10 Tourist Mistakes Americans MUST AVOID In Europe

in this video I'm going to share 10 major mistakes Americans make when they travel to Europe mistakes that will waste your money your time and in general make your trip worse hey guys Nick here from a way together I've been traveling Europe for years I've introduced so many Americans including my own friends and family to Europe for the first time and I've noticed several common very avoidable mistakes and I'll say I've made most of them myself make sure you stick around because Point number nine is the most common comment about Americans we get from Europeans here on our Channel all right mistake number one is actually a sneaky one but it should be a quick win it's all about walking whenever you take whatever Europe trip you're planning you're likely going to walk more than you normally do at home the big mistake is forgetting to walk before your trip to build up some stamina I've had several instances where the people I traveled with were not prepared for how much walking we do on a typical Europe trip then after day one there sore their legs and their feet are bothering them and it slows them down the rest of the trip here's the deal even fit people struggle with this walking just uses different muscles different than cycling different than lifting weights all that stuff and so if you're not in a walking habit I'd suggest at least a month or ideally two months ahead of your trip start going on some walks they don't have to be crazy right but take an hour walk a few miles this will help build up the endurance in your feet and your legs and make sure to break in your shoes before the trip too I know people love a new pair of kicks before their trip just make sure to break them in before you leave one of the most egregious mistakes I see Americans make when they travel Europe is assuming things are the same and I mean this in a couple different ways first that Europe is all the same that the travel skills you need the cultural etiquette The Tipping Customs are all going to be the same when you're in Europe here's the deal Europe is a ridiculously diverse continent made up of more than 40 countries and also hundred of distinct regions with Rich histories and Norms developed over thousands of years yes it's true things like the European Union and the Euro have made travel simpler but there are still nuances and uniquenesses in every different place that you visit for example it's incredibly easy to get around VIA Rail in Italy but in places like former Yugoslavia bus or car is an easier and faster way to go a lot of times the second way we get it wrong is thinking things work the same as at home I see many Travelers make costly mistakes when they default to what's normal back home for example staying in a westernized skyscraper hotel at a familiar brand first of all this typically costs way more but it also doesn't connect you to the place you're visiting a lot of times it puts you farther from the points of interest and stuff like that meal times are going to vary tipping Customs are going to vary you may think you need a rental car but public transport could be an incredible alternative where you're at speaking of rental cars here's an example of a really costly assumption that I made on our own travels we had this diesel rental car and in the USA the handle for diesel fuel at the fuel pump is usually green not the case in many parts of the world and so when driving through rural Croatia I filled up our diesel rental car with petrol because I assumed it was diesel our car broke down we pulled up to the pump with the green handle but I'm pretty sure I put unlet fuel in this car this is what assuming will get you go ahead and laugh at my stupidity the next big mistake and it's good timing because I just ruined a car remember is forgetting about travel insurance so thankfully one the car wasn't totally ruined but we had travel insurance that was able to cover what needed to be covered and there's all different kinds of travel insurance and certainly you need to know what's covered and what isn't but your personal health insurance likely is only going to cover you in the United States your little extra insurance that you buy with your plane ticket is only about your plane ticket usually this isn't a recommendation for any particular kind of travel insurance but you should think about what you do in the case of a medical emergency how to cover your personal belongings if they're lost or stolen and other things like trip Interruption we also once had a death in our family in the middle of our six-month sabatical we were on a pretty tight budget and so short notice flights to get home were outrageously expensive but they were completely covered by our travel insurance many travel credit cards these days come with certain elements of insurance as well one area that always comes in handy is rental car insurance coverage the important thing to know there is to actually enable that Rental Car Coverage you reserve the car with that credit card and then you wave the coverage that the rental company offers when you're booking a big mistake is not knowing how you'll use your phone our phones are pretty crucial these days for things like Google Maps and talking with a host or a local guide and something I see a lot of Travelers put off till the last minute or forget altogether is how they'll use their phones abroad there's a bunch of ways to go about this right but some are more convenient than others and some are very expensive in my early days of Europe travel I was the Wi-Fi only guy I was only using my phone at the hotel or at places that had free Wi-Fi for years I tried my carriers international data plan at $10 a day which quickly added up to $100 or more for a 10-day trip with all these really frustrating data caps all I really wanted was something simple land in a new country with my phone ready to go without a massive costs or data caps and so I'm going to tell you about what my wife Ally and I do now when we travel which is Olaf Olaf uses eim technology which makes it easy to stay connected in over 180 destinations worldwide with no roaming fees and 117 plus of those destinations offer unlimited data Olaf partners with the cellular carriers typically the best ones of whichever country you're visiting and their mobile app makes it easy to purchase an eim you simply browse for the country or region you want to visit pick and purchase a plan and then you're giving a QR code that makes the install process very easy PS there's a way to Simply take a screenshot of the QR code and install it that way boom your phone will automatically connect to the network in that country the app also makes it easy to get 247 customer support in just a few clicks one of my favorite things about Olly is there are no hidden costs unlike other providers that don't offer unlimited data with olly what you see is what you get and there's no need for additional data top UPS if you're ready to stop paying for expensive international data plans hit the link below and use the code away together for an additional 5% off your eim purchase thanks olly for sponsoring this video here's a mistake that really gets me sticking to the tourist hotpots imagine saving for years planning for months only to miss the real heart of a place venturing just a bit further from those crowded streets can transform form your experience it can help you find a more authentic and in my experience less pricey atmosphere take food for example the closer you are to major tourist sites in general the more likely you're dining in a tourist trap where prices are