a pit stop in Amsterdam & Paris

Following Venice, we took a flight to Amsterdam. We only had about two and a half days there so it was a short, but great trip. This was the only city we stayed in an actual hotel because we had trouble finding an Airbnb we liked.

We visited the Anne Frank Huis (house) while we were there - which is the place the Frank family hid during World War II. A lot of the house is still original or remade to look like how it is imagined. Pictures, talking, and touching anything is prohibited in the house because it can be a very emotional experience for a lot of people. I highly recommend this to anyone visits Amsterdam - its a surreal experience.

We also visited the Van Gogh museum and attended a concert while we were in Amsterdam. We used the public transportation, tried their famous poutine fries at the famous Bulldog bar which was recommended to me by a regular customer at my job.

Following Amsterdam, we flew to Paris for another quick 2 day stop. Paris was probably the most expensive city we visited when it came to food, drinking, etc.. We had the best Airbnb spot just a 2 block walk to the Eiffel tower and it was a small loft above a coffee shop. We purchased tickets in advance so we could go to the top of the Eifle - if you don't purchase in advance you probably won't be able to go in. There are various websites that you can purchase the tickets on, a lot of them are non-refundable so make sure that the date you want to go. We used Get Your Guide.

I always imagined the Eiffel would be overrated, but it was actually one of the coolest things I've seen. It's so huge and the story behind it which they tell you on the tour is pretty cool too. Most tours are offered in a variety of languages which is another great plus. We visited the Arc de Triomphe as well, it has so much detail and is at one of the busiest loops in the city. The food is very rich and delicious - but expensive so beware! We enjoyed going to the bakery and trying macaroons, fresh bread and even got a crepe on the street. 

If we would have had more time in Paris we definitely we would have done and saw a lot more like the Notre-Dame, The Louvre, and much more.

Off to Spain!

Front of Anne Franke Huis - only photo I was able to take.

Amsterdam.

Eiffel Tower at sunset.

Arc de Triomphe.

back to Italy

We flew back to Rome from Santorini and immediately headed to the train station to catch our train to Naples. The trains in Italy are very affordable and quick, you can get a ticket to almost any city daily. The trains make multiple stops depending on where you leave from and your destination.

We were in Naples for a few days and since Naples is the birthplace of pizza we enjoyed a lot of that. The pizza is very simple usually just sauce, fresh mozzarella, and a topping or two - they are usually made personal size and aren't cut into slices.

While in Naples we took a short train ride to visit the historical Pompeii. Pompeii is an ancient Roman city which was buried after a volcanic explosion, after discovering the city's demise it was recovered and made into a historical site. Following Naples, we headed to Florence by train.

Florence was probably my favorite city in Italy. The city is absolutely beautiful, its surrounded by water, historical basilicas, and cobblestone streets. The food was also amazing, we had some of our best meals here. During our stay, we pretty much walked around and explored - going to a few different museums, churches, shops and more. The most memorable thing we saw was Michelangelo's David. You have to buy tickets to get into the museum and trust me purchasing before you get there is important because the line gets extremely long.

To end our time in Italy we took a flight to Venice. Venice is known for being a city surrounded by water, it's beautiful and like nothing I had ever seen before - a place I had always dreamed to go to when I was young. They have boat taxis called gondolas that people use to get around since the city is prominently surrounded by water, there were very few cars that I saw. Venice is a very tourist spot so food and gondola rides can be pricey, so if you're on a budget I recommend doing research on where you eat.

Overall - Italy was an amazing place, some of the best food I've had, and so many beautiful historical landmarks and buildings to explore that are nothing like we have in the U.S.

Pizza in Naples

Pompeii

David by Michelangelo

Florence

Venice

paradise

After Rome, we took a short 45-minute flight to Santorini, Greece aka paradise. Our flight was at 5 a.m. so we basically didn't sleep that night because we had to get to the airport around 3 a.m., and I usually cannot fall asleep on planes - but on this day I had no problem.

The Santorini airport is something out of a movie, it's definitely the oldest most outdated airport I have ever been in. I'll get to more information on that in a bit.

We took a taxi from the airport to our Airbnb - our Airbnb was a small hotel like building. It was small and quaint and right on the beach. The whole island is pretty much shops, restaurants, and hotels. This part of our trip was by far the most relaxing and laid back, we spent most of the 3 days just lounging on the beach and eating amazing Greek food.

Santorini is known for several beaches, the one we were at is called Perissa, but better known as the black sand beach. The sand is black because of the volcanic minerals and lava fragments, its basically a bunch of tiny rocks, the texture is very different from the traditional sand we are used to.

A few dishes I recommend trying is any type of lamb dish, lamb is a huge part of Greek cuisine and is delicious. Baklava is an amazing greek dessert, its made of phyllo dough, honey, and different nuts.

The Santorini airport is unlike no other. There is so little space that you basically wait outside until its time for your flight to go to security. The security system looks so old and outdated, but it seemed to work just fine. All of the flights wait in one room, once you are called you board a bus and they bus you to the plane.

Back to Italy, we go!

