{"id":123,"date":"2026-10-06T17:52:35","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T17:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/?p=123"},"modified":"2026-10-06T17:52:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T17:52:35","slug":"19-days-8-countries-how-we-built-our-slightly-insane-european-itinerary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/?p=123","title":{"rendered":"19 Days, 8 Countries: How We Built Our Slightly Insane European Itinerary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

We knew we had 19 days, and Italy was our main event. We also liked the idea of fitting in as many countries as we reasonably could.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Allie and I sat down and figured out our non-negotiables.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our top five were pretty easy:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italy. London. Paris. Switzerland. Amsterdam.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that came the much harder part:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deciding which parts of Europe we were willing to leave out.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you haven’t read my first blog, now’s a good time\u2014because our simple graduation trip to Italy had already gotten a little out of hand.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Italy was still the reason we were going.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Venice was my number one.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allie and I both wanted to go to Rome, and she really wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florence made sense because it gave us an easy way to visit Pisa, and Milan worked because that’s where we’d end up after coming through the Alps from Switzerland.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italy was taking shape.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now we just had to figure out everything between London and Italy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planning by Train Route…and Hotel Price<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

London and Paris were obvious.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amsterdam made the cut because I wanted to add another country I’d never visited.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we started looking at train routes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s when Brussels entered the picture.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we were already traveling through Brussels on our way to Amsterdam, why not stop, explore for the day, spend the night, and continue the next morning?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came Germany.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Luxembourg.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, we hadn’t cured ourselves of the:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, if we’re already going to be there…\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

