Getting Around in Europe

Arnold (00:00):
Travel to Europe is off limits for the time being, but we can still keep
the flame of wanderlust alive throughthe Virtual Vacation with Guidester,
the weekly podcast where host JackBaumann, founder of Guidester and travel
enthusiast Arnold Stricker, dive intonew destinations, exploring their unique
history, culture and special vibe.
You will also get insidertips about these destinations.
You won't get from other sources.

In this episode (00:21):
how should you pack when you go to Europe?
Should you travel within Europeby train, plane, or automobile?
Keep you and your belongingssafe by following these tips.
Traveling with children,we've got that too.
You get the answers to these andmore questions in this episode.
Now let's join our host, theGuidester himself, Jack Baumann.
Jack, I'm getting ready to go to Europeand one of the biggest things I'm

(00:42):
thinking about is when we're travelingfrom country to country, or even within
a country; how easy is it to get around?
I think about, and we can unpackthese things, literally luggage.
Is it easy to get around by bus?
Should I do that?
Should I do train?
I want to expand a lot of theseparticular kinds of things, but
what's the most efficient way toget around Europe in your opinion.

Jack (01:05):
It really depends on how far you're going and how many days you have.
Typically air travel is thebest way to get from A to B,
especially if you're going to likea London to Rome kind of thing.
Air travel in Europe hasgotten so cost-effective in the
last few years, it's amazing.
From Ryanair to EasyJet youhave so many budget airlines.
Even the major airlines, BritishAirways, Air France, it's more

(01:26):
cost-effective to get around Europeby air than it is train travel.

Arnold (01:30):
Really?

Jack (01:31):
Yes.

Arnold (01:31):
That's surprising.

Jack (01:32):
I know and it's such a shame.
The cost of train travelthroughout Europe has skyrocketed.
I'm not kidding you.
By air, I can get from London to Rome, depending on luggage restraints and a lot
of stuff, but I'd say at worst 50 bucks.
I can get there sometimes ona cheap budget for $15 or $20
London to Rome or Rome to London.
That trip, that train travel;that'll cost me a $100 to $200.

Arnold (01:56):
Wow!

Jack (01:56):
Easily; you're talking double, triple, quadruple the price.
This is where it really getsinteresting is the further you go
with air travel in Europe is notgoing to equate to a bigger ticket.
With train travel it definitely will.
So if you're doing short trips, let'ssay Rome to Tuscany or Rome to Venice,
it's not going to be that much.
These are more regional trains.
But the larger major trips that you'regoing to book on Rail Europe, which

(02:20):
is a good site to check major trainsin Europe that go from country to
country, they're not cheap anymore.
You used to be able to buy a rail pass,for a couple of hundred dollars, $300 $400
rail pass isn't going to get you very far.
If you want to really use your railpassing, use it and get around a lot
you're looking at $700 $800 for a goodrail passage you can use frequently.

Arnold (02:40):
So the time to go on the rail from London to Rome.
How long are we talking?
Roughly.

Jack (02:46):
London to Rome via train will set you about 18, 19 hours.

Arnold (02:50):
Wow!

Jack (02:50):
You could maybe do different routes, but it's gonna be
all day thing, two day thing.
You're going to probably have tostop somewhere or you do an overnight
train; that could be a cool thing.
You take a flight two and a half hours.
So you're looking at 18 plushours compared to two and a half.
You take a Ryanair, Air Italia, orAir France, or British airways, you
can get there in the morning asopposed to all day and the night.

Arnold (03:12):
In a city like Paris, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, or
Munich, you have local transportation.
I'm going to presume buses orstreet cars or things like that.
Are those very reliable anddependable that you can utilize
those to get around the city?

Jack (03:28):
They really are, especially Northern Europe.
Broadly speaking, I wouldbreak up the quality of public
transit from North and South.
The more North you go, the better it gets.
Germany is excellentin most major cities.
The UK, I think is excellent,especially in London.
There is no better systemin the world that I've ever
experienced than the London tube.
They're doing a lot ofconstruction,, it's old.
But it's timely largely, especially youcompare it to like the New York Metro.

