Advice: Traveling to Europe

Edit 30/06/2020: The timing on this post could’ve been better.

I’ve decided to put together some tips for traveling to Europe on a budget. These are from various things I’ve read and from my own personal experiences. Note that I usually travel with just a standard backpack because I’m able to fit my laptop, around 10 days worth of clothes, and my camera all in one bag. This makes travel significantly cheaper, because a normal sized backpack only counts as a “personal item” which is included in the ticket price of even the most economical (cheap) airlines. Also, it makes adventuring much easier because you only need to worry about one bag. Generally, adding a carry-on (the smaller wheeled bag that fits in the overhead) costs around $100 - $120 round-trip.

I hope this helps you save some time and money!

Flying from the US to Europe:

This is not nearly as expensive or daunting as it may first seem. There are several airlines that have non-stop round-trip flights from large US cities to major hubs in the EU, and you can often find these in the sub-$400 range. Also, these are generally red-eye flights that leave at 11 pm or midnight and arrive the next morning. These flights go on sale pretty regularly. If you know you are going to be planning a trip in the next few months I would highly recommend checking out ScottsCheapFlights.com and see if there are any that fit your schedule. If you know the exact dates you want to fly, momondo.com and skiplagged.com will have the best prices. Skiplagged also has a graph of flight prices over time so that can help you find even better deals if your dates are flexible.

My favorite resource (especially if I have no idea where or when I want to go) is Google Flights. You can go to flights.google.com and do all kinds of fun things. For example, you can put in a starting airport (say, JFK in New York City) and then just use “Europe” as the destination. You can also select options for “1 week trip” or “two week trip” and select a month and you will get to see a list of some of the best deals to the various cities in Europe. You can narrow this down further by using destinations like “Western Europe”, “Spain”, or even regions like “Andalusia”. So a sample search could give you the best deals for traveling from Washington DC to France for a two week trip in June. Once you find a cheap option, just take the dates Google gives you and put them in on momondo.com or skiplagged.com to see if you can get it even cheaper!

Now, since I am writing this with the intention of sending it to friends who want to come visit The Netherlands, I’ll give some advice specifically for that. There are direct flights daily from New York City, Washington DC, and Boston to Amsterdam and vice-versa. New York City is almost always the cheapest and least painful. There is a daily flight on Norwegian Air that leaves at 12:05 (five minutes past midnight) and arrives in Amsterdam the next day. Getting to New York City is pretty easy as well. RDU has several non-stop flights per day that are around $100 round-trip.

So for friends coming to visit from NC:

  1. Check Scott’s Cheap Flights for deals to Amsterdam. I have occasionally seen very cheap, 1-stop flights to Western Europe that include an extra bag. This is the best case scenario. Sometimes these are not to Amsterdam, but go to Paris, Madrid, Rome, or Germany. This is okay. Once you are in Europe it is very easy and inexpensive to fly from city to city (compared to the US).

  2. If you don’t see anything on Scott’s Cheap Flights, I recommend flying from RDU to JFK, and then JFK to AMS on the Norwegian Airlines flight. This should end up being the cheapest and easiest option. If you try booking from RDU to AMS, you are going to pay twice as much and still have a layover in another city because there are no direct flights from RDU to AMS at this time.

  3. You can also check flights to different cities using Google Flights as mentioned above. There are often cheap flights from Washington DC to Paris, for example. From Paris, you can take a high-speed train and be in Amsterdam in 2.5 hours. Search for flights from Washington DC, New York City, and Boston to Western Europe. These will give you the best options, and getting to any of these cities from anywhere in the US is pretty easy.

I hope this advice is helpful, and let me know in the comments if you have any questions or want something explained further. Happy Traveling! Come visit soon!

Genève, Suisse

Here are some pictures and words from a weekend trip to Geneva, about as far west as you can go in Switzerland (and surrounded on 3 and a half sides by France).

The former Collège de Genève, founded in 1559, and now Calvin Middle School.

Atop Cathédrale Saint-Pierre Genève. November 2019.

