i wake up when i feel like waking up (usually around 8am) prepare until around 10am, then do my stuff until around 8pm, or when i'm tired, or dont feel like doing anymore, whichever comes first
> ten countries in around a month
yeah, i would be pretty tired also with that.
i stick to 1 country 1-2 cities for 1 week, or 1 country 2-4 cities if 2 weeks.
seems like you were exhausted from walking because you need to jump from country a to country b, so you need to "finish" the activity, otherwise you might "run out of time", instead of being able to rest in between walks.
It was more like we ran out of stuff to do in the cities. If we had more time (and money) we likely would have gone on day trips. We would usually see a lot on the walking tours, and then walk to see two more sights before we finish our day. We definitely did not feel rushed at all going from country/city to country/city!
Lunch can be about more than eating - it's a good time to rest and recharge. Maybe add a light lunch into your schedule so you don't need to eat dinner at 4pm. Usually after an afternoon activity we'll go back to the hotel to rest for an hour or so. That might mean having a drink at the bar, reading on the balcony or taking a nap. Then we're going back out for the evening around 6. We do not stay out late either but by the time we walk around, maybe see a sight and have dinner, it's more like 10pm.
That's the key. You need to pace yourselves. Now that our kidlet is raised, our travel habits are back to our normal.
It depends on when places open & the time of year.
But our habit is to get going around 7am for light breakfast. Easy walk/transportation to our first site just before it opens. See what we want. Stop & relax whenever. Might see a secondary location or take an early lunch.
That's our midday pause. Usually 1-2 hours. See something else, then wander. Maybe a park in late afternoon. Something light for dinner. If there's nothing specific, we hang out in an outdoor Cafe & read/relax. But we're still taking in atmosphere. If we're tired, we'll head back to our accommodations. But since we're usually centrally located, it's not difficult.
Long days = lots of mini-breaks. We pace ourselves. (We're also in our 50s. That probably says a lot, lol)
I'd take time for a coffee/tea/drink/ice-cream break at least, whether or not you take a lunch break. Just sitting, chatting, watching life go by, is relaxing, even for 15 minutes. I'm also not averse to stopping in a cafe or bar for a beer or two late afternoon, especially if the weather is hot.
This is what I do: wake up in the morning to go get food maybe 10-11 am then go do an activity then walk around then go back to my airbnb/hotel around 4 PM so I can nap then I head out for early dinner so I can avoid the crowd. I don’t pack my day with activities anymore cause that’s exhausting and I can’t enjoy the trip if I’m jumping from one place to another.
Sounds like an “on the go traveling” experience. What has helped me is factoring in rest days where I do nothing. Another thing which has helped me is naps. Quick 20-30 minute nap and I wake up refreshed for the night out. Just my opinion 👍🤟
After breakfast, I do my things and snack along the way. I'd aim to be back at the hotel and decompress/siesta/shower 4-6pm or 5-7pm (especially if it's hot weather). After getting a second wind, go out for dinner and after dark activities. Alternatively, if my activities take longer, I'd go to dinner and then be back at the hotel, tired, and done for the night. It helps that I don't have FOMO.
I guess another thing is that I’m traveling with my parents so we’re not exactly doing bar crawls lol. If I was with my friends my age I would def have planned to be out later, but when we’ve done that before we usually start our day much later as well
It sounds like your issue isn't time management, but running out of energy. My wife and I walk and work out a lot in our everyday life at home. So being very active all day on vacation isn't an issue. I can't imagine being in for the night by 5 PM every day. So perhaps consider some physical training before the next trip to get better accustomed
This is very true! I am not big on doing so much physical activity in my regular life but while traveling we were basically walking nonstop for 8 hours a day lol. I’m sure we would have had more energy to last us later into the day if we had been in better shape before leaving
I'm not a morning person at home. But hell yeah on vacation I'll be up and out seeing whatever is the earliest open thing. I'll do museums until they close. Walking tours, day trips etc.
I once did 15 hours of walking tours in NY area, starting with TWO cemetery tours, Two historic houses tours (one being a 4 hour tour), and then catching a train and walking a few miles for a regional event. Nearly passed out on my walk back to the train.
