Choosing Your Destinations and Itinerary for European Travel

Many Americans and people from other countries have an urge to travel to Europe at some point in their lives. After the initial excitement of deciding to go, many become overwhelmed at all that is involved in planning an itinerary.

Many of us hear stories and see pictures from other people's trips and want our trips to be like theirs or we make the mistake of assuming that everyone's trips to Europe look the same. We think of classic tourist points, such as the Eiffel tour, the Louvre and the Swiss Alps and imagine that we will visit all of these places.

However, the best thing you can do for yourself when planning is to make the trip unique to you. Don't place expectations on yourself, and don't compare your trip to those of others. Many people attempt to jam in attractions without taking the time to decide whether or not they are actually interested in going there.

Don't go somewhere just because you think you're supposed to. Ultimately, this is your trip, and if a place just doesn't interest you, you'd be best off to just admit it and erase it from your itinerary to free up time for the places you really want to see.

In order to make the best decisions for yourself, make sure to get as much information as possible first. Don't allow yourself to become overwhelmed with information, but know what is important and what is not.

This is best accomplished by giving yourself plenty of time to carefully consider each destination and plan out the mood of your trip. Don't allow yourself to come home and find out about a place you would have really liked to see but didn't know about.

In order to have an enjoyable trip that makes sense, it is very important to be realistic. If you aren't, you set yourself up for a hectic trip that doesn't turn out to be as enjoyable as you had envisioned and a lot of disappointment.

Remember not to compare your trip to others' and not to expect to do or see everything there is to see in Europe. This is very unrealistic, and it just may be a fact you are unable to go everywhere you ideally want to in one visit. That's okay.

You can always go back, and you would be happier having a trip where you genuinely want to be in each destination but have one or two you'd like to visit later than a trip spent going from one place to another so quickly that you don't have time to enjoy anything.

The three major factors in planning a Europe trip that makes sense are time, money and destinations. These are all equally important, and these factors are what make one person's European experience different from another's.

Some people choose to go to Paris for two weeks for a honeymoon and never see the rest of Europe. Others choose to backpack across the Alps. There are so many different possibilities, and deciding on these factors will help you plan an itinerary.

Start by figuring out how much time you have to spend in Europe and with a realistic assessment of your budget. This will determine how many destinations you can realistically visit for an enjoyable amount of time each. Then, make a list of places you absolutely must see on this trip, and look at a map to identify a practical plan.

By : Lilia_Pernel