So you have decided to travel on your own. Planning everything from scratch for the first time may sound intimidating but don't worry. It's not that difficult as it seems. Speaking from experience, I still remember my first time planning for my Europe trip which gave me such a big headache! I just don't know where to start, what to do, how to plan.

It took me awhile to get used to it and trust me, after you have succeeded in your first trip planning, you will gain experience to do the same or even better in your next trip.

Here are the step-by-step on what you can do in planning your first solo trip. Most people don't know where to start or what to look out for in their planning. With this guide, I hope it will somehow put you on track to get you going without going bonkers! Have fun and all the best!


STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE:

1. First, do you know where you want to visit? Decide on which country you wanna visit. Let's take for example: Italy.

2. List out all the cities you wanna visit in Italy. For example: Venice, Rome, Florence.

3. Then, search online to see and read what is there to see or do in Venice. Write down the name of the places you want to see. Do the same with Rome and Florence.

4. Next, check out if the places you want to visit requires any admission fee. Most of the churches and cathedrals are usually FREE admission. Museums, castles, palaces will need admission fee but if you just want to walk around on the ground area of the palace without going inside, then it's free to walk around. Remember to write down the opening hours of the places to avoid being denied entry when you reach there.

5. Once you have the list of places you want to see in Venice, now you may decide on how many days you want to stay in order for you to be able to visit each place in Venice. If you only want to stay for a certain number of days, for instance, two days, then make sure you plan out carefully on the number of places that can fit into your schedule. Remember, you're travelling on your own. You may decide on how long you wanna stay in one place. Give yourself at least one hour for each place, so that you won't be rushing to the next stop without slowly admiring the beauty and details of the architecture.

6. Plan out the route from one attraction to the next one. Write down which train or bus to take. I recommend Lonely Planet guidebook because each attraction is listed with its public transport to take you there. You can also search it online.

7. Now, you may search and compare flight tickets via websites such as skyscanner or other reliable websites. If you know which date you want to go, make sure you check the weather because some first-timers end up experiencing snow without knowing it's winter time! Imagine not having the appropriate winter clothing and you have to buy there. It may be more expensive than to buy in your home country, but that depends. Worse still, some places may be closed during winter, so to avoid being disappointed, check on the website of the palace if they close on winter months.

8. For accommodation, search for the suitable one via Airbnb or other websites such as Tripadvisor, Booking.com, Expedia, Traveloka, Trivago, etc on which is near to most of the attractions sites you want to visit. Read the reviews from other customers about the hotel and decide if it's what you want. Some people must have hot shower and not all budget hotels have that amenity, so make sure you read carefully on the services and amenities the hotel provide before you make a booking.

9. Change your local money to the foreign currency. How much to bring? That depends on the admission fee to all the places you want to visit. Jot down each admission fee, add the total up. Next, you can search online on how much does a meal cost in Italy. Let's say a quick cheap breakfast on the go is €8, lunch is €10 and dinner is €20, so food for each day is €38. If you are staying for a week, multiply it: €38 x 7 = €266. I suggest you to make a round figure of €300. Don't forget that you need money to buy bottled mineral water, bus ticket, subway ticket to get you around.

NOTE: Most of the small shops, museums, local eatery shop may not accept credit cards. You may bring your credit card for emergency and remember to contact the bank issuer of your credit card and inform them on the country you're going to avoid having your card being rejected when you make a payment in a foreign country. 

10. Pack your luggage in advance to avoid missing out items you may need. I make a list of the items I need and tick-off each one after I've put it into my backpack to avoid leaving it behind at home.

Once you reached the train station or bus station of the next city you're about to embark on, try to get a free city map from the station information counter to get you around. They have maps for tourists and you can see the places of attractions and which bus or train to take or if some are within walking distance, that will save you from buying a ticket.

I recommend you to buy a safety travel pouch/money belt (as shown in the photo above) that you can wear it around your waist inside your shirt. You may keep your important documents such as passport, flight tickets, credit cards, extra cash in there and keep enough cash in your wallet. DO NOT wear the money belt outside your shirt, it is meant to be worn INSIDE! so that no one can see.


THINGS TO PRINT OUT:
Once you have booked your flights and accommodation, print out your boarding pass, the hotel reservation confirmation email from the hotel, the bus/train ticket (if you buy online). Basically, print out any important confirmation email and tickets and bring it with you. Also, print your passport (the personal info page) and bring it with you. In any case of loss, at least you have a print-out passport to prove your identity when you're making a police report.


