Planning a vacation in Europe -- Some Tips

1) Plan in advance. If you are not taking a group tour or visiting friends, and are going by yourself, you need atleast a month to prepare an itenary and gather information about the places that interest you. To gather information, I spoke to many friends who have travelled or lived in Europe and used Lonely Planet's book "Europe on a shoe string". I would personally recommend avoiding group tours. I feel, they restrict you and I feel travelling on your own is more fun.

2) Once you've decided which places you want to visit, you need to make the hotel reservations. There is a large variety of hotels to choose from in European cities. I would recommend pensiones and bed and breakfast over major hotel chains. In my opinion, service is more personalized in pensiones and bed and breakfasts. Most of the owners of these places I dealt with spoke decent English and provided valuable information about local events, places to shop, eat etc. Chances are you might end up meeting some fellow travellers and end up swapping stories and experiences. You also want to make sure the place you are staying is close to major railway station. Even if you have to pay a little more, but you'll save big bucks on cab and most importantly you save time.

3) In Italy, if you are interested in staying with local families, use the website
www.agritourism.it. Other good resource is www.venere.com. Also if you just drop in these cities, the tourist offices located at the airports or railway stations help you to find an accommodation according to your taste and budget.

4) If you are travelling by yourself, hostels are a good option. They are clean and cheap and located in the center of major attractions. I don't have personal experience with hostels, but from what I hear, they provide a different kind of experience and are easy on pocket. Some of these hostels have curfews, so you need to check that out in advance.

5) Rick Steve's guide books are a good source of information about Europe.

6) If you are planning on visiting many countries, you can either rent a car or take a train. Both are good ways to travel and let you explore the countryside where the real beauty lies. I did not have very good experience with budget airlines especially, Ryan Air. Though tickets are very cheap there is a lot of fine text, and as a tourist try avoiding these airlines.

7) In Italy, beware of cafes as a lot of them are tourist traps. If you eat at the counter of these cafes, you pay almost half of what you would pay for eating outside.

8) Don't carry too much cash. Credit cards are widely accepted and ATMs are located everywhere. If you use Bank of America ATM card, double check if it works internationally. I had problems with my ATM card.

9) In France, if you are taking a cab, make sure the cab driver and you are in sync. It's better to write what you intend to say, especially since French is pronounced differently, drivers also understand it differently. We had problems with the cab driver. We had to go to Paris Bercy station, but were dropped at Bastille station. Blame it on pronounciation :).

That's pretty much it. Enjoy your next vacation in Europe!