Europe Archives - Shared Adventures

Top 6 Multi-Destination Travel Tips

July 16, 2024 by Liz Picurro Leave a Comment

If it’s your first or second time traveling to Europe, it’s understandable to want to see it all. The flights are long and it’s difficult to choose just one destination. We always recommend creating balance in your trip and ensuring you have some days in the middle to slow down, relax, and enjoy the local experience. When you’re trying to craft the perfect multi-destination adventure, here are a few more tips to keep in mind to ensure you have the best time.

Choose Locations Which Are Close Together

If you’re going to be moving from place to place – look for destinations that are close together and easy to travel between. Take into account travel time, and find well-connected cities/towns. This will give you more time to enjoy new destinations without spending too much time in transit. Don’t forget to include travel time in your plans. If it takes 4 hours to get from one destination to the next, then that is only a half day you get to spend in the new destination.

Balance Overnight Stays with Day Trips

Moving from place to place isn’t the only way to maximize an adventure. You can stay in the same home base each night and enjoy that city in the evening while taking day trips to nearby locales — giving you the best of both worlds. Look for home bases that offer lots of fun daytrips in the surrounding area.

[Photo Credit: Kendra & Shad via Shared Adventures. Read about their adventure to Portugal here!]

Spend At Least 3 Nights in a Destination

At least 3 days/ nights is what we recommend for almost every city, with very few exceptions. The first night you arrive is always disorienting. You’re getting used to the new destination and learning about your surroundings.

A family visiting the Acropolis in Greece

The second night is when you start to settle in. The first culture shock has worn off a little and you can enjoy the sites you’re seeing, maybe find a favorite gelato place or café. You’ll spend the day seeing the major sites and attractions – what the city is known best for.

[Photo Credit: Alicia & Jay via Shared Adventures. Read about their family trip to Greece here!]

Then comes the third day. You have a better sense of where you are and how to navigate the city. You can start to relax and enjoy where you are. Make note of the little things and find a few hidden gems. More time is always better but without three full days, you won’t get a proper taste of a city.

Pack Smart and Travel Light

Nothing’s worse than dragging a heavy suitcase from hotel to hotel through Europe. Make sure you pack light. If you have multiple destinations on your itinerary, especially with trains where you’ll need to lift your luggage up a few steps, doing your best to pack lightly will make your trip that much more enjoyable.

[Photo Credit: Liz via Shared Adventures]

Prebook The Key Attractions

To make the most of your time, make sure you pre-book skip-the-line tickets for the major sites and attractions in your destination. This way you avoid waiting in long lines and can make the most effective use of your day. If you want a good overview of the major sites of a city, booking a walking or golf-cart tour is a great way to start your stay.

Traveling Off the Beaten Path Takes Time

Finding local experiences and hidden gems of a city takes time. The longer you spend in one city the more time you have to truly understand the city and explore the unexplored. You’ll enjoy the local culture and local experiences. Although it may not seem like it, sometimes maximizing your travel means visiting a few places more profoundly.

[Photo Credit: Ann via Shared Adventures. Read about her week in Rome here!]

If you’re ready to strike the perfect balance in your multi-destination adventure – let us know! We’ll give you expert advice and help you to plan a customized itinerary that maximizes your experience!

An Adventure in Portugal

December 7, 2023 by Liz Picurro Leave a Comment

Kendra and Shad love to visit places where they can be active and adventurous. Places with stunning scenery, a bit of hiking, and incredible food. We knew the perfect destination for their 2023 adventure that would incorporate all of the above: Portugal. Here’s their feedback:

Hotels

The Sintra Boutique Hotel (Sintra) was wonderful. The concierge was super helpful, the location was convenient, the room was comfortable, and the food at breakfast was the best (of the hotel breakfasts) we had during our trip.

The AP Oriental (Portimão) was gorgeous. Front desk staff was friendly and helpful, the room was spacious and comfortable. The food was great; the pool was quiet and clean. The weather didn’t cooperate for us to spend time on the beach, but it looked like a beautiful set up. Convenient location to walk everywhere, including along the boardwalk and beach. It was nice that it was a quiet, adults only hotel. The trade off was that most of the other guests were much older (more of a 50/60+ crowd). Wi-fi was a bit spotty.

Brown’s Central (Lisbon) was right in the thick of things. If you like to be where the people are, it’s the place for you. That being said, once inside the room it was quiet and comfortable. The decor is hip and unique. The bar downstairs had great bartenders and drinks. Walkable to many points of interest, bars and restaurants – just make sure you’re ready for cobblestones, narrow side walks and some hills/stairs. And A LOT of people.

