Tips For Travelling To Europe In Your 20’s

Your 20's consist of no baggage that comes with life (mortgage, family, work) and your health is at its peak! You can still eat on the cheap, crash in hostels, and have the energy to explore the streets of Europe! Your mind will broaden and to be honest - the experience will change your life.

Here are some tips on travelling to Europe:

Use Hostels

Hostels in Europe is generally clean, very well priced, and the best way to meet people in different countries to travel and explore with. Hotels in Europe can cost on average 100 euros a night (expensive), where hostels are on average 30 euros a night (deal!)

The general perception of Hostels are that it's a place full of bed bugs and a real shabby place. But what you'll find is that some hostels are just as great as hotels, if not better sometimes!

Side note: Bring a lock with you to use to lock your baggage in the lockers. It'll save you from buying one at the hostel at inflated prices.

Use SkyScanner and HostelBookers App

Flying within Europe is CHEAP.

Use SkyScanner to find flights around Europe. It pulls information from various websites and displays the best deal available. However, about 95% of the time it finds you the best rates and other times, I find that sometimes Expedia showed flights cheaper than SkyScanner. Make sure to check both.

When booking Hostels, use the Hostel Bookers App. 

9 times out of 10 it is the app that displays great hostel deals! (Hostelworld app charges higher fees, so avoid this app.)
Make sure to have a MasterCard or Visa ready in order to use this app.

How the app works is that you will pay a % of your booking up front through the app, and the balance owed will be paid when you get to the hostel in EUROS. What you'll need to pay in Euros is displayed immediately after you book, and you will get a email confirmation as well. 

This app is great because it's so black and white and easy to deal with.

Pack Light

Carry-ons and personal bag only.

A great many of times you'll zip through airport lines past those travellers who've decided to bring luggages, or clunky baggages that weigh them down.

When you're travelling Europe in your 20's, you're not going out to super fancy places so leave the 10 pairs of heels at home. Wear solid running shoes, pack light clothing, and keep your electronics to the minimum. My experience with an iPhone alone was enough and had wished I didn't bring other things such as external hard drive, point & shoot camera, tripod, etc. 

Don't forget an adapter to charge your electronics. European countries use the plugs with two round holes and they are on 220V system ( Important: make sure you have an adapter that transforms the power down to 110V if you're from North America)

The freedom to move with everything you have on your back is absolute bliss and worry free.

Travel With A Friend

If this is your first time travelling, It's recommend doing it with a friend with the same interest as you.

Being together gives you more courage to explore the country beauties and keeps the travel engaging. Traveling alone can be fun too, but you'll need to be sociable to engage with the people in your surrounding. When travelling with a friend, you'll be more inclined to do more crazy fun things together than feeling intimidated doing things on your own. The feeling of comfort of a friend can make a huge difference in experiencing Europe alone.

"It's not so much where you are going, but who you are going with."

Side note: Having someone that enjoys doing the same things you do makes it a lot easier to travel the world with as well.

Contributed by: Ethan

A traveller who travelled to Europe in 2016