Travel Tips

Viking River Cruises had not sailed onto my radar until my mom and dad cruised the Rhine River several years ago. And I don’t think that I would have considered a cruise for myself until my dad passed away, and I decided to sail the Danube River with my mom. It just seemed like something that older people did. (I know — I’m 50. Go ahead and laugh.)

But from the minute that we met our Viking-appointed driver — at midnight in the Budapest airport after a 30-hour trip from Fort Wayne, Indiana, via Chicago (where we were delayed for mechanical issues) and then Frankfurt (where we then missed our connection and ended up with a 12-hour layover) — I decided that I could get used to the bountiful little luxuries provided by a Viking River Cruise. 

The Pros of a Viking River Cruise

A bit of perspective: I’ve never been on a cruise of any kind. Most of my travel is roughing it: whether literally, out in the woods; or organizing busy budget trips for my family; or traveling solo, in which I’m solely responsible for my safety, transportation, accommodations, food, water and activities.

I’ve never been on a trip where people took care of things for me. So the very nature of a cruise in which things are planned and managed is a novelty. And that leads me to a long list of pros:

1. Transportation from and to the airport is arranged. If you book your airfare through Viking (we got free airfare as part of one of their regular promotions), then Viking will send you a baggage tag and a sticker for your shirt before you leave, and someone will greet you at the airport upon arrival, take you to the boat and put your luggage in your room. This was especially welcome during our unexpectedly arduous trip overseas. The same works in reverse: When it was time to leave, Viking took us by bus to the airport, helped us with our luggage and showed us to check-in.
2. You can get help during your flights. If you book your airfare through Viking and you run into travel snags, then you can call a number that they supply exclusively for flight issues and someone will guide you to solutions, as well as notify the boat.
3. Drinking water is abundant and free. They’ll give you a bottle of water when they pick you up from the airport. There’s always a large glass bottle in your room. When you depart for an included excursion, they’ll provide a bottle of water. I drink a lot of water all day long. In some places where I’ve traveled, tap water is unsafe, and drinking water is scarce. In others, it’s a matter of buying, carrying and keeping enough on hand to feel hydrated. On this cruise, someone made sure that I always had drinking water. I’d say it’s the little things, but this was huge for me.
4. The boat is luxurious. It’s not big, but it’s modern, bright, very clean and sleek, reflecting the Scandanavian design aesthetic of its country of origin. There are floor-to-ceiling windows nearly everywhere in the shared spaces, making it feel open and airy and allowing for great views of the passing scenery.
5. The service is exceptional. Thanks to my work as a food and wine writer, I’ve enjoyed some amazing service, and the people working on our Viking River Cruise were on par. They lead with enthusiastic welcomes, gracious offers of help and hard work.
6. The food is fantastic. There’s a huge selection of menu items at every meal, including dishes local to the region that you’re visiting each night at dinner. There were two coffee stations on our boat with cappuccino machines, hot tea and cookies available all day. The lounge had a full bar and, if you have the Silver Spirits package, premium cocktails, beer and wine are free. (Otherwise, a nice selection of wine and beer is free at lunch and dinner.) Breakfast and lunch include both a self-service buffet area, and sit-down, full-service options. Dinner is full service. SIDENOTE: In honor of Viking’s Norwegian heritage, Viking gives guests a glass of Aquavit, a Scandinavian-distilled beverage. Tradition dictates that the Linie Aquavit they serve must be carried in oak casks on ships that cross the equator twice on a four-month voyage spanning 35 countries. It’s believed that the moving seas and temperature changes allow more flavor to be extracted from the casks. How specific and charming is that?
7. The included excursions are phenomenal. I pride myself on comprehensively canvassing a city when I visit. I do a ton of research beforehand to identify places to see and to get a sense of the vibe and history. I map out routes and plan how to get around, whether by foot, public transportation or even a Hop-On Hop-Off bus. The basic tours included in our Viking River Cruise each morning eliminated all of that legwork — I could simply show up, look and learn.
8. There are spaces to tuck away. The boat includes a tiny library space and workspace at one end of the upper level where you can read, write or go online if you need a bit of a break from all the people-ing. (See the people-ing and wifi cons below.)
9. There is community. If you’re traveling solo and can swing the single supplement, this is a brilliant way to feel a part of a group. People grow familiar very quickly, and they’re quite friendly, adept at making interesting conversation. Many are avid travelers with good stories. The average age of the population on a Viking River Cruise is probably 70. And it’s a largely lovely group of well-traveled people who know how to make small talk and do a good job of it. If you’re traveling solo, you’ll have ample opportunities to make friends and share conversation.
10. It can be very affordable. If you have a traveling companion, and you take advantage of one of the specials — such as free airfare — you will likely beat the cost of a self-organized trip by a mile.

The Cons of a Viking River Cruise

1. There’s no space to work out. Yes, I know. It’s vacation. But after sitting on an airplane for hours (or days) and eating and drinking so much, I wished for a small gym. The upper deck of the ship is an open-air seating area with a walking track. But depending on the time of year in which you cruise, it could be a really brisk walk, as in blustery. 
2. I felt like a conspicuous tourist. During our excursions, we were shuttled to our walking tours in giant motorcoaches. We wore listening devices on bright red lanyards. We followed our guide, who was bearing a sign, in a slow-moving cluster. This all eliminates the opportunity to observe a place unnoticed. It makes you a more obvious target to vendors or pickpockets who follow travelers like bees on honey. And we were sometimes noticeably annoying to local residents.
3. Your time is not entirely your own. There’s not always a chance to linger at something you want to explore further when you’re on an excursion, or to venture further in a place. It’s the tradeoff for being free of planning responsibilities.
4. An introvert could be overwhelmed. If you dine in the restaurant, you’ll share a table with a group. When you go to the mandatory safety presentation, or the cultural presentations and port talks, or the captain’s welcome, you’ll need to continue chatting with other people. Sometimes it’s a lot of people-ing. And on a small boat, you’re not anonymous for long. The good news: The people on my cruise knew very well how to dip into a conversation and dip right back out.  
5. For the solo traveler, it’s expensive. The solo supplement turns an affordable trip into an extravagance. 
6. For a pair, the cheapest rooms are tight. It’s entirely manageable to share one of the lower-deck rooms. They’re well-designed, making the most of the teeny, tiny space. Your two twin beds are pushed together or separated, and there is space under the beds for luggage. But there isn’t enough room for two people to pass each other at the foot of the beds; it’s a bit of a dance to navigate. And any time that you have a suitcase out, it consumes all of the floor space.
7. The internet is unreliable. I was able to work extra before and after my trip and avoid long days or late nights on the laptop during my cruise. But I did need to send some emails and make some social posts, and I was dead in the water, so to speak, for several days. Our service was extra bad — they even brought in a tech team in Vienna, but the service failed again the next day.
8. You lose the sense of place that comes with staying in a destination. On a Viking River Cruise, you’re somewhat esconsed in typical American culture, far more than if you were staying in a local hotel for a few days. 

The Boat

Viking has a fleet of river and ocean cruise ships. Ours was the Viking Jarl, built in 2013. It holds as many as 190 guests. There are three levels on the ship, plus an open-air deck on top. The lower level includes guest rooms and crew areas. The middle level includes guest rooms, guest services and the restaurant, plus a dining terrace. The third level includes guest rooms, a library and other seating, and the lounge. The top level is an open-air deck with a walking track, herb garden, solar panels, shuffleboard and a golf putting area.

The Room

We chose the most affordable room, 101. It had two twin beds, a full bathroom, a small closet, three drawers, a mini fridge and a TV. We had a small window and were eye-level with the water. Other rooms offer more space, or balconies, or other combinations of luxuries and perks.

The Trip

We chose the Romantic Danube, October 2–9, including Budapest, Hungary; Vienna and Krems in Austria; and Passau and Regensburg in Germany.

Day One

Arrival in Budapest. If you arrive as scheduled, then you can embark at 3 p.m., leave your luggage and go into the city to see the sights on your own, or sleep off some jet lag. We missed this part of the trip, arriving after midnight thanks to our flight delays.

Day Two: Budapest, Hungary

An included excursion to Budapest (pronounced Bu-da-pesht). At 8 a.m. we boarded motorcoaches in four groups with four tour guides to the heart of the city. Along the way, our guide explained the basics of the Hungarian language and the large concrete buildings, a holdover from communist days, in which many of the citizens of the Pest side of Budapest live. Our first stop was Heroes Square, where we disembarked for a history lesson. We then boarded the buses for a driving tour of the Buda side of the city, enjoying views of the Danube, its many bridges and the Parliament Building.

Our second stop was Inner City Parish Church back on the Pest side; from there our guide led us on a walking tour through the retail corridor and gave us time to wander the Central Market Hall, where they sell everything from embroidered table runners to made-in-China plastic to spectacular meats and meals. There’s even an Aldi in the basement. I bought some authentic paprika from an upstairs stall. 

After a short visit, we boarded the buses to meet up with the boat, which had already set sail west for Visegrad shortly after we left. After we boarded the boat and headed to the dining room for lunch, the ship continued west. With less than four hours’ sleep the night before, I slept off some of my jet lag and did some writing before catching the tail end of a presentation on Viennese coffeehouse culture in the lounge, followed by the chef’s Champagne reception, dinner in the restaurant, and drinks and live music in the lounge. 

Day 3: Vienna, Austria

An included excursion to Vienna. I should have gone to bed earlier. I should have had fewer cocktails. I was dragging again the next morning, and jet lag and early morning noise from the boat’s mechanical systems didn’t help. (Our room, the cheapest on board, was under the boat’s gangway.) The ship was forced by local police to conduct a passport check — a sometimes occurrence — so those of us going into Vienna left the boat about 20 minutes after our scheduled 9:15 a.m. departure.  

We again boarded motorcoaches in groups; this time, some were going on different types of day tours. Our included excursion took us to the Ringstrasse, the broad boulevard through the city center, where we disembarked and walked with our guide through the historic area of Vienna, soaking up his stories of history, buildings and people along the way. 

Our guide left us in front of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, reiterating directions for the metro and the nearest toilettes for those who wanted to stay in the city for the afternoon rather than take the coach back to the boat. Mom and I had already been armed with maps, and our guide even had euros on hand for those who needed to use the restroom and forgot to bring money. (It typically costs 0.50 euros to 1 euro to use a public restroom, known as a toilette or WC/water closest.)

Mom and I strolled inside Saint Stephen’s and took the elevator to the tower on top; after, we visited Sluka for its authentic Vienna coffeehouse culture and the restroom. We made our way back to the Spanish Riding School to inquire about tours of the Lippezaner horse facility, pausing along the way to gape in awe at the interiors of Saint Peter’s and Saint Michael’s churches, but the next ticket wasn’t until 4 p.m., so we meandered around the Hapsburg Palace area, then made our way back to the metro near Saint Stephen’s; a short ride on the train put us within a 10-minute walk of the boat. 

Drowsy, I explored the boat a bit and wrote for a while, until the port talk previewing the next day’s activities and then dinner.

Day 4: Vienna, Austria

We were on our own this day, so Mom and I booked a self-guided Grand Tour of the Schonbrunn Palace, the fantastical “hunting lodge” built at the end of the sixteenth century for Emperor Joseph I and his family. The website for the palace says the tour is 50 to 60 minutes, but allow at least two hours. You’ll want to gawk, and you’ll want to walk the grounds. 

I had the great idea that we should get off the U-Bahn (Vienna’s subway) at the Karlsplatz stop on the green line, versus the St. Stephen’s stop on the red line, to see a different part of the city before our tour of the Lippizaner training center, but we ended up lost in the maze of residential streets and missed our tour time. (I’m so sorry, Mom!)

Instead, after we found our way back to the city center we returned to Sluka for coffee and a sacher torte, then headed back to the boat for dinner. We finished our day with an add-on excursion to an orchestral concert of Mozart and Strauss, including dancers and opera singers. It was short and sweet and surprisingly spectacular.

Day 5: Krems, Austria

An included walking tour of Gottweig Abbey. We docked in Krems sometime during the night. In the morning we boarded buses for a short ride to Gottweig Abbey. Parts medieval, parts baroque and thoroughly gorgeous, the monastery is famous for its apricot wines and brandy. While there are roughly 35 monks still living and working there and in the surrounding community, one of the primary sources of revenue for upkeep, aside from leasing the surrounding lands, is tourism. In addition to a visit and wine tasting, you can book a stay on the grounds, which are rich with views and gardens. 

