Europe Overall Tips
Book in advance- I had booked my return tickets 8 months before my trip and just for Rs. 40,000/- and all my hostels and internal transports 4 months before the trip, researching hostel location and best choice of mode of transport.
Travel light- Carry bare minimum suitcase if you are travelling independently and switching lot of places, I had a tough time dragging my bag to every city transport and then to the third floor of the hostel!
Travel safe- Also remember to book hotels/hostels with locker facility to safeguard your passport/cash. Carry a travel card, easily available at axis bank or any travel agency (reach out to me for suggestions). Also for better safety purchase a money belt from amazon or use your sewing capability to make a big size pocket to hide your passport and cash.
Ready to eat- Carry ready to eat packets, at least one meal per day so that you don’t miss out on Indian taste and it also saves you some euros as well. Also carry dry fruits and other packed dry snacks for internal traveling as very less modes would have their own pantry to serve.
acism- Indians have a notion that racism is common in Europe; I don’t believe in this, though at certain restaurants (Paris to be specific) I did feel a tinge of it but then I realised it was more of a misunderstanding than terming it as racism. Also at each and every place, in spite of booking hostels well in advance we were allotted 3rd floor with other Asians. We made repeated request on account of heavy luggage but none of the hostels paid heed to it.
Shop wisely- We had no plans to shop in Europe owing to the pricey tags even after discounts. But we were fortunate enough to discover a stylish shop at Bratislava which sold all second hand clothes and accessories at € 2. Initially we were hesitant about second hand stuffs, but trust me they were equivalent to first hand products.
Stay at one place- The best advice in terms of booking your hostel in one particular place is just book the same hostel for the entire length, as checking in and out would eat away your time plus would add to your tiredness of dragging the luggage (if you are a kind of solo traveler)
Do NOT stay late- Be careful if you are roaming late at night, we were stuck at Eiffel tower as we could not figure out how to book an Uber (as it was our first destination and our Uber payment mode was not getting configured). Unfortunately some metros also went on strike so we had to struggle through lot of metro stations to reach our hostel. It’s generally advised to be in and around your hostel/hotel after late evening.
Ask for help- Do not shy away from asking help from a localite, we got stuck in finding Bratislava bus stop and unfortunately the Uber was way too expensive. Then one of the couples helped us, they called up their friends and got a free taxi arranged for us.
Visa research- I planned to get my visa done through travel agency and hence according to their guidance arranged all the necessary documents. We missed out on a very important point, which could have led to rejection of my Schengen visa. As my first travel destination was Paris, so I had compulsorily applied from French embassy. But you also need to make sure that you don’t show your stay in other countries more than your first destination (which in my case was Paris).
