like Instagram. I'd followed both our hotels on Instagram months before our trip, so if any red flags became apparent, I'd have time to rearrange our plans. Traveling is special because it pushes us outside of our elements, and there's always a bit of risk that accompanies leaving our comfort zones. I think advance planning and well-rounded research helps to ensure we're taking safe risks (Is that an oxymoron? ☺).


Once we had the bones of our trip nailed down, we started telling others about it. This was a crucial step in our trip-planning for a couple of reasons. First off, no one has better recommendations than people who you actually know who have been where you're going. Second, there's no denying the dopamine hit of talking about an upcoming trip. I'm pretty sure there's research that states there's more happy signals in our brains in talking about trips than in actually taking them.


Next, I began researching the individual cities. I used Youtube a lot more than I ever have for research. It was great to get honest reviews from other people and have videos playing, rather than reading blogs and articles. I created a Google Maps list for every city, which proved SO useful when we were actually there. It allowed us to quickly access websites, reviews, and directions to places we were hoping to go. I also used Google Keep excessively. I had one general note, where I housed information like our itinerary, to-do before leaving, reservations, lodging, transportation, and things to remember. Another note was organized by day and kept track of the routes we'd take and reservations we'd made. Lastly, I had a packing list that I continued to add to the more I learned and planned. Another tool I utilized was the label feature in Gmail (I'm sure other email apps have this, too). Every email I received that pertained to the trip was labeled "Europe," so when I needed to check on something I had one quick way to filter the emails.



In the process of booking, I learned our credit card company had some pretty strict rules for international purchases. We wound up researching and getting a travel card that helped us to acquire rewards and rest assured that we'd be able to use our card internationally. In the airport on our way, we did exchange some currency, just in case. We had a couple instances where we used cash (and were grateful we had it), but we used our card for 95% of the trip.


As mentioned earlier, when it comes to preparing, I have a tendency to overlook details and forget to worry about things I should worry about. Ben's a great travel companion for me because he's usually good about thinking through potential challenges and being prepared. With this trip, knowing I was doing the bulk (read: all ☺) of the planning, I tried to think of things that could go wrong, so that I could be prepared to problem-solve when necessary. Aside from picking safe lodging, my biggest worry was transportation. We love having our own car when we travel and have grown to rely on Uber when we don't. Everyone's heard of London's "tube," and I'd worried we wouldn't be able to figure it out. Thankfully, I'm not the first one to stress about this. There was a WEALTH of information online. Again, I turned to Youtube, where I could even get a visual of some of the stations and learn hacks about which lines to take when. We wound up getting Oyster cards, which is basically a gift card, preloaded with the amount of money/fare you choose, in advance of our trip. They allowed us to get off and on easily without having to worry about getting tickets or using our credit cards. It would've been easy enough to use our credit cards, but if anything were to happen, I would much rather lose an Oyster card. Plus, I thought having them would help us blend in a bit.


Another major theme in planning was aiming to create a trip for who we actually are and not who we want to be or who we imagine ourselves being. Things we don't like to do at home weren't going to be appealing to us simply because we'd traveled to a different country. The things we booked in advance were a free museum tour, Lion King, Buckingham Palace tour, two days of watching golf, drinks with a view, and a river cruise. All of those things were things we knew at least one of us would like. We decided not to do a lot of things, too. We opted not to ride the London Eye, because once we realized how much time that would take up, it didn't seem worth it. Although we didn't book anything that both of us would hate, we also tried to have an open mind. I didn't know how much I'd ENJOY watching golf 12 hours a day, especially knowing it was supposed to be cold and rainy. However, with an open mind, I wound up having such a great time.


I'm starting to notice that there's people who travel often and people who don't. I know it's a privilege to be able to travel, but I think it's more accessible and possible than many realize. It's scary and intimidating doing something new, and the planning really does take time and energy. But one of the greatest lessons I've learned in life is that we get out what we put in. The more effort we put into living a joy-filled, adventurous, ever-evolving life, the more joy-filled, adventurous, ever-evolving life we live. Every trip, the memories that come with it, the experiences that make me a better human; it's always, ALWAYS worth it.


To recap, if you're planning a big trip:

  • Focus on having 1-2 things scheduled/planned per day.

  • Don't be afraid to make changes to your plans as you acquire more information.

  • Be conscious of the calculated risk-taking that comes with travel.

  • Tell others about your upcoming trip early on.

  • Start with the essentials (lodging and how you'll get there and back).

  • Keep your research accessible/make it work for you.

  • Utilize tools like Google Maps, Google Keep, and Gmail.

  • Look into a travel credit card if it's reasonable.

  • Choose a travel companion that complements you, someone whose strengths align with your weaknesses and vice versa.

  • Let your worries guide your research to make you prepared.

  • Know that everything won't go according to plan; focus on your ability to problem-solve.

  • Don't plan for your ideal self, plan for who you actually are.

  • Prioritize travel, find a way to make it happen, no matter how scary or challenging it feels!!!

-J

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Hi, thanks for stopping by!

I'm so glad you're here. My name is Jenn. I'm a teacher, wife, sister, and friend. Reading, writing, traveling, and making the perfect latte are a few of my favorite things.

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