We returned to the boat for lunch, then sailed the Wachau Valley, a picturesque and rustic section of the Danube famous for its wines. Our program director narrated the sights and identified the small towns along the way while we basked in the warm October sun and sipped Viennese coffee. The day included other talks and a cooking demonstration, along with the usual entertainment in the lounge before and after dinner. There also was a presentation featuring discounts on future Viking River Cruises.

Day 6: Passau, Germany

It was incredibly foggy when we arrived in Passau. The sun soon burned the soft filter off of the Italian-designed pastel buildings to reveal brilliant blue skies, cobblestones and charming passageways at the confluence of three rivers. There were many, many university students, children, dogs and babies in the Old Town area; it made my heart so happy. I had beer at a ratskellar, visited a castle and petted puppies after the included walking tour. 

Passau might have been my favorite place on our cruise. People lined the waterways with their friends, families, pups, toddlers, beers and musical instruments to watch the golden hour bathe the picturesque pathways.

Day 7: Regensburg, Germany

The walking tours that morning included a Jewish history option. It was a gut punch in a lot of ways. Our marvelous tour guide, Sylvia Seifert, MA, showed us tiles built into the sidewalk that represent victims of the Holocaust. Part of an art program throughout Europe, they’re called stumbling stones — not to catch the feet, but the mind — and they’re placed in front of the homes where the victims last lived. She is working on a book to compile information about each of the stumbling stones memorials.

We also learned about the Jewish quarter versus the Jewish ghetto, as well as the various times Jews were wrongly blamed for crises over the centuries, persecuted and expelled. We learned that people destroyed Jewish cemeteries, and we saw the gravestones used as trophy architecture. Our tour included Emilie and Oskar Schindler’s home in Regensburg.

TRIP TIP

| To arrange your own walking tour of the historic Jewish Quarter in Regensburg, you can reach Sylvia Seifert, our guide, at Shalom in Regensburg. |

It was a cold, gray, impactful morning. After a warmup in a coffee shop, we ventured back out into Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We saw weddings in the square and German-made Christmas ornaments by the truckload and indulged in some retail therapy, as it was our final day. 

Of course we *had* to have sausage and (for me) a beer at Historische Wurestkuche, the Regensburg kitchen serving the workers who constructed the 12th century Stone Bridge and the oldest sausage kitchen in the world. It hasn’t changed a bit, judging from our peek inside! We also stumbled upon the centuries-old abbey … and a bit of a creepy saint altar within … before walking back to the boat.

Our final dinner on the ship was magnificent. There was entertainment afterward, but we opted to return to our room and pack. Even though our departure from Munich (about 1.5 hours away) wasn’t until 1:30 p.m. the next day, Viking wanted our luggage in the hall at 5:30 a.m. and us on the bus at 6 a.m. with others who were leaving around the same time. In fact, there were departures scheduled as early as 2:30 a.m. If you book your airfare with Viking, there’s no way around this. At the same time, it was very nice to have included transportation, and our wait in Munich wasn’t onerous. I dozed on the bus. 

Viking River Cruise FAQs

Do you have to dress for dinner?

No. You can if you want to; some people put on a more dressy top and jewelry before dinner, and some people came in casual dress. And some people wore the same jeans they’d had on all day.

Do you have to sit with the same people at dinner every day?

No, you’re free to move about the cabin. Mom and I sat with several very different groups of people, only similar in their charming conversation skills and warmth.

Can you store your luggage in your room?

Yes, I had a full-sized suitcase clocking in at just under 50 pounds, plus a large carry-on, and I was able to stash both underneath my bed.

Do you have to share a bed?

No. When you fill out your profile online on My Viking Journey before your trip, you can ask for the two twins to be split apart. It’s tight, but doable.

Do you need a converter and adapter for the outlets?

On our ship, you didn’t have to have them, but it would be helpful. There are several 110-volt plugs in the room. But if you have multiple devices, they’ll be used up in a heartbeat. I alternated charging my watch and my phone with the 110-volt plug using a regular Apple block, or with the one USB charger built into the wall. I brought an Apple Europe adapter for my laptop, and I brought the European hair dryer that I purchased in Milan several years ago, because the last time I traveled overseas with my American hair dryer, it conked out. I used the European plugs for those.

Is it an older crowd?

I’d peg the average at 70 on our Viking River Cruise, but that’s not to say that there aren’t any much younger people. There was a 20-something newlywed couple on their honeymoon on our trip, and several couples in their 50s and 60s. Children aren’t permitted on Viking River Cruises. There’s no pool, no casino, no disco, no umbrella drinks, no photography sales, no thumping late-night bass on their river cruises. The joy of this crowd, I discovered, is that they’re avid lifelong travelers — not vacationers. They’re curious and informed and gentle and friendly. 

Is it all-inclusive?

It can be. The price of our Viking River Cruise, the Romantic Danube in early October 2022, was $2,499. That included our airfare, thanks to a special promotion that comes along fairly regularly. For that price, we had transfers to and from the airport; daily walking tours of each new city; all of our meals plus snacks; beer and wine at meals; (spotty) wifi; and travel support. 

Our total trip came in at just under $2,949 per person with the fully refundable (for any reason) Allianz travel insurance provided by Viking; prepaid gratuities for the ship staff (though not bus drivers and tour guides); and the Silver Spirits package, which upgraded our booze. (It was embedded in the free airfare promotion, so we couldn’t peel it off). Our trip was six full days of tours and travel, plus the day before and the day after to and from the airport.

Any other tips?

• You can extend your trip through Viking before or after your cruise by a few days and see some other cities. We had so many delays on the way to Budapest that we wished we had arrived a day or two early. This also would have alleviated some jet lag.
• Bring Advil PM, an eye mask and ear buds. There’s ship noise, there are early tours and there’s jet lag. I barely slept. I came home in desperate need of a solid eight hours (plus a facial scrub and a food-and-alcohol detox).
• Bring tennis shoes. Though there’s no gym, the walking track on the open-air deck is an awesome way to get in some miles. You can make your own workout from there: push-ups, jumping jacks, triceps dips, walking lunges, etc.
• Don’t count on the wifi. This was the most disappointing surprise of the trip. I don’t usually travel with a SIM card or any other means of accessing wifi or cell service, and I thought that the ship would mean better connectivity than I usually enjoy. I’m glad I’d arranged to be free of my social media duties during my trip.
• Many people book second, third and more trips on Viking. Not only are their Viking River Cruises wildly popular, but their Ocean Cruises and their new Expedition Cruises draw repeat guests. To a person, the people with whom I spoke said that every experience they’ve had was exceptional. Service wins top remarks, followed by the food and the boats, as well as the excursions. Honestly, I agree. And I don’t get paid a dime to say that. They seem to treat their staff really well too. Our program director, a veteran of other ocean lines, had only worked for Viking for a week when the COVID pandemic shut down cruising; the company looked after her, as she said, through the duration of the pandemic. 
• Go to the port talks. Each night, they’ll prep you for the following day’s destination with a port talk, explaining times, procedures and key sights to see in the next city. There’s also detailed information in the Viking Daily, a printed document that arrives in your room during dinner each night. 

While it never felt like a hard sell, Viking arms you with literature about their other cruise offerings before you go home, and provides a limited-time discount on future trips. They didn’t need to sell me at all; the experience itself was enough to convince me that I should take another trip whenever I have the time and money again. (When my ship comes in, so to speak.) Apparently I’m not the only one: In 2022, Viking was voted the number one ocean line and the number one river line in the Condé Nast Traveler’s 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards for the second year in a row, as well as number one for both rivers and oceans by Travel + Leisure.

I don’t have experience with other river cruise providers, but I can say that my first experience with Viking made me a fan of that mode of travel. I haven’t traveled with other ocean cruise providers either, but my first Viking cruise made me eager to try one of their ocean itineraries as well. I have my eye on the 33-day cruise to Hawaii and Polynesia (Tahiti!). And the 138-day world cruise is an absolute dream. I need to start playing the lottery. 

I won’t forgo my other means of travel. But this was a bit of luxury that I’d love to do again.

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In April 2016, not long after I moved to Denver, I took advantage of a gorgeous Friday afternoon to go hiking about 25 minutes from my house. I packed up the Big Blue Boots and headed to my favorite vista at the Chief Hosa exit on I-70 heading west. (Yeah, if you’ve seen it, you know what I mean.)

Little did I know that I was about to get a lesson on the 10 essentials for hiking and why they’re especially important when you’re hiking solo, or in an unfamiliar area or in rugged terrain.

I was expecting an experience like the past two weeks’ hikes over by Golden: basically, an escalator of people going up and down. So when I pulled off the dirt road into the parking lot, I was a little surprised to see just four other cars…and lots of snow. When I hiked Chimney Gulch the week prior, I was feeling hot, hot, hot in a tank top and shorts. I was dressed similarly that fateful Friday, because it was even warmer than last week in Denver. But Genesee had had about 40 inches of snow (not 4, but 40) since last week, and it was still deep in some spots here. I was glad I had a cardigan and rain jacket in my trunk, though it would have been better if I’d had my whole road trip emergency kit.

As good fortune would have it, a gentleman named Robert (aka one of the most interesting men in the world) was preparing to embark on the Beaver Brook path at the same time. Robert was marking spots off the trail for the mountaineering class he teaches. Could I BE in better company? I think not. 

It turns out that Robert moved to Genesee in 2014 from Jasper, Indiana, not far from my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was executive vice president of a multinational cabinet-making company there. He’s also been a professional triathlete, participates in a wine group in Evergreen, has a degree in research science, has traveled all over the world, and skis and bikes most all year round. I’m fairly sure that at 69, he could kick my arse at most any outdoor endeavor. 

He’s also an instructor for the Colorado Mountain Club, and he introduced me to the 10 essentials for hiking…of which I had none.

We hiked the first third of the trail together, shimmying along a rock face at one point. Then he went right and I went left. Left, deep down into the forest, where it was cold and dark and I was alone. I kicked myself a few times for not bringing my day pack. I had no compass, no matches, no extra food, no printed map. Could I BE more ill-prepared? I think not. Lesson learned: Not every trail is flooded with families and dogs all marching in a single-file line every step of the way.  

The snow was kind of a bonus, because some brave soul and his dog had gone ahead of me in recent days. Every now and then I could pick up a footstep. And when I saw a vast patch of snow without a track, I knew I had lost the trail. (There was no signage.)

Curses to Beaver Brook. Maybe at other times of the year it’s different. Maybe at other times of the year when there’s not a lot of melting snow, you don’t cross the stream 18 TIMES. Yes, I counted. Actually, I lost count — instead, I took photos of each crossing and counted the pictures later. I thought maybe someone was playing a cruel joke when I encountered the first crossover — I had to actually clamber over a beaver dam. (Do beavers bite people?) Next I had to balance on slick rocks within the rushing water. The next few crossings were actually under water. The Big Blue hiking boots are waterproof, but that doesn’t help when you have to step in water deeper than they are tall.  

My yoga teachers would be proud: I used all kinds of balance asanas (extended side angle, standing splits) to pick my way across small logs and slippery rocks, grabbing any branch that extended its arm anywhere near the muddy bank. You just wish you were there to watch the hilarity!

I was never so glad to begin a huge ascent as I was that late Friday at the end of the Chavez Trail, which connects to Beaver Brook for a 4-mile loop gaining 1,100 feet in elevation. Climbing meant I would soon leave the cursed brook behind. I began to hear the highway off in the distance, the trees were thinning and the weak sun and the mountains were to my back…the end was near. I hiked up the road to the winter parking (yay for added mileage) and got to the Jeep just in time to see the sun set over my favorite vista. 

I stopped at the Morrison Inn on the way home for tacos and a well-deserved world-famous margarita on the roof. Then I promptly got online with REI and ordered some daypack essentials to make Robert proud.

The 10 Essentials for Hiking

The Colorado Mountain Club offers classes on very technical things, but also a basic class on Wilderness Survival, which I signed up for upon his recommendation. (Thank you again, Robert.) It sounds like something only a serious hiker would need. But honestly, it was just smart information for anyone who wants to wander through the woods. I had all of this (and more, of course) when I hiked Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula.