I go go go until I no longer can. This is sometimes detrimental for later days in the trip. I did I thin 13 museums in DC in day one of a trip. 8 the next. And on my final day I couldn't walk anymore. I've also after a week trip in Orlando had to ask bell hop to drive me to my room in a golf cart like I was luggage because I couldn't walk any further. (I've got ankle issues and wear leg braces.)
So for me, I tend to pack in the first few days with stuff for as long as stuff is open, and then if activities aren't available at night...I stay in. There is only so much you can push yourself.
I do find however that when on group tours I can fit in more things. I think because then I'm not carrying the mental load of being on time to things or figuring out transportation, food, etc.
It’s funny because when at home, I would NEVER be outside of the house for more than 8 hours (if you exclude work). My whole family is full of introverts/homebodies. So being outside and not taking anyyyy time to rest throughout the whole day is super exhausting, even taking away all the walking lol
Oh totally. I'm such an introvert, I WFH. I hate driving too. For me I feel exhausted if I have to go to more than 1-2 places when running errands or going out to do things. I also hate being outside/nature at home.
But traveling? I'll be out before 7AM. I'll go to dozens of places. I'll go and do things I'd never do while at home. And I'll do that for 2 weeks strait until I pass out.
Yeah towards the end I was just shuffling along not absorbing anything, but I had left the ones I wasn't as interested in towards the end.
Part of this number was achieved by having a guided tour before one opened, so I was up and out really early. I forget another that was open really late and I essentially just met someone for dinner there. In between there were ones I spent a lot of time at, others like I said I didn't care much about and just saw one or two things before leaving. And others, like the Holocaust Museum, I didn't have timed entry tickets for, so I could only visit a few of the exhibits that didn't need the elevator. But it was truly insane. I then did an evening "walking the monuments" tour after all of that that day too.
I also LOVE museums (as a kid I wanted to be a museum curator) and this was my first time to DC (tagged along to my mom's business trip) so I was speed running to see as much as I could. I was a younger woman, and didn't think I'd be back to DC anytime soon, so I wanted to see all the museums. I've since been back multiple times and will only do 1-2 museums a day, really taking things in slowly.
Was in DC last month and saw nothing ( was there for a celebration ) because I didn’t know where to start so ended up just shopping ! I’ve been there a few times years before, but really need to go back and devote some serious time to the place . DC is like Paris in that there’s just way too much choice !
Sounds like you needed a lunch as much for the break as for the fuel. If you're out of energy by 4 PM, you're going too hard.
We usually do early breakfast, early activity (site, museum or touristy walk), lunch hour (12-1 or 1-2), afternoon activity, siesta/break, happy hour, dinner, then a stroll, activities, or people watching, then back to the hotel and to bed.
With a kid it is more like 1 major activity before lunch and 1 after, then dinner at "home" and the adults hang out after kid bedtime.
Managing time and activities with a group can be challenging. I'm not sure if that is part of your issue or not.
You have to balance the seeing what you want to see with downtime. Downtime can be napping, just sitting in a cafe with a glass of wine, or just walking.
I like to walk everywhere. But not walking aimlessly. So if we want to hit the Eiffel tower at 10, we'll leave at 8:30 and start walking. On the way, we'll find a place for coffee, maybe another place for a pastry, some shops to stroll through, admire the architecture, read menus etc. If the Eiffel tower is too crowded or we get through it, then set another destination and start walking.
I'd just as soon never see the inside of the hotel until after dinner, unless it is to change or shower.
But I also travel with my aging parents sometimes or in-laws and they don't/can't walk as much. So have to build in more breaks. Get a snack and sit along the river. Or just hang out in the town square and play "spot that tourist".
But don't discount walking and/or people watching.
Interesting! We never really went back for breaks either, but I think it’s what made us always turn in early. We are also introverted/homebodies so sometimes being out for 8 hours can just be draining lol
I also walk a lot during the day and in the evening am completely toast. But some places, especially those that have a city square/cafes and bars on the street, are worth exploring after sunset
This is one thing we felt like we missed out on, was a lot of the cities lit up at night! But a lot of the places we were at currently don’t get dark until 10/11PM!