Excursions

We LOVED the food tour in Lisbon. Our tour guide was super knowledgeable and gave great info everywhere we stopped, plus additional tips and recommendations. 10/10 would recommend.

The boat tour of the caves was so much fun. It was a little choppy the day we went out, but definitely worth the hour or so we were on the water. The boat was smaller than some other tours, so while we traded off some comfort, it allowed us to get closer to/into some of the caves, including Benagil.

It was nice to spend a night in Sintra. While crowded during the day with day trippers, it was peaceful to walk around at night. We had a delicious dinner, got some gelato and walked around town. We visited Peña Palace, which is a must see. Unfortunately there was a workers strike the second day and we weren’t able to visit the Moorish castle, but we still hiked up to it and saw the outside

We spent an afternoon in Cascais and would highly recommend anyone going to Lisbon make the trip, even for a few hours. We also stopped at St Vincent lighthouse in Sagres (aka the southernmost point in Portugal).

Food

The food was incredible. Restaurant F in Portimão was our favorite meal. Everywhere we stopped on the food tour in Lisbon was also amazing.

Pastéis de Belém may be touristy, but it really is worth it. We didn’t go inside, but we took pastéis to go and ate them in a nearby park.

The southernmost point of Portugal featuring sea and lighthouse

Overall, we had a wonderful time! Thank you for helping us plan this trip and for making such great recommendations!

Paris Anniversary Adventure

June 27, 2023 by Liz Picurro Leave a Comment

Nicole and Paul wanted to celebrate their 10th anniversary somewhere romantic, iconic and international. With amazing architecture, food, and one of Paul’s favorite soccer teams playing- Paris was the perfect destination! We sent them on a week long adventure in the city of light. Here’s how it went:

We absolutely LOVED our trip – the weather was gorgeous with the exception of one afternoon we got rained on. Everything was GORGEOUS – in awe of the history and architecture.

Here are some quick notes:

Flight

So awesome to travel internationally again. They give you food, don’t charge for alcohol, and have plenty of in-flight entertainment to keep you busy. The first-class area looked really nice too (if anyone wanted to pay for that).

Transportation

The car service that picked us up was decent. The driver said he almost left bc it took us almost an hour to get our bags and go through customs. He said he tried to call me but I didn’t have international calling or decent wifi to accept calls. Luckily he waited but they should know that it can take over an hour to get through everything.

Paris Food & Drink Tour

It was the perfect tour to “ease” us into Paris. Due to the timing of our flights, we did not feel much jet lag which was nice.

Joshua, our tour guide was AWESOME! He gave us the right info at each place and was personable with everyone. The small group was nice. It was nice to visit local shops and to learn about how the different cheeses and wines are made. Paul is now a Chablis fan! The tour ended at an Absinthe bar which made Paul very happy. 🙂

At the end of the tour, Joshua gave some recommendations on where to eat for dinner. We took his recommendation and went to Chez Nicos for crepes!

Hotel

We really loved the boutique hotel. [Hotel Pont Royal] The staff was very nice and spoke English! We were thrilled breakfast was included as it was one less meal we had to worry about. We absolutely LOVED our balcony – it was perfect.

The room itself was nice (a bit small) and there was nowhere to put our luggage but we made do. The bathroom didn’t have much shelving for our stuff so we just had it on the floor…maybe that’s a Euro thing.

Friday – Walking Everywhere in Paris

We walked an INSANE amount of steps: 26K and walked all over the place. We saw Moulin Rouge, Paul found the cafe from the movie Amelie that we really liked, we went to the I Love You wall, took some cool photos of the metro signs, and ended with the catacombs

Saturday – Photo Shoot, Notre Dame & the Louvre

I was able to find a last-minute photographer through a referral from another photographer and made Paul get up at 5 AM so we could meet the photographer at 7:15 and take photos with the least amount of people in the background. Now THAT is love. The photos came out really well and the photographer was great!

[Photo Credit: Jordan with The Parisian Photographers]

Afterward, we enjoyed a croissant and cappuccino at Patisserie where we met the photographer (it was delish) and headed back to the hotel to change. From there we walked to Notre Dame which was breathtaking even though we could not go inside. They had these cool exhibits showcasing different photographers and how they documented the fire and showed the plans to put everything back together.

a couple celebrating their anniversary with the Mona Lisa in Paris

That afternoon we toured the Louvre which was really cool and HUGE. Seeing the Mona Lisa was neat after seeing it in so many art history books. Our tour guide was really passionate about art history so we lucked out.