Here are the 10 essentials for hiking as recommended by REI:

1. printed map (Relying on cell service or your phone battery is a mistake. )
2. compass
3. sunglasses/sunscreen
4. extra clothing (Warm clothing, I’d suggest, including socks, gloves and a hat.)
5. headlamp/flashlight (Check the batteries every six months.)
6. first aid supplies (I’ve used these a lot. Check the expiration dates every six months.)
7. firestarter/matches
8. water 
9. knife
10. extra food (Stable things such as jerky, nuts, dried fruit and protein bars are best. Check the expiration dates every six months.)

Does this sound excessive? Consider this scenario: You slip, fall and break your leg. There’s no way you can hike out. And you have no cell service where you are. If you’re with a friend, they can go for help, but it might be a while. It might get dark. The weather might change. You might need to be prepared to spend several cold, wet hours out there…hopefully only in pain, and not in shock. 

If you’re hiking alone, you might need to stay there until someone realizes you’re missing. Which is why you always tell someone where you’re hiking and when you think you’ll be back, and you write your name, your trail and the date on a piece of paper and put it on the dash of your car.

Now the 10 essentials don’t sound so extra, do they? 

I keep a few extra key things in my pack:

• hand sanitizer, right in an outside pocket
• toilet paper in a baggie for outside potty breaks — put the used paper back in the baggie and carry it out for proper disposal
• a battery pack and charging cord for my phone. I like to take a lot of photos, and I use the pro version of the AllTrails app, which relies on satellite positioning.
• bear spray to deal with threats from animals…or people
• lip balm with sunscreen
• a photocopy of my ID

Here’s the deal. You won’t think you need all of this until you have a near miss…and then you’re ever so grateful that you brought along the 10 essentials and the recommended extras. 

It’s not hard — just set your hiking pack and forget it. I check for expiration dates on emergency medications and snacks and for battery life in my headlamp and my extra battery pack in the spring, when I start hiking again in earnest, as well as in the fall, when I wash everything and store my day pack for the season.

It’s truly not heavy — especially if you choose a good pack with ample pockets and padded shoulder straps for weight distribution. 

And a backpack with the 10 essentials plus a few extras is like a shot of courage for hiking solo, which I do all the time. It’s extremely reassuring to know that I’m prepared for nearly any eventuality.

I was purely lucky to have avoided catastrophe on that long, slippery solo hike in the snow, with darkness approaching. I’m really glad that I didn’t have to put other people at risk trying to rescue me if I didn’t find my way back to the car before sunset. 

I can’t promise that Robert will be on every trail across the country. So prep your daypack with the 10 essentials, at a minimum, and you’ll feel empowered to take on any hike. 

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Ready to book your trip?

Book your accommodations

We like booking.com for accommodations. They offer a range of hotels, resorts, apartments, guesthouses and even hostels. The platform also has a loyalty program that allows members to save even more.

Book your tours

We love booking tours through a single provider and keeping our mobile tickets in one spot. We use GetYourGuide. We appreciate that they work with local companies and provide a wide variety of tours!

Stay connected

When using an eSIM, we like Airalo. An eSIM is the easiest way to obtain cell service outside your network. We have used their eSIM cards in Budapest, Canada and Ecuador, and so far, so good! Simply download the Airalo app, select the country you’re traveling to, and choose the amount of data you want. Follow the installation instructions and turn it on when you arrive!

Shopping for your trip?

We make a small commission when you use our Amazon Affiliate link. It helps offset the expense of maintaining our website and costs you nothing extra.

---

_{The views expressed on this website represent the opinions of the authors; we encourage you to form your own opinions and confirm any facts.}

_{This post likely contains affiliate links. If you shop or make a reservation through these links, we may make a small commission (for which we are very grateful!) at no extra cost to you. Not all links are affiliates, and we only suggest products and places that we have experienced.}

_{We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated websites.}

In April 2016, not long after I moved to Denver, I took advantage of a gorgeous Friday afternoon to go hiking about 25 minutes from my house. I packed up the Big Blue Boots and headed to my favorite vista at the Chief Hosa exit on I-70 heading west. (Yeah, if you’ve seen it, you know what I mean.)

Little did I know that I was about to get a lesson on the 10 essentials for hiking and why they’re especially important when you’re hiking solo, or in an unfamiliar area or in rugged terrain.

I was expecting an experience like the past two weeks’ hikes over by Golden: basically, an escalator of people going up and down. So when I pulled off the dirt road into the parking lot, I was a little surprised to see just four other cars…and lots of snow. When I hiked Chimney Gulch the week prior, I was feeling hot, hot, hot in a tank top and shorts. I was dressed similarly that fateful Friday, because it was even warmer than last week in Denver. But Genesee had had about 40 inches of snow (not 4, but 40) since last week, and it was still deep in some spots here. I was glad I had a cardigan and rain jacket in my trunk, though it would have been better if I’d had my whole road trip emergency kit.

As good fortune would have it, a gentleman named Robert (aka one of the most interesting men in the world) was preparing to embark on the Beaver Brook path at the same time. Robert was marking spots off the trail for the mountaineering class he teaches. Could I BE in better company? I think not. 

It turns out that Robert moved to Genesee in 2014 from Jasper, Indiana, not far from my hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was executive vice president of a multinational cabinet-making company there. He’s also been a professional triathlete, participates in a wine group in Evergreen, has a degree in research science, has traveled all over the world, and skis and bikes most all year round. I’m fairly sure that at 69, he could kick my arse at most any outdoor endeavor. 

He’s also an instructor for the Colorado Mountain Club, and he introduced me to the 10 essentials for hiking…of which I had none.

We hiked the first third of the trail together, shimmying along a rock face at one point. Then he went right and I went left. Left, deep down into the forest, where it was cold and dark and I was alone. I kicked myself a few times for not bringing my day pack. I had no compass, no matches, no extra food, no printed map. Could I BE more ill-prepared? I think not. Lesson learned: Not every trail is flooded with families and dogs all marching in a single-file line every step of the way.  

The snow was kind of a bonus, because some brave soul and his dog had gone ahead of me in recent days. Every now and then I could pick up a footstep. And when I saw a vast patch of snow without a track, I knew I had lost the trail. (There was no signage.)

Curses to Beaver Brook. Maybe at other times of the year it’s different. Maybe at other times of the year when there’s not a lot of melting snow, you don’t cross the stream 18 TIMES. Yes, I counted. Actually, I lost count — instead, I took photos of each crossing and counted the pictures later. I thought maybe someone was playing a cruel joke when I encountered the first crossover — I had to actually clamber over a beaver dam. (Do beavers bite people?) Next I had to balance on slick rocks within the rushing water. The next few crossings were actually under water. The Big Blue hiking boots are waterproof, but that doesn’t help when you have to step in water deeper than they are tall.  

My yoga teachers would be proud: I used all kinds of balance asanas (extended side angle, standing splits) to pick my way across small logs and slippery rocks, grabbing any branch that extended its arm anywhere near the muddy bank. You just wish you were there to watch the hilarity!

I was never so glad to begin a huge ascent as I was that late Friday at the end of the Chavez Trail, which connects to Beaver Brook for a 4-mile loop gaining 1,100 feet in elevation. Climbing meant I would soon leave the cursed brook behind. I began to hear the highway off in the distance, the trees were thinning and the weak sun and the mountains were to my back…the end was near. I hiked up the road to the winter parking (yay for added mileage) and got to the Jeep just in time to see the sun set over my favorite vista. 

I stopped at the Morrison Inn on the way home for tacos and a well-deserved world-famous margarita on the roof. Then I promptly got online with REI and ordered some daypack essentials to make Robert proud.

The 10 Essentials for Hiking

The Colorado Mountain Club offers classes on very technical things, but also a basic class on Wilderness Survival, which I signed up for upon his recommendation. (Thank you again, Robert.) It sounds like something only a serious hiker would need. But honestly, it was just smart information for anyone who wants to wander through the woods. I had all of this (and more, of course) when I hiked Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula.

Here are the 10 essentials for hiking as recommended by REI:

1. printed map (Relying on cell service or your phone battery is a mistake. )
2. compass
3. sunglasses/sunscreen
4. extra clothing (Warm clothing, I’d suggest, including socks, gloves and a hat.)
5. headlamp/flashlight (Check the batteries every six months.)
6. first aid supplies (I’ve used these a lot. Check the expiration dates every six months.)
7. firestarter/matches
8. water 
9. knife
10. extra food (Stable things such as jerky, nuts, dried fruit and protein bars are best. Check the expiration dates every six months.)

Does this sound excessive? Consider this scenario: You slip, fall and break your leg. There’s no way you can hike out. And you have no cell service where you are. If you’re with a friend, they can go for help, but it might be a while. It might get dark. The weather might change. You might need to be prepared to spend several cold, wet hours out there…hopefully only in pain, and not in shock. 

If you’re hiking alone, you might need to stay there until someone realizes you’re missing. Which is why you always tell someone where you’re hiking and when you think you’ll be back, and you write your name, your trail and the date on a piece of paper and put it on the dash of your car.

Now the 10 essentials don’t sound so extra, do they? 

I keep a few extra key things in my pack:

• hand sanitizer, right in an outside pocket
• toilet paper in a baggie for outside potty breaks — put the used paper back in the baggie and carry it out for proper disposal
• a battery pack and charging cord for my phone. I like to take a lot of photos, and I use the pro version of the AllTrails app, which relies on satellite positioning.
• bear spray to deal with threats from animals…or people
• lip balm with sunscreen
• a photocopy of my ID

Here’s the deal. You won’t think you need all of this until you have a near miss…and then you’re ever so grateful that you brought along the 10 essentials and the recommended extras. 

It’s not hard — just set your hiking pack and forget it. I check for expiration dates on emergency medications and snacks and for battery life in my headlamp and my extra battery pack in the spring, when I start hiking again in earnest, as well as in the fall, when I wash everything and store my day pack for the season.

It’s truly not heavy — especially if you choose a good pack with ample pockets and padded shoulder straps for weight distribution. 

And a backpack with the 10 essentials plus a few extras is like a shot of courage for hiking solo, which I do all the time. It’s extremely reassuring to know that I’m prepared for nearly any eventuality.

I was purely lucky to have avoided catastrophe on that long, slippery solo hike in the snow, with darkness approaching. I’m really glad that I didn’t have to put other people at risk trying to rescue me if I didn’t find my way back to the car before sunset. 

I can’t promise that Robert will be on every trail across the country. So prep your daypack with the 10 essentials, at a minimum, and you’ll feel empowered to take on any hike. 

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Ready to book your trip?

Book your accommodations

We like booking.com for accommodations. They offer a range of hotels, resorts, apartments, guesthouses and even hostels. The platform also has a loyalty program that allows members to save even more.

Book your tours

We love booking tours through a single provider and keeping our mobile tickets in one spot. We use GetYourGuide. We appreciate that they work with local companies and provide a wide variety of tours!

Stay connected

When using an eSIM, we like Airalo. An eSIM is the easiest way to obtain cell service outside your network. We have used their eSIM cards in Budapest, Canada and Ecuador, and so far, so good! Simply download the Airalo app, select the country you’re traveling to, and choose the amount of data you want. Follow the installation instructions and turn it on when you arrive!

Shopping for your trip?

We make a small commission when you use our Amazon Affiliate link. It helps offset the expense of maintaining our website and costs you nothing extra.

---

_{The views expressed on this website represent the opinions of the authors; we encourage you to form your own opinions and confirm any facts.}

_{This post likely contains affiliate links. If you shop or make a reservation through these links, we may make a small commission (for which we are very grateful!) at no extra cost to you. Not all links are affiliates, and we only suggest products and places that we have experienced.}

_{We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated websites.}

After a fair amount of trial and error, we’ve found some unique toiletries that we love to take when we’re on the go — things that you won’t likely find in the travel cosmetics bins at Target. (Though that’s also a great source of goods!) Consider upgrading your next trip with products from this list of travel cosmetics. This post might contain affiliate links from which we make a very small commission. We only write about things we actually use and love. If you choose to purchase through an affiliate link, we THANK YOU for supporting our work.

When picking travel cosmetics, longevity, lightness and sustainability play a key role.

