Here are a few TRAVEL TIPS I share for visiting EUROPE
🗝 Leaving your room key at the hotel when you go out is common.
This won’t happen absolutely everywhere, but just know that if a hotel asks you to leave the hotel key at the front desk when you leave for the day, this is perfectly reasonable. For obvious reasons, you’re much more likely to find this practice in hotels with beautiful, old-fashioned keys.
💶 You’ll need to pay a tourist tax in most places you visit.
This is collected by your hotel and increasingly by private apartments/Airbnbs (they’re required to do so). This fee is set per person, per night, and is usually around 2-4 Euros, though it does vary.
🛂 Make a photo copy of your passport with your full picture and numberÂ
Leave this photocopy with your emergency contact in America. If you need to replace this in an emergency. You can easily take a copy into the American consulate. You will not be allowed to take your cell phone inside any American Consulate in Europe. This photocopy can be emailed to you - print it out at a hotel or with your tour operator and they will assist with the rest, an emergency passport is much easier to obtain this way.
🌬 Air conditioning is not a given
✅  The first floor isn’t the first floor.
You run into this cultural difference in far more places than hotels, but the odds are good that your hotel will be the first place you experience it! In Europe, floor levels are counted starting from 0, not 1.
🔌 What kind of plug in will I need? I am including my favorite that also has USB ports too
💸 Make note of the local tipping culture before you sit down.
Tipping culture in restaurants varies wildly throughout the continent. Sometimes, you’re expected to round up a Euro or two. In other places, 10% is the norm, and in still others, a standard fee is automatically added to the bill that serves as a tip.
👩‍🍳 Don’t shy away from reservations, especially in major cities.
If you want to eat at a particular restaurant, especially one that’s well-known, making reservations in advance will make all the difference.
🍷 Slow service doesn’t mean bad service.
In most of Europe, polite service is reserved and slow–so don’t expect your waiter to hover over you, ask questions about your life, or bring the check until you ask for it (that would be considered rushing the customer).
💦 You will have to PAY for Water
This is not that big of a deal in Europe, although in America we do not pay for table water, it is quite common to ask for sparkling or natural (e) depending on the country you visit. Sometimes it costs as much as a glass of wine.