After our semi-retirement last year in 2018, and a wonderfully successful 5 month trip around the world, it’s pretty safe to say that Whitney and I are hooked on traveling and exploring various international destinations. We spent about a month in Europe during the trip last year, but most of our time was in SE Asia. We really enjoyed SE Asia and will definitely be going back there in the future, but we decided that for this year we wanted to take a long trip around Europe in the summer to experience some more of the history there.
In addition to this trip, we have a short trip to the Dominican Republic planned in March, and a 3 week road trip from Virginia to Las Vegas and back (for the Traveler’s Conference “TravCon”) planned in September. We don’t have any plans for the 4th quarter of this year yet, but it could involve a longer road trip around the US, or maybe even a trip to Central and South America :D. Or we may take a second travel physical therapy contract. It’s still up in the air!
Even though we may very likely only be working three months this year (maybe 6, who knows… semi-retirement is pretty tough, right?) we decided to keep the trip to Europe under four months. There are two reasons for this. First, we were getting tired and a little homesick after five months during our last trip, so we thought we’d do one a little shorter this time. Second, my brother graduates from PTA school in May, and we are going to the conference in Vegas in September, which leaves us just the right amount of time to fly over to Europe and spend a few months adventuring between those two big events!
Itinerary
Below is a rough outline of where we plan to go because we still have a ton of planning to do, but we generally know where we’ll be going and for how long. We have our arrival and departure flights booked already just like we did on our last trip, and we’ve started booking some of the beginning and some of the end of the trip based off the flights. This was our strategy on our last trip, booking the beginning and end, then filling in the middle. It worked great for us last time, so we’re doing it that way again!
Many others who have done longer periods of travel have recommended that we leave our itinerary more open ended to allow for flexibility and spontaneity while traveling, but we really prefer to have it mapped out in terms of flights and accommodations in advance. First, it makes it less stressful once we’re already on the trip, so we don’t have to spend time while we’re in an exciting country sitting and trying to book something and make plans for the next day or the next week. Second, we found that comparing notes with other travelers we met overseas, we paid significantly less for our accommodations by booking in advance. Other travelers staying in the same city or sometimes even the same hotel/Airbnb as us paid two to three times as much as we did for booking last minute!
We realize we are “sacrificing” some possible spontaneity, but, for now, we like our plan and are sticking with it! Here’s what we have mapped out so far:
- Portugal: 2 weeks (already booked!)
- Porto
- Obidos
- Lisbon
- Lagos
- Spain: 2 weeks (already booked!)
- Madrid
- Seville
- Granada
- Valencia
- Barcelona
- Northern France: 1 week (already booked!)
- Paris
- Reims
- Luxembourg: 3 days (already booked!)
- Luxembourg city
- Belgium: 4 days
- Brussels
- ???
- Netherlands: 5-7 days
- Amsterdam
- ???
- Germany: 3 days
- Hamburg
- Poland: 1 week
- Krakow
- Warsaw
- Czechia: 1 week
- Prague
- Austria: 1 week
- Vienna
- ???
- Slovakia: 5 days
- Bratislava
- Hungary: 5-7 days
- Budapest
- ???
- Croatia: 4-7 days
- Zegreb
- ???
- Slovenia: 3-4 days
- ???
- Italy: 1 week (already booked!)
- Venice
- Rome
We need ideas for cities to visit where not listed in the countries above. We would also love ideas of things to do/see in the cities where we are going! Give us some ideas in the comments below!
Future Travel Plans
There are many more places in Europe that we want to visit in the future, but we had to narrow it down for this trip so that we wouldn’t be moving around every couple of days. We prefer to travel a little more slowly so that it’s not so exhausting and such a whirlwind. On a future trip we’ll visit southern France, Switzerland, more of Italy, more of Germany, Greece, and a few more countries in Eastern Europe. So yes, we know there are lots of wonderful places not on our list, but we can’t do it all in one trip! 😉
Minimizing Expenses on the Trip
Just like last trip, we’re taking advantage of a lot of travel hacking in order to save money and be able to travel for 3.5 months!
Flights: We have our main flights (from the US to Europe and back to the US) booked using American Airlines and Delta miles, so we’re only paying out of pocket for taxes and fees there.
Hotels: We will redeem credit card points for about 20 free nights throughout the trip (most of this coming from the AMEX Hilton Honors Aspire card) which will save us a considerable amount.
Food: We will also get free breakfast at the reward hotels that we plan to book, which will save us some money on food.
Airbnb: I’ve been watching for more deals on discounted Airbnb gift cards to save on our stays for all the nights that we aren’t getting free hotel nights.
Transportation: We also plan to travel mostly by bus and train between cities to keep costs lower, although we will take advantage of cheap flights on discount airlines such as EasyJet and RyanAir when available.
I’m setting a tentative budget of $1,500/month (about $50/day), but we’ll see how that goes since Europe is much more expensive than SE Asia where we kept our costs low on the trip last year. (I was able to spend less than $6,000 total for our 5-month trip in 2018!)
Thanks for reading and please give us your suggestions for places to go and things to do in the comments!
Fifth Wheel Physical Therapist 
What a fantastic itinerary. I followed your SE Asia trip with great interest. In Belgium I recommend visiting Bruge. I liked it much more than Brussels. It’s off the charts for architecture and charm. It didn’t get bombed during the war so no rebuilding necessary.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the recommendation! So far from what I’ve been reading we may only spend one night in Brussels because a lot of people have a similar experience as you. We’d much rather experience old world charm than another big city.
LikeLike
I second Bruges, and also check Ghent out as a day trip!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the recommendation! I think Bruges is definitely on our list now!