HEATHER: I travel carry-on only, so I focus on things that are lightweight, serve multiple purposes, are super concentrated, or I just love them.

Magic Face Oil by Folk Potions 

This herb-infused oil is handmade in Austin, Texas, and is an all-purpose moisturizer. I am 50-plus, and I need a lot of moisture for my face. A little of this goes a long way. I can take a small dropper bottle and make it last for a solid two weeks. I use it on my face, neck and decolletage, run it through the ends of my hair when it’s frizzy (hello humidity!) and use it around my eyes on flights. It also helps remove eye makeup.

I don’t carry a lot, so I wash my face with whatever is on hand and generously apply my Magic Face Oil. It sits nicely under my foundation. I also have a tin of the salve, which I keep in my purse as a hand lotion or for any dry spots anywhere. This is one of my travel cosmetics that I can’t live without!

Lume Deodorant

I was skeptical but had gotten so many ads for it that I finally bought it after trying a lot of natural deodorants. I can’t use anything with baking soda, so I was really hoping this would fit the bill. It’s AMAZING. They promote it as a whole-body deodorant that is aluminum-free and baking soda free. You can use it anywhere on your body (and they provide some graphic descriptions). It really works.

I have hiked through the swampy summer in Savannah, Georgia, traveled for 30 hours straight, and I wear it to the gym. It boasts 72 hours of odor control. I rarely go 72 hours without a shower so I can’t attest to that, but even if I start to smell, I put more on and it KILLS THE ODOR.

I went to NYC in June and walked 20 miles a day. It was hot, I was sweaty, and it worked wonderfully. But, what I really love is you use so little. You can buy it in a tube; I squeeze a few ounces into a small travel container, and it will last me two weeks or longer. That saves so much space when I pack! I love the Fresh Tangerine. Keep in mind — this is not an antiperspirant. You will sweat; you just won’t smell. This fits the bill for a small amount of travel cosmetics that goes a long way.

Cosmetic Pots

These silicon pots are road tested and approved. If you like to travel light, these are for you! I use them for my toothpaste or toothpaste tabs, my Lume Deodorant, eye cream or even to store pills like ibuprofen or melatonin. I’ve yet to have one spill on a trip, and they take up so little space! You can’t put foundation in these without it getting clumpy, so use hard plastic pots or some other small container for your foundation makeup if you use it.

IT Superhero Mascara

I am not a big makeup person, but when I discovered this mascara, I was blown away. I like to play up my eyes, and this mascara makes my lashes look a mile long. I do take the full-size version; this is one of those travel cosmetics I can’t travel without.

Hello Toothpaste Tabs

If you like to keep your teeth feeling clean and your mouth fresh, these are the best! I can fit up to 20 of these in one of my silicon pots, and I keep them in my purse, not only when I’m traveling but all the time! If I need to freshen up, I pop one in my mouth, chew it up and then rinse with water — spit, don’t swallow! If I am traveling, especially on long-haul flights, I keep my toothbrush handy and can give myself a proper brushing. These are environmentally friendly, contain no synthetic dyes or flavors and are vegan. Leaping Bunny certified and made in the USA. Pairs nicely with the Sea Turtle Bamboo Toothbrush that we both travel with — did you know you can compost bamboo toothbrushes?!

Bar Soap Bags

Julianne has a wide variety of solid bars she travels with, from solid shampoo to solid lotion bars. These bar soap bags are a travel must-have if you are staying in an apartment, hostel or Airbnb that doesn’t provide toiletries. Soap bars — whatever kind you are traveling with — lather up wonderfully with these, and they dry so fast. No more mushy bars of soap in a plastic container. I even use these at home. The soap lasts so much longer, and the mesh bags are exfoliating, eliminating the need for a washcloth. In many countries outside the U.S., washcloths are not provided, even in some hotels. This little soap bags pulls double duty!

Eye-gel Patches

I use eye-gel patches every day. My eyes always look so tired, no matter how much sleep I get. I wear these for 20–25 minutes while I drink my coffee in the morning, and voila! — I look at least two years younger. I’ve even been known to drive to early morning meetings with them on! When I travel, I always take these along. Ten pairs fit in one of the silicon pots mentioned above. Often I can find these at my local discount store, but when I can’t, I order these; they are my favorite brand. Eye-gel patches are biodegradable and can be composted. Be sure to buy the tub of them and not the individually packaged silicone versions if you want to compost them.

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JULIANNE: I sometimes check a bag, because I tend to travel in the winter when it’s cheaper, so I need to pack bulky clothing. But I also sometimes fly with just a carry-on, so most of my cosmetics go both ways. My big focus when choosing travel gear, especially travel cosmetics: environmentalism, and my super sensitive skin.

Seedling Tissue Travel Packs

Whether it’s because of my drippy nose or a lack of toilet paper (a real thing in so many places I travel), I like to have a travel pack of tissues handy. Seedling by Grove tissues are tree-free, made of 100 percent sustainable bamboo, and shipped in recyclable paper with a low carbon footprint. Each tissue packet is packaged in recycled cardboard (no plastic!), and Grove plants a tree for every 25 Seedling packages purchased. 

Sea Turtle Bamboo Toothbrush

I use an electric toothbrush at home, but I hate traveling with it. If I’m just going somewhere for a few days, I’ll pack the plastic toothbrush that my dentist gives me inside my plastic toothbrush case, and I’ll throw both into the dishwasher when I get home. This lets me use the plastic one over and over. But if I’m going on a trip for a couple of weeks where conditions are grubby, I’ll include a bamboo toothbrush from Wowe in my travel gear and feel ok about tossing it on the last day in my destination. It also comes packaged in cardboard.

Spinster Sisters … everything

Disclaimer: I’ve met the founder of Spinster Sisters, Kelly Perkins, because I applied for a job there once. I didn’t get the position, but I buy their stuff. It’s made just down the road from me in Golden, Colorado, and the place where they handcraft everything smells divine. I’ve walked up to see a big batch of organically grown lavender distilling for their lavender goods. It’s the real deal.

They’re women-owned, wind-powered, all-natural, Leaping Bunny certified, with Fair Trade ingredients, packaged in recyclable paper coatings with recyclable ink … I’m probably forgetting a few features. Best of all, their products work. These are all solids, so they’re easy carry-on travel cosmetics, plus free from parabens, sulfates, water and plastic. Here’s what I have right now: 

• Body Butter Bar in lavender
• Shampoo Bar in rosemary mint
• Hair Conditioner Bar in rosemary mint
• Face Cleanser Bar in turmeric and argan oil
• Face Serum Bar in hyaluronic acid and blue tansy

Grove Power Clean Laundry Detergent Sheets

These are not technically travel cosmetics, but they do help me smell nicer. Sometimes you need to wash out your bathing suit or other garments when you’re gone for a while or wearing them multiple days. (See our Travel Gear We Love: Clothing Edition blog.) These laundry sheets can go in a carry-on, and you can seriously suds up your clothes on the go. If I’m just washing a couple of small items in the sink, I’ll cut one in half. 

Of course, each of us brings a stash of other toiletries and cosmetics on our trips. But if you’re looking for some lovely little treats for your next trip, the travel cosmetics above are things you might love to try too! 

Ready to book your trip?

Book your accommodations

We like booking.com for accommodations. They offer a range of hotels, resorts, apartments, guesthouses and even hostels. The platform also has a loyalty program that allows members to save even more.

Book your tours

We love booking tours through a single provider and keeping our mobile tickets in one spot. We use GetYourGuide. We appreciate that they work with local companies and provide a wide variety of tours!

Stay connected

When using an eSIM, we like Airalo. An eSIM is the easiest way to obtain cell service outside your network. We have used their eSIM cards in Budapest, Canada and Ecuador, and so far, so good! Simply download the Airalo app, select the country you’re traveling to, and choose the amount of data you want. Follow the installation instructions and turn it on when you arrive!

Shopping for your trip?

We make a small commission when you use our Amazon Affiliate link. It helps offset the expense of maintaining our website and costs you nothing extra.

---

_{This post likely contains affiliate links. If you shop or make a reservation through these links, we may make a small commission (for which we are very grateful!) at no extra cost to you. Not all links are affiliates, and we only suggest products and places that we have experienced.}

_{We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated websites.}

_{The views expressed on this website represent the opinions of the authors; we encourage you to form your own opinions and confirm any facts.}

We’ve grown to rely on a range of trip-planning sites over the years. But one of the best, no-fail, essential travel planning tools we love is Google Flights. 

It’s an excellent way to find the best prices on flights, especially if your destination is specific but your dates can vary a bit. And that’s true whether you’re booking a flight in the coming weeks or up to a year ahead.

But to get the best results, you really need to know how to use Google Flights. Here, we break down the obvious and not-so-obvious features.

Using Google Flights

Start at https://www.google.com/travel/flights/ (or just google Google Flights). 

Here on the main screen, adjust the settings for round trip or one way, number of passengers and flight class appropriately.

I always search on Economy, because my budget allows for several inexpensive flights per year or one really nice one, and I choose the former, but you do you. 

Enter your starting airport and your destination. If it’s a one-way trip, the date range will automatically adjust to a single date.

You have some choices when choosing an airport on Google Flights for your departure or destination. While you’re still here on the main screen, click in the boxes for each city, and you’ll see a drop-down menu. If you don’t mind traveling to or from an airport a little ways away, you’ll see more results. This is the default. But if you really want to fly from a specific airport and not just anything within a large radius, make a selection here.

And if you want to be able to see the best prices and times from all airports in a region, to possibly travel to one airport and then depart from another, choose multi-city. I used this when I was trying to find the best prices for a trip to and from Destin, Florida, which is served by several small (expensive) regional airports, so that I could book a flight into Pensacola and back out of Destin.

If you want to check prices from multiple airports at the same time, simply type the airport code into the departure box, put a comma after it and type the next airport code. You can put in multiple airports, and your results will show pricing for all flights from all the airports that you’ve selected. Heather has three airports within three hours that she checks, as well as her home airport. This is what it looks like.

If your dates are a little flexible, click in the date box on this main screen (see below). A magical window appears! At least it feels like magic. Here, you’ll see how traveling sooner or later — sometimes by just a day — can dramatically change the cost of your trip. This is one of the best things about learning how to use Google Flights, in my opinion. 

Here, I’ve chosen to fly from Denver to St. Martin, because this island in the Caribbean remains on my bucket list. Clearly, flying on May 26 would be silly, but I could almost afford to go on May 7, depending on my return date, which you can tweak in this view as well. Take a minute to click around on the dates above the calendar view, and the dates in the calendar. You’ll soon see how it works. 

If you don’t have a specific timeframe in mind, click the arrows to the sides of the calendar view (see the next screenshot) and experiment with different months. You can see quickly how your prices change, and whether current prices are low, typical or high compared to past averages for the same route. Google Flights also recently added a new feature. “For searches with reliable trend data,” you can now see when prices are typically lowest to your destination. This means some routes will have this information; others may not. You can also turn on price tracking to get change notices via email.

Just for fun, I decided to go on a seven-day trip in August. (If you’re going to fly that far, make the most of your time and CO2 emissions and stay longer.) Let’s take a look at some further features now that I’ve made this totally non-binding decision.

In this new view, you’ll see some filters at the top of the screen. Let’s talk about each:

Stops

This could be key if you want to avoid lots of airport hopping. I prefer to make only one stop, if I can, which sometimes costs more, but is often worth it. If I would have chosen that filter, then I wouldn’t see that first American flight that costs just $316 but takes me 19 hours and 1 minute. Instead, my first option would be the 5 a.m. flight that costs $424 but takes just 8 hours and 28 minutes. 

(The bigger question: Would I book a flight that requires me to get up at 1:30 a.m. to get to the airport in time for an international departure? Probably not. I might opt for the third option: the later, slightly longer and more expensive one from Delta. Atlanta is a big airport with lots of nice diversions. I know this flight has a layover of 4 hours and 17 minutes in Atlanta by the indication under “1 stop.”)

For more on how to use layover information to your advantage, see Make the Most of Your Layover below!

Airlines

If you want to travel with a specific airline because of loyalty perks or preference, you can adjust your search here. This will narrow your search results significantly, so I leave it open knowing that there are just three airlines (that shall remain nameless) that I will never fly with again. 