(03:52):
They go everywhere; the amountof lines, the amount of stops.
So the more North you go, thebetter the public transportation.
You go to countries like Switzerland,they have the little tramways
Their electric powertrain wasin the middle of the streets.
It's great to have thisalso in Austria, in Vienna.
So you can just hop on andoff, get yourself a ticket.
It's really great in theNorthern European countries

(04:13):
.In the Southern European countries like Italy, Spain, Greece, they have it.
They have their bus system.
Sometimes they have a Metro system.
Rome's Metro system is very poor.
Partially because archeology,every time they'd try to
dig, they find something new.
Seriously, there's apractical reason for that.
But if you can't do it via publictransportation, bus, or tram or

(04:35):
train or something like that,you can definitely get a cab.
So yes, broadly speaking, if youfly from one city to the other, you
can rely on public transportation.

Arnold (04:42):
When should I go and rent a car or rent a scooter, or use an electric bike?
When should I utilize any of thosemeans of transportation or should I?

Jack (04:51):
That's a great question.
Depending on what city you'rein; you're in London you
don't really need any of that.
London has a cool bicycle system, Ithink it's Santander now; it changes.
They have the little stations,you pay a nominal fee and you
bike from station to station.
When you're finished with the bike,you turn it in and the time's done.
That works really well in London.
The system in London for that is good.
There's a lot of stations, there's anapp you can download to your phone.

(05:13):
So that's a cool way to get around London.
Rome doesn't really have that.
So Rome I'd, I would use a moped toget around because they don't really
have that bike hire system in place.
Cabs are okay, but there'sonly a couple of cab stands or
you can get it from your hotel.
So it really depends heavilyon the city that you're in.
The personal travel guides thatI create detail when to use what

(05:34):
public transportation systems.
That really helps, thatkind of guides you.
Walking is the best means.
Depending on your city, London is a hugecity, you're not going to walk everywhere,
you're going to use the tube or cab.
Don't drive in the city centers of anyEuropean city, if you can avoid it.
So the time to get a car is when you'regoing to explore the more rural areas
and or going from one city to the next.

(05:56):
So here's what I would do in London.
See London; then I take thetube out to Heathrow Airport.
I'd rent a car from Heathrow, whichis on the outskirts of greater London.
I'm already outside the citycenter; I don't have to deal
with driving inside London.
Rent the car and I'm alreadyon the outskirts of London
and I'm on easy street, right?
Maybe it's called High Street rightthere, but I'm on easy street and

(06:19):
now I'm in the English countrysideheaded down to Arundel or over to
the Cotswolds or up North to York.
You know what, I'll go up to Scotlandand it's six, eight hours up to Scotland.
If you're going to explore some otherareas, it's a really good idea to get a
car, but not in the city center itself.

Arnold (06:33):
Getting around from country to country; we need our passport.
Do you need a visa?

Jack (06:39):
You don't, U.S.
Passport is good forbasically all of Europe.
The Schengen zone is what theycall it, really the Eurozone.
Anywhere in Europe, you canbe up to 90 days without a visa.
After 90 days, you need a studentvisa or work fees or something.
You can then leave and that timewill reset, but I don't think
at time resets it for 180 days.
There is a time period; youcan't leave for one day, come

(07:00):
back and your 90 day set.
I think you could, at one point they'vechanged that or closed that loophole.
So you've got 90 days, three months; who'sgoing to stay in Europe that long anyway.
That'd be great if you're a studentmaybe; so you have three months to do
what you want without any kind of visa.

Arnold (07:12):
Now is that changing in the future?

Jack (07:14):
Yes, that is changing in the future.
Starting in 2022, U.S.
Citizens will need to get authorizationfrom what's called ETIAS, E T I A S
, which is basically security check beforebeing allowed entry into the Europe zone.
This will be reallyimportant starting in 2022.
It's not going to be mandatory until 2022.

Arnold (07:33):
We've talked about planes, trains, and automobiles, right?
The kilometer miles per hour thing.
Do you have a quick fix orhow I can remember this?