LikeLike
OK, so I read what you’ve mapped out so far and my thought was “Christ!” (apologies to anyone for whom that’s a profanity!). As Europeans, we see so many Americans flitting from London to Paris to Berlin to Rome… You could pick any of the major European countries, get a hire car, and spend 4 months just exploring that country without feeling that you’d seen it all…. Slow down guys!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah it’s going to be rushed for sure. We’d love to spend more time in each country and probably will go back to most of them in the future but this is more of a trip to see where we’d like to spend some more time later. I definitely know what you mean about missing out on the best parts of a country when only going to the big cities. We met a ton of Europeans that had been to the US but only went to New York City and Los Angeles which is not what I consider to be a representation of the US at all!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Assuming you will have a car you MUST go to Épernay from Reims! This is the true champagne region and is absolutely gorgeous!!! you cannot miss it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the recommendation! I’m not sure what we’ll do as far as transportation yet in some of these places but if it’s feasible we’ll definitely check it out!
LikeLike
Also with two weeks in Spain I highly recommend driving down to Gibraltar. We drove the entire Andalusian coast and that was one of my highlights. If you like being active hiking the rock is a MUST. Views of all three countries at the top is breathtaking. Caves, monkeys, exercise, views and history all in one day!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow that does sound awesome! I wonder if we could do a day trip there from Seville or Granada? I’d love to see the rock.
LikeLike
It’s 2 hours from Seville but you don’t want to be in a rush the hike day if you want to see all the sights and go the long way up (which I recommend to see the Most of it). If you drive down from Seville and stop in Cadiz (stunning old fortified port city) and even Tarifa (kite boarder heaven) on the way they are both amazing then sleep in la linea (way cheaper then Gibraltar) then you have the next day to enjoy the hike then drive back!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice! We are doing about 2.5 months in Europe this summer; Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Malta, and Portugal (we rented an AirBNB in Obidos, actually!). We have to plan ahead a bit because kids… where do you get your discount AirBNB cards from? I like Raise but it seems like they always cap the discount at a max of like $10 extra when they go on sale…
LikeLiked by 1 person
That sounds like a great trip! I use Raise but mostly as a next to last resort. I find with Raise I can generally get about 9-10% off (regular gift card discount + cashback portal + promo code) which isn’t bad but as you mentioned is usually limited to $10 on the promo code meaning it’s only good for $200-$250 in gift cards. I have also found occasional sales on ebay or amazon for a straight 10% off but those normally don’t last very long and are easy to miss.
The biggest discounts for me have come from Amazon deals involving getting a discount for using membership reward or ultimate reward points like this one: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amazon-get-20-off-when-you-use-at-least-one-membership-rewards-point-100-maximum-discount-2/
I’ve done a few of those in the past year and always buy as many as I can when they pop up and usually on both my account and Whitney’s account. I think that’s ended up being a total of $3,000 in Airbnb gift cards at a 20% discount that I’ve gotten that way since this time last year. Pretty significant savings!
LikeLike
So jealous of your amazing summer holiday. Only thing I could add would be that I would prefer to slow down a bit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s definitely going to be a whirlwind. Originally this was going to be a 16 or 17 week trip but it got condensed a little making it more rushed. We may end up adjusting the times a little if we feel too stressed 🙂
LikeLike
In Croatia, Zagreb is a nice city, but to get your history fix you should really go to Split. Either from there, or on the way, you should go to either Plitvicke lakes NP, or to Krka JP, both are beautiful.
Split really is amazing, you won’t regret it.
In Slovenia, Lake Bled is nice but so incredibly crowded.. We ended up bailing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I keep hearing about Split! We’re going to have to check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!
LikeLike
If you ever go back to England you should totally hit up the Cotswolds … can you say picturesque England. I actually prefer the Cotswolds over London. I also have family in all areas of England and my aunt even rents two of her homes (1 in Stow-on-the-Wold and 1 in Bourton-on-the-Water) through AirBNB. Lets just say my experience with her AirBnB won me over and I use them all of the time now! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the recommendation! We will definitely be back in the UK in the next couple of years since there is so much to see there. That sounds like an awesome place!
LikeLike
My wife and I have lived in Germany for going on 2 years now (also both are PTs, I’m in the Army) and there are so many amazing places to see. Looks like a great vacation. I’ll add on to everyone who suggested Bruges and Ghent in Belgium, they’re awesome. Brussels is ok – but there’s one city center that’s cool and a cathedral nearby and that’s about it.
For Austria – Vienna is an amazing city and has a great train system that makes getting around easy. Definitely check out the palace. Also, we love scenery and mountains, so if you do too then I’d see if you could work Salzburg, Innsbruck, and/or Berchesgaden (Hitler’s Eagle Nest) as merely traveling to get there is amazing. Also in that same region, Garmisch Germany is incredible.
Croatia – The plitvice lakes are incredible, but you’ll have to rent a car and drive or take a tour to get to them. We stayed in Split and it was pretty cool too, even did a 1 day trip to Mostar, Bosnia which was pretty cool. Can see the ravages of war from WWI to their more recent wars in the 1990s, lots of crazy history. Also in Split is a Blue Lagoon near one of the Croatian Islands that you’d need to take a boat tour to see. In Slovenia, the capital Ljubljana is a pretty cute little city. Lake Bled is a must-see and there’s lots of great hiking within 30 minutes of Lake Bled. As for Hungary, there’s not a ton to see. Not as scenic as other countries though Budapest is an awesome city. I’d consider spending more time in Italy at the end of your trip and seeing the Dolemites, Florence, Aviano, Cinque Terre or something in stead of spending so much time in Hungary, but just my take on it! Looks like an awesome trip! We were in Italy for a month last year and there’s so many cool little cities and lakes/mountains to see that we’d never even heard of. Lots of awesome places in Europe!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the tips! We are very excited! Just 3 weeks til we leave.
LikeLike