IMPORTANT ITEMS TO BRING:

1. Passport (check your passport validation, make sure it's not expired)
2. Foreign cash
3. Money belt
4. Basic toiletries (Check the airline's regulations on the bottle size and volume)
5. Clothing (Make sure it's appropriate for the season you're travelling. Check the weather forecast)
6. Smartphone
7. Phone charger (powerbank if you need)
8. Universal plug adapter (Different countries have different power socket plug)
9. All the print-out of important documents
10. Credit cards (For emergency)
11. Walking shoes (Make sure it's comfortable for walking)
12. Spectacles/Contact lens (If you need. Don't forget the contact lens solution and lens case too)
13. Pen and notebook (In case you need to write down addresses, or other important notes along the way)
14. Camera and its kit (If you're bringing your DSLR or a compact digital camera)
15. Travel guidebook (If you want to bring along)

P/S: If you have any other questions about planning your first trip, do leave your questions in the comment.

1. Bring your own recycle bag when you go supermarket because they don’t give plastic bags and if you want, they will charge you. Luckily I brought my backpack whenever I go out, therefore I can put the mineral water bottle, sandwich, bread all inside my bag when I buy these from supermarket. 

2. In Germany, Austria, and Italy, one ticket allows you to take any public transport: bus, train, tram (except taxi) provided the time duration on your ticket is enough for your journey. Yes, with that same ticket, you can just take a train and then switch to take a bus and so on. 

3. In Italy, a ticket of €1.50 is worth of 100 minutes (1 hour 40 mins) which means you can take public transport to anywhere you want within that period of time. Once that period expires, you have to buy another ticket. In Germany and Austria tickets also have their own duration on their ticket. 

4. Once you have bought the ticket, don’t assume you can just hop on the train or bus. You must first VALIDATE your ticket. How? In Germany, next to the ticket machine, you will find a small machine (as shown in the photo I took below) for you to slot your ticket into it and the machine will stamp your ticket with the date and time. Ticket Validate Machine 

Ticket Validate Machine

5. If you take bus or tram, you can validate your ticket inside as there are machines inside the bus and tram. Plain-clothing officers may inspect passengers if they have tickets or if you have validate the ticket or not. If you’re caught with a ticket without validation, you will be fined on the spot for €60 (around RM 300). So please REMEMBER to VALIDATE your ticket. In some places, you can buy and validate the ticket inside the trams. Tickets come in Single-ticket, Day-ticket, Family/Group tickets. If you buy the Day-ticket, you can use that same ticket for the whole day with limitless of times you take the public transport. 

6. If you want to take away, never eat it sitting down in their cafe/restaurant as it is rude and disrespectful to the food and the chef. And if you cannot finish your food, NEVER ask the waiter to tapau (pack to take away) the leftovers. It’s also disrespectful to their wonderful cuisine. I have witnessed how the Italian waitress admonished the two China girls on this matter to which I will only tell and demonstrate in person to my friends because the effect is more realistic. Hahaha… 

7. If you have empty bottles from the mineral water you bought, bring those empty bottles to any supermarket and they have a recycle machine where you put the bottles one by one into that machine to be crushed into pieces and after you have finished putting all your empty bottles, coins will be paid to you in a slot. How cool is that, huh? You are paid to recycle. What a good way to encourage people to recycle. Your empty bottles can earn some extra money and you can use it to buy sandwich or a public transport ticket for the day. 

8. When the train stops at your station, please don’t expect the door will open automatically. It won’t. There is a button for you to press or a handle for you to pull to open the door. So, don’t just stand there and wait for the door to open. Observe how the locals do it and you will get it. I guess with this way, the train doesn’t need to open every single door even there’s no one going out, as not to waste time and energy. 

9. In Europe countries (well, at least the 3 countries I went), people will stand on the right side of the escalator and those who are in a hurry, they will walk on the left side. So, please don’t stand in the middle or at the wrong side. Again, observe the locals and follow. 

10. Public transport (train, bus, tram) in Europe countries are very punctual on time and they display the time on the monitor at the station but please be aware that trains may be delayed or cancelled due to unforeseen reasons. If this happens, they will display the info on the big information screen but the thing is, everything is in German in Germany and Italian in Italy. You have to go to the information counter to ask or you could ask a local who speaks English to translate to you what does the information says on the monitor. German people are very helpful and kind. On this matter, I will blog in another post. If the train is cancelled, they will either direct you to take another train to connect you to your destination on the same day. So you have to ask the information counter staff and they will tell you which platform, which train number, what time to catch that other train.

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.