Jack (07:43):
I really don't.
I lived over there for two years and Ididn't entirely take on the metric system.
What are you going to do?
I'm an American guy.
I grew up here on the Imperialsystem, which is ironic because
the Imperial system is British.
We imported that system from the Brits,and now they're mostly on the metric.
Here's the cool thing about England; theystill do their road signs in miles.

Arnold (08:02):
Really?

Jack (08:02):
Oh yeah.
They do their measurements in metricsbut their road signs are still in miles.
That helps Americans;it's great, it's lovely.
The rest of Europe it'sgoing to be kilometers.
I use a GPS when I'm driving,just to make sure I'm on my way.
And I've had to do calculations atcertain times, but I focus more on
the sight seeing and the culture.
I didn't want to sit down and memorizebecause I was going to come back

(08:24):
to America and have to revert back.
I just didn't invest much time, buta rule of thumb is rules of 10.
Everything in metric issome denomination of 10.
There's a hundredcentimeters in one meter.
A thousand meters is one kilometer.
If you can just memorize a few of thosebasic 10 multiples, that'll help you.

Arnold (08:42):
And the comparisons; if I'm going a hundred kilometers an hour.

Jack (08:46):
I know, that's really where it's funny.
I will say this, especially in the WesternBritain, Ireland, I think even like
Italy and France, they'll have this too.
A lot of times the cars yourent will have miles per hour.
In the odometer or the speedometer rather.
So you don't have to get on yourphone and do some quick caluculations.

Arnold (09:02):
Okay.
Which takes me to this next question.
Cause if I'm renting a car, dothey all drive on the same side
or the other side of the road?
Here in the United States, you knowhow we drive, and is the steering
wheel on the left or the right?
And if I go from one country toanother country Am I going to be
totally confused and whacked out.

Jack (09:18):
The only countries that drive on the left side of the road are the
British countries, the UK and Ireland.
This applies to any former British colony.
This is why Australia drives on the leftside of the road, it was former British.
I think India is the same way.
So England, Scotland, Wales.
Northern Ireland and Ireland itselfare gonna be on the left side of the
road because of that British influence.
Other than that on, in all ofEurope, it's on the right side.

(09:39):
So that makes it easy.
But if you're driving from England toFrance, that's going to be a bit jarring.
When you're driving on the leftside of the road, that steering
wheels on the right side of thecar, so everything's jacked up.
So your peripherals are all off.
I will say though, driving in Englandor anywhere in the UK or Ireland,
it's not that bad after a half a day.

(09:59):
A couple hours, you get used to it,your peripherals kind of change.
The more difficult thing arethe big roundabouts that
you got to really navigate.
These aren't small roundabouts, like yousee here in the States, these are like
highway level roundabouts, not joking.
You're on a highway and there'sa roundabout going into the
roundabout at 60 miles an hour.
Wow.
Oh yeah.
You gotta be ready.
You can't no faint heart there.

(10:20):
I do like roundabouts, we can't have themhere cause we don't know how to use them.
People would just be hittingeach other left and right.
The roundabouts you seehere are more localized.
You don't have these highway roundaboutslike you do in Europe, but they flow
traffic like you wouldn't believe.
They use roundaboutsas on ramps off ramps.
It's fantastic.
A couple hours of driving on the wrongside of the road, you get used to it.

(10:41):
You can actually drive from Englandto France, through the Chunnel,
the channel tunnel, that would be alittle difficult because then once you
arrive in France, you're on the rightside of the road and you've put the
steering wheel is on the right side.
That messes you up.
So if you're going to drive in the UKor Ireland rent a car there, and then
if you're going to France or mainlandEurope rent a car in that country.

Arnold (10:59):
That makes sense.
Is it necessary when you go toanother country to check in at the
American embassy or the consulateto let them know that you're there.

Jack (11:07):
It's a good idea.
It's a good practice to get into.

There's actually websites (11:09):
the smart traveler enrollment program
run by the state department.
It's a free service by the U.S.
Government where U.S.
Citizens who are traveling to orliving in a foreign country allows
you to record information about yourupcoming trip with the state department,
so they can use that information toassist you in case of an emergency.
, It's a good idea to get into, Iwould say Western Europe, it's

(11:31):
not necessary .If you're going toEastern Europe or you're going to
be there an extended period of time.
It's a good idea.