Santorini Beach

when in rome

We left London and flew to Rome, Italy. It was about a 2 and a half hour flight so not bad at all. The airlines in Europe can be very affordable, but always check their baggage policies because they can be more strict.

Anywho, we went ahead and took out a good amount of Euros from the ATM, because the rest of the European nations use Euros we would use them for the rest of our trip. My boyfriend and I pretty much split everything during this trip so we would withdraw the same amount and put it together and not worry about who was paying for what - it was always just split.

We spent the most time in Rome out of all of our destinations. The food in Rome was amazing and inexpensive. We ate so much pizza and pasta - we were stuffed. I recommend trying the most simple dishes, such as Cacio e Pepe which is basically pasta tossed in parmesan and pepper, also the classics just tomato sauce or pesto is great when it comes to pizza margarita is the go to. One thing to note about Rome and Italy, in general, is that a lot of the restaurants have odd hours from what we are used to. A lot of places are only open at night, so sometimes lunch spots are hard to find. We went to a local grocery and bought a bunch of fresh bread, cheeses, and meats to make sandwiches too. The bakery's in Rome are delicious - must try the pistachio gelato.

We did a tour of the Colosseum which was awesome to see in person, a lot of the tours are better to book in advance because they do fill up. Get Your Guide is a great tool to help set up tours throughout most countries. Along with the Colosseum, we visited a few museums and the Roman Forum which is next to the Colosseum. When it came to transportation in Rome we mostly walked because our Airbnb location was so central, but they do have a metro system, as well as buses, and taxis.

While in Rome we went to Vatican City to visit the Vatican and also Saint Peters Square. The Vatican is amazing, even for someone like myself who isn't very religious the art all over the walls is incredible. The Sistine Chapel is the main site inside, but its all great. Photos aren't allowed inside the Sistine Chapel, and they're very strict on noise in general. The Vatican does get extremely crowded, and there are a lot of panhandlers trying to sell things to you constantly outside, so beware.

Ciao for now!

Colosseum.

Inside the Colosseum.

Freshly made pasta - so delicious and simple.

Ceiling inside the Vatican.

long live the queen

So we finally land in London, England after a long 10-hour flight with a delay at the beginning. We landed at Heathrow airport which is one of Londons several airports but by far the busiest for international flights. We took a train from the airport to a metro station. The metro system in London is amazing. We purchased oyster cards which basically gave us unlimited rides for a week, you can always pay per ride or per day, but since we were going to be using it constantly for 4 days, we thought this was the most cost-efficient.

Besides the metro, we walked as much as we could - google maps is a lifesaver when it comes to international travel. It even will guide you to a metro station, tell you where to get off, and then go from there. Thank god for smartphones, because I couldn't imagine using a paper map or constantly asking for directions.

The United Kingdom is the only European nation that doesn't use the Euro, they use the pound. While most places do take debit or credit cards, we withdrew some pounds to avoid constant international fees (which vary depending on the bank). Also, banks and currency exchanges vary on rates so research that too, to save money!

In London, we visited Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Big Ben, the Tower of London, and the British Museum - just to name the main points. We also saw 1984 at a small theatre one evening and tried a ton of English beer. We tried some of the iconic British meals such as - the classic fish and chips, bangers and mash, shepherd's pie, and a traditional English breakfast which consists of baked beans, toast, eggs, a roasted tomato, and some type of protein.

London was a great starting point for the trip because it has a lot of similarities to America for those who haven't traveled abroad and everything is in English.

Next stop -  Rome, Italy!

Front of Buckingham Palace

The London Eye

packing and flight tips

Packing for a month long trip is not an easy task. We opted to share one big suitcase and bring two backpacks. We went were gone the whole month of September and a week in October, so we checked the weather and like Texas, the weather fluctuates. I went with more comfort than trying to look cute every day we were going to be walking A LOT - and the last thing I wanted was my feet hurting. I brought a lot of t-shirts, jeans, leggings, a few light cardigans, and then more dressy options for night time.

Bringing toiletries is also important especially when you're staying in a lot of Airbnbs because they may not be provided like they are in hotels. Packing light is hard for this length of time but coming to terms with the fact you will have to find a way or place to wash clothes is inevitable. Pack items that are versatile and can go with a lot of stuff.

We arrived at the airport about 3 hours early which is what's "expected" for international flights. Also, something I forgot to mention earlier is that getting a passport takes up to 6-8 weeks in the mail so plan ahead if you are traveling internationally. I cannot sleep on flights very well, so I brought a neck pillow and a sleeping pill (which I later slightly regretted - because of how groggy it made me). I brought some snacks on the plane, but they do give you a meal or two because the flight was over 8 hours.

We're almost there, first stop London, England!

where to stay

When it comes to traveling finding a place to stay is one of the most important things for a lot of people. Budget plays a huge role in this. Hotels are not cheap - especially nice ones. And since we've already established that we were traveling on a budget, we had fewer options.

We first established what part of each city we wanted to stay in, basing it on many things such as; safety, transportation, things we wanted to do/see, and so forth. I really focused on using Airbnb, and if you're not familiar with the site let me explain. Airbnb is a site that people use to rent out their apartments, houses, extra rooms, etc.. to anyone. There are many ways to modify your search such as if you want your own place, or if you're okay with shared space, how many rooms you need, and much more. Most Airbnb hosts post many photos and descriptions of there places with specific rules and things that are included.

