Going to Europe countries has been my dream from young and I have been working so hard and saving even harder for years to make this dream come true one day, and this day has come. For many years, I have researched on the places I want to visit so the itinerary part is already done long ago. Early June in year 2015, I have started searching for flight fares, accommodation, bus and train fares as I’m going to take either the bus or train (whichever is cheaper and shorter in duration) from one city to another.

My mission is… 

4 countries 

8 cities 

In a month’s time. 

Sounds like The Amazing Race, eh? Haha… but unlike the Amazing Race where you see a couple or 2 friends in a group competing with other groups, I’ll be travelling all by myself. Yup! I’m gonna backpack alone through Europe. Woohoo! 

So, which 8 cities I’ll be visiting? Below is my route from the starting point to the last city. 

Berlin – Dresden – Munich – Vienna – Venice – Florence – Rome – Vatican City 

As you can see clearly from the map (please forgive my ugly and not drawn to the scale drawing but at least you get the picture and it helps readers to see clearly on my route), I’ll be flying to Berlin which is the first city in my trip and I will be flying back from Rome. I’m going to spend at least 3-4 days in each city. While I’m in Rome, I’ll go over and visit Vatican City too, so that makes it 8 cities. 

At first, I wanted to include France which is just next to Germany but if I include France, I’ll take more than a month and I can’t afford to take so many days off work. Haha… Another reason being France is huge and there are many places that I wanna visit there, so I decided to travel to France only in my next trip. Hopefully next year. 

Why am I travelling in September? Because it’s my birthday! Woohoo! This is my birthday gift for myself. For many years, I have been praying and wishing that I would be able to travel to these Europe countries one day, but I didn’t make a move to plan because there’s always question that comes haunting at the back of my mind asking, “Should I?” And then, I will just put it aside and brush it off by telling myself, “It’s OK, I’ll plan it next year.” but the same scenario would repeat like a cycle every year. 

Therefore, I told myself, enough is enough. Don’t let any excuse to hold you back from realizing this dream of yours. If I don’t make the first step, this Europe trip will always be a dream. I do not want to live with regrets. I do not want to regret for not doing things that I want to do when I’m able to do it. 

Don’t wait until you’re too old to travel where you no longer as energetic as you’re young. By that time, you won’t have the stamina and energy to walk for long and for far. Don’t wait until you’re married with kids because once you have a family, it’s difficult to travel and you have so many responsibilities and bills to pay. When you have a family, you can’t travel alone and just leave them behind. You will most probably travel with your whole family (imagine the expenses, well, if you can afford it then it won’t be a problem). 

Don’t wait until your parents are old and retired and they have to depend on you for allowance. How are you going to save for travelling? Don’t wait until you have no more teeth to taste the good food of other countries. Don’t wait until your eyes are blur to see those beautiful amazing architecture of historical palaces, cathedrals, museums, outdoor park/garden. 

So start saving seriously and start planning. Why start to plan so early? When you plan and search for air fares and accommodation, you will roughly know the total figure of how much you need for the trip and that figure will let you know how much and how long you have to save from each month’s pay in order to be able to book the flights and accommodation. 

Yes, flight tickets and accommodation fees will change yearly but at least for now, you get a rough idea on how much you need for that dream trip of yours. Do not just save without a purpose. You will never know how much you need until you start to plan and do your research.