Geneva is a beautiful city, and one of the most expensive places I’ve ever been. When people tell you that Switzerland is expensive, that is not a joke at all. But the distant mountains are striking, and the water is crystal clear. We spent a Saturday wandering around the city (as usual). The landmark that really stands out is the St Pierre Cathedral. Since it’s up on a hill, you can see it from almost anywhere in the city. So of course I had to check it out.

St Pierre’s is easily one of the most accessible cathedrals I’ve visited. Not only can you tour the interior, but you can go up into the belfry, the “attic” and both towers. The views from the top were incredible. Even cooler, there is a rather extensive museum underneath the building. You can see tombs and the foundations of the various buildings that have existed in the same spot for almost two thousand years. It’s a “can’t miss” attraction.

View of Geneva to the South.

Dusk. Lake Geneva. November 2019.

All of this walking around obviously makes you hungry. Especially because Switzerland actually has hills (unlike a certain mostly-below-sea-level country we had flown in from…) Across the lake from the hotel Google led us to a fantastic Italian restaurant called “Da Paolo”. You should eat there. We ate at Da Paolo again the following day because there were so many things I wanted to try. Then we watched the sun dip below the buildings.

Guide Light in Lake Geneva.

Lake Geneva at Sunset, November 2019.

Day Two consisted of another walkabout. Morning coffee came from the insanely charming Cottage Cafe, right beside the Monument Brunswick. Literally placed in a tiny cottage in a peaceful park, this place turned out to be a great find. There weren’t very many cafes on the northeast shore of the lake and we almost settled for Starbuck’s (please no.) but walked up to the Cottage just before serious caffeine withdrawals set in and things got ugly. It’s been notoriously hard for me to find a big American-sized cup of coffee in Europe, but this place helped me out (and served with Swiss chocolate!).

I had two.

Other highlights included a walk down the Rhône River, visiting a beautiful ancient cemetery, checking out bridges and lochs, and a floating shopping center in the middle of the river (Da Paolo for lunch of course. Also, cemetery has too many “e’s”. One of them should definitely be an “a”.) On the southeast bank of Lake Geneva there was a playground made of bouncy recycled tire remnants. Swings made of tires, climbing rubber tire strands, and a tire swing held up by other strips of tire rubber. Kids be damned, swinging on bouncing swings on the shore of a clear lake is just as fun for adults. Also noteworthy was the nearby Villa la Grange, an extensive open park area with a central villa and an amphitheater.

Cathédrale Saint-Pierre Genève

Lac Léman (Lake Geneva). November 2019.

If you’re ever in eastern France and want to check out Switzerland, you could do far worse than Geneva. Coffee, Chocolate, Cathedrals. And Coffee.

Leiden, Nederland

Welcome to Leiden. I had been trying for over a month to coordinate a trip to Rotterdam and using my friend Carolien as a guide. We finally found a day on the weekend that we both had available and the weather was nice and decided that would be the day. But as you can see from the title of this post, we ended up in Leiden instead.

Hooglandse Kerk from Beschuitsheeg

There is a direct route from Utrecht to Rotterdam by train, but on the weekend we chose the way was shut due to maintenance on the tracks in Gouda. For no particular reason, we settled on Leiden. Leiden is a smallish city in The Netherlands northeast of The Hague.

Leiden is a very interesting city. The Hooglandse Church is built with a variety of different bricks, making for very appealing visuals. The nearby hill is topped by an old stone circular wall that offers excellent views of the city from all angles. We even stopped in an old record shop for a quick browse. If you are in need of a peaceful city with some amazing architecture, look no further than Leiden.

Hooglandse Kerk, Leiden. c.1377

On the Docks of the Herengracht. October, 2019

Haarlem, Nederland

Pick a number, end up in Haarlem.

With no plans for the weekend, I decided to hop on a train. Armed with my trusty OV-Chipkaart, I headed to the central station. I picked a track at random and boarded the next train. After passing through Amsterdam, I arrived in Haarlem and jumped off, my camera in tow.

Sint Bavo Kerk ("Saint Bavo Church") from the Grote Markt, Haarlem's Central Square.