One of the great things about Airbnb is most guest rate and talk about their experience and you can see how recent they stayed there. Pricing is based on whatever the host thinks is appropriate, and it even tells you how many times they've hosted. We used Airbnb for all but one of our stays in Europe and most of our stays were around 60 or less a night. All of the hosts were wonderful and left tons of suggestions on where to eat, what to do, advice, etc.. we felt completely safe in every place and were super comfortable - while saving money. Another plus of using Airbnb is that most come with kitchens which helps with saving food from restaurants since a lot of hotels lack fridge/microwaves - and if you want to cook you have the option to do that too. Some of our places even had a washer - which was needed since we were gone for over a month.

While I know it can be nice to have the luxury and familiarity of a hotel, but using Airbnb is really an awesome experience.

Basilica in Florence, Italy.

the next step

Next, in our trip was figuring out what route we were going to take. The first step I took in this process was researching the flights between cities/countries in Europe. Since we had planned to go to many different cities there was a lot of options. I once again used Kayak to research prices of flights. Europe has many budget airlines that range as inexpensive as $20-$50 one way. We also researched train options for the cities that were a little bit closer together.

We took flights from London to Rome, Rome to Santorini, Santorini back to Rome, where we then caught a train to Naples. Italy has an amazing rail system where you can pretty much travel throughout the country by train for a very low cost. The trains leave at all times of the day and the travel times are very quick because of the trains at high speeds. We were able to purchase the tickets online before, but you are able to buy them there at the train stations. We purchased all of our Italy train tickets on the Italia Rail website. After traveling through Italy we planned to take a flight from Venice which was our final stop in Italy to Amsterdam.

One of the websites that I found that was so very useful to me was Seat 61. He goes into detail on routes you can take between cities and which is most budget and or time effective. You can even put your specific destinations on the website and it gives you advice. It's basically a step by step guide on how to buy and where. We continued our trip with a train ride from Amsterdam to Paris, a flight from Paris to Barcelona and finished it off with a train ride to Madrid before flying home.

The process of booking all these flights and train tickets can be a little tedious, but from experience, I liked booking them beforehand so we didn't have to worry about getting to where we wanted to be when we wanted to be there. Of course, if you're more of the spontaneous traveler and want to just go day by day then all these are available for purchase day of, depending on availability of course.

View from top of the Eiffel Tower.

the beginning

Growing up I had always dreamt of traveling to Europe, making it happen seemed tough though. I had traveled a good amount around the US in my early to mid twenties, but I had wanted to see more. I'm not sure what exactly what had me so drawn to Europe, but the thought of exploring somewhere completely different than everything I'd ever seen was so exciting. Which is why I finally decided to take the leap across the pond in 2016. I had taken some time off school and was just working as a bartender. My boyfriend and I started planning our trip to Europe in the beginning of 2016 and we were aiming to leave that September. The hardest part about planning this whole thing? Where to start, really.

First things first - we decided we wanted to get our moneys worth and stat for a month, luckily for us both of our jobs approved it (lots of PTO saved up helped too). Next on the list was the flight. A flight to Europe is usually around $1,000 roundtrip, I spent weeks researching when the best time to leave, where do we fly to first etc. I used Kayak mostly when searching for flights because it allows you to search a multi-city round trip - meaning you fly into one destination and fly home from another but it bundles it like a round trip. I compared the price of buying it separately and this was more economical, which for us was a big deal because we were ballin' on a budget. Another helpful app when searching for flights is Hopper. Hopper helps monitor flight prices and tells you when the best time to buy is. If your dates are flexible it shows you a calendar view of the months you're thinking about going and it shows the difference in prices per day. It sends you helpful notifications like "this is a good price, but we expect the price to drop in the next week - so wait to buy" or things like "this is the lowest price you will get, buy now!"

We ended up deciding to fly into one of London's five airports and start out there and fly home from Madrid where we were ending the trip. It made the most sense geographically for all the places we were planning to visit (I'll get to that later). We ended up purchasing our flight in April so about five months before we would be leaving, the flight was about $1,100 dollar round trip each and they were both direct flights with no layovers. Having no layovers was a big thing for us, we didn't want to waste time waiting at an airport for another flight when we could be out exploring - and the fear of our bags being left at a connecting airport.

From April on we began to plan our route and our destinations in-between London and Madrid. We were spending 33 days total in Europe dividing the days up between so many options wasn't easy. We went back and forth on our destinations for weeks, and we finally settled on Italy (Rome, Naples, Florence, and Venice), Santorini, Amsterdam, Paris, and Barcelona before ending in Madrid. We didn't want to waste time back tracking. There were so many more places we wanted to go, but we didn't want to waste more of our days getting to destinations and not being able to experience the cities we had chosen. We spent anywhere from two to five days in each city, we tried to divide the time up the best we could basing it on what we wanted to see.

This is just the beginning, we haven't even boarded the plane yet.