Bags

You aren’t choosing your number of bags here, so you might as well leave this open. In fact, you don’t actually book your flight through Google Flights either; instead, it will offer you the opportunity to book your flight by clicking through directly to the airline’s website. (Or if you have a system of travel points down, you can take this information and book via your best points site. More on this later.)

Price

I prefer to look at options for different dates in the date grid rather than search within a price range — especially because if you’re limited by dates and price, you might not find any results. 

Times, Emissions, Connecting Airports, Duration

Here again, the more filters that you apply, the more likely you are to narrow yourself right out of any options. Even if you have some preferences, leave as many filters open as you can. This way you might find a flight that meets most of your needs, and determine that you can compromise on one or two lesser elements. 

Right under those filters you’ll see two view options on the right: Date Grid and Price Graph. Click on them! Play with them. This is especially helpful if you have a destination in mind but not a time frame. You’ll see when prices go up or down within a window or even throughout the year. The Price Graph shows you a broad view of flight cost patterns for your chosen trip length. The Date Grid shows you prices for trips of different lengths; here again, a day or two can make all the difference.

Underneath Best Departing Flights you’ll see a list of Other Departing Flights. Google Flights chooses the best based on cost, flight times, flight duration and even flight timeliness and reliability. I recently booked a flight from Newark to Fort Wayne with a layover in Chicago that, because it’s the last flight of the night from Chicago to Fort Wayne, is often delayed by 30 minutes, according to Google Flights. I booked it anyway because it offered me the best combination of price, duration and departure time—I really want to have time that day to do some sightseeing before I leave the city. But I’m prepared for a delay or maybe even an overnight in Chicago.

How did I learn this detail? There’s an arrow to the right of each flight option. When you click it, you’ll see the full details of the flight, including the type of airplane, in-flight features, layovers and airports. (Fun side note: The airport in St. Martin, SMX, is Princess Juliana International Airport. I think this is further proof that I’m destined to visit St. Martin.) 

For this pretend someday trip, I looked down the list under other departing flights, and I didn’t find anything that costs less and has better flight times or less travel time than that third flight from Delta under Best Departing Flights. I like it! So what next? 

When you find a flight that you like, click on it. You’ll come to a window that says Returning Flights. Here again you’ll see them sorted by price, as well as flight time. A bonus: These prices, while they don’t include checked bags, *do* include taxes and fees, so you won’t be unpleasantly surprised. 

The top option for my return from my “trip” to St. Martin is also the best: lowest price and shortest flight time. It leaves at a humane 3:25 p.m., meaning I probably can squeeze in a few moments of fun that morning, and it gets in late, which is fine because I can come home, shower and go to bed. I leave time the day after my return from a trip for my extra-clean unpacking routine.

I love it! I’m ready to book. I just need to decide what fare I want. I may decide to upgrade to Main Cabin, just for the flexibility of making changes if needed. (Though I’ll first click that link where it says the “airline may be offering additional flexibility for bookings.”) 

If you’ve made your final selection here, you have one of two options.

1. Simply scroll down on this page. You’ll see a button that says Booking Options. Book with [your airline]. If I were to click this button, it would take me straight to the Delta site with all of these selections already pre-selected. I’d only need to choose my luggage and seat options, then enter payment, and I’m set. Bon voyage!
2. You can take all of this intel and go to your favorite booking platform to search for and select these choices. If you book travel via Chase, for example, you might not only find this flight, but also earn points from Chase for your trip. 

This highlights again an important feature of Google Flights: It’s not a site for booking flight deals. It’s a site for finding flight deals, and for seeing how tweaks to your plan can change your price. You book with the airline directly.

(Update from Google in September 2023) “On some flight results, you’ll see a colorful price guarantee badge, which means we’re especially confident the fare you see today won’t get any lower before departure. When you book one of these flights, we’ll monitor the price every day before takeoff, and if the price does go down, we’ll pay you back the difference via Google Pay. These price guarantees are part of a pilot program available for select Book on Google itineraries departing from the U.S.”)

The things I love about Google Flights are that it seems reliable and accurate; it aggregates hundreds of airlines’ flight offerings in one place; and it lets you see how playing with options affects your trip time and costs. 

Once you learn how to use Google Flights, we think it might be the first place you start when planning a trip. In fact, if you don’t have a specific destination, you can even use the tools on the left side of the Google Flights home page. This is the space for dreaming!

Click on the Travel button at the top left side of the Google Flights home page. You’ll see upcoming trips in a handy list, as well as travel advisories, potential trips, suggested destinations, popular destinations and past trips. (The latter is proof that big tech is watching you.)

The Explore button is a starting point for broad interests. It’s a little bit like the Date Grid described above, but rather than just searching by flights and places, you can also search by car travel and interests. If you have a specific timeframe in which you want to travel but no specific destination in mind, this is a way for you to see where in the world your budget might take you. Try zooming in and out for prices on places at a glance. Because everywhere is on our list at Journey Here, we love any opportunity to explore.

Underneath that is Things to Do. We’re a little biased at Journey Here Travel, but we’d recommend starting first with our Destinations section for ideas on things to do in those places we’ve visited. However, we haven’t been everywhere … yet.

If you click on the Flights button on the left side of the home page, it’s in essence the Google Flights home page. It lets you do the same things we described from the start of this blog. 

The Hotels button under that is similar to booking.com or hotels.com. There are lots of filters on the next screen after you’ve entered your destination. It also offers guidance on Where to Stay, When to Visit and What You’ll Pay, incorporating details about and vibes for regions or neighborhoods, high season versus low, weather, and well-known features. Update the map view at right to search on restaurants, shopping and attractions nearby; a slider lets you see what’s within your selected walking distance. 

Finally, Vacation Rentals works much like Airbnb and VRBO. Here, however, you’ll find listings aggregated from Vacasa, iTrip, Rentals United, TripAdvisor, BluePillow and more. There’s a similar map view here.

The best way to learn how it all works is to use Google Flights, knowing that it’s less than a booking agent but a whole lot more than a booking agent at the same time. While we still appreciate the value that experienced travel guides and consultants bring to a trip — in fact, so much so that we offer some of these travel services ourselves to new travelers — Google Flights puts more of the traditional travel agent experience at your fingertips. There’s no personal service as with a travel agent or travel consultant, but there’s a world of choices available to anyone with a bit of time and a computer screen. 

Make the Most of Your Layover

If you have a flexible schedule and don’t mind breaking up a flight, you also can look for really long layovers and see something while you’re there. In the example below, I am flying from Chicago to Athens, but have two long layovers: one on the way there, and one on the way back.

On the departing flight, I’m flying overnight, landing in Copenhagen at 1:15 p.m. I have until my departure at 8:30 a.m. the next day to see the city. This also breaks up my flying time nicely: eight hours and ten minutes from Chicago to Copenhagen, and then just three hours to Athens the next day.

On the return flight, I would have an overnight layover in Stockholm. It’s slightly less time, but still enough to do a little sightseeing and stretch my legs.

I could take this same trip with a 13-hour departing flight and a slightly longer return flight for just $240 more (see below). A longer layover (above) saves money on the ticket, but adds expenses for accommodations. It lets me get a glimpse of two new places, however! The second trip (below) is more efficient and slightly more costly. It just depends on your priorities. (Though personally, I’m always down for a two-for-one kinda trip!)

If life hands you lemons in the form of an extra-long layover (or a travel delay), it might be an opportunity to sample a new destination’s lemonade!

Ready to book your trip?

Book your accommodations

We like booking.com for accommodations. They offer a range of hotels, resorts, apartments, guesthouses and even hostels. The platform also has a loyalty program that allows members to save even more.

Book your tours

We love booking tours through a single provider and keeping our mobile tickets in one spot. We use GetYourGuide. We appreciate that they work with local companies and provide a wide variety of tours!

Stay connected

When using an eSIM, we like Airalo. An eSIM is the easiest way to obtain cell service outside your network. We have used their eSIM cards in Budapest, Canada and Ecuador, and so far, so good! Simply download the Airalo app, select the country you’re traveling to, and choose the amount of data you want. Follow the installation instructions and turn it on when you arrive!

Shopping for your trip?

We make a small commission when you use our Amazon Affiliate link. It helps offset the expense of maintaining our website and costs you nothing extra.

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The views expressed on this website represent the opinions of the authors; we encourage you to form your own opinions and confirm any facts.

Vanity about my pale-pink complexion, starting when it was cool to be tan in the late ’80s, has led to three painful rounds of topical chemotherapy on my face, which is really not pretty, friends. So let me share some hard-won and perhaps surprising sun-smart tips for your outdoor adventures.

Sun-Smart Tips for Adventurers

These are essential for hikers, skiers, bikers, beach babes … really anyone who likes to spend time outside, especially here in Colorado, where elevation means you’re even closer to that giant orb that provides a glorious 300 days of intense light a year in my favorite state. You may slap some sunscreen on your nose already, but to be truly sun-smart, make sure you also cover these other bits:

Protect your lips. I thought my constantly peeling lips were just a sign of dry skin. Nope. Those were precancerous spots. The skin on your lips is very fragile and thin. But most lip balms don’t do anything to protect them from burns and sun damage. After looking long and hard, I found Aquaphor with SPF 30 online and ordered a jumbo stash to keep in the car, in my hiking daypack, in my purse, in my bathroom … you get the idea. I even use lip sunscreen before I take out the dog, because here in sunny Denver you can burn in less than 10 minutes. 

Protect your hands. They’re almost as exposed as your lips. And you’ll want to avoid further so-called “age spots” or “liver spots,” those dark brown patches that are not a sign of aging at all, but actually sun damage. It’s really dry here in semi-arid Colorado, especially in the winter (and yet still sunny), so I use sunscreen like hand lotion all day long. Waterproof is best, so it lasts between several trips to the sink. A super sun-smart tip? Keep it in the center console of your car, so that you can use it while you’re driving, whether around town or on a road trip. Sun damage happens through windows.

Keep sunscreen in the center console of your car, so that you can use it while you’re driving, whether around town or on a road trip. Sun damage happens through windows.

Protect your hairline and the part in your hair. People with short hair, people with long hair who wear it parted, people who have fair hair…you’re all getting way more sun damage on your head than you might realize. And it’s tricky to spot before it can become cancerous, because, well, hair. This round of chemo cream (Fluorouracil, for those who are curious) has spotlighted the spots along my forehead just inside my hairline that are ripe for cancer, thanks to my fair hair and foolish years inside a tanning bed.

Since becoming sun-smart, I’ve come to love hats. Smudging sunscreen into your hair leaves it looking greasy, so toss in a hat any time you plan a trip that involves time outside. Coolibar even has some with SPF built in, if your travels take you to elevations or shores. 

Protect the tops of your ears. Unless you’re wearing a bucket hat or sun hat, the trucker hat is just putting your ears further in the line of danger by tucking away any hair that might have hidden them. Be adventure ready and rub some zinc-based sunblock over your ears before you set foot outside. 

Protect your eyes. Did you know that you can get cancer in your eyes, on your eyelids and inside your eyelids from the sun’s rays? Don’t Google this, because the photos are kinda rough, quite frankly. Take my word for it and wear wrap-around sunglasses with UV protection, especially if your travels take you into the water or the snow, both of which reflect the sun’s rays even further. 

Protect the tops of your feet. They generally face upward toward the sun, right? So if you slip out of hiking boots or ski boots and into sandals, be sun-smart and wear socks or sunscreen. Don’t Google this either, but you also can get skin cancer under your toenails. 

Don’t neglect the bigger parts of you. Many people end up with skin cancer on the backs of their knees, simply because they forget what they can’t see. Don’t count on clothes to always protect you — light-colored and thin fabrics don’t provide much sunblock at all. (Coolibar and other brands make clothes with built-in sun protection.) And don’t forget that the sun’s rays can penetrate clouds…not that we have many clouds in Colorado. 

Final sun-smart tip: Keep some sunscreen handy in your carry-on so that, if you’re like me and you hit the ground running as soon as you land, you can protect your skin immediately. Look for TSA-friendly stick sunblock. And once you’re lathered up, reapply, reapply, reapply. Colorescience makes a Sunforgettable Powder Sunscreen that does double duty over your makeup. 