Soccer Sunday

Sunday was our Paris Saint-Germain soccer game. THAT WAS EPIC – Paul was in soccer heaven. Such a cool experience, so glad we splurged on the seats – we were about 7 rows from the field and the players were RIGHT THERE. PSG didn’t play well and lost but we were thrilled with our experience.

a couple celebrating their anniversary at a PSG football/soccer match in Paris

Monday- Eiffel Tower and Shopping

Monday was our Eiffel Tower and shopping day. Eiffel Tower was VERY BUSY. Cool views but very crowded. We witnessed a proposal! Afterward we walked to the Arc de Triomphe. You could not go up because it was their Labor Day in Paris and was closed. All the shops on Avenue des Champs-Elysees were also closed for Labor Day. We did find an Italian place to eat lunch and that’s when it poured on and off.

We continued to stroll to Alexander III Bridge and luckily no one was on it due to the heavy rains so we captured some nice shots.

Tuesday – Giverny Day Trip

Giverny was sooo pretty and it was nice to see the France Countryside. Our tour guide was very nice. Lunch was really good and Chateau de Versailles was beautiful. Could see where Newport got its inspiration from. Versaille was VERY CROWDED and we did not have much time to explore the grounds. Inside was fairly quick but VERY crowded. Like navigating through a crowded concert.

While we were sad to leave, if we stayed I am not sure where else we would have walked bc we confidently walked everywhere in Paris! LOL

Top Tips for Your First Trip to Europe

June 14, 2023 by Liz Picurro Leave a Comment

First time traveling to Europe? There’s a lot to consider for your first big trip abroad! If you’ve reached out to us to help you plan, you know most of the details are already taken care of. All that’s left is to pack, get on the plane, and enjoy your adventure! But even with a trusted travel agent by your side, it can feel a bit daunting heading to a completely unfamiliar place. Aside from preparing for the extra-long flight, what else do you need to know before you go? As seasoned European travelers, here are our top tips:

Packing

What to Pack: No matter where you’re going in Europe, you will be guaranteed to need three things: comfortable walking shoes, layers, and adapters. Your favorite dress shoes might look amazing, but if you’ve never walked farther than from the restaurant to your car in them, they need to stay home. Generally, the weather is constantly changing throughout the day. Fresh mornings give way to sweltering midday before cooling down again into beautiful evenings. To cover these changes you’ll need to bring some lovely light layers. Finally, you’ll need to select an all-purpose adapter to allow your US plugs to fit into a European outlet. Plus a converter if you’re bringing a US appliance (like a hairdryer) that can’t handle their stronger voltage.

Pack Light: Even with careful planning, at some point on your adventure you’ll need to lift your suitcase. It won’t be over your head, perhaps just a small step into your hotel, up and over the bridges of Venice, or simply over the gap between the train and the platform. But you want to be sure you pack a suitcase that you can manage and maneuver. Check out our packing it all in a carry-on guide – even if you don’t plan on fitting it all in a carry-on, you’ll find some good tips to help you minimize.

[Photo Credit: Liz via Shared Adventures]

Important Items: Make sure you pack all medicines, important phone numbers, a change of clothes, and expensive items/ electronics in your carry-on bag. Anything you need in the first 48hrs goes in the carry-on in case your luggage is delayed or lost.

Your Phone

Check with your provider: Communicating while abroad is important – whether with other people in your group or with your friends and family back home. Or, if you need to access maps, use handy travel apps, post on social media, or check other internet info. Check with your mobile phone provider in advance to see what their international plan is, how to set it up, and whether it’s worth using.

Offline: If you decide you don’t want to use your provider’s international plan, you must put your phone into Airplane mode to avoid roaming charges. Even if you’re not actively using your phone, unless it’s in airplane mode, it’s using data. It’s also worth looking up how to download offline maps. This will help you so much when you’re jumping from wifi to wifi.

[Photo Credit: Angela Compagnone via Unsplash]

Connecting: Most crucially, when you’re abroad, you’ll need to dial the country code to contact anyone. Here’s how to do that (works for both iPhone and Android). Secondly, we cannot recommend WhatsApp enough. Everyone in Europe has and communicates through WhatsApp. That includes your tour guides, your drivers, and even some restaurants. Imagine trying to make a dinner reservation when you don’t speak the language. Instead of struggling to communicate, you type out the request in a translator app. Then, simply send the translation to the restaurant via WhatsApp text! Easy, simple, and with no misunderstandings! WhatsApp also works off of the wifi/ mobile data. So even if you decide not to set up an international plan, you can communicate!