Arnold (11:37):
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(11:58):
This next question is based upon howlong you're going to be in a country.
I've seen many people, they get off theplane and it looks like they've taken
their entire closet with them becausethey have five or six suitcases with them.
I don't like to travel veryheavy with a lot of luggage.
If I have a carry on that's it.
So what is your suggestionto get around Europe?

(12:19):
What kind of thingsshould I do with luggage?
How should I pack?
Those kinds of things.

Jack (12:24):
That's a good question; so I have a rule of thumb when it comes to
traveling anywhere, but especially Europe.
Europe, you want to be light on yourfeet, whether you're moving, flying
training, car you're going to bemoving things around and there are
some steps you're gonna have to go upand there's a little bit more movement
there and you want to be mobile.
Take everything you think you needclothes, especially lay it all on

(12:46):
your bed and take away half of it.
Literally just pack as if you'regoing to take all this don't even
think about your storage space.
Put out everything you think you needfrom coats to your clothes to little
amenities and take away half of itright off the bat, because I guarantee
you're not going to use half of it.
You end up re-wearing clothes.
You end up not using certainoutfits you thought you might use.

(13:08):
So being smart in that capacity.
Just literally right off the top takeawayhalf of it and then try to get smarter.
Do I really need four pairs ofshoes, even if you want a nice
night out, it's not worth bringinga whole pair of shoes for one night.
Buy or bring a sort of a classier pairof shoes that you can use multipurpose.
So I always bring usually two pairof shoes, my tennis shoes, my work

(13:29):
horse shoe, which is really going to beyour comfortable shoe walking all day.
Then I'll bring a dressiershoe, won't be a super fancy
shoe, but it'll be like a Dr.
Martens or something likethat that I can still walk in.
That's where I'm going to goout in to dinners or maybe to
a show or something like that.
Two pair of shoes.
That's it.
I might, if I'm going to a beachdestination, bring a pair of flip flops.
So maximum, I'm going to bringthree, but I'm not gonna bring

(13:51):
the water shoes and the other typeof shoes, even the hiking shoes.
Let's say I'm in Scotland you'regonna do one day of hiking.
It's gonna be a little wet, maybe.
Use your tennis shoes and just coveryour tennis shoes in a plastic bag.
That's maybe a hokey way to do it, butyou're going to bring an entire pair of
shoes just for one day or a half a day.
There's other ways to do it differently.

(14:11):
So the tips on packing.
Check weather for departurepack appropriately.
That's huge.
People have this assumption,England's going to be warm,
England's going to be cold.
Nobody can say it's going to be warm.
England can be warmer than you think.
Italy is gonna be super hot.
Just depends on a lot of things.
Italy is a great example.
It might be 80, 90 degrees during theday, and then it'll drop, 30, 40 degrees.
Packing appropriately is predicatedon looking at the weather.

(14:32):
So look 10 days out, you get that10 day kind of glance at what
the weather is gonna be like.
That's point one.
Copy of passport ID and credit cards.
If you ever lose your passportID, credit cards, literally keep
a copy of it in your luggage.
I go a step further and I keepit like in my shoe or in my sock.
Worst case scenario, I get robbedor mugged, or I lose my suitcase
on the train or something.

(14:52):
I've got a copy of my passport ,copy ofmy ID, and a copy of my credit cards.

Arnold (14:56):
Keep it on the cloud too, maybe?

Jack (14:58):
That's smart too.
Yeah, I haven't done thatyet, but that's smart as well.
That's the way you want to thinkis always have a backup plan.
I'm a hard copy guy so I put onein my sock; cloud, on your phone,
having it in multiple places becausesome people make a copy of their ID
and they'll keep it in their wallet.
Okay your wallet gets stolen orlost and then your copies in there.
Does that, do you much good, no?

