The Road to Europe
Let me tell you a story. It’s 2018, a random boy slides into my DMs on Instagram [I’m not surprised, I’ve been getting a lot of DMs because of all the smoking hot bikini pics I had been posting]. I have a rule, 100% of the time if someone slides into my DMs and is not immediately creepy, I reply (It’s 2018 everyone meets online)!
The Dream
Nothing makes the world feel as small as finding out said random boy lives 45 mins away. It’s 2018 and I’m not TOTALLY stupid so obviously I decline the opportunity to meet in person… talking on Insta is a plenty good way to develop a friendship, right?
Now a few months pass, and we don’t talk. Until random boy gets deployed, and maybe because he is bored or maybe because it was just meant to be… we started talking again. We started talking every day. We started talking about the big things and the little things. I had just graduated from college, and I has just been bitten by the travel bug. After a few trips including Boston, Michigan, & Arizona (prior to my move). Random boy had noticed and naturally invites me to travel with him around Europe. Of course, I agree.
We had dates. We had ideas on where we wanted to go (neither of us had been to Europe so the answer was EVERYWHERE). So, we set to work planning out the cheapest and most action-packed travel itinerary ever. I think we spent 3 months seriously looking into different routes & options that wouldn’t bust our projected budget of $2,000 (each) for the entire two-week trip.
Honestly, the hardest part was coordinating an overseas trip primarily via snapchat. If you can develop a fully functional flight plan between 6 different countries via snapchat, the actual trip will be a breeze, right?
Now, tickets are bought. Family and Friends are losing their minds that I am 1. traveling with a guy I have never met in-person 2. traveling out of the country with a guy they have never met 3. quitting my job(s)** to spend two weeks in Europe & 4. am traveling across seas with no means of communicating with anyone back home.
YOLO. FIRST STOP: LONDON
**which at the time only consisted of two part-time jobs. Personal training and working as a cryotherapy tech.
Buying Plane Tickets & Planning Our Stops
Here is the secret to finding and planning cheap oversea flights – fly at the right time. We used Kiwi.com’s explore map to plan the entire trip. First step, find the cheapest flights in to and out of Europe. I’ve found that a majority of the time, England or Iceland were the cheapest places in Europe to fly in or out of.
*Note certain discount airlines like WOW did not appear on Kiwi, seek those out separately, it might be worth it!
Next, Boy and I each choose one location we wanted to go to, non-negotiable, & literally let the universe decide where else we went based on the cheapest flight routes. We plugged in tentative dates and looked for which country was the cheapest flight at that time. That’s it. That’s the big secret to how we created the master plan.
At this point in my life, time was more expendable than money. Which also meant spending a lot of time in Airports on the way to and from London.
PHX>DEN>SFO>KEF>STN STN>MXP TRAIN to Venice TRAIN to Florence TRAIN to Pisa TRAIN to Milan MXP>CAI CAI>ATH ATH>CIA FCO>BCN BCN>BVA CDG>LGW STN>OSL>OAK>AZA
Departing PHX at 10:53a Monday, May 14th & arriving at STN in London 4:15pm Tuesday, May 15th.
If you have never been out of the country [like me on this trip] I would HIGHLY recommend flying into an English-speaking airport. Super helpful. You pass through customs, tell the security why you are there and for how long, and WHERE YOU WILL BE STAYING (they need to make sure you aren’t planning on sleeping on the streets). I was not prepared for this question at all because… obviously, Boy and I did not plan out where we were staying ahead of time.
Once we were in Europe, we opted to fly between most countries to maximize time, & make sure you do your research, ended up spending less than we would have spent buying a 2-week Euro-Rail Pass.
Hostels / Hotels / AirBNBs
Learn from my mistake, you TOTALLY want to book your lodging ahead of time. Make sure you have a point of contact if you are staying at an AirBNB and think about planning lodging based on the exit point (by that I mean if you fly into London STN but are flying out of London LGW you might consider staying closer to the airport you are leaving from or near a train station that will get you there). I f***ed up our lodging & have absolutely no helpful input other than don’t let me book the hotels next time).
Travel Partner Meet Up Point
Finally, plan a cross street to meet your travel buddy for the first time and let the adventure begin!
One Final Note: Due to some unfortunate circumstances I had to erase my iPhone and lost ALL the pictures I took in Europe. Thank Goodness for social media and what all I had posted. I still have all the memories, but pictures are nice too. Please excuse the screenshots and unintentional social plugs to my social media coming up.
London, England
First Stop: London
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Day 1: Wednesday, May 16th
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Day 2: Thursday, May 17
But first, let me take a selfie at the Buckingham Palace.
Open Top Red bus Tour – 10/10
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The Stonehenge excursion was a 3-hour bus ride out of the city. Stonehenge itself was underwhelming but I’m happy we got the opportunity to see it (more of a cross this off the bucket list type of stop). Would not go back.
Stonehenge – 6/10
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Day 3: Friday, May 18
Glad I climbed up here because this is one of my favorite photos from London (kissing the lion); but I almost didn’t make it down. We didn’t have time to go to any of the Museums, but at least we got a photo-op outside.
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Day 4: Saturday, May 19th – Last morning in London.
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Vibes: 10/10
Good Vibes Only! Next stop, Milan.
Italy
Day 5: Sunday, May 20, 2018
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