How I Planned a 5-Week Independent Trip to Europe

Here is what made it a success

On June 28, 2022, I boarded a plane to London, England, the starting point of a five-week trip across Europe, which I planned independently. No formal organization, travel service, tour guide, or travel expert arranged a travel itinerary or program for me. I planned my own trip, from start to finish, organizing logistics from lodging to transportation, to excursions and ticketing.

The screen on my flight to London, England, highlighting the route from the United States to the first stop on my independently planned trip to Europe.

At 24 years old I became my own travel expert, meticulously ensuring that a whirlwind trip to seven countries and 10 cities would be educational, exciting, packed, and the trip-of-a-lifetime. Below, check out six things that made my independent travel in Europe such a success, and learn how you too can plan a journey you will never forget.

6 things that made my independent trip to Europe a success

1. Traveling with my best friend

Solo travel has a purpose. But nothing beats traveling the world with your best friend. I was lucky enough to have a friend who, when she heard I was planning to go to Europe for the summer, voluntarily offered to come with me. Instantly, I had someone to bounce travel ideas off of, someone with whom to hash out whether or not travel plans made sense, and someone to be there with me when an overnight bus simply didn’t show up and left us stranded (yes, that happened!).

My best friend and I, in Helsinki, Finland, exploring Europe together.

It’s normal to feel lonely when traveling. Traveling with a best friend helps fix that problem. Constantly there is someone to talk to who understands what you are doing and where you come from. You can work through problems together; a best friend is like always having a safety net.

Plus, you learn more about each other along the way, grow even closer, and return home with someone to reminisce and laugh with over all the crazy and incredible times. My advice? Find a travel buddy.

2. Staying at host-homes

There is nothing like seeing a location from the perspective of a local. In almost every city I traveled to last summer, I found someone willing to host me in their home for the duration of my visit.

It is fascinating to see how homes around the world look, to speak with families and see how they interact with each other. What language/s do they speak to each other? What type of food do they cook? Do they drive or use public transportation to get around?

It’s easy to stick around a tourist area. But if you make the extra effort to stay with locals, you’ll see a whole new side of a city: the local side, the what-it’s-like-to-live-there side, the neighborhood vibes.

If you can’t stay overnight somewhere, at least do what you can to try and join local families for a meal. And whatever you do, remember to be grateful and bring the families a gift for their hospitality.

3. Planning ahead…

All packed and ready to travel.

Trip planning can be all time consuming. If you aren’t careful and don’t plan ahead, you can spend days of a trip sitting in a hotel room figuring out where you want to visit and booking tickets.

Plus, some locations require advance bookings. And if you are anything like me, spending so much time last minute planning might make you feel like you are missing out on seeing some of the best sites, and are instead only reading about them.

Make the most of your time traveling by planning out an itinerary months in advance of your trip. This also helps organize all your information in one place, so you know exactly where to turn when you need directions for your next stop.

I used Google Docs to create a spreadsheet. The headers on the spreadsheet were: Month, Date, Location in Morning, Location in Evening, Schedule for Day, Overnight Plans, Address for Overnight Plans, and Transportation to Next Location.

Gradually, over the months leading up to the trip, I filled out the table. I started by listing sites I wanted to visit in each location, then assigned each site a specific day, and then highlighted which places I could book tickets for ahead of time.

One part of planning ahead is about framing your vision for the trip. While you won’t be on a formal multi-day guided group tour, you can still schedule individual guided tours of locations throughout your trip. It does not need to be looked at as guided tour vs independent travel in Europe: guided tours can be part of independent travel!

The more you can book ahead of time the better. That means less time sitting on a computer in a hotel room, and more time out, enjoying the new location. No last-minute decision making or worries about whether a place will be open.

4…But being open to change

A sign I saw inside My Old Dutch Pancake House in London, which resonated with my vibe for the Europe trip.

Yet, no matter how much you plan, things will go astray. My biggest mantra on my Europe trip was to be okay with change. I told myself over and over again that things would happen, we would have to miss some of our plans, and that was okay. That is just part of travel. It happens.

If you get angry about things changing, everything will seem a lot more stressful. If you recognize and accept that some things won’t work out, when something doesn’t work out, you will feel more prepared for that moment.

We can’t see and do everything on one trip. But everything we do is more than we would have done had we not traveled. For instance, I had to skip a whole town I planned to visit during my trip. The only train route from Berlin to Cottbus, Germany was closed the day I had planned to leave, due to construction. After spending a few hours looking up alternative options, it became evident it would be way too difficult, if not impossible, to get to the town.

The stress was not worth it. I was seeing incredible places, and taking one place off the list was okay. My friend and I found a hotel to stay at in Berlin for the extra nights and while slightly disappointed, we looked for the positives. We appreciated that we got to spend several more days in Berlin, and we accepted that change, and adjusting, was part of the travel experience.

When thinking about doing a formalized group Europe tour vs independent travel, the ability to make changes that are best for you is one of the perks of independent travel. You don’t have to worry about what a group wants to do, you can simply make changes that give you the best travel experience possible.

5. Taking breaks

Taking a break during the Europe trip, for a night of bowling.

After five weeks of constant changes of location, culture, language, and currency, it’s easy to yearn for a home-life routine. It is perfectly okay to slow down and take some time off from a crazy travel schedule. It is so easy to over travel and become exhausted physically and mentally. Taking a pause and re-evaluating your itinerary means you will be able to better enjoy other days of your trip.

While staying in Luxembourg City, my friend and I had plans to attend a Jewish event one evening, in Esch-sur-Alzette, a different city in Luxembourg. After a long day touring and meeting with locals, the evening came, and we were exhausted. We were not up to the extensive travel that would be required to get back and forth from another city late at night.

We made the call to cancel those plans, stay near our host-home, grab dinner at a local restaurant, and just make it a more chill night so we would be ready to go for the next day’s adventures. While I hope to some day visit Esch-sur-Alzette, for this trip, canceling, and giving ourselves an evening break, was a decision I do not regret one bit.

Taking a break comes in different forms: sometimes, it is sleeping in a few mornings.

Sometimes, it is watching a Disney movie and eating food that reminds you of home.

Sometimes, it is visiting less museums and taking more walks in a park. Whatever type of break you need, remember to take it. It’s important to take care of yourself while traveling, so overall, the trip can be more enjoyable.

6. Visiting hidden treasures

Visiting the Czech Memorial Scrolls Museum and seeing 1,564 Torah scrolls which were rescued and saved from Bohemia and Moravia during World War II.

For every city I visited during my trip in Europe, I made sure to do my research. My research consisted of looking up the must-see locations in each city, the typical tourist destinations, but also, Googling hidden gems to visit in a city.

No matter what anyone says, I feel there is value in seeing touristy places, icons you’ve heard about your whole life. But the best way to do it is by also coupling it with visiting off the beaten path locations, or not-so-touristy places as well. Together, this will give you a better sense of a place.

This mentality led to my traversing a variety of bookstores in languages I don’t speak, a personalized guided tour of Villa Pauly planned in the spur of the moment, and visiting the Czech Memorial Scrolls Museum.

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Independent travel is one of the most meaningful ways to see the world

Planning your own trip abroad can seem daunting, but with the right mindset, it is quite exhilarating and helps make a trip that much more rewarding. It is such a good feeling to return home and say: wow, I planned that.

If you aren’t ready to go abroad, the independent travel tips I’ve suggested here also work great for successful domestic trips. Regardless of where you travel, there are so many benefits of independent travel. If you take anything away from my five-week trip to Europe, let it be this: make the most of the moment, whatever that means to you.

NEXT: Comparing Guided, Self-Guided, and Independent Travel