Eurohints

My friend Vik is headed to Europe for the summer. He asked for some pointers, and instead of dumping them into the IRC window, I figured I'd post them here.

There are a lot of things here that are pretty high on the, "duh" scale, but it's impossible to know what's assumed and what isn't. Please excuse me if I seem pedantic at times.

Also, because I get to pimp myself to you people any time I want here at /dev/null, go to the EU2004 Photolog.

On travel:

• Definitely do the math on the Eurail pass. The three-month one is nevertheless expensive and you may lose money if you're taking fewer than a half-dozen train trips. My gut feeling is that it'll save you a boatload—but I'd do the math first.
  
• Alternatively, it's getting really cheap to just fly around Europe. You may want to see how much it is to fly from Paris to Rome, for example.
  
• The Eurail pass does not work in the Czech Republic. You can probably imagine why I highlight this¹.
  
• Order the pass as soon as possible and get it shipped to the US. Getting it in the EU is a pain in the ass.
  
• After doing the crash tour of Europe, I strongly recommend spending at least a week in each city. Absolutely don't cut it shorter than three days in each place—that only really gives you one day to see the city itself. Optimally, I'd say 6–7 days per city, and two weeks in the big ones (London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, etc.)
  
• You didn't specifically mention the UK, but be aware that travel to/from the isles is comparatively expensive and difficult.
  
• Taxis will drain you poor. Try to use mass transport, if at all possible.
  
• Everyone's subways work differently. London's are completely indecipherable, whereas Paris' uses cheap and easily lost tickets. Prague's has no access control whatsoever and the metro police randomly stop subwaygoers to make sure they have a ticket validated in the last hour. Prague cracks me up.
  
• Don't ever leave bags unattended on trains. Even if you're sleeping on them, they're not safe. I heard a lot of stories about people losing a ton of clothes, money, or a passport because they snoozed off for a while. This means no sleeping on trains unless you've got a cohort.
  

On lodging:

• "Cheap" hostels really don't exist anymore. Expect to pay €20–€30 a night for a bed in a dormitory-style room, although breakfast is usually included. In some places, the hostel will probably run you upwards of €60/night. After taxes, I think we paid > £40/night for one in London. That sucked.
  
• Book all your lodging ahead of time. During the summer, they're usually packed. We actually couldn't find a place to stay in Rome, although that's another story altogether². I recommend at least a week in advance, in all cases.
  
• Also note that you're likely to change your plans somewhat after you arrive. Book at least a week in advance, but not much more than two. Three months is a long time to have all your schedules set in stone.
  

On gadgets:

• I'd recommend against taking a laptop, if you're planning on doing so. They're too bulky to carry everywhere you want to go, and it's hell trying to find a place to keep them. Most hostels have lockers, but not all. I wouldn't trust leaving them in the rooms, either.
  
• If you're shooting digital, absolutely positively get an X's Drive. We took a VP300. Will and I took around 2000 shots in 14 days—an average of around 150 shots/day. I'm guessing I could have easily maintained that pace for three solid months. At 2MB each, that's around 24GB for three months. Your mileage will most certainly vary, but an 80GB laptop drive in a VP300 enclosure would be more than adequate.
  
• Take every opportunity to charge your toys. Otherwise, you'll be stuck in the lavoratory on a Italian train with a camera battery charger plugged into the shaver outlet, and pushing the "shave" button on the wall every five minutes to turn the power back on. Thankfully, you can watch the track go by through the toilet seat³.
  
• I'd recommend against taking an SLR camera. They're far too large to really keep track of. Plus, they're simply not discreet—this is a positive when trying to scare celebrities, but a negative when trying to sneak a shot at something or when not actively trying to be a giant theft target.
  
• I can't recommend the Pentax Optio S family of cameras enough, but by know everyone knows I'm a giant Optio whore. A mint-tin camera case is about a million times less likely to be ripped off than a black leather camera-sized case, too. There's a big difference between something the size of an Optio and something like a Canon S410 when you're carrying it around in your pocket all day, too.
  
• You're going to be limited by your battery and flash in terms of how many shots you can take in a day. I recommend backups of each.
  
• Turn up all of the quality settings on your camera.
  