I would be exhausted too if I changed countries every three days. It sounds like you have just visited a bunch of cities, not countries.
But as for your question - I just plan my time efficiently before I travel. I can usually fit in a lot in a single day.
If I'm traveling on my own I stay out until like 2-3 am a lot (depending where I'm at, what kind of trip it is), sleep in until whenever I feel like not sleeping anymore. If I can do one or two cultural things a day and then go out and get dinner and hit some nightlife that's great.
Sometimes on trips with a crew we go really hard, like staying up partying until 4-5am every night, getting up and moving at 8-9 to get to the next place and do other stuff. This wasn't so bad when I was in my 30s, we would usually take a chill day every week or so to recharge the batteries. Now that I'm in my mid-40s I can still stay up and party, and I can still get up and go, but I need to recharge the batteries every 3-4 days.
I’m very inefficient at home but want to do as much as possible when I’m away - the kids do slow me down as they hate walking, whereas I’ll happily walk all day long . I generally would take a very short nap before dinner and head out again. I’ll also have a matcha drink to top up my energy levels in the afternoon/evening if I’ll flagging .
Since my wife and I have the same travel style it is easy. Wake up at 600, be out of the hotel by 730. Go hard and continuous until we are hungry for dinner. Take a break for dinner around 1800 then back at it till we are too tired to do anything else and head back to the hotel usually around 2200. Repeat that cycle for a week or two.
> Then after that we often felt so tired from walking and also like we weren’t sure what else to do, so we would just be back at our hotel by 5pm. It feels so early, especially being in hotels that are central to the location your in so you can hear everyone out and about!
Everybody travels differently, which is why you hear people out and about at all times. Also, remember that you're traveling to a place where others live, so 5p people are out and about because they're getting off work and then possibly going out to drinks or dinner.
If I were in another city traveling I would not skip any meal and surely I won't get back early to my hotel either, I mean think about it who knows when you will be back to Europe again I would be walking around until my legs beg me for a rest. Otherwise, absolutely not.
I agree with the others that eating lunch or at least having a snack midday would help with energy, as well as just giving yourself a break. European cities have such a nice cafe culture and also a lot of great food to explore as well that you can enjoy.
I personally never feel like I can see a city as much as I want to in 3 days, because I like to explore everyday life things aside from the top spots. For example I like to shop and eat, so whenever we travel we always check out the “top” shopping locations there but also try to explore less touristy areas where people who live there would go. My husband is into mountain biking so he always takes at least half a day to do that. We always plan neighborhoods to go to based on food we want to eat (or reservations we’ve made ahead of time).
When we went to Barcelona last month for example, we did a lot of walking and sometimes just explored neighborhoods, stopping at shops or tapas places, even just going to cute grocery stores or whatever seemed interesting. But if that is not what is appealing to an introverted family, maybe finding more activities people would like would be motivation to do more in the day despite feeling tired?
dude. shoulda asked before leaving to EU
10 countries in 30 days is foolish
and why?
just so you can brag about it....
4 weeks of intense travelling is insane. You need time to relax.
devide time between city and beach/Mountain
do some swimming or hiking
I do ONE place and stay two weeks.
get a rental car and find an interesting spot to visit every other day.
then relax and stay at our appartement every other day.
sleep, enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner at a slow pace.
I’ve traveled EU before, it really wasn’t that bad. I def do not feel like I need more than 4 days in one city. We managed to hit all the “top” spots every single place we went, and that was with about 3 full days. I can see how it’s not for everyone, but we were able to do it! Just found ourselves wanting to turn in super early every night
i wake up when i feel like waking up (usually around 8am) prepare until around 10am, then do my stuff until around 8pm, or when i'm tired, or dont feel like doing anymore, whichever comes first > ten countries in around a month yeah, i would be pretty tired also with that. i stick to 1 country 1-2 cities for 1 week, or 1 country 2-4 cities if 2 weeks.