A beautiful Dutch city, Haarlem sits about 20km (12.4mi) west of central Amsterdam. The only attraction I knew of in Haarlem was the large church in the middle of the old city. It was hard to miss. the church is tall and beautiful. Inside the spectacular organ was playing. The grote markt outside was bustling, and a very nice contrast to the towering old building.

After visiting the church and the market, I wandered around the canals. The buildings lining the canals are colorful and interesting. I even found a sailboat. After wandering for several hours, I finished the trip off with some bitterballen and a crazy strong smoked Russian Imperial Stout at the Jopen brewery on the west side of the old town (at the recommendation of my friend Carolien). A solid end to a random Saturday in the Netherlands.

Binnen Spaarne, Old Town Haarlem.

Hope you enjoyed this small tour of Haarlem.

Brugge, België

When I moved to Europe several months ago, I already had my first road trip in mind. Bruges. It’s in Belgium. Back in college, my roommates and I watched “In Bruges” basically on repeat for months on end. The Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson film is dark, hilarious, and endlessly quotable. In fact, my entire reason for my visit was to take a picture of the famous belfry and send it to my former roommate with the caption “Bruges is a shithole” (A line from the aforementioned film spoken by a pouty Colin Farrell). But it isn’t. Bruges is a beautiful city, a perfectly preserved medieval city center that feels like a living fairy tale.

The 116m high tower of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady). c.13th-15th century

I decided my first adventure after moving to Europe would be to visit Bruges. After making the sub 3-hour drive down from Utrecht, I checked into my room at the Grand Hotel Casselbergh in the heart of the old town. The Casselbergh itself is a wonder, and sits adjacent to “The Burg”, an historic square that features the Town Hall and The Church of the Holy Blood. Even better, the famous Belfry is just down the road. After dropping my bag I grabbed a quick dinner across the street at the Restaurant Diligence, a nice brown pub with a fine Belgian beer selection and a traditional Belgian menu.

After dinner, I headed to The Burg, planning to make my way through quickly on my way to the famous Markt where the Belfry stands. As I stepped into the square, I was greeted by an array of rainbow colored lights and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” filling the large open space. I had stumbled right into the middle of Benenwerk.

A Bruges Tripel and pre-dinner snack at Restaurant Diligence

A Bruges Tripel and pre-dinner snack at Restaurant Diligence

Benenwerk festival at Stadsbestuur Brugge (Bruges City Hall)

Benenwerk festival at Stadsbestuur Brugge (Bruges City Hall)

Benenwerk (roughly translated, “Leg Work”) is a yearly festival in Bruges where dance floors are built all across the old city with live music and DJs. 80’s music in The Burg, Disco by the Belfry, and even dance classes in the old Markt. It was amazing.

Benenwerk 2019 in Bruges, Belgium.

The next morning I went on a nice walk around the city. In general, I like to pick something interesting and walk towards it, stopping for anything interesting I may find along the way. When I’m hungry, I find food. When I’m thirsty, I find drink. This usually works out very well, but there are some exceptions. Climbing to the top of the Belfry required waiting in a long line. So it isn’t a perfect way to explore, but I enjoy it.

As with every medieval Western European city, there are plenty of beautiful buildings. Bruges also has plenty of canals, in the same vein of many of the Dutch cities I have since explored. It should be noted that Bruges is in West Flanders, a region of the Flemish portion of Belgium with deep Dutch roots (they speak Dutch as well).

Quick notes from the day of walking:

  • Sansveria Bagelsalon serves excellent brunch and coffee. I had a large, delicious breakfast bagel with bacon, egg, cheese and avocado. The bagel was ridiculously fresh and the coffee was great. It’s an easy walk from the middle of the old part of the city.

  • The Church of Our Lady is breathtaking. You can walk most of the way around it and the Bonifacious Bridge is right behind the church, crossing the canal. You can enjoy the shade and watch people cram onto the bridge for pictures.

  • The Markt is a must visit. Every building is interesting, including the Belfry.

Sint-Salvatorskathedraal Interior

The Obelisk in the middle of the Markt. The Belfry in the background.

All in all, Bruges was well worth a three hour drive and then some. I will visit again soon. Like or comment below if you have any questions.