It is just under two weeks until I embark on my journey of a lifetime. I will be traveling through Europe for four weeks, going to Spain, Italy and Greece. This will be my first backpacking experience in hostels, which is frightening but mainly exciting. I cannot wait to leave this monotonous environment, which has surrounded me for far too long. This upcoming university break is well needed.
In terms of preparation for travel, I have booked return flights, booked all accommodation (something I would recommend to do in advance if you were to travel over the European summer, or if it were your first time backpacking), booked and paid all internal flights, and as well as longer distance ground transportation. By having most of the trip booked and paid in advance, it will (hopefully) make your first time experience less stressful. For just over half my trip, I will be traveling with my friend, who after will be tackling university exchange abroad in Dublin, Ireland.
We are currently in the middle of exam period at University, which instead means students learn the value of procrastination. Instead of studying for my upcoming Criminology exam, I justified to myself that creating a packing list for Europe was my number one priority. If you aren’t already obsessed with making lists for every aspect of your life, then I highly recommend creating them not only for packing, but also for jobs and chores you need to do. Lists will help you focus on what aspects are most important, and create that small piece of clarity and organisation in your life amongst the chaos. So far, my current packing list is extensive and I can already see I need to cut things down before I attempt to gather my items.
For a first time backpacker, a tip I have found useful so far is to watch Youtube tutorials on what the essentials are to pack and what not to pack. Once you watch one video, you cannot stop, so for the females out there do not get carried away like I did. I have since ordered some of these ‘travel essentials’ discussed in the videos online. I bought myself a cylindrical perfume container, otherwise known as a travel fragrance atomizer, as well as a two pack of 150ml spillproop bottles. I hardly every purchase any items online, let alone any makeup items, so to buy these two ‘essential’ travel products was a large step in my online purchasing power. I cannot tell you whether these items were necessary yet, but nonetheless who doesn’t want a miniature perfume bottle filled with your favourite scent perfect for travel? Back me up please.
I will attempt to write up blog posts as I travel through Europe, hopefully with one blog post per city. Wish me goodluck!
chanaperlgut 