10 Mistakes we Made Traveling in Europe
There are so many things to keep in mind when you are traveling internationally that you don’t necessarily think about otherwise. Even though we made some pretty big mistakes, these mistakes also made for some of our best memories. Embrace all that international travel brings, and learn from what we did wrong.
1. Renting a car:
Since we were planning on being in Europe for a month we wanted to have the flexibility of having our own car. Renting a car in Europe is a breeze! (check out our post on renting a car in Europe here) Not to mention it can save you a lot of money on transportation if you do it right! We did not do it right this time!!
What Went Wrong
While this wasn’t our first time renting a car in Europe, it was our first time renting in one country and returning the car in another. BIG mistake! The you rent a car in any European country and you plan on ending your trip in the same country, by all means rent the car. Get off the beaten path, and go exactly where you want when you want! The problem arrises when you start your trip in one country and end your trip in another. All of a sudden what you thought was going to be a few hundred Euros for a month long rental, turns into well over 1,000 Euros!!!! Next time we will plan our trip differently, starting and ending in the same country. There are tons of different car rental agencies in Europe. We have had nothing but great experiences renting from europecar.com
2. The Size of the Car Matters
In the states we are used to driving on wide open highways in our big SUVs. Yes Europe has some big open highways and some people do drive big SUVs. However that’s not the norm. Most people drive small compact cars, and it’s for good reason. If you decide to go into any town, village, or city you will see why having a small compact car is SO much easier. The roads are narrow, REALLY narrow. There are often no sidewalks, and many roads are one lane. Since we were traveling with our kids this last time, we decided at the rental company to upgrade our car from the smallest we could fit in, to the next size up. In the end we were glad we did, but we also found ourselves clenching our teeth as we folded in the side mirrors and inched our way through the narrowest alleyways imaginable.
3. Food mishaps in France
While traveling in foreign countries is fun and exciting. There may be nothing more exciting than ordering something off a foreign menu, and thinking you know what you are going to get. This has happened numerous times throughout our travels.
Not what I Thought I Ordered
Last summer we were driving through France and it was time for lunch. We stopped at this cute little cafe pretty close to the Spanish border. I glanced at the menu and decided to order what I thought was going to be an avocado salad. I have no idea what gave me that impression from the menu. Nobody in my family speaks French and I was too lazy to use google translate. Needless to say the waiter did not bring me an avocado salad, he brought me a mountain of seafood piled on some lettuce! We all got a good laugh out of that one.
Again in France we were ordering lunch. Having learned our lesson with the seafood, we decided to order something safe, pizza. We used google translate this time and we were feeling pretty confident. We did see on the menu that the pizza we ordered had “oeuf” on it. We googled it and learned this is the word for egg. We assumed that the pizza would have a hard boiled egg crumbled on it. To our surprise when they pulled the pizza out of the oven they cracked a raw egg right on top of it and handed it to us. Now, Tyler my husband is VERY particular about eggs. He only likes them if they are scrambled to the point of dehydration. We had another good laugh and happily ate around the raw egg on our pizza.
4. Switzerland
If you ever find yourselves adventuring through Switzerland, (which you all need to do) beware of the price difference at restaurants compared other European countries. Switzerland has a long history of being considerably more expensive than its neighbors. For example we went out to dinner one night and ordered waters for the 4 of us and 1 pizza to share. Our bill was about 70 francs (about 73 US dollars). Our waters (from the tap) were about 7 francs a piece and our pizza was close to 45 francs, zoinks! A better way to do food while in Switzerland is to buy your food at the grocery store and eat like a local. Lesson learned!
5. Over Priced Food
While we are on the subject of food, it’s really easy to get busy, and lose track of time. Several times we found ourselves over hungry with no idea where to eat, so we stumble into the first place we see and realize we are going to get charged more than we would have if we would have walked down a side street instead of stopping on the main drag. We call this the problem of “1st and Main.” We call it that because the restaurants in high traffic areas can charge more than a similar place that is a little bit off the beaten path. So, pack some snacks, eat before you get overly hungry, and finally, find somewhere off of 1st and Main St. to eat.