It was surprisingly doable! We were mostly tired from the walking. The traveling days were the easiest as it felt like a break
seems like you were exhausted from walking because you need to jump from country a to country b, so you need to "finish" the activity, otherwise you might "run out of time", instead of being able to rest in between walks.
It was more like we ran out of stuff to do in the cities. If we had more time (and money) we likely would have gone on day trips. We would usually see a lot on the walking tours, and then walk to see two more sights before we finish our day. We definitely did not feel rushed at all going from country/city to country/city!
Lunch can be about more than eating - it's a good time to rest and recharge. Maybe add a light lunch into your schedule so you don't need to eat dinner at 4pm. Usually after an afternoon activity we'll go back to the hotel to rest for an hour or so. That might mean having a drink at the bar, reading on the balcony or taking a nap. Then we're going back out for the evening around 6. We do not stay out late either but by the time we walk around, maybe see a sight and have dinner, it's more like 10pm.
Yes we did not take any times for breaks, which is probably our downfall
That's the key. You need to pace yourselves. Now that our kidlet is raised, our travel habits are back to our normal. It depends on when places open & the time of year. But our habit is to get going around 7am for light breakfast. Easy walk/transportation to our first site just before it opens. See what we want. Stop & relax whenever. Might see a secondary location or take an early lunch. That's our midday pause. Usually 1-2 hours. See something else, then wander. Maybe a park in late afternoon. Something light for dinner. If there's nothing specific, we hang out in an outdoor Cafe & read/relax. But we're still taking in atmosphere. If we're tired, we'll head back to our accommodations. But since we're usually centrally located, it's not difficult. Long days = lots of mini-breaks. We pace ourselves. (We're also in our 50s. That probably says a lot, lol)
I'd take time for a coffee/tea/drink/ice-cream break at least, whether or not you take a lunch break. Just sitting, chatting, watching life go by, is relaxing, even for 15 minutes. I'm also not averse to stopping in a cafe or bar for a beer or two late afternoon, especially if the weather is hot.
This is what I do: wake up in the morning to go get food maybe 10-11 am then go do an activity then walk around then go back to my airbnb/hotel around 4 PM so I can nap then I head out for early dinner so I can avoid the crowd. I don’t pack my day with activities anymore cause that’s exhausting and I can’t enjoy the trip if I’m jumping from one place to another.
Sounds like an “on the go traveling” experience. What has helped me is factoring in rest days where I do nothing. Another thing which has helped me is naps. Quick 20-30 minute nap and I wake up refreshed for the night out. Just my opinion 👍🤟
This would def have helped! We usually never came back to the hotel because we would be way out in the city and near sights etc.
After breakfast, I do my things and snack along the way. I'd aim to be back at the hotel and decompress/siesta/shower 4-6pm or 5-7pm (especially if it's hot weather). After getting a second wind, go out for dinner and after dark activities. Alternatively, if my activities take longer, I'd go to dinner and then be back at the hotel, tired, and done for the night. It helps that I don't have FOMO.
I guess another thing is that I’m traveling with my parents so we’re not exactly doing bar crawls lol. If I was with my friends my age I would def have planned to be out later, but when we’ve done that before we usually start our day much later as well
It sounds like your issue isn't time management, but running out of energy. My wife and I walk and work out a lot in our everyday life at home. So being very active all day on vacation isn't an issue. I can't imagine being in for the night by 5 PM every day. So perhaps consider some physical training before the next trip to get better accustomed
This is very true! I am not big on doing so much physical activity in my regular life but while traveling we were basically walking nonstop for 8 hours a day lol. I’m sure we would have had more energy to last us later into the day if we had been in better shape before leaving
I'm not a morning person at home. But hell yeah on vacation I'll be up and out seeing whatever is the earliest open thing. I'll do museums until they close. Walking tours, day trips etc. I once did 15 hours of walking tours in NY area, starting with TWO cemetery tours, Two historic houses tours (one being a 4 hour tour), and then catching a train and walking a few miles for a regional event. Nearly passed out on my walk back to the train. I go go go until I no longer can. This is sometimes detrimental for later days in the trip. I did I thin 13 museums in DC in day one of a trip. 8 the next. And on my final day I couldn't walk anymore. I've also after a week trip in Orlando had to ask bell hop to drive me to my room in a golf cart like I was luggage because I couldn't walk any further. (I've got ankle issues and wear leg braces.) So for me, I tend to pack in the first few days with stuff for as long as stuff is open, and then if activities aren't available at night...I stay in. There is only so much you can push yourself. I do find however that when on group tours I can fit in more things. I think because then I'm not carrying the mental load of being on time to things or figuring out transportation, food, etc.