(Side note: Check to see whether reef-safe sunscreen is required in your destination, as it is in Hawaii. Or even better — if you’re going in the water, just choose reef-safe all the time.)

The health-conscious part of me wishes that I had done a better job of protecting my skin and stayed out of the tanning bed all those years, because the thought of skin cancer is no joke. 

The vain part of me wishes that self-tanners had been better 30 years ago, because even my legs show signs of photo-aging, and because topical chemo cream is a nasty little treatment. (Don’t Google this, either.)

So learn from my lessons and save yourself by being sun-smart. Stock up on hats, sunglasses, sun-proof clothing and sunscreen for all your parts. Keep it handy. And *use* it every time you travel to enjoy the great outdoors. 

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Ready to book your trip?

Book your accommodations

We like booking.com for accommodations. They offer a range of hotels, resorts, apartments, guesthouses and even hostels. The platform also has a loyalty program that allows members to save even more.

Book your tours

We love booking tours through a single provider and keeping our mobile tickets in one spot. We use GetYourGuide. We appreciate that they work with local companies and provide a wide variety of tours!

Stay connected

When using an eSIM, we like Airalo. An eSIM is the easiest way to obtain cell service outside your network. We have used their eSIM cards in Budapest, Canada and Ecuador, and so far, so good! Simply download the Airalo app, select the country you’re traveling to, and choose the amount of data you want. Follow the installation instructions and turn it on when you arrive!

Shopping for your trip?

We make a small commission when you use our Amazon Affiliate link. It helps offset the expense of maintaining our website and costs you nothing extra.

---

_{The views expressed on this website represent the opinions of the authors; we encourage you to form your own opinions and confirm any facts.}

_{This post likely contains affiliate links. If you shop or make a reservation through these links, we may make a small commission (for which we are very grateful!) at no extra cost to you. Not all links are affiliates, and we only suggest products and places that we have experienced.}

_{We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated websites.}

There’s always that one moment. 

You reach the crest of a hill. You round a bend. And suddenly, the landscape laid out before you literally takes your breath away.

You might argue that this is exactly the time when you’d want someone with you to share it. But there’s an extra intensity — a sense of being totally present — when you experience a moment like this alone.

Taking a solo road trip out west is iconic. The vistas are truly expansive, like a landscape painting that breathes. And there’s a sense of being a pioneer all over again, exploring places that you’re sure no one has ever passed — mostly because you’re completely alone. 

I promise I’m not anti-social. In fact, one of my favorite parts of taking a solo road trip out west is meeting people along the way, which happens differently than when you road trip in a more dense part of the country, such as the South or the East. But I find a road trip in wide-open spaces to be a fantastic way to travel solo. That may sound counterintuitive, but it’s easy to feel lonely in a crowd of happy couples and families.

It seems as if the expectation to be alone is more natural out west. Could it be because these areas are often home to rugged individualists who want to escape the grid? Perhaps. Lower population densities in many states west of the Mississippi are likely part of it too. 

Whatever the case, a solo road trip out west is ideal for meditation, for healing, for exploring thoughts and feelings. Places where Mother Nature demands your attention but little else does are especially good for someone experiencing a transition in life. Or for someone who simply wants to get away from it all. 

Going it alone in regions where gas stations are few and far between, however, does require you to be super smart about a few things.

18 Tips for a Solo Road Trip Out West

1) Before you ever plan a solo road trip out west, be sure to check out my blog on what to pack in a road trip emergency kit. I feel so much more confident knowing that no matter what comes, I can survive for a few days in my car. I also tend to go hiking along the way during a solo road trip out west, so I bring my backpack, which includes gear to help me survive for a few days as well. 

2) For a solo road trip out west, I recommend packing a cooler and a bag of food. Restaurants, even fast food joints, can be few and far between. And because of ongoing staffing shortages, sometimes they’re closed even if they exist at all. A cooler full of drinks, breakfast foods and other favorites can tide you over. 

Be sure that bag of food goes beyond the typical road snacks. In my last solo road trip out west, I packed turkey jerky, some salt-free tortilla chips, some nut and raisin mixes that I made at home and plenty of peanut butter and jelly. In my cooler, I included some mini packs of mashed avocado and a big bag of baby carrots, some yogurt, and some kombucha, sparkling water and Coke Zero. You do you, of course, but think about some healthy additions to your typical road trip snacks that can serve as balanced meals.

And don’t forget the water. Be sure you have plenty of reusable water bottles filled with drinking water. I always have extra in my car emergency kit, but I fill a few Nalgenes every day that I’m on the road — more than I’ll drink in a day — just in case I get stuck somewhere.

(I was really glad that I took a bowl of precooked rice and a can of tuna on that trip, too. By the time I arrived at my Microtel in Vernal, Utah, after a long day of driving and hiking, nearby restaurants were closed, but there was a microwave in my room. And that was a great dinner.)

3) Don’t leave that food in your car overnight! Bears have been known to rip doors off of cars and destroy the interior trying to get at food — and they can smell incredibly well. Take your food into the hotel with you. If you’re camping, use a bear canister; depending on where you’re staying, rangers may ask you to also string up the canister, or place it in a locker at the campground.

4) If you’re taking a solo road trip out west, I highly recommend both travel insurance and a roadside assistance plan. I have the Allianz annual plan as well as roadside assistance from my car insurer. It’s reassuring to know that someone will come fetch you and make it all better if you run into a real problem.

5) When you take a solo road trip out west, gas stations can be sparse. And the last thing you want to do is run out of gas miles from anywhere. Even with roadside assistance, you could end up waiting a long while. If I’m down to half a tank. I’ll stop and top it off, just because I don’t always know how far it is till the next gas station. Of course, you can do a pretty good job of figuring that out by using the plethora of road trip apps listed in this blog that I wrote for Airsteam. 

I make good use of the rest area app listed there, because on my last trip through northwest Colorado I stopped to find a potty six times at various places in one day, and only lucked out twice. One gas station was locked up; another didn’t have working restrooms; a visitor center was closed for Juneteenth…you get the idea. Thank God for rest areas.

6) On that note, another tip for a solo road trip out west is to take along a “potty kit.” I keep one in my glove box and several in my hiking pack. It’s nothing special — just a compostable sandwich bag with a single-use amount of toilet paper stuffed inside, paired with a small bottle of hand sanitizer. This way if I’m truly desperate I can find some shrubbery and make do without littering — I just toss the baggie when I see a trash can. (Though finding shrubbery can be as difficult out west as finding a restroom.)

7) In my work for Airstream, I recently interviewed several women who are solo female travelers. They had all kinds of ideas for safety and protection, including keeping an air horn handy. I carry pepper spray in my purse, and I have bear spray in my hiking backpack. Both will buy me some time in an emergency. 

I have a whistle, though that’s not as effective if you’re in a truly remote space. I also have an app on my phone called UrSafe that lets me push a button and send for help, as well as alert my emergency contacts. But again, that’s not always helpful if you’re in a remote area without cell service. 

So I also carry a sat phone. A satellite phone can be a bit of an investment upfront and does require a monthly service plan, but if you’re going to be hiking, biking or traveling in remote spaces, it’s a fantastic investment in your security. 

8) Sometimes when traveling on a solo road trip out west, you’ll pass through Native American lands. Many of these spaces have unique requirements: Sometimes you’re not permitted to take photos. Sometimes you have to provide identification upon entry and tell tribal representatives when you’re planning to leave the reservation. I know that as a Journey Here traveler, you’ll be respectful of customs and cultures. 

But what you might not know is that these lands often lack services. No restaurants, no gas stations and no cell service, sometimes for hours. Driving through a Native American reservation is a stunning experience, because you’ll get dark skies like no other, and it’s a rare glimpse into what the western part of the United States might have looked like centuries ago. But all of the tips in this blog are truly essential here.

9) Keep your gadgets charged, and consider including a solar charger in your lineup. I keep all of my communications devices topped up when I’m traveling on a solo road trip out west. My phone is always plugged in, because it’s my navigation. But I also top off my spare battery, and I carry a solar charger so that, worst case, I can use the power of the sun to get a few sips of juice. Mine is small and light enough to strap on the back of my backpack so that every time I go hiking, it’s picking up energy.

10) If you’re not from these spaces out west, be prepared for a bit of culture shock. Those used to a more urban or suburban environment might be uncomfortable. I’ve found that if you can overlook some of the obvious differences and be friendly and relatable, people will be friendly and relatable in return. Having grown up out in the country in the Midwest, I learned that sometimes the barrier is a bit of insecurity. Some people in more rural spaces anticipate that a person who looks differently or dresses differently or has different license plates might be condescending. So being open and friendly when it seems appropriate knocks down a lot of those walls. 

Of course, some of these spaces really aren’t friendly to women traveling alone, people of color or people of different races, ethnicities or practices. So listen to your gut. Use all those skills that you use when you’re traveling in any foreign environment. Pay attention, try to assimilate as much as possible and be aware of prevailing practices. 

I find that national and state parks are often friendly environments. It means there’s a better infrastructure for and expectation of tourists and visitors. And the people who visit the park systems come from all over to explore and see new things, so diverse experiences and perspectives are baked in.

11) Stay organized. This is a good tip for any road trip, but when you’re in places with dust, sand and rocks, where opportunities to offload trash and especially recycling are rare, a few extra steps could save your sanity.

• I built a little trash bin for my backseat out of the box that formerly held a case of almond milk from Costco. A small trash bag fit perfectly inside and was sturdy and stable. I put it within arm’s length of my driver’s seat. I tossed trash at gas stations but kept my cans in there until I could recycle them. 
• I chose biodegradable and compostable servingware and dishes to lessen my impact while eating away from home. My sandwich and snack baggies are biodegradable and compostable too. I carry dish soap with me so that I can wash out my reusable water bottle each night.
• I have an old rug over my floor mat so that as I’m getting in and out of my car with filthy shoes or hiking boots, cleanup is a little easier. I can grab the rug and shake it out along the way, then toss it in the washing machine on hot when I get home. 
• I always keep a pretty big bottle of hand sanitizer in my center console. But I also have hand sanitizing wipes there, because sometimes you’re just dirty, and liquid sanitizer is only going to smear it around. I also have some Seventh Generation cleaning wipes handy so that I can wipe up spills like coffee or yogurt or bugs that find their way onto the dashboard and die. My car may be pretty cluttered during a solo road trip out west, but I don’t like it to be really grubby.

12) Stay comfortable. A road trip can be good for the soul, but it can be hard on the body. These are the ways I take care of myself.

• The sun is much stronger in many parts of the west, especially at elevation, so I keep sunscreen in my center console. I always put it on my hands and wrists, as well as on my shoulder if the sun is coming through the side window.
• I tore my hamstring at the connection to my hip this spring, and I’ve always had piriformis syndrome, so I put a custom cushion on my seat. That makes my lumbar support all wonky, however, so I also put a cushion behind my lower back. Yes, I very much feel like an old lady. I suppose maybe I am. But the ache is intolerable otherwise.
• Being in the car puts me right to sleep. Literally, if I’ve been going hard, I can doze off at a stoplight driving across town. So I give myself plenty of time to sleep at night, in case my insomnia kicks in, and I try to avoid driving more than five to seven hours a day.
• I also break up a long drive with a short hike. I use the pro version of the AllTrails app to find hikes along my route. I can think of no better way to restore blood flow while seeing unique gems, and an hour doesn’t put me too far behind. 

13) Prep your entertainment. Speaking of staying awake: You might not have cell service during your solo road trip out west, which means you also might not be able to make phone calls or listen to music. Download a lot of podcasts, audio books or language lessons. You can feed your brain from point A to point B. 

You can also download the Otter app and do some writing while you’re driving. Not literally, of course, but the Otter app allows you to speak into your phone and get a rough transcription of your thoughts, which you can send to email and clean up later. That’s actually how I wrote this blog. It was composed while I was driving from Vernal, Utah, to Salt Lake City amid some of the most gorgeous but remote scenery you’d ever hope to see.

14) Stop at the rest areas. They tend to be a little bit cleaner than gas station bathrooms, and there are often interesting tidbits or brochures about the region inside. Iowa has some of the best rest areas along I-80, with fascinating facts about the wind power turbines that you can see in motion all around you as you drive.

