Name: 10 Tourist Mistakes Americans MUST AVOID In Europe
Uploaded: 2024-07-09T03:12:58.000Z
Duration: 14 min 14 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

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In this video, I'm going to share 10 major mistakes Americans make when they travel to Europe.

Future simple

Mistakes that will waste your money, your time, and in general, make your trip worse.

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.

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.

Their legs and their feet are bothering them, and it slows them down the rest of the trip.

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.

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.

That the travel skills you need, the cultural etiquette, the tipping customs, are all going to be the same when you're in more than 40 countries.

And also hundreds 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's 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 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.

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.

In the USA, the handle for diesel fuel at the fuel pump is usually green.

And so when driving through rural Croatia, I filled up our diesel rental car with petrol because I assumed it was diesel.

We pulled up to the pump with the green handle.

I'm pretty sure I put unleaded fuel in this car.

The next big mistake, and it's good timing because I just ruined a car, remember, is forgetting about 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 months sabbatical.

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 waive 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 cost or data caps.

And so I'm going to tell you about what my wife, Ali, and I do now when we travel, which is Olafly.

Olafly uses eSIM 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.

Olafly 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 eSIM.

You simply browse for the country or region you want to visit, pick and purchase a plan, and then you're given a QR code that makes the install process very easy.

Yes, 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 24-7 customer support in just a few clicks.

One of my favorite things about Olafly is there are no hidden costs.

Unlike other providers that offer unlimited data, with Olafly 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 AWAYTOGETHER for an additional 5% off your eSIM purchase.

Here's a mistake that really gets me, sticking to the tourist hotspots.

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 your experience.

It can help you find a more authentic and, in my experience, less pricey atmosphere.

The closer you are to major tourist sites, in general, the more likely you're dining in a tourist trap.

I mean, how many locals do you actually see here?

But wander off that beaten path and you might just find the meal of a lifetime in a place where the menu's 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 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 Ali and I were able to quit our jobs and travel full-time back when we first started this channel was because we had accumulated millions of hotel points and airline miles through credit card sign-up bonuses.