Money Matters

Check With Your Bank: You’ll want to check your bank’s foreign transaction fees and currency conversion rates. Be sure to let them know you’re traveling so they don’t flag any card purchases by mistake. If you have a card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees (like a Capital One or Chase Sapphire) now is the time to use it! Also, be sure to bring a Visa/Mastercard since many places won’t accept Amex or Discover

In Belgium Beth showing off her chocolate- shopping bags in the Brussels Shopping Mall

Cash vs Card: It’s not necessary to get a huge amount of foreign currency before you leave, but you’ll need some pocket money. The general rule is: anything under 10€ should be paid in cash. Some places won’t accept cards if it’s under 10€ and sometimes it’s more polite to pay for tips, taxis, cups of coffee, etc in cash. Plus, public toilets will only take 1€ coins. Remember: 1€ and 2€ are coins so don’t just get rid of “spare change”! For larger purchases in shops and restaurants, you can use your card to get the best exchange rate and some added protections.

[Photo Credit: Beth & Bob via Shared Adventures Travel – check out their Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris Adventure here! ]

Tipping: While in Europe, resist the urge to tip the way you do in the US. In restaurants check to see if a service charge is already on the bill. If not, and if you’re inclined to tip, don’t leave any more than 10%. Tip tour guides and drivers 2€ -10€ per person. For taxis, you can round up to the nearest Euro. European service workers, in general, make a living wage and do not need/expect a generous American-style tip.

Cultural

Language: Of course, they speak a different language! In major cities, a lot of the service industry at least speak English related to their jobs. But it’s always nice for you to try to meet them halfway. Always try to learn “hello & goodbye”, “ please & thank you”, “ do you speak English?” and “Where is the toilet?” These all go a long way. Don’t forget all the signs will be in the foreign language as well! Luckily, in transport areas like train stations and airports, you’ll often see English in small letters underneath.

Dining Times: Throughout most of Europe the dining times are more specific. Many places, especially in Italy, Portugal, and Spain, close down for an afternoon siesta between 2:30 pm – 7 pm.

To avoid only finding sad sandwiches for lunch, make sure you’re getting lunch before 2 pm. Similarly, many restaurants don’t serve dinner until 7 pm. Certainly, there are a few open earlier, and in big cities, some are open all day. However, you’ll limit your choices if you’re trying to eat dinner before 7 pm.

[Photo Credit: Hilary and Zackary via Shared Adventures Travel — read about their Rome & Amalfi Coast Honeymoon here!]

Finally, in Europe, water doesn’t come automatically to the table. If you want water, you’ll have to order it and it usually is only available by bottle without ice.

Rooms: Unless you’re booking a suite, most of the hotel rooms and beds tend to be smaller than typical American standards. And that includes the bathrooms.

Safety

Be Informed: To keep yourself informed, you can enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). This is a free service that allows you to pre-register your travel plans with the US State Department. This way, they can keep you informed of safety conditions at your destination(s). Plus, the US Embassy will know how to reach you in the event of an emergency (including a family emergency at home). To enroll in STEP, visit https://step.state.gov/step/. To keep others informed – make sure you leave a full itinerary with a reservation number with a friend or family member.

Overlooking Paris at sunset from the Arc du Triomphe

Keep Tabs on your Belongings: As with any crowded city or location, you want to make sure to keep an eye on your belongings. Don’t leave your phone in your back pocket, and have a bag that goes across your body and has zippers/ multiple pockets.

[Photo Credit: Kim & Paul via Shared Adventures — read about their Paris Adventure here!]

Standard Precautions: Even though you are on vacation, please follow the same health/safety precautions you would if you were closer to home. Don’t drink to excess (especially in the hot sun), and never leave a drink unattended. Don’t wander around alone at night; practice the buddy system. Lock your hotel room windows and doors (and use the deadbolt provided, or bring an inexpensive door wedge or travel lock of your own). Leave expensive jewelry and electronics at home, and keep valuables in a safe and secure place (such as the in-room safe). If you run into legal trouble or are the victim of a crime, reach out to the nearest US Embassy for assistance. Your rights/responsibilities are different in foreign countries.

While there will always be new things to discover on each adventure you take, we hope this blog has helped you feel more prepared to tackle your first big trip abroad! Now you’re ready to step off the plane and enjoy your European Adventure stress-free. Bookmark this page for later and if you would like some help planning your next adventure let us know!