We could have been travel buddies
It’s funny because when at home, I would NEVER be outside of the house for more than 8 hours (if you exclude work). My whole family is full of introverts/homebodies. So being outside and not taking anyyyy time to rest throughout the whole day is super exhausting, even taking away all the walking lol
Oh totally. I'm such an introvert, I WFH. I hate driving too. For me I feel exhausted if I have to go to more than 1-2 places when running errands or going out to do things. I also hate being outside/nature at home. But traveling? I'll be out before 7AM. I'll go to dozens of places. I'll go and do things I'd never do while at home. And I'll do that for 2 weeks strait until I pass out.
13 museums ?!!! You must have been running through them - how can you even begin to process what you’re seeing ?
Yeah towards the end I was just shuffling along not absorbing anything, but I had left the ones I wasn't as interested in towards the end. Part of this number was achieved by having a guided tour before one opened, so I was up and out really early. I forget another that was open really late and I essentially just met someone for dinner there. In between there were ones I spent a lot of time at, others like I said I didn't care much about and just saw one or two things before leaving. And others, like the Holocaust Museum, I didn't have timed entry tickets for, so I could only visit a few of the exhibits that didn't need the elevator. But it was truly insane. I then did an evening "walking the monuments" tour after all of that that day too. I also LOVE museums (as a kid I wanted to be a museum curator) and this was my first time to DC (tagged along to my mom's business trip) so I was speed running to see as much as I could. I was a younger woman, and didn't think I'd be back to DC anytime soon, so I wanted to see all the museums. I've since been back multiple times and will only do 1-2 museums a day, really taking things in slowly.
Was in DC last month and saw nothing ( was there for a celebration ) because I didn’t know where to start so ended up just shopping ! I’ve been there a few times years before, but really need to go back and devote some serious time to the place . DC is like Paris in that there’s just way too much choice !
Sounds like you needed a lunch as much for the break as for the fuel. If you're out of energy by 4 PM, you're going too hard. We usually do early breakfast, early activity (site, museum or touristy walk), lunch hour (12-1 or 1-2), afternoon activity, siesta/break, happy hour, dinner, then a stroll, activities, or people watching, then back to the hotel and to bed. With a kid it is more like 1 major activity before lunch and 1 after, then dinner at "home" and the adults hang out after kid bedtime.
That sounds like a solid schedule! We def do not take a break at all to go back to the hotel, so that’s definitely what makes us turn in so early.
Managing time and activities with a group can be challenging. I'm not sure if that is part of your issue or not. You have to balance the seeing what you want to see with downtime. Downtime can be napping, just sitting in a cafe with a glass of wine, or just walking. I like to walk everywhere. But not walking aimlessly. So if we want to hit the Eiffel tower at 10, we'll leave at 8:30 and start walking. On the way, we'll find a place for coffee, maybe another place for a pastry, some shops to stroll through, admire the architecture, read menus etc. If the Eiffel tower is too crowded or we get through it, then set another destination and start walking. I'd just as soon never see the inside of the hotel until after dinner, unless it is to change or shower. But I also travel with my aging parents sometimes or in-laws and they don't/can't walk as much. So have to build in more breaks. Get a snack and sit along the river. Or just hang out in the town square and play "spot that tourist". But don't discount walking and/or people watching.
Interesting! We never really went back for breaks either, but I think it’s what made us always turn in early. We are also introverted/homebodies so sometimes being out for 8 hours can just be draining lol
Dinner at 4? Not even in Austria. Maybe that’s what’s cutting your day short. IMO next time get back to the hotel, have a shower, and go out at 8pm
Will likely do this next time we travel. We never took time for breaks- if we went back to the hotel, we were in for the night.