6. Tickets to sights:
No matter where you are traveling if you are planning on being somewhere with other tourists and there are sights to see, book your tickets early. Many popular sights around the world allow you to buy tickets several months before you actually travel. This is a great habit to get into. We learned this lesson the hard way too.
Oops
We were planning on visiting Amsterdam at the end of a trip in Europe. While we were on the trip we decided to get tickets to tour the Anne Frank house. Well we were out of luck because they sell out months in advance. Instead, if we wanted to go inside we would have to stand in line with everyone else. So that’s what we did. We stood in line for 4 hours. We made the most of our time with a deck of cards, and making friends with other people who made the same mistake we did.
Was it Worth It?
For us it was totally worth it. On our road trip we listened to the audio book, “The Diary of Anne Frank” with the kids, so visiting the annex was the icing on the cake for us.
7. Eiffel Tower:
This one is still kinda hard to write about, because it still makes Tyler SO mad thinking about it. If you go to Paris and use the subway system (you really should, it’s really easy to figure out) and are planning on going to the Eiffel Tower via subway, keep your ticket stub from the subway! We had been riding the subway a lot and had a bunch of old stubs that I tossed in the trash before we got off the train at the Eiffel Tower stop.
What I wish I knew
When you get off the train at the Eiffel Tower they will ask to see your ticket stub. If you don’t have it they charge you 35 Euros for each person who doesn’t have a stub. We ended up having to pay 70 Euros and it felt like a crazy scam. I did some digging while we were arguing with the guy, and it is legit. I am sure they make hundreds of thousands of Euros off tourists who don’t know any better.
8. Airbnb Small Print:
Make sure you read the small print and home descriptions before you book your Airbnb. We booked a place in Barcelona that was up about 12 flights of stairs with no elevator, and no air-conditioning and it was HOT! We also accidentally booked a place in Uganda, that had the same name as a small town in France! Oops. Click here to check out some of the reasons why we LOVE Airbnb!
9. Read the Time Tables for Transportation:
We spent a day hiking high above Chamonix France with the kids one day last summer. We took two cable cars up as high as we could and we hiked all day!! Our plan was to hike several different trails, and then grab the cable car to head back down to Chamonix at the end of the day. When we hiked back up to the cable car to head down, we noticed there weren’t many people around, like nobody. We also noticed that the cable car was not running.
Out of Luck
We never checked what time the last cable car was heading down the mountain before we started hiking in the morning. If you haven’t guessed it yet, we missed the last car down. Since we had already hiked ALL DAY LONG we had eaten all our snacks and drank all our water, and it was starting to get dark. Tyler and I looked at the kids and told them that we are going to do some hard things and it was time to be tough and rally. We started our 5000 ft decent into Chamonix and arrived about 3.5 hours later around 10:30pm. We celebrated with an amazing meal and a bottle of wine.
10. European Inns:
Tyler and I are not real big on planning things out ahead of time. We like to be spontaneous and go where the wind blows. This is usually not a problem, until it is. We were on a road trip through the Alps just the two of us, and we were visiting some friends in Austria one day. As we visited we lost track of time and didn’t end up leaving our friend’s place until pretty late. Most of the inns in Europe are privately owned, and close once it gets dark.
No Room at the Inn
We hadn’t booked anywhere to stay that night and drove around looking for any place that was open that had a room. NOWHERE was open. At this point I thought we were going to have to sleep in the tiny economy car we had rented. We decided to drive down one last road to see if there was anything. We found the nicest most expensive place around, but they were open. Tyler went inside and told our story to the young man at the counter. He had pity on us, and gave us an amazing room for a great deal! This one worked out for us, but not without a bunch of stress beforehand.
What About You?
We would love to hear about your travel blunders and mistakes. Leave a comment and let us know! We can all learn from each-others mistakes!
