My Travel Mistakes

Before I get all nostalgic about my most recent European travel experience, I had better take a moment to reflect on what I did wrong on this trip. None of these mistakes ruined my experience, but they definitely didn't make it the best it could have been.

So for your sake dear reader, I'm going to list out my mistakes, so that you can learn from them and avoid the headaches I went through.

1. Too Many Connecting Flights

For this trip I used an amazing website called European Destinations.com. They are amazing at finding the cheapest flights, and great deals on hotels. I honestly can't recommend them enough. The mistake I made, was to not compare prices on other flight options. I took their steal of a deal, and it broke me.

The flights there were fine. But on our trek from Rome to SLC, it was just too much.

First we hopped on a flight from Rome to Amsterdam. Did I mention that this was the first flight out of the day departing at 6:15? No joke, we had to get a cab at 3am to get us there in keeping with the whole "2 hours early for international flights" principle. Then when we got there, they hadn't even opened the airport yet. Talk about an early morning.

Then we landed in Amsterdam, and for notes on that one see #9.

Then bring on a 10 hour flight to Seattle. By far the longest flight I have ever been on...and not something I'd like to do again. Give me a 6-8 hour flight and I'll be happy, but 10 was too much! And of course our last hop and skip from Seattle to SLC for 1.5 hours.

Grand Total Flight Time: 14.5 hours
Total Travel Time with Layovers: 21.5 hours

We departed Rome at 6:15 am on Sunday, and landed at 7:30pm in SLC.

Lesson Learned: No more than 2 flights! 

2. Not Researching the Hotels

The hotel we stayed at in Barcelona (Hotel Aranea) was perfect. They let us check in early, they were friendly, laughed at my jokes. It had a great location near the Sangrada Familia, it was a perfect hotel. Small like all European hotels, but comfortable.

In Rome....it didn't quite work out so well. The hotel itself was fine. Rooms were actually quite large, and they were clean and comfortable. The breakfast was nothing to write home about, but totally adequate. The minor problem was that the staff was detached. Not friendly, but not rude. They didn't care for our joking, couldn't really offer recommendations, and seemed annoyed that we couldn't really offer recommendations, and seemed annoyed that we couldn't fill out their paperwork properly (FYI in Spain they just asked to see our passports and filled out the paperwork themselves. MUCH EASIER.) The major problem was that the hotel was located at the end of a one way street, where a homeless man lived, and one side of the street strongly smelled of urine. I thought being close to Termini station would be a good thing, turns out it was probably the worst. I should have done more research.

Trust the Trip Advisor

Lesson Learned: Do your research on the hotel, and the area! On multiple sites if possible.

3. Be Prepared for Anything

Remember on this trip we were able to meet up with my parent's in Rome. Well my darling Father brought with him a lovely cold, which passed on to me my last day in Rome. What that turned into was me hoarding toilet paper and Kleenex like a squirrel hoards nuts. No joke, I was a mess. I was THAT person on the plane, and my poor little nose got rubbed raw. I thought I was prepared with tiny bottles of aspirin and tums...but I never dreamed I would get a cold! My small pack of Kleenex was gone before I knew it, and I would have given anything for a bottle of Vicks. Turns out I did have to buy some nasal spray in the airport and I paid dearly. 

Lesson Learned: Next time around a bottle of Vicks is going in as an essential item...and I'll have to see what kind of options are out there for Kleenex. It would have been worth it to me if I had had an entire box. 

4. It's All About the Shoes

Last time I was in Europe I totally trashed an older pair of shoes I had. I work an office job, tennis shoes are not exactly an everyday thing for me. So I thought I would outsmart myself. A new pair of tennis shoes and a new pair of boots, just for my trip! Then at the last minute I bought some insoles. Problem was...I didn't cut the insoles before my trip. I hastily did that in the hotel lobby with some borrowed scissors on my first day. Well guess what? I did NOT cut them correctly. They were too long and shoved my little toes so that my nails were cutting into my toes. (Did I mention I was planning on getting a pedi - hence the long toenails - and didn't end up having time?) So the next day I wore my new boots to give my toes a break. The boots gave me callouses on my heels. Then back to my tennis shoes minus the insole, which now started reopening the bloody sores on my heels. I completely jacked up my feet. And the rest of the trip I paid for it. Literally, I had to buy band aids

Lesson Learned: If you buy new shoes, do it at least a month in advance and wear those puppies like they are the new fad. Also throw band aids in your essential kit, and cut your toenails before you go!!! 

5. You will be Dealing With a lot of Coins

In Europe you will be dealing with a lot of coins. You would think after several trips I would remember this. But I always seem to try to use my normal wallets and it just gets too difficult with the number of coins. I of course took this opportunity to visit my favorite store (Accessorize) and buy this darling blue coin purse for about 7 euros...but I should have been more prepared. 