There’s usually some green space, if you need to get out and stretch your legs a little bit. Or If you need to close your eyes for 15 minutes, you can pull off at a rest area, park in one of the spots a little further toward the edge, lock your doors and put your seat back

And I’ve seen some amazing scenery from rest areas. Driving back to Idaho Falls from the Tetons during a solo road trip out west, I stopped at remote rest area along the Snake River. The sunset was so stunning that I went back to my car and grabbed my phone to take photos. The rest area in Glenwood Canyon, in Colorado, is right beside the sparkling Colorado River. And a rest area that I visited in Utah on my way to Salt Lake City had a path to the top of the hill at the edge of the parking lot where you could see a massive lake, plus whole eras of paleontological history in the bluffs behind it. 

So stop at every rest area that you see. You never know when you’re going to get another chance to go potty, and the views can be phenomenal.

15) Stop at the viewing areas. My someday dream is to endlessly road trip with enough time to stop at every scenic pulloff. Getting out of the car is different than seeing the scenery at 65 mph. The air will smell different from place to place, depending on the flora and fauna. It might feel warmer or cooler or drier. You can hear the sounds of native birds and animals. Getting out and appreciating the detail of a place from the viewing area off the highway is a sensory experience. Most highways have signs at least a mile in advance so you can make your way over. 

16) When you set out on a solo road trip out west, you need to understand how to drive up and down big hills … aka mountains. Please don’t freak out when I encourage you to learn how to drive in the mountains. Believe me, I didn’t know how to for a long, long time. I grew up in very flat northeast Indiana. A little bit of time with Google or YouTube can help teach you how to use your gears and your brakes on steep inclines and declines and hairpin curves.

You also need to be aware that wild animals could cross your path, especially at twilight when deer are more active. And in certain parts of the country, you’ll encounter a lot of bicyclists riding on the shoulder. So you should watch not just the road, but also the sides of the road. 

17) Knowing how to handle things like a massive rainstorm, hail or an encounter with an animal is really important too. I didn’t grow up knowing this either. (Except deer. It was an unfortunate and expensive rite of passage to hit a deer driving alongside woods and fields every time you went anywhere, growing up in the rural area where I did.) I lived for three years in Chicago, so I’m comfortable in spaces that are dense, noisy and heavily populated — places without falling rocks or moose. But I promise you that this is something you can learn. 

If you really want to be empowered, try taking a wilderness first responder course — graduates are called “woofers.” While it’s intense, and it’s not necessary for a solo road trip, it will help you prepare for any eventuality and make you aware of things you should avoid or do in the outdoors.

18) And before you embark on a solo road trip out west, you should read our general solo travel safety tips. Among the important considerations here: 

• Don’t tell people that you’re traveling alone.
• Don’t tell them where you’re staying.
• And be hyper-vigilant about the cars around you or the people hiking around you on a trail.

As with hiking, you should always tell someone where you’re going and when you expect to be there, so that if something happens, people know where to begin the search. I also share my location on my iPhone with a loved one. I may be traveling solo, but I have a whole support team back home.

One of the things that I love about a solo road trip out west is the sense of openness and awe and wild. I feel as if there are endless new vistas around every corner or at the top of every hill, and wide open spaces where I can think and explore forever. 

I also love the challenge that comes with being alone in these wide-open spaces where Mother Nature is in charge and you have to play by her rules. You have to be smart, savvy and aware. You have to have a plan A and plan B and a plan C.

The good news is that just about anyone on a road trip is happy to share their tips and advice. So many people going in the other direction have told me about their favorite spots in the town I’ll be passing through next, or a majestic view on the highway ahead. So many people have been willing to share information or ask questions. They call it trail magic when you’re hiking. I’m sure there must be a similar name for the kindness I’ve found during a road trip.

A solo road trip out west can be an incredibly moving, empowering and stunning experience. You’ve heard of Eat Pray Love, right? For me, it’s Drive, Think, Hike. I don’t always have someone to travel with, but I’d never want to give up those experiences. So pack well. Fuel up often. And get ready to see things that blow your mind and crack your heart wide open.

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Ready to book your trip?

Book your accommodations

We like booking.com for accommodations. They offer a range of hotels, resorts, apartments, guesthouses and even hostels. The platform also has a loyalty program that allows members to save even more.

Book your tours

We love booking tours through a single provider and keeping our mobile tickets in one spot. We use GetYourGuide. We appreciate that they work with local companies and provide a wide variety of tours!

Stay connected

When using an eSIM, we like Airalo. An eSIM is the easiest way to obtain cell service outside your network. We have used their eSIM cards in Budapest, Canada and Ecuador, and so far, so good! Simply download the Airalo app, select the country you’re traveling to, and choose the amount of data you want. Follow the installation instructions and turn it on when you arrive!

Shopping for your trip?

We make a small commission when you use our Amazon Affiliate link. It helps offset the expense of maintaining our website and costs you nothing extra.

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_{The views expressed on this website represent the opinions of the authors; we encourage you to form your own opinions and confirm any facts.}

_{This post likely contains affiliate links. If you shop or make a reservation through these links, we may make a small commission (for which we are very grateful!) at no extra cost to you. Not all links are affiliates, and we only suggest products and places that we have experienced.}

_{We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated websites.}

We’ve grown to rely on a range of trip-planning sites over the years. But one of the best, no-fail, essential travel planning tools we love is Google Flights. 

It’s an excellent way to find the best prices on flights, especially if your destination is specific but your dates can vary a bit. And that’s true whether you’re booking a flight in the coming weeks or up to a year ahead.

But to get the best results, you really need to know how to use Google Flights. Here, we break down the obvious and not-so-obvious features.

Using Google Flights

Start at https://www.google.com/travel/flights/ (or just google Google Flights). 

Here on the main screen, adjust the settings for round trip or one way, number of passengers and flight class appropriately.

I always search on Economy, because my budget allows for several inexpensive flights per year or one really nice one, and I choose the former, but you do you. 

Enter your starting airport and your destination. If it’s a one-way trip, the date range will automatically adjust to a single date.

You have some choices when choosing an airport on Google Flights for your departure or destination. While you’re still here on the main screen, click in the boxes for each city, and you’ll see a drop-down menu. If you don’t mind traveling to or from an airport a little ways away, you’ll see more results. This is the default. But if you really want to fly from a specific airport and not just anything within a large radius, make a selection here.

And if you want to be able to see the best prices and times from all airports in a region, to possibly travel to one airport and then depart from another, choose multi-city. I used this when I was trying to find the best prices for a trip to and from Destin, Florida, which is served by several small (expensive) regional airports, so that I could book a flight into Pensacola and back out of Destin.

If you want to check prices from multiple airports at the same time, simply type the airport code into the departure box, put a comma after it and type the next airport code. You can put in multiple airports, and your results will show pricing for all flights from all the airports that you’ve selected. Heather has three airports within three hours that she checks, as well as her home airport. This is what it looks like.

If your dates are a little flexible, click in the date box on this main screen (see below). A magical window appears! At least it feels like magic. Here, you’ll see how traveling sooner or later — sometimes by just a day — can dramatically change the cost of your trip. This is one of the best things about learning how to use Google Flights, in my opinion. 

Here, I’ve chosen to fly from Denver to St. Martin, because this island in the Caribbean remains on my bucket list. Clearly, flying on May 26 would be silly, but I could almost afford to go on May 7, depending on my return date, which you can tweak in this view as well. Take a minute to click around on the dates above the calendar view, and the dates in the calendar. You’ll soon see how it works. 

If you don’t have a specific timeframe in mind, click the arrows to the sides of the calendar view (see the next screenshot) and experiment with different months. You can see quickly how your prices change, and whether current prices are low, typical or high compared to past averages for the same route. Google Flights also recently added a new feature. “For searches with reliable trend data,” you can now see when prices are typically lowest to your destination. This means some routes will have this information; others may not. You can also turn on price tracking to get change notices via email.

Just for fun, I decided to go on a seven-day trip in August. (If you’re going to fly that far, make the most of your time and CO2 emissions and stay longer.) Let’s take a look at some further features now that I’ve made this totally non-binding decision.

In this new view, you’ll see some filters at the top of the screen. Let’s talk about each:

Stops

This could be key if you want to avoid lots of airport hopping. I prefer to make only one stop, if I can, which sometimes costs more, but is often worth it. If I would have chosen that filter, then I wouldn’t see that first American flight that costs just $316 but takes me 19 hours and 1 minute. Instead, my first option would be the 5 a.m. flight that costs $424 but takes just 8 hours and 28 minutes. 

(The bigger question: Would I book a flight that requires me to get up at 1:30 a.m. to get to the airport in time for an international departure? Probably not. I might opt for the third option: the later, slightly longer and more expensive one from Delta. Atlanta is a big airport with lots of nice diversions. I know this flight has a layover of 4 hours and 17 minutes in Atlanta by the indication under “1 stop.”)

For more on how to use layover information to your advantage, see Make the Most of Your Layover below!

Airlines

If you want to travel with a specific airline because of loyalty perks or preference, you can adjust your search here. This will narrow your search results significantly, so I leave it open knowing that there are just three airlines (that shall remain nameless) that I will never fly with again. 

Bags

You aren’t choosing your number of bags here, so you might as well leave this open. In fact, you don’t actually book your flight through Google Flights either; instead, it will offer you the opportunity to book your flight by clicking through directly to the airline’s website. (Or if you have a system of travel points down, you can take this information and book via your best points site. More on this later.)

Price

I prefer to look at options for different dates in the date grid rather than search within a price range — especially because if you’re limited by dates and price, you might not find any results. 

Times, Emissions, Connecting Airports, Duration

Here again, the more filters that you apply, the more likely you are to narrow yourself right out of any options. Even if you have some preferences, leave as many filters open as you can. This way you might find a flight that meets most of your needs, and determine that you can compromise on one or two lesser elements. 

Right under those filters you’ll see two view options on the right: Date Grid and Price Graph. Click on them! Play with them. This is especially helpful if you have a destination in mind but not a time frame. You’ll see when prices go up or down within a window or even throughout the year. The Price Graph shows you a broad view of flight cost patterns for your chosen trip length. The Date Grid shows you prices for trips of different lengths; here again, a day or two can make all the difference.

Underneath Best Departing Flights you’ll see a list of Other Departing Flights. Google Flights chooses the best based on cost, flight times, flight duration and even flight timeliness and reliability. I recently booked a flight from Newark to Fort Wayne with a layover in Chicago that, because it’s the last flight of the night from Chicago to Fort Wayne, is often delayed by 30 minutes, according to Google Flights. I booked it anyway because it offered me the best combination of price, duration and departure time—I really want to have time that day to do some sightseeing before I leave the city. But I’m prepared for a delay or maybe even an overnight in Chicago.

How did I learn this detail? There’s an arrow to the right of each flight option. When you click it, you’ll see the full details of the flight, including the type of airplane, in-flight features, layovers and airports. (Fun side note: The airport in St. Martin, SMX, is Princess Juliana International Airport. I think this is further proof that I’m destined to visit St. Martin.) 

For this pretend someday trip, I looked down the list under other departing flights, and I didn’t find anything that costs less and has better flight times or less travel time than that third flight from Delta under Best Departing Flights. I like it! So what next? 

When you find a flight that you like, click on it. You’ll come to a window that says Returning Flights. Here again you’ll see them sorted by price, as well as flight time. A bonus: These prices, while they don’t include checked bags, *do* include taxes and fees, so you won’t be unpleasantly surprised. 

The top option for my return from my “trip” to St. Martin is also the best: lowest price and shortest flight time. It leaves at a humane 3:25 p.m., meaning I probably can squeeze in a few moments of fun that morning, and it gets in late, which is fine because I can come home, shower and go to bed. I leave time the day after my return from a trip for my extra-clean unpacking routine.

I love it! I’m ready to book. I just need to decide what fare I want. I may decide to upgrade to Main Cabin, just for the flexibility of making changes if needed. (Though I’ll first click that link where it says the “airline may be offering additional flexibility for bookings.”) 

If you’ve made your final selection here, you have one of two options.

1. Simply scroll down on this page. You’ll see a button that says Booking Options. Book with [your airline]. If I were to click this button, it would take me straight to the Delta site with all of these selections already pre-selected. I’d only need to choose my luggage and seat options, then enter payment, and I’m set. Bon voyage!
2. You can take all of this intel and go to your favorite booking platform to search for and select these choices. If you book travel via Chase, for example, you might not only find this flight, but also earn points from Chase for your trip. 