high and the food I mean how many locals do you actually see here it's probably just okay but wander off that beaten path and you might just find the meal of a lifetime in a place where the menu is in one language not English my favorite restaurant in Rome for example is one that I get lost every time I try to find it and there's not a tourist in sight don't forget to research places to eat this isn't just all about food don't forget to research authentic local experiences a big mistake I see is not at least attempting to use points and Miles something I find many Americans take for granted is the opportunity we have with travel rewards programs one of the main ways my wife Ally and I were able to quit our jobs and travel fulltime back when when we first started this channel was because we had accumulated millions of Hotel points and airline miles through credit card signup bonuses honestly we went a little bit overboard you may not realize this I didn't for years but most other countries don't have programs like these where you can open a credit card and earn a ton of airline miles or hotel points one of the smartest moves you can make before planning your dream trip is getting strategic about collecting points and Miles you don't have to reach points millionaire status like we did but with a bit of planning you can significantly cut your travel expenses if you're totally new to this and here's how i' start of course this all assumes that you're responsible and you can handle having a credit card focus on cards that offer a good welcome bonus and have a justifiable annual fee align them with your travel goals think about where you want to go have a Redemption goal in mind and then look for cards that align with the places that you want to go what airlines fly there what hotels are available there or best case a transferable points card that gives you options and then maximize your everyday spending look you're already paying for groceries utilities dining out stuff like that why not earn points while you're at it we pay for nothing in our household with a debit card it's all credit card the mistake that probably bothers me more than any on this list is when Travelers go looking for America in other countries or they simply don't respect the local way of doing things we talked earlier a bit about defaults right well what's worse than looking for the things that are default at home is carrying around a mindset of oh we don't do it that way at home or oh that doesn't apply to me having this mindset that America is just Superior friend I want to urge you behave as if you're an invited guest in someone else's home if you've ever been in a shoes off household and your host asks you to remove your shoes what kind of guest would you be if you just said no not a very good one likewise make an effort to respect the local customs and the local people leave your arrogance at home don't fall into that trap of constantly comparing things to the way they are at home it's a Surefire way to miss out Theodore Roosevelt a great American once said comparison is the thief of joy and making comparisons or not respecting someone else's culture or way of life is the exact kind of thing that can give American Travelers a bad reputation travel is such an incredible opportunity to grow grow as a human being it's like accelerated personal development if you allow it to be but you have to be open-minded and you need humility behave as if you're a guest in someone else's home because that's what this is another mistake I see Catch Travelers off guard is not realizing they may want to pack differently than on a typical domestic trip in the USA I see many many Travelers on their first trip to Europe bring a giant checked suitcase There is almost no reason to bring a giant checked suitcase with you on a trip to Europe most most people when they travel to Europe plan to hit multiple cities and they'll travel between those cities VIA Rail or bus or even inexpensive short Hall flights the right bag for a European Adventure nine times out of 10 will be lightweight portable and easy for you to manage one that you'd be fine walking a mile with if you had to one that you'd have no issue quickly stepping up onto a train with and that you're physically capable of managing over cobblestones up flights of stairs all that stuff and honestly for the trip you just don't need that much we've made literally dozens of videos about packing on this channel and I will link to some of our favorites below but a couple of quick tips while you're here first try to make carryon only happen if you can you can do it I Believe In You compression packing cubes help save space in your bag think about building a capsule wardrobe which is a collection of several multi-use pieces of clothing that you can mix and match don't bring too many pairs of shoes they take up a lot of space if you do check a bag I would recommend putting an air tag in your luggage or something like it because it will come in handy if your bag gets lost okay this mistake is the number one comment about Americans from Europeans who watch our Channel Americans talk too loud why do Americans talk so loud here's the deal I grew up in a family of loud talkers my wife Ally also talks a bit loud don't tell her I said that I would say that we are both Loud by American Standards Americans in general are allowed by European standards I don't know why we do it there's speculation about this one theory is possibly because Americans are more concerned about their personal space we're used to being farther away from each other and so basically we shout when we talk I'm shouting right now this isn't going to ruin your trip or anything but if you hope not to stand out or you just want to be respectful you may consider using your inside voice even when you're outside maybe the most American mistake on this list is to pack your itinerary way too full the way I usually see this play out is trying to cover an entire country or even multiple countries in just not enough time you end up cobbling a trip together that's nothing but hitting the major capitals of several different countries and then you spend half of your daylight hours while on that trip on a train or in an airport or behind the windshield of a car and I know there's an achievement element to all of this right people share their country count like it's a badge of honor but did you really see those places or did you just spend one night there we're all time strapped and we all only have so many vacation days I get that but my preferred way of tackling this rather than trying to see an entire country or even multiple entire countries in one trip is to focus on one specific region of a country and go deep there I believe 10 days is actually a perfect amount of time to do this because you only have to take like one week off work and in this next video I break down seven of our absolute favorite Europe travel itineraries thank you so much for watching happy travels

Channel: Away Together w/ Nik and Allie

Views: 128,731

Keywords: travel mistakes, travel advice, europe, 10 tourist mistakes americans make when they travel to europe, travel vlogger, travel tips, tourist mistakes, travel mistakes to avoid, europe travel, avoid these travel mistakes, europe travel mistakes, planning europe trip, international travel tips 2023, travel insurance, travel insurance explained, cellphone plan, packing your itinerary, holafly esim, travel packing tips, holafly, holafly unlimited data, points and miles, tourist

Id: Vj4RD_1iH4Y

Length: 14min 14sec (854 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 07 2024