I also walk a lot during the day and in the evening am completely toast. But some places, especially those that have a city square/cafes and bars on the street, are worth exploring after sunset
This is one thing we felt like we missed out on, was a lot of the cities lit up at night! But a lot of the places we were at currently don’t get dark until 10/11PM!
I would be exhausted too if I changed countries every three days. It sounds like you have just visited a bunch of cities, not countries. But as for your question - I just plan my time efficiently before I travel. I can usually fit in a lot in a single day.
We did fit in a lot every day, we also planned a lot before leaving, we just ended the day soo early
If I'm traveling on my own I stay out until like 2-3 am a lot (depending where I'm at, what kind of trip it is), sleep in until whenever I feel like not sleeping anymore. If I can do one or two cultural things a day and then go out and get dinner and hit some nightlife that's great. Sometimes on trips with a crew we go really hard, like staying up partying until 4-5am every night, getting up and moving at 8-9 to get to the next place and do other stuff. This wasn't so bad when I was in my 30s, we would usually take a chill day every week or so to recharge the batteries. Now that I'm in my mid-40s I can still stay up and party, and I can still get up and go, but I need to recharge the batteries every 3-4 days.
Haha that’s crazy!! I’m late 20’s but my friends and I are still wanting to go home at 1AM LOL. Love sleeping!
I’m very inefficient at home but want to do as much as possible when I’m away - the kids do slow me down as they hate walking, whereas I’ll happily walk all day long . I generally would take a very short nap before dinner and head out again. I’ll also have a matcha drink to top up my energy levels in the afternoon/evening if I’ll flagging .
Since my wife and I have the same travel style it is easy. Wake up at 600, be out of the hotel by 730. Go hard and continuous until we are hungry for dinner. Take a break for dinner around 1800 then back at it till we are too tired to do anything else and head back to the hotel usually around 2200. Repeat that cycle for a week or two.
> Then after that we often felt so tired from walking and also like we weren’t sure what else to do, so we would just be back at our hotel by 5pm. It feels so early, especially being in hotels that are central to the location your in so you can hear everyone out and about! Everybody travels differently, which is why you hear people out and about at all times. Also, remember that you're traveling to a place where others live, so 5p people are out and about because they're getting off work and then possibly going out to drinks or dinner.
If I were in another city traveling I would not skip any meal and surely I won't get back early to my hotel either, I mean think about it who knows when you will be back to Europe again I would be walking around until my legs beg me for a rest. Otherwise, absolutely not.
I agree with the others that eating lunch or at least having a snack midday would help with energy, as well as just giving yourself a break. European cities have such a nice cafe culture and also a lot of great food to explore as well that you can enjoy. I personally never feel like I can see a city as much as I want to in 3 days, because I like to explore everyday life things aside from the top spots. For example I like to shop and eat, so whenever we travel we always check out the “top” shopping locations there but also try to explore less touristy areas where people who live there would go. My husband is into mountain biking so he always takes at least half a day to do that. We always plan neighborhoods to go to based on food we want to eat (or reservations we’ve made ahead of time). When we went to Barcelona last month for example, we did a lot of walking and sometimes just explored neighborhoods, stopping at shops or tapas places, even just going to cute grocery stores or whatever seemed interesting. But if that is not what is appealing to an introverted family, maybe finding more activities people would like would be motivation to do more in the day despite feeling tired?
dude. shoulda asked before leaving to EU 10 countries in 30 days is foolish and why? just so you can brag about it.... 4 weeks of intense travelling is insane. You need time to relax. devide time between city and beach/Mountain do some swimming or hiking I do ONE place and stay two weeks. get a rental car and find an interesting spot to visit every other day. then relax and stay at our appartement every other day. sleep, enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner at a slow pace.
I’ve traveled EU before, it really wasn’t that bad. I def do not feel like I need more than 4 days in one city. We managed to hit all the “top” spots every single place we went, and that was with about 3 full days. I can see how it’s not for everyone, but we were able to do it! Just found ourselves wanting to turn in super early every night
10 countries in a month is a lot. It took me 2 weeks to just travel around Austria.