• Check your wallwarts—most specify that they're dual-voltage. Ideally, they're all 110/220V@50/60Hz. You will need a plug adapter ($10 at Wal*Muchachos), but not a voltage converter.
  

On packing:

• A framed/hiking backpack will, generally, make you something of a target for pickpockets. It's not much of a problem if you're quick with your senses.
  
• Nothing will save your ass quite like extra straps. I bought a bunch at REI for $10, and you can probably find them cheaper elsewhere. It's just a ~1m length of nylon strapping with plastic buckles on each end. I used them for strapping things (towels, etc.) to the outside of my pack, keeping the pack itself adequately strapped, and keeping loose clothing organized inside. You can probably use mesh bags easier, but I found that rolling clothes in one direction then binding them together in the other worked great.
  
• It's difficult to really secure your belongings. A padlock isn't a bad thing to have handy (because it's pretty light), but keeping someone from running off with your stuff will be impossible without a locker or something similar. I've heard you can get a giant mesh metal sack thing, but the cheapest I've seen them is around $100.
  
• Passport and cash always stay on you, at all times. There are some things you don't want to be without.
  
• Pack the smallest pair of sandals you can find. The shower floors in hostels are teeming with nastiness.
  
• Invest in a nice towel. REI carries really nice camping/packing towels that dry really damned quickly. This is important—otherwise, the clothes in your bag will be soaked the next morning.
  
• It's not a bad idea to bring a small bag for day trips. This sort of thing can usually be done without, but it came in damned handy a few times while we were out there.
  
• Get a pair of nice walking shoes with really stiff soles. I recommend the Merrell Chameleon XCR Gore-Tex Lows—they were around $130.
  
• You'll never go wrong wearing pants. Shorts aren't quite as popular in Europe unless you're a professional runner or a member of Abba. Convertible pants did me well.
  
• Throw a baggie of well-labeled and sealed painkiller/flu medications in your bag. The only thing worse than trying to find cold meds in a foreign country is explaining to the border patrol what all those little tablets are.
  
• Always keep trip paperwork in a dedicated, locked, but easily-accessible compartment on your sack. Making officials wait while you dig through dirty clothes is not appreciated.
  
• Those money belt things you wear under your shorts are invaluable. Don't ever trust pockets.
  

On etiquette:

• Everywhere has at least one person who speaks English. In most places, everyone speaks English.
  
• Never rely on this. Learn all the pleasantries in all of the indigineous language. Convincingly, if at all possible. Absolutely learn how to ask if the other person can speak English. These are really non-negotiable.
  
• I never figured out what all the tipping conventions were. Getting it wrong is always bad—if you're supposed to tip and you don't, you'll look cheap; if you're not supposed to, and you do, you'll look patronizing. The latter is probably worse. Don't be afraid to ask, though—most Europeans screw this one up, too.
  
• Looking European is a positive. Dress outlandishly, if at all possible. Remember, though, that the only thing dumber than having English scrawled across your clothes is having the vernacular scrawled across your clothes.
  
• Boinking the locals in the hostel is considered poor form.
  

On economics:

• Use a credit card. Never use money changers. Even Jesus hated those fuckers.
  
• Change is worthless. Keep enough around to pay for restrooms. Public restrooms seemed to charge around €1-2, whereas restaraunt restrooms tended to charge a few cents, at least in Germany.
  
• Living in Prague is supercheap. Super super cheap. And it's a fantastic place, too. The architecture is astounding.
  
• On a related note, the UK is expensive. France was somewhat cheaper than Germany, but not by much. Italy seemed cheap, but we only spent a little time there. I have no idea about Spain or the Netherlands.
  
• Whatever your cost estimates are for the trip, bring them up by at least 25% and maybe even more. It's really easy to blow well over €100/day once food and lodging is factored in.
  
• Always carry at least one day's worth of food and lodging in the local currency. Never dip below this threshold, either.
  

On everything else:

• An international cellphone could save your ass if you're really in a bind, but if you're planning on taking things slowly, you shouldn't need it.
  
• Phoon everything.
  

¹ on the upside, rail fare from Dresden to Prague was only €20 for three people, even when we bought it on the train. It certainly helped to have someone who can argue in German, though.
² See the EU2004 trip report for more details. The short version is that we slept on a train from Rome to Munich instead of finding a hostel.
³ Never walk on Italian railroad tracks.