I arrived in Europe yesterday for a vacation with my girlfriend. We’re going to mostly visit magnificent Montenegro as well as the sublime coastal city of Dubrovnik (Croatia), the “Pearl of the Adriatic.” Since my girlfriend wanted to try flying in luxurious business class for the first time, we also have a few days in Munich (Germany) and Copenhagen (Denmark) before and after.
I’ve always shared daily stories on my personal Instagram account during my many trips.
But by popular demand, I decided to finally share content about my trip here in real time for once.
Here’s the introduction to my current European trip, specifically the context and itinerary. The logistics, reviews, experiences, and all the details will follow very soon.
Context of my trip to Europe
I travel solo very often (and sometimes with friends), because my girlfriend likes traveling less than I do. She also has a normal job and therefore only has a few weeks of vacation per year… and I travel about 10 times per year.
Since the pandemic, we have taken trips closer to home together, to Colombia, Texas, Florida, Nova Scotia, etc. We were very overdue for a European trip!
She was also a bit jealous that I’ve started more regularly traveling in luxurious lie-flat pod seats in business class worth $2897 (CAD 4000)+ for cheaper than economy class. It’s so easy to earn so many points in recent years with incredible welcome bonuses (and I travel less, too).
So she wanted to try that, and we’re here for 3 weeks (well, just under 3 weeks because I already had a weekend trip booked 3 weeks from now and it can’t be moved, as I’ll explain at the end).
I’ve personally never been very interested in going to the places where everyone always goes (Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, etc.), but even less during the current huge overtourism problem in Western and Southern Europe.
I convinced my girlfriend to go to Montenegro, because I know from my many experiences that everything in Europe is better in the East (fewer tourists, fewer sky-high prices that come with tourists, fewer locals fed up with tourists, etc.). And more culture shock, most importantly!
I loved neighboring Albania both times I visited, as I shared when I was interviewed as a travel expert in a Montreal newspaper recently about more affordable destinations, by the way.
Montenegro honestly looks even more beautiful and will certainly become even more overcrowded very soon (cruise ships have unfortunately already started having their effect there).
Dubrovnik is nearby too, and I’m so excited to visit this city even though it’s super touristy. We’ll just spend more time in Montenegro to compensate. That’s the key with popular spots! You can go, of course… just avoid going only there! It’s better for those destinations AND it’s better for your travel budget. Win-win!
As for Munich and Copenhagen, that was more by default.
Traveling in business class for less than in economy is very easy if you’re flexible. So we were flexible, even with her completely inflexible vacation dates, and even though she was inflexible about wanting nonstop flights (literally the worst request that exists, if you want to save money).
We were flexible on the routing. Simple. We landed in Munich and we’re leaving from Copenhagen (short-distance flights aren’t expensive in Europe). And I looked often to find available seats in business class, obviously! We’ll help you do that very soon, as I explained to you this weekend!
Just to give you a teaser, the outbound flight cost me the guaranteed fixed price of 60,000 Aeroplan points and $120, instead of $3621 (CAD 5000)+. My inbound flight cost me the guaranteed fixed price of 50,000 SAS points and $127, instead of $2897 (CAD 4000)+ (that means my million SAS points I got so easily is worth ≈ $80,000, which is pretty crazy).
Of course, we could have decided not to visit these places at all and just immediately gone where we wanted to go upon arriving in Munich, and then arriving just the day before the flight in Copenhagen.
But we like variety, and we decided to explore these cities a bit too, for a change from the seafront, the small towns, and the Slavic vibe. My girlfriend has never been to either city, and I only spent one day in Copenhagen.
In short, I’m really excited about all this; it’s been a while since I spent a lot of time in Europe!
(And honestly, it’s the first time in my 28 trips since 2023 that I really choose the destination I want, for various reasons!)
At the end of the trip, I’m joining a friend for a music festival in Washington. I was going to tell you to breathe because I bought this before Trump was elected. But it’s the return of the famous Vans Warped Tour, and as a fanatic and a nostalgic, I’m not sure I could’ve missed it anyway, honestly.
(I’m also probably going to go back to When We Were Young in Vegas for the 4th year in a row, AKA since it started… pop-punk’s iconic band, Panic! at the Disco, is back for one weekend only to play their seminal debut album in full. And I’m already in the U.S. the weekend after to once again speak at the Chicago Seminars points travel conference, anyway!)
Planned itinerary of my trip to Europe
Here’s our overall itinerary.
Here are the details of the itinerary:
- Montreal-Munich
- Flight on Lufthansa
- Business class (A350; the good ones)
- Munich-Dubrovnik
- Flight on Croatia Airlines
- Dubrovnik-Montenegro
- Bus
- Montenegro-Dubrovnik
- Bus
- Dubrovnik-Copenhagen
- Flight on Norwegian
- Copenhagen-Washington
- Flight on SAS (Scandinavian)
- Business class (A350)
- Washington-Montreal
- Flight on United
That’s just the overview. In Munich, we’ll probably take a road trip to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, and in Montenegro, we’ll certainly drive across the entire (small) country. However, the specifics are not yet fully decided.
I had no hotels booked at all when landing yesterday, apart from stays at the nice Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik 5-star hotel and the Sun Gardens Dubrovnik 5-star resort (Amex Fine Hotels+Resorts and The Leading Hotels of the World), as they’ve both offered to host me so I can show you their hotels.
So this itinerary is still somewhat flexible, the way I like it. But my girlfriend… not so much. So I think we’ll stick to this. To be continued!
Learning how to travel for less
Join over 100,000 savvy Canadian travelers who already receive Flytrippers’ free newsletter so we can help you travel for less (and inspire you, too)!
Summary
I’m currently in Europe for vacation with my girlfriend, and I’m going to share content about the trip as we go for once. Our destinations are Munich, Dubrovnik, several cities in Montenegro, and Copenhagen.
What would you like to know about my current trip to Europe? Tell us in the comments below.
See the flight deals we spot: Cheap flights
Discover free travel with rewards: Travel rewards
Explore awesome destinations: Travel inspiration
Learn pro tricks: Travel tips
Featured image: Kotor, Montenegro and Dubrovnik, Croatia (photo credit: Radik Sitdikov and Unsplash+)
