Nine Months in Europe

Planning a long trip is no easy feat, it requires weeks of research and preparation, all in hope that everything works out. This article aims to ease the stress that comes along with planning a multi-month trip to Europe, specifically nine months as we did in 2022-2023.

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Table of Contents

• How long to stay
• Visas and the Schengen Zone
• Budget
• What to bring
• Where to go
• How to get around
• Quick Itinerary

How Long to Stay

Of course this is wholly up to you, but if you have the time, let me explain why we think nine months is an ideal amount of time – if your goal is to cover as much of Europe as possible.

With the Schengen Zone (which I will go into further detail next) affecting all of us who reside outside of the EU, you get three months to explore as much of Europe as you can, before being forced to leave for three months, before you can come back for another three – totalling nine months.

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The first three months are not enough to fully explore (and I say fully quite generously) all the countries that make up this zone. It would most definitely be possible to travel through a large portion of Europe within this period, but you will be forced to either skip quite a few countries or be extremely rushed.

Visas and the Schengen Zone

What is the Schengen Zone, you may ask? It is a borderless area that allows visitors to stay a total of 90 out of 180 days. The 90 days do not necessarily have to be consecutive, but you cannot exceed the limit within the period. From the moment you arrive in a country that is part of the Schengen Zone, the countdown begins. Once the 180 days have passed you can re-enter the Schengen Zone for another 90 days.

❕ Tip: Likely to start in 2025, everyone entering the Schengen Zone is required to pay an EITAS fee, however, it should only cost roughly $7 USD. This will allow you to move freely in all the countries that have banded together to facilitate travel within this area. Here is a list of all the counties that are included.

As for the countries that are not, they will make a nine-month trip to Europe possible. The list of countries outside the Schengen Zone are listed here, so you will have to make sure you do not require any additional visas (Canadians did not need any in 2023). The list of countries outside the Schengen Zone are listed here, so you will have to make sure you do not require any additional visas.

European Countries Outside of the Schengen Zone

• Albania
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Cyprus
• Ireland
• Macedonia
• Moldova
• Montenegro
• Serbia
• Ukraine
• United Kingdom

This trip will be weaving in and out of the Schengen Zone, so you don’t get yourself banned, and you will be able to maximize the time abroad.

Budget

Money makes the world go round, so the saying goes. But it is possible to keep costs low while traveling, so you can explore Europe without totally breaking the bank. I will be writing another article disusing all our money saving strategies in depth, but for now this list will do:

• Public Transport: Avoid taxis at all cost
• Walk: On a similar note, your legs are free, walk instead of always paying for transit
• Minimal Alcohol: Those cheap German beers add up
• Make your own food: I know, this one sucks. However, eating out for every meal gets expensive. Look for accommodation with a kitchen or at least a fridge and a microwave.
• Pick and choose paid activities: Nothing’s cheaper than free

Of course, we still ate out, we did sometimes take transit when we could have walked (sometimes it was raining…) and splurged here and there, BUT not every time. We saved thousands of dollars following these “rules”.

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⚠ Note: Europe is not cheap, we saved for about 2 years in high school to save this kind of money for such a long trip.

What to Bring

Packing can be quite the challenge for such an extensive period of time. Since we spent a large part of our trip during the colder months, we had to bring enough warm clothing in addition to the clothes we needed for the summer. Once the weather turned warm, we shipped a box worth of clothes home, so we no longer had to lug around our big winter jackets in the heat of the summer.

This is a relatively general and “genderless” list if you will. If you are reading this as a guy, you don’t really need to bring 2 pairs of leggings.

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Winter

• Winter jacket
• 3x long sleeves
• 1x hoodie
• 1x base-layer/thermal layer
• 2x leggings
• 2x long socks
• 1x jeans
• 1x sweatpants
• 1x trousers
• Gloves and toque

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Summer

• 4x shirts
• 3x tank tops
• 1x light jacket
• 3-5x shorts
• 2x summer dresses
• Sunglasses
• Hat
• 2x bathing suit

Essentials

• Underwear
• Bras
• 7x socks
• Flip-flops
• Runners
• Casual shoes (Vans, AF1s, Converse, etc.)
• Toiletries
• Sunscreen
• Shaver
• Day pack

Tech + Misc

• Laptop
• Camera/GoPro
• Phone (duh)
• Watch
• eReader
• Chargers
• Earbuds (wired and wireless)
• Adapter
• Microfiber towel
• Water bottle
• Passport and Visas
• Cash, credit, and debit cards

⚠ Note: I brought every single pair of underwear I own, because when that ran out it meant it was time to do laundry.

⚠ Note: Make sure you bring both wired and wireless headphones, since most airlines are now charging to give you them on flights.

Where to go

Each country is very different from the next, with their own unique respective cultures and experiences. If your goal is to visit them all, it might be too difficult to achieve all 50 – we unfortunately missed out on 5, but we will come back one day to complete the continent. I would recommend doing your research on which ones are a MUST for you and how long you wish to spend there. We’ll share our itinerary below so you can use it for inspiration. Keep in mind that if you are subject to the Schengen Zone, you may end up with more or less time in an area that originally hoped.

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How to get around

For most of Europe, you can get around quite easily by train. For Western Europe, we highly recommend getting the Eurail Global Pass (Iceland is the exception as there are no trains). However, the majority of Eastern Europe relies mainly on buses, so the Eurail is NOT worth it there at all. Once you have an outline, we would suggest planning what Eurail pass is the most worthwhile.

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For example, if you start in Iceland like we did, don’t get one until you reach the mainland. From there, if you are splitting up the 90 days in the Schengen zone, it might be worth it to buy a regional pass instead of the global one or a global pass with a shorter duration.

For transportation once you have reached your destination, most European cities have a very well-connected local transit system, usually consisting of metros, subways, trams, and buses.

❕ Tip: Some regional trains/metro trains are even included with Eurail, such as the S-Bahn line in Germany. You can see all of them on the Eurail Website.

Aside from the Netherlands, each part of each country uses a slightly different transit system. This will require additional research, especially if you plan on using the bus. Metro/subway systems tend to be easier to purchase tickets from as they always have a little ticket booth at the station.

❕ Tip: Make sure to always get a ticket! The last thing you need is a fine - and they are steep in Europe.

Overall, you can rely on public transportation for the majority of destinations, especially if it is especially touristy. However, not everything can be reached without a car. Due to our age, we were unable to rent cars while we were abroad, so we ended up taking a few tours. With a smaller group, it can be more affordable to take these tours than to fully DIY it, but if you are traveling with more people (and one who is of car rental age) it can be less expensive to rent a car.

The final way of getting around is plane. We tried to avoid that whenever possible as train or bus travel was usually much more affordable. We usually flew with Ryanair, a very budget airline that had quite good deals.

⚠ Note: Ryanair is infamously strict with their policies, especially their baggage regulations. Always make sure to plan accordingly so you don’t end up being charged extra fees at the airport.

Quick Itinerary