(15:18):
Fanny pack is a greatway or a money belt.
Let's call it a money belt or money pouch.
I use that religiously.
That's a great thing to do.
Tuck it underneath your shirt, keepyour passport in there, keep your
cash in there, keep your IDs in there.
Even when you're out and about I mightkeep my wallet in my front pocket,
but all my major cash and creditcards I'm keeping in that money pouch.

Arnold (15:38):
And the reason is because pickpockets are very prolific.

Jack (15:43):
It's true, that's really the biggest thing you got to worry
about in Europe is pickpockets.
It's safe.
Even Eastern Europe I've actuallyfelt almost safer in Eastern Europe in
some places than places like Brussels.
Pickpocket and petty theft is reallythe only thing you have to worry about
and that's predicated on soft targets.
They go after the low hanging fruit;we've got your backpack on zipped,
got your wallet in your back pocket.
These are no-nos.

(16:04):
Keep your wallet in your frontpocket or in a money pouch, keep
your backpack on your front.
I'll turn my backpack and keep it on myfront, or I'll keep it really zipped up
and make sure that it's hard to get into.
If they're going to get into it, I'mgoing to know they're pulling on me.

Arnold (16:16):
That's a great point.
I'm sure there are specific placeslike on a Metro or maybe on a
bus or where there's a crowdedarea where you get bumped a lot.
That's where that happens.

Jack (16:25):
That is, I was in Spain and I was going; wasn't in a bus,
but it was the same concept.
I was in Toledo and I was actually ona trip and I met my mom there and we
were in Toledo showing her around andshe felt a hand reach into her purse and
she actually caught someone reaching in.
Just gave him a look at what are youdoing and that person just ran away.

(16:46):
So no harm done, but just noticed it thelast second, and it was in a crowded area,
she's in a group going down a street andyou've got a bunch of people touching you.
Your brain is focused on otherthings, and this is how they get you.
Or they'll bring someonein to distract you...

Arnold (16:59):
Right.

Jack (16:59):
...on the front while they're doing business in the back.

Arnold (17:02):
If I have to charge my phone, what am I going to do?
They don't have the samekind of outlets we do.

Jack (17:07):
You definitely need to bring in an adapter, so I
recommend a universal adapter.
It's one piece of plastic that hasUK, has Europe, which is the tube.
UKs have three prongs, Europe is thetwo-prong, it's got a USA adapter.
That's all you're really gonna need.
All of Europe is on the two-prongexcept the UK and Ireland , which
is on the three-prong.
So in, in Europe you just needtwo, and you get one piece

(17:27):
and that'll sort it all out.
Charging your phonetoo get a battery pack.
Those have saved my life.
Get a small littlebattery pack that'll have.
I have one that gets me 200%, soit could charge my phone twice.
That plus your battery for the dayshould get you through whatever you need.
You're going to use a lot of batteryusing maps if you have data or wifi,
when you're in different spots,but also taking photos, videos.

(17:50):
Your battery zaps a lot since you're usingyour phone for everything plus now it's
your camera and everything else too.
So be cognizant of that.
Highly recommend getting data.
It's amazing how cheap you can getfive, 10 bucks a day for a data plan
and you can look things up, get moreinformation, use your Google maps.
It really saves you.
It'll save you more, not makingmistakes than the data plan itself.

(18:12):
So you add all those things intoit, it really does go quickly.
You don't want to be stuck in a situationwhere you don't have your phone.
You can't call anybody if you need to calla cab or you just get on your Google maps
and like, how do I get to this station?
In America you get, youcan use a paper map.
That's why I really stress using Googlemaps to navigate certain areas in Europe
because they don't do grids like we do.

(18:34):
You go to New York, oh just go downFifth Street and hang a right on
Jefferson or Main Street or whatever.
No, you go two blocks this way andyou've somehow ended up behind you.
Like in Rome, that's no joke.
Rome has no rhyme or reason, London'sdefinitely better, but these cities
are so old that they just don'thave any clear plan in place.
They don't have the grid system whereaswe have a kind of thoughtfully laid out

(18:58):
city because we're more modern country.

