Essentials for Europe

As most of you know, this summer I will be embarking on the most spectacular trip of my short life, (thus far).

I will be taking a 20-day trip through Europe with three of my friends. We booked the trip through a website traveling company called EF College Break. (efcollegebreak.com). It is a discount "travel agency" for budget-tight college kids, and provides tours through Europe, Egypt, China, and many other countries. The itinerary is shown at left, with some discrepancies. First, we WILL be going to London before the "official" tour actually starts, since it was, as this map shows, originally part of our itinerary, but has since been removed, due to previous travelers comments of the tour, poor exchange rates, and overall high cost of visiting London.

After spending two days in London, we will fly ourselves to Amsterdam, where the new itinerary of the tour officially starts. Then, after 3 days in Amsterdam, we will travel by train through Brussels, Belgium for a short half-day stay and onto Paris, France. The rest of the shown itinerary is, for the most part accurate, save for the French Riviera part, which has also been removed due to past travelers' disinterest in it.

To get to the point, I will be leaving for said trip on June 7, and I can hardly contain my excitement. Basically I'm writing this blog to inform you, and to brainstorm ideas, and have them written out, for things (or "Essentials" as the title implies) that I am taking, or should be taking to Europe, minus the obvious things like clothing, etc.

Its important because since I will be moving from place to place frequently (about every 3 days or so, sometimes less), and so I need to be careful what I take, and its essential I pack lightly, despite being there for 20 some days.

Here is my list thus far, and I would love to hear suggestions from frequent travelers or otherwise of things you have taken and are glad to have had them:

1. I just bought an awesome little journal that I am taking to record what I did each day while I was in Europe, including all the details so I can go back later and remember EXACTLY what happened everyday I was there.

2. My camera (OBVIOUSLY), but I included it on this list since there's more to it. I currently have a 2 GB memory card which holds, I believe 1000 pictures or so...It might be 2000, but now I'm not sure... Anyways, I am planning on purchasing another memory card, hopefully a 4 GB, just to be safe and not run out of room on the memory cards halfway through the trip! (along with the camera, I am bringing all its necessary accessories, like the charger, etc.)

3. I am in need of one of those "necklace" wallets, which is worn around your neck to guard against pick-pocketing (a huge problem in many if not all European major cities.) Or some other form of a secret wallet.

4. I have gotten an "OK" to use my Grandma's European outlet converter to take on the trip, and I believe I'll be seeing her in late May, and will hopefully be getting it from her then. (obviously important since European outlets are not the same as our outlets!)

5. ???

This is the list so far, but am very much so open to suggestions. When you read this it would be great to ask others to do so as well (if they know me that is :-) ), to see if they have any suggestions.

I am also still debating on what kind of suitcase to take on this trip. When I pack, I only want to fill it from 1/2 full to 3/4 full. This way I can fill the rest of the space up with my purchases I make whilst in Europe. I am torn between taking a standard duffle-bag type suitcase, or the popular "rolling" suitcase. Both are readily available to me as well. And keeping in mind a few points of:
-Most streets in Europe are likely to be cobblestone, and difficult to "roll" a suitcase on.
-The duffle bag could get very heavy to carry.
-The duffle bag is more flexible and can be squished and stretched (to a degree) as needed.
-The "hard" rolling suitcase is expandable as well (to a degree), and will be easier in airports, etc.

I would love to get your opinions on this matter!!

Thanks for reading!

And this is the first of many blogs that will be related to my Europe trip! So keep an eye out! Later I will post my full itinerary and what we are doing in each city!!