Part 2: 10 tips for travelling around Europe

Old town Dubrovnik (see more Dubrovnik posts here)

Hello! I'm back again with Part 2 of this series, touching on a few more tips for travelling around Europe.

Looking back at Riomaggiore

6) SAFETY

My personal experience with Europe is that it is generally a pretty safe place to visit, however pickpocketing is more common there than in Australia. It's not actually a rare occurrence and I've known many people who have been pick pocketed whilst travelling and have also witnessed pickpockets in action. Whilst some people swear by money bags and belts, I personally don't find them to be necessary. As long as you hold onto your belongings and are aware of your surroundings and what's happening around you, you should be able to minimise your chance of running into trouble.

Snapping a pic on top of Monte Baldo

7) GETTING CONNECTED

We always buy a local sim the moment we arrive in a new country. A quick Google will tell you the best one to go with. One tip however is that if you purchase a Three sim in London, you can use the same sim in any of their 'Feel at Home' countries to call Three numbers (e.g. your travel buddy with the same sim) and use data. We found this immensely useful as it meant that we did not have to buy additional local sims in France and Italy. The only catch is that you need a UK credit card to top up the sim when you're abroad so if you don't have one, then you'll have to buy a local sim when the credit on your UK sim runs out.

Pebble stone beaches on the French Riviera

8) STAYING CONNECTED 

One of my most useful travel purchases (aside from that crazy adaptor I bought from Officeworks) is a portable device charger. The one I have is the Xiaomi 16000 power bank which has two USB outlets and can charge both phones and tablets. It charges 5 iPhones before it runs out of power (!) and is about $50-60 AUD. I got mine from here. It's a lifesaver when you're on a train and want to stay connected but have no access to power outlets. Also, speaking of staying connected, don't forget these nifty little things because you'll need them for your phone, laptop, camera and more! You can find my favourite travel adaptor in this post here.

My Europe travel essentials (full post here)

9) PACK A CAMERA KIT THAT WORKS FOR YOU

If you want to take pictures to capture your holidays, you're going to want to bring a camera (obviously). Europe is one of those places where you will most definitely be on your feet every day as there's just so much to see and you will always be moving around to different towns and cities. Because of this, I would suggest bringing a light and manageable one. I always only bring two lens maximum - unless you're a full on photographer who wants to capture everything, I think one standard zoom lens (18-55mm or 24-70mm) and one prime lens (if you even want to bring one) is more than enough. I generally only bring one lens out with me every day - most of the time it is my zoom lens and if you're thinking of taking just one lens with you, I'd suggest a zoom lens as it's just more versatile especially when you're on the go and want to capture a variety of things (prime lenses are better for when you have more control of the environment and can move forward or outwards easily.. not something that will always work when you're in a packed tourist destination!). If you don't want to bring an interchangeable lens camera, then something like the Canon G7x would also be perfect. It's got a good standard zoom, has a flip screen that helps with selfies & also wifi so you can instantly transfer to your devices! I always carry my camera stuff in a backpack and my favourite travel backpack is the Kanken - it's super lightweight.

Tanya's cafe in London (more London travel posts here)

10) FINDING THINGS TO SEE, DO & EAT

I'm always a believer of planning ahead and knowing exactly what you're doing before you get there. Of course, you don't have to stick to what you plan because there's always going to be new things and other things you'll want to check out when you get there. However, having a plan available as a back up is always a good thing as you'll always have something written down to do for those days where you don't want to think on your feet. For me, I love finding recommendations of things to see and eat from travel blogs and articles. I find that these sites often go beyond the typical tourist recommendations you find on TripAdvisor (though there's nothing bad about those & TripAdvisor is my favourite site for travel tips) and always have really in-depth reviews and photos of everything. I plan daily itineraries by clumping things in the same geographical area together and then on the day, if we're in that area / planning to head to that area, we'll refer to that list. When it comes to places to eat, there's no better recommendation than a local's so start off by asking your AirBnB host for a couple of suggestions!I hope you've found these posts useful for any Europe holiday planning you are doing. Let me know if you have any other questions below!