Arnold (19:00):
Now, if I'm taking kids with me, are there some considerations
I should take into account whenI'm traveling with children,

Jack (19:06):
I would say keeping them entertained is probably the
most important consideration.
Depending on how old they are andtheir disposition, this might vary
wildly, but Europe's going to be alot of history, museums, and walking.
Kids hate to walk and walk.
Europe is just not built like Americais; America's built for convenience.
Europe is not built for your convenience.
It's been there for thousands of years.

(19:28):
You've got stairs and streetsand alleyways and cobblestone.
So for kids, it can be a hectic kind ofan annoyance in that way, there's just
more walking than you would do let's sayan American trip or an all inclusive trip
to the Caribbean or something like that.
So keeping them comfortable withthe walking shoes keeping them
entertained, try to keep them engaged.
So just be cognizant of don't domuseum after museum, after museum.

(19:50):
If you want to see a lot ofmuseums, that's great but
sprinkle it in with other things.
Places like London and the Britishmuseum, they do have interactive things
built for children, which is good.
So let's try to spread out youritinerary to be cognizant of that.
Barring or failing that, just givethem something, a book, I hate to
say an iPad or a phone, but give themsomething that they're going to be
entertained because they're goingto go out much sooner than you will.

(20:10):
They might have more energy thanyou do, but their attention
span is going to be small for theneoclassical buildings in a row.
I can guarantee you.

Arnold (20:17):
Really.

Jack (20:17):
Oh yeah.
My nephew, little Jack callhim LJ, he'd be all over that.
He's a little whiz kid, some kids justhaven't gotten there and they don't care.
Again, if they're older, maybe they do,it's the sweet spot of maybe, 10 to 12
or nine to 12 where they're old enoughto appreciate but they're not teenage
where they're like, I don't care mom.
A teenager, they just want to go andmeet young kids and have fun if you're

(20:38):
16, 17, even like 14, 15, but if you'relike 12 or 11, you're not quite to that
adolescent age where you want to go party, but you're smart enough to like, Ooh,
I'm looking at something significant.
So it just depends on their ages.

Arnold (20:49):
I think about this, that you've been to Europe many, many times.
Is there something that you would dodifferently in your travel plans as it
relates to getting around or packingthat you go, man, I got as many times as
I've been to Europe, I need to do this.

Jack (21:04):
Packing cubes.
I keep saying I'm going todo it and I haven't done it.
I'm pretty efficient with my pack.
Every time I go to Europe, I getmore efficient with my packing
every single time, but I haven'tyet made the plunge to buy.
Do you know what packing cubes are?
Yeah.
I've seen them used, I've seen travelersuse them, you know what, I'm going
to do that and I haven't done it yet.
So generally speaking, just beingmore efficient with your do I need

(21:24):
this really think about, do I needthis item and do that with every item?
It'll take you a little bitlonger, but I'm telling you
every piece of clothing, right?
And every little amenity or device thatyou have, it's weight and its space.
And also keep in mind, you needspace to have souvenirs, right?
Some people bring an extra suitcase.
I don't go that far, but I keep somespace because you're always going to

(21:45):
come back with more stuff than youleft with, that's just how it goes.
So keep cognizant of that.
Barring all that just learningthings, don't take this, don't
take that one coat, great example.
Do not bring multiple coats.
Something I'm going to do that,I keep saying I'm going to do
is get those packing cubes.
It takes everything youhave, and it does two things.
It organizes it so it's just easierto get out of the hotel and use.

(22:06):
You save time and your mental capacityand frustration, but it actually
saves space in the suitcase itself.
So space and suitcase, plusless hassle and frustration.
When you get to the hotel.

Arnold (22:17):
Sounds great.
I hope this has helped peoplein getting around Europe.
We've talked about travel.
We've talked about packing.
We've talked about visas.
We've talked about a variety of thingsand hopefully it gives them a little
bit of insight into how they canget around Europe a little easier.

Jack (22:32):
Yes.

Arnold (22:33):
We're glad you listened to this episode of Virtual
Vacation with Guidester.
Please share thispodcast or tell a friend.
Virtual Vacation with Guidesteris produced by Motif Media Group.
For Jack Baumann and Virtual Vacationwith Guidester I'm Arnold Stricker.