25 Days Away Exploring 13 European Cities

At the end of January 2017. I was thinking about travelling, as I had not yet had the opportunity to go, like my friends had. The idea kept going around my head. Finally, I decided to plan the trip, the most incredible holiday of my life... To explore 13 cities in 25 days.

Everything I needed was written down in my notebook (my best friend haha), pre-printed tickets in case my 3G didn't work, noted down the dates, the reservations and contacts from couch-surfing. What I could go and see in every city, the jobs that I had left to do. All in all, my diary was my guide throughout my trip.

Choosing the cities:

1. Paris-France ( The start of the trip 30-03-2017)

2. Berlin- Germany

3. Hamburg- Germany

4. Bonn- Germany

5. Cologne- Germany

6. Amsterdam- The Netherlands

7. Brussels- Belgium

8. Rome- Italy

9. Vienna- Austria

10. Budapest- Hungary

11. Prague- the Czech Republic

12. Munich- Germany

13. Zurich- Switzerland (23-04-2017)

The tour was a little crazy but very beautiful. I tried to make the most of every minute I had in the cities that I visited, which was very much two days jam-packed with activities, finding out things, asking questions and taking photos. Rome was the day in which I stayed the longest because I was with my friend from my Master's course, so it was a little bit different and really special.

Things to consider:

1) Tickets (buy them in advance)

2) Where to stay (hostels, couchsurfing)

3) Currency for each country (Euro, Hungarian Florint, Swiss Francs, Czech Koruna)

4) Public transport prices (24-hour travel card)

What to eat (main meals and snacks)

6) Extra (unforeseen) costs

The most expensive and cheapest cities:

The most expensive:

Without a doubt the most expensive city was Zurich, for God's sake, it was basically double the price of Spain. I recommend that in all the cities you buy a 24-hour travel card, because it will work out a bit cheaper, and in Zurich you only buy it for the zone 110 which is the central zone. Aahhh I forgot, Paris was the second most expensive city.

The cheapest:

Budapest came in at first place. I'm in love with the city and its prices.

Also in cities like Berlin, Hamburg and Prague I didn't spend much money, despite them having pretty standard prices.

Although you will have a list of things on your agenda, you will always find new things to surprise you, however, there's nothing wrong with bringing a schedule to guide you. In my agenda I also noted down my daily costs, it was a way of knowing where I was spending more or less than what I had planned for in each city.

How can I pack for a 25 day long trip?

The first thing I'm going to tell you is not to bring a suitcase. I bought a 30-litre rucksack to balance the weight to my size and strength, packed with the stuff that I was actually going to need and use. Also, it is handy to bring things in your hand luggage as it won't slow you down in the airport and you can place it in the hand-luggage compartment on the bus or train.

Thus, I've left you a list of the things I bought before the trip:

1) 30 Litre Camping Rucksack

2) Portable Charger

3) Selfie Stick

4) Shoes (trainers or casual closed-top ones)

5) Casual leggings (to save weight in your bag and they're comfortable to walk in)

(Numbers 6, 7 and 8 on the list I already had, because I live in a cold city)

6) Winter coat (for when it's cold)

7) A jacket or a windbreaker (for dressing more casually if it's not that cold)

8) Hat, gloves and scarf.

9) Moisturiser

10) Lightweight tops

11) Personal items (creams, mini deodorant, sachets of shampoo, a bar of soap, travel toothpaste, foldable toothbrush *feminine hygiene products), suncream. All of these products were travel-sized so that you can save a lot of space.

Despite how much you prepare for the trip, unforeseen things will always occur, however, when that happened I had support from my friends, people from couchsufing, from my sisters, so I can't complain. I had a really good time, and met wonderful and interesting people.

Collection of Maps and Tickets:

In my case, I wasn't sure if I'd have another opportunity to return to Europe, so I decided to collect maps and public transport tickets from every city that I saw. I've been thinking of making an album of the tickets and maps and another of the many photos of the 25 cities, as well as the photos from the weekend I spent in Lisbon, Portugal, plus the 10 cities that I've visited in Spain.

What to do when something unexpected occurs?

This is an important question. Things don't go to plan all the time. It is very important to be kind to yourself, so remind yourself what you have done, how far you have managed to come because of your efforts, your invested time, and that your loved ones are always proud of you (they have faith in you).

So I'll say this, because there are moments when you travel, and suddenly you find yourself in situations which weren't part of your agenda and you don't know what to do, and you think that now's the time to end the trip. But no. I recommend that whenever you travel, bring copies of your tickets in a diary so that you'll be motivated as whatever happens, you can't give up because you have already bought all of your tickets and you don't want to waste that money - nor the time that you spent planning the trip.

So I'm saying go explore, that you try it.

Travelling alone is not as bad as it seems. Don't let people put you off.

Don't let the negative comments and bad vibes limit your worries.