Lesson Learned: Buy a Coin Purse

6. Check the Weather

We bought Andrew and brand new jacket for this trip. Then after obsessing over the weather for weeks, decided he wouldn't need it and left it behind. What I failed to do, was check the weather the week before we were leaving. I only did it 2 weeks, and months in advance. Dumb. Poor Andrew had nothing more than a hoodie no warmer than a t-shirt and nearly froze. So we spent a lot of time in Barcelona shopping. And the clothing isn't cheap over there. 

Don't ONLY rely on these! 

Lesson Learned: Check the weather the day before you leave to make sure nothing has changed! And pack accordingly. 

7. Language Blunders

We liked the idea of doing 2 very different cities in 2 very different countries. Well it turns out that all that does is make for a confusing time. Yes they were both amazing, but going from Spanish to Italian really threw us off. Also it was just so much newness that it was a tad overwhelming. I love that we did 2 cities, but next time I think we want to try to stick to only one language.

Lesson Learned: Try to stick to the same Country if possible.

8. Registered Taxis

My parents arrived in Rome a day before we did. They had a hell of a time trying to find the hotel and sent us a message urging us to just take a taxi from the airport. We thought we could probably find it ourselves, but finally agreed to just do the taxi thing. I had some time to look in our guidebook on taxis and read where it urged travelers to only use the city taxis. Cars with meters and with the specific colors and lights on the cars. Here I'm thinking, well duh Rick Steves! 

As we gathered our luggage and headed to where all of the taxis were parked, a very friendly Italian man with a taxi badge asked us where we were headed. We told him and he explained that it would actually be much cheaper if we took a bus...here, he'll show us! With wary and confused glances we followed the man to the buses, and waited as he said he was going to check the schedule. He came back quickly and said that the bus had just left and the next wouldn't be for 4 hours, did we want to take his taxi? We said yes, that was kind of the plan all along. So he starts leading us further away from where all of the taxis were parked. Over to where cars are parked. He then starts to unlock an unmarked ford focus, and explains his company has set prices so it will be much cheaper. We had an easy enough time telling him no...but how scary could that have been?!

Lesson Learned: Just say No Thank you to any one who approaches, and only ask people in Uniforms for Help.

9. Never Fly Into/Out of Amsterdam

All I have to say, is that this has to be the worst airport I have ever gone through! It was horrible. Honestly, it made me throw Amsterdam down a few notches on my European travel list. You hop of the plane, and then have to go through Passport control. This was backed up down the hallways. You see the mass of people blocking the hall, and had no idea why until you hear people shouting get out your passports. Eventually you will turn a corner and see the sign for passport control. Then they have to call out departure times, because there is no way you could possibly make it to your flight through the regular line. So you wait for them to call out your departure time so that you can go to the slightly shorter line to get your stamp. (Ok, yes it's way cool that I now have a stamp for Amsterdam...but you didn't even have to do this in the Rome airport. When we flew in from Barcelona you just hopped off the plane.)

Ok you're all clear and good right?! NO. Now you have to go through security. (Even though you literally just go off a plane.) How many poor people where forced to throw away the liquor they had just bought in the duty free shops. It was a sad day for many. And no one was exempt from the pat down. We all got close to the security personnel. *shudder*

Lesson Learned: Avoid Amsterdam Airport at all costs.

10. Print out your information before you leave

Generally I am super organized. If you've been reading this blog, you have probably already picked up on that. Whenever I send someone out for travel at work I provide them with a folder that includes printed confirmations, vouchers, maps, contact information....just whatever they could possibly need if their internet or computers were to go down.


If only I had been so proactive for myself. I generally travel with a netbook. It's great for uploading pictures each night, and every other time I've used it to skype with Andrew. Since he was along for the ride this time, I thought I could get away with only taking my kindle fire. It has internet as long as you have wifi...and that should work, right? Well it would have, if it hadn't been a perfect storm.

You see, I forgot to print out the instructions for how to get from the airport to the hotel in Rome. I also failed to see where the hotel in Rome charged for internet service. Thankfully my parents were there to greet us as soon as we hopped off the train from the airport. They guided us safely to the hotel. Also my dad went ahead and bought the week pass for wifi...so I was able to just use his verification codes to check in on emails and check into our return flights.

Lesson Learned: Have a hard copy of EVERYTHING you could possibly need!

Well these were my 10 mistakes. Like I said, they didn't ruin my trip...but I tend to lose all of my negative memories over time. The nostalgia sets in and I'm ready to go again! But I wanted to remember these mistakes so I can learn from them for next time. And of course to help you too reader! Happy Travels.