Our Plans for Europe

Ben and I are looking to spend 2 or so months traveling around Europe in September. In part, for him to compete in the World Surf Championships in France, but also for us to find somewhere we might like to live. It’s pretty hard narrowing down where we’ll spend our time as there are so many places I’ve been before that I’d like to return to and other places I’d like to visit for the first time. We’ve spent a few hours researching where we’ll go and how we’ll get around, so I thought I’d keep you all in the loop. This might be helpful if you’re planning a trip to Europe yourself, too.

We are planning to travel a combination of long and short distances. For the really long distances we’ll fly, but for everything else we’re going to focus on train travel. The truth is, Ben and I will still be freelance working while we’re overseas, so any time spent in transit is time we could double up by working online. We’ve been researching a few different rail companies and noticed that Rail Europe (now called Voyages SNCF) offers great value passes, especially their Global Passes. I find that trains are much more comfortable to work on than buses, and I love being able to get up and walk around for those longer journeys. Trains tend to have better views out the window too – when compared to cars or buses who are just traveling along motorways.

Where We’ll Go:

We’re still narrowing this down as we’ve got a pretty big list, but for me personally the key places to visit are:
Lisbon (we’re seriously considering moving there)
San Sebastian, Spain
Madrid, Spain
Barcelona, Spain,
Paris, France,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
Berlin, Germany,
Prague, Czech Republic,
Vienna, Austria,
Budapest, Hungary

Those are all places I’ve been before. We’re pretty keen to head east and check out other places such as:

Italy – I’d really love to go to Venice and Rome. Ben and I are both history buffs so Rome really appeals to use for numerous reasons. Florence also looks great too. I’ve heard that Italy can be quite rough on the budget so we’d probably limit ourselves to just a week or so there.

Greece – Hello Greek Islands and Santorini – both of these places have been high on my want-to-go list for years. One of our readers suggested that Athens might be a good place to base ourselves so we’ll check it out and how prices compare to elsewhere in Europe

Croatia – I briefly visited Zagreb in 2012 and really liked it. Plitvice lakes were one of the most amazing places I visited. This time we’d like to head south and maybe do some island hopping as well as visit beautiful Dubrovnik.

Slovenia – If I’m honest, I only really want to go here to see Lake Bled. It looks amazing!

Turkey – I spent just under a week in Istanbul and loved it. I really wish I’d set aside more time to explore other places. Taking a balloon ride over Cappadocia is pretty high up on my bucket list. I think Ben would really enjoy the charm of Istanbul so I’d love to visit there.

Other places we would like to go if time permits:

Macedonia – I worked with a girl from Macedonia when I lived in Auckland, before I’d met her I’d not even heard of this place. She recently visited home and uploaded a bunch of photos and it really looks great. It’s super cheap too, which is a bonus.

Poland – I am very keen to visit Krakow. I had every intention of visiting when I was an au pair in the Czech Republic, but it was too difficult to get there.

Because we’re starting in Southern France, we’ll probably work our way up and to the left by Euro Rail. From Lisbon we’ll fly towards the centre of Europe, depending on the cheapest flights and work our way to the right. I am big on not going backwards and forwards when you’re traveling. Ideally it would have been good to start left and work right or vice versa, but we have to start our travels in France.

Where We’ll Stay:

I’d like to implement a bunch of different travel styles, from nice hotels right down to couchsurfing if the location warrents it. Some parts of Europe are fairly expensive, while other parts are great-value. We’ll use a combination of different accommodation styles to keep on budget. As we’ll be working while we’re overseas, we will be able to afford nicer accommodation which will be exciting.

How Long We’ll Be Gone:

At present, we’re looking at around 2 months. I would personally like to up that to 3, but Ben is a bit apprehensive depending on his racing season for the NZ summer. We haven’t booked flights yet; I tend to book them closer to the time so that we can be more decisive about how long we’ll want to spend over there.

So that’s our Europe plan. I can’t wait. If you have any plans we simply cannot miss off, please let me know in the comments below – we’re pretty flexible and open to suggestions.