problem.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there actually was some logic behind it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wanted to travel primarily by train, so I started looking at the map like a puzzle:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where is the train already taking us?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we stop without going wildly out of our way?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How long will it take to get to the next city?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And perhaps most importantly…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much is it going to cost us to sleep there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My $200 Hotel Rule<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My goal was to average around $200 per night for hotels.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some nights would be cheaper and others more expensive, but if I could keep the average around $200, I felt like we could make it work.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price wasn’t my only consideration, though.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was just Allie and me\u2014two women traveling alone\u2014so safety and location mattered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted clean accommodations with good reviews in areas where I’d feel comfortable walking with my daughter, including after dark.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also didn’t want to spend a fortune getting back and forth from our hotel. I’d much rather walk or use public transportation than rely on taxis or rideshares.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So my hotel criteria became pretty simple:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safe. Clean. Well-reviewed. Convenient. And preferably around $200.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turns out that last part was sometimes easier said than done.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paris\u2014and Mistake Number One<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Paris was a perfect example of why location mattered.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We wanted to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night, and I didn’t want us navigating the Metro across Paris late at night afterward.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I found H\u00f4tel Eiffel Kensington, within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great location.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reasonable price.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was just one teeny-tiny detail I failed to triple-check:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Air conditioning.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It didn’t have any.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And naturally, we arrived during a heat wave.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we learned Mistake Number One very early:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ALWAYS CHECK FOR AIR CONDITIONING.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, we’d only booked one night.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, once we got to Paris, I wished we’d booked more. We spent less than 24 hours there.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that’s a story for Paris Day.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Switzerland: So Many Choices, So Little Time<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Switzerland was probably the hardest country to narrow down.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zurich. Lucerne. Interlaken. St. Moritz. The Alps.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every time I researched one place, I found three more I wanted to visit.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally, Interlaken was on the itinerary, but once I started plugging actual train times into my spreadsheet, I realized we wouldn’t have enough time to enjoy it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another lesson:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just because you can get somewhere doesn’t mean you have enough time to actually experience it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I found a blog post about the Golden Round Trip to Mt. Pilatus from Lucerne.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A boat across Lake Lucerne.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cogwheel train up the mountain.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time at the top of Mt. Pilatus.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cable car back down.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\u2014most importantly\u2014a summer toboggan run.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sold.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lucerne was officially in.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I found Barabas Hotel Luzern.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was reasonably priced, centrally located, and…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a former prison.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can actually sleep in the old prison cells.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, we had to stay there.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Lucerne got two nights.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, I apparently hadn’t completely learned my lesson from Paris.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No air conditioning.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my defense, Switzerland is cold, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who would’ve thought we’d need air conditioning?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doh.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those were the two worst nights of sleep of our entire trip.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former-prison thing was really cool.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sleeping in a former prison during a European heat wave?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slightly less cool.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Literally.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we’ll save that story for Lucerne.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zurich vs. St. Moritz<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At one point, we planned to spend a night in Zurich.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I looked at hotel prices.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nope.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, I found an affordable youth hostel in St. Moritz, and that solved another problem.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We could stay there for two nights, giving us a full day to explore instead of arriving, sleeping, and leaving again immediately.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, St. Moritz put us exactly where we wanted to be for one of the things I’d been obsessing over since the beginning:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bernina Express.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’d travel through the Swiss Alps, cross into Italy at Tirano, and continue on to Milan.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So our four nights in Switzerland were officially set:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 nights in Lucerne.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 nights in St. Moritz.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Interlaken.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No overnight in Zurich.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We couldn’t see everything\u2014and that was okay.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes you just have to pick the places that fit your route, your time, and your budget and save the rest for another trip.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our route was set:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luxembourg \u2192 Lucerne \u2192 St. Moritz \u2192 Bernina Express \u2192 Italy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Then There Was Venice<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Venice was where I broke my own hotel rule.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I originally wanted two nights there.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I started looking at hotel prices.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ouch.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because we’d never been to Venice, I was especially picky about where we stayed. I wanted somewhere safe, convenient with our backpacks, and easy to find when we arrived.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, I chose Hotel Antiche Figure, right on the Grand Canal near the train station.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was easily the nicest hotel of our trip.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also easily the most expensive.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Venice became one night instead of two.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back, I’m glad I splurged for our first visit. Now that I’ve been to Venice and understand how the city works, I’d feel comfortable staying somewhere less expensive next time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for our first trip?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worth it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, We Had an Itinerary<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After what felt like approximately 4,000 versions of the spreadsheet, we finally had it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our 19-Day Europe Itinerary<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Day 1 \u2014 June 17: Fly from California<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 2 \u2014 June 18: Arrive in London<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 3 \u2014 June 19: London<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 4 \u2014 June 20: London \u2192 Paris<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 5 \u2014 June 21: Paris \u2192 Brussels<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 6 \u2014 June 22: Brussels \u2192 Amsterdam<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 7 \u2014 June 23: Amsterdam \u2192 Cologne, Germany<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 8 \u2014 June 24: Cologne \u2192 Luxembourg<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 9 \u2014 June 25: Luxembourg \u2192 Lucerne<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 10 \u2014 June 26: Lucerne<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 11 \u2014 June 27: Lucerne \u2192 St. Moritz<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 12 \u2014 June 28: St. Moritz<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 13 \u2014 June 29: St. Moritz \u2192 Tirano \u2192 Milan<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 14 \u2014 June 30: Milan \u2192 Venice<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 15 \u2014 July 1: Venice \u2192 Florence<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 16 \u2014 July 2: Florence + Pisa<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 17 \u2014 July 3: Florence \u2192 Rome<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 18 \u2014 July 4: Rome<\/strong>
<\/strong>Day 19 \u2014 July 5: Fly home<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight countries. Nineteen days. Two backpacks. And a ridiculous number of trains.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We Had a Plan\u2014Not a Schedule<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I had a giant spreadsheet filled with things we<\/strong> could<\/em><\/strong> do:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buckingham Palace. Tower Bridge. The Eiffel Tower. Belgian waffles. Anne Frank House. Cologne Cathedral. Mt. Pilatus. The Bernina Express. The Duomo. Gondolas. Pisa. The Colosseum…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But most weren’t commitments.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A handful of true must-dos were booked in advance. Everything else was an idea.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we had time, great.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we were exhausted, we’d skip it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we found something better, we’d change the plan.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I’m really glad we did it that way.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because there’s planning a trip…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there’s actually taking the trip.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those turned out to be two very different things.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Plan Was Official<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our little trip to Italy had officially become:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

England \u2192 France \u2192 Belgium \u2192 the Netherlands \u2192 Germany \u2192 Luxembourg \u2192 Switzerland \u2192 Italy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flights were booked.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hotels were booked.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The train passes were purchased.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spreadsheet was color-coded within an inch of its life.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no turning back now.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next up: How Two Women Packed for 19 Days in Europe With Just Backpacks<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We knew we had 19 days, and Italy was our main event. We also liked the idea of fitting in as many countries as we reasonably could. So Allie and I sat down and figured out our non-negotiables. Our top five were pretty easy: Italy. London. Paris. Switzerland. Amsterdam. After that came the much harder […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[18,15,12,11,13,10,16,19,14,17],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","tag-bernina-express","tag-budget-travel-europe","tag-eurail","tag-europe-by-train","tag-europe-itinerary","tag-europe-travel","tag-europe-trip-planning","tag-italy-travel","tag-mother-daughter-travel","tag-switzerland-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125,"href":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions\/125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loveanchorslife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}