This highlights again an important feature of Google Flights: It’s not a site for booking flight deals. It’s a site for finding flight deals, and for seeing how tweaks to your plan can change your price. You book with the airline directly.

(Update from Google in September 2023) “On some flight results, you’ll see a colorful price guarantee badge, which means we’re especially confident the fare you see today won’t get any lower before departure. When you book one of these flights, we’ll monitor the price every day before takeoff, and if the price does go down, we’ll pay you back the difference via Google Pay. These price guarantees are part of a pilot program available for select Book on Google itineraries departing from the U.S.”)

The things I love about Google Flights are that it seems reliable and accurate; it aggregates hundreds of airlines’ flight offerings in one place; and it lets you see how playing with options affects your trip time and costs. 

Once you learn how to use Google Flights, we think it might be the first place you start when planning a trip. In fact, if you don’t have a specific destination, you can even use the tools on the left side of the Google Flights home page. This is the space for dreaming!

Click on the Travel button at the top left side of the Google Flights home page. You’ll see upcoming trips in a handy list, as well as travel advisories, potential trips, suggested destinations, popular destinations and past trips. (The latter is proof that big tech is watching you.)

The Explore button is a starting point for broad interests. It’s a little bit like the Date Grid described above, but rather than just searching by flights and places, you can also search by car travel and interests. If you have a specific timeframe in which you want to travel but no specific destination in mind, this is a way for you to see where in the world your budget might take you. Try zooming in and out for prices on places at a glance. Because everywhere is on our list at Journey Here, we love any opportunity to explore.

Underneath that is Things to Do. We’re a little biased at Journey Here Travel, but we’d recommend starting first with our Destinations section for ideas on things to do in those places we’ve visited. However, we haven’t been everywhere … yet.

If you click on the Flights button on the left side of the home page, it’s in essence the Google Flights home page. It lets you do the same things we described from the start of this blog. 

The Hotels button under that is similar to booking.com or hotels.com. There are lots of filters on the next screen after you’ve entered your destination. It also offers guidance on Where to Stay, When to Visit and What You’ll Pay, incorporating details about and vibes for regions or neighborhoods, high season versus low, weather, and well-known features. Update the map view at right to search on restaurants, shopping and attractions nearby; a slider lets you see what’s within your selected walking distance. 

Finally, Vacation Rentals works much like Airbnb and VRBO. Here, however, you’ll find listings aggregated from Vacasa, iTrip, Rentals United, TripAdvisor, BluePillow and more. There’s a similar map view here.

The best way to learn how it all works is to use Google Flights, knowing that it’s less than a booking agent but a whole lot more than a booking agent at the same time. While we still appreciate the value that experienced travel guides and consultants bring to a trip — in fact, so much so that we offer some of these travel services ourselves to new travelers — Google Flights puts more of the traditional travel agent experience at your fingertips. There’s no personal service as with a travel agent or travel consultant, but there’s a world of choices available to anyone with a bit of time and a computer screen. 

Make the Most of Your Layover

If you have a flexible schedule and don’t mind breaking up a flight, you also can look for really long layovers and see something while you’re there. In the example below, I am flying from Chicago to Athens, but have two long layovers: one on the way there, and one on the way back.

On the departing flight, I’m flying overnight, landing in Copenhagen at 1:15 p.m. I have until my departure at 8:30 a.m. the next day to see the city. This also breaks up my flying time nicely: eight hours and ten minutes from Chicago to Copenhagen, and then just three hours to Athens the next day.

On the return flight, I would have an overnight layover in Stockholm. It’s slightly less time, but still enough to do a little sightseeing and stretch my legs.

I could take this same trip with a 13-hour departing flight and a slightly longer return flight for just $240 more (see below). A longer layover (above) saves money on the ticket, but adds expenses for accommodations. It lets me get a glimpse of two new places, however! The second trip (below) is more efficient and slightly more costly. It just depends on your priorities. (Though personally, I’m always down for a two-for-one kinda trip!)

If life hands you lemons in the form of an extra-long layover (or a travel delay), it might be an opportunity to sample a new destination’s lemonade!

Ready to book your trip?

Book your accommodations

We like booking.com for accommodations. They offer a range of hotels, resorts, apartments, guesthouses and even hostels. The platform also has a loyalty program that allows members to save even more.

Book your tours

We love booking tours through a single provider and keeping our mobile tickets in one spot. We use GetYourGuide. We appreciate that they work with local companies and provide a wide variety of tours!

Stay connected

When using an eSIM, we like Airalo. An eSIM is the easiest way to obtain cell service outside your network. We have used their eSIM cards in Budapest, Canada and Ecuador, and so far, so good! Simply download the Airalo app, select the country you’re traveling to, and choose the amount of data you want. Follow the installation instructions and turn it on when you arrive!

Shopping for your trip?

We make a small commission when you use our Amazon Affiliate link. It helps offset the expense of maintaining our website and costs you nothing extra.

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The views expressed on this website represent the opinions of the authors; we encourage you to form your own opinions and confirm any facts.

Viking River Cruises had not sailed onto my radar until my mom and dad cruised the Rhine River several years ago. And I don’t think that I would have considered a cruise for myself until my dad passed away, and I decided to sail the Danube River with my mom. It just seemed like something that older people did. (I know — I’m 50. Go ahead and laugh.)

But from the minute that we met our Viking-appointed driver — at midnight in the Budapest airport after a 30-hour trip from Fort Wayne, Indiana, via Chicago (where we were delayed for mechanical issues) and then Frankfurt (where we then missed our connection and ended up with a 12-hour layover) — I decided that I could get used to the bountiful little luxuries provided by a Viking River Cruise. 

The Pros of a Viking River Cruise

A bit of perspective: I’ve never been on a cruise of any kind. Most of my travel is roughing it: whether literally, out in the woods; or organizing busy budget trips for my family; or traveling solo, in which I’m solely responsible for my safety, transportation, accommodations, food, water and activities.

I’ve never been on a trip where people took care of things for me. So the very nature of a cruise in which things are planned and managed is a novelty. And that leads me to a long list of pros:

1. Transportation from and to the airport is arranged. If you book your airfare through Viking (we got free airfare as part of one of their regular promotions), then Viking will send you a baggage tag and a sticker for your shirt before you leave, and someone will greet you at the airport upon arrival, take you to the boat and put your luggage in your room. This was especially welcome during our unexpectedly arduous trip overseas. The same works in reverse: When it was time to leave, Viking took us by bus to the airport, helped us with our luggage and showed us to check-in.
2. You can get help during your flights. If you book your airfare through Viking and you run into travel snags, then you can call a number that they supply exclusively for flight issues and someone will guide you to solutions, as well as notify the boat.
3. Drinking water is abundant and free. They’ll give you a bottle of water when they pick you up from the airport. There’s always a large glass bottle in your room. When you depart for an included excursion, they’ll provide a bottle of water. I drink a lot of water all day long. In some places where I’ve traveled, tap water is unsafe, and drinking water is scarce. In others, it’s a matter of buying, carrying and keeping enough on hand to feel hydrated. On this cruise, someone made sure that I always had drinking water. I’d say it’s the little things, but this was huge for me.
4. The boat is luxurious. It’s not big, but it’s modern, bright, very clean and sleek, reflecting the Scandanavian design aesthetic of its country of origin. There are floor-to-ceiling windows nearly everywhere in the shared spaces, making it feel open and airy and allowing for great views of the passing scenery.
5. The service is exceptional. Thanks to my work as a food and wine writer, I’ve enjoyed some amazing service, and the people working on our Viking River Cruise were on par. They lead with enthusiastic welcomes, gracious offers of help and hard work.
6. The food is fantastic. There’s a huge selection of menu items at every meal, including dishes local to the region that you’re visiting each night at dinner. There were two coffee stations on our boat with cappuccino machines, hot tea and cookies available all day. The lounge had a full bar and, if you have the Silver Spirits package, premium cocktails, beer and wine are free. (Otherwise, a nice selection of wine and beer is free at lunch and dinner.) Breakfast and lunch include both a self-service buffet area, and sit-down, full-service options. Dinner is full service. SIDENOTE: In honor of Viking’s Norwegian heritage, Viking gives guests a glass of Aquavit, a Scandinavian-distilled beverage. Tradition dictates that the Linie Aquavit they serve must be carried in oak casks on ships that cross the equator twice on a four-month voyage spanning 35 countries. It’s believed that the moving seas and temperature changes allow more flavor to be extracted from the casks. How specific and charming is that?
7. The included excursions are phenomenal. I pride myself on comprehensively canvassing a city when I visit. I do a ton of research beforehand to identify places to see and to get a sense of the vibe and history. I map out routes and plan how to get around, whether by foot, public transportation or even a Hop-On Hop-Off bus. The basic tours included in our Viking River Cruise each morning eliminated all of that legwork — I could simply show up, look and learn.
8. There are spaces to tuck away. The boat includes a tiny library space and workspace at one end of the upper level where you can read, write or go online if you need a bit of a break from all the people-ing. (See the people-ing and wifi cons below.)
9. There is community. If you’re traveling solo and can swing the single supplement, this is a brilliant way to feel a part of a group. People grow familiar very quickly, and they’re quite friendly, adept at making interesting conversation. Many are avid travelers with good stories. The average age of the population on a Viking River Cruise is probably 70. And it’s a largely lovely group of well-traveled people who know how to make small talk and do a good job of it. If you’re traveling solo, you’ll have ample opportunities to make friends and share conversation.
10. It can be very affordable. If you have a traveling companion, and you take advantage of one of the specials — such as free airfare — you will likely beat the cost of a self-organized trip by a mile.

The Cons of a Viking River Cruise

1. There’s no space to work out. Yes, I know. It’s vacation. But after sitting on an airplane for hours (or days) and eating and drinking so much, I wished for a small gym. The upper deck of the ship is an open-air seating area with a walking track. But depending on the time of year in which you cruise, it could be a really brisk walk, as in blustery. 
2. I felt like a conspicuous tourist. During our excursions, we were shuttled to our walking tours in giant motorcoaches. We wore listening devices on bright red lanyards. We followed our guide, who was bearing a sign, in a slow-moving cluster. This all eliminates the opportunity to observe a place unnoticed. It makes you a more obvious target to vendors or pickpockets who follow travelers like bees on honey. And we were sometimes noticeably annoying to local residents.
3. Your time is not entirely your own. There’s not always a chance to linger at something you want to explore further when you’re on an excursion, or to venture further in a place. It’s the tradeoff for being free of planning responsibilities.
4. An introvert could be overwhelmed. If you dine in the restaurant, you’ll share a table with a group. When you go to the mandatory safety presentation, or the cultural presentations and port talks, or the captain’s welcome, you’ll need to continue chatting with other people. Sometimes it’s a lot of people-ing. And on a small boat, you’re not anonymous for long. The good news: The people on my cruise knew very well how to dip into a conversation and dip right back out.  
5. For the solo traveler, it’s expensive. The solo supplement turns an affordable trip into an extravagance. 
6. For a pair, the cheapest rooms are tight. It’s entirely manageable to share one of the lower-deck rooms. They’re well-designed, making the most of the teeny, tiny space. Your two twin beds are pushed together or separated, and there is space under the beds for luggage. But there isn’t enough room for two people to pass each other at the foot of the beds; it’s a bit of a dance to navigate. And any time that you have a suitcase out, it consumes all of the floor space.
7. The internet is unreliable. I was able to work extra before and after my trip and avoid long days or late nights on the laptop during my cruise. But I did need to send some emails and make some social posts, and I was dead in the water, so to speak, for several days. Our service was extra bad — they even brought in a tech team in Vienna, but the service failed again the next day.
8. You lose the sense of place that comes with staying in a destination. On a Viking River Cruise, you’re somewhat esconsed in typical American culture, far more than if you were staying in a local hotel for a few days. 

The Boat

Viking has a fleet of river and ocean cruise ships. Ours was the Viking Jarl, built in 2013. It holds as many as 190 guests. There are three levels on the ship, plus an open-air deck on top. The lower level includes guest rooms and crew areas. The middle level includes guest rooms, guest services and the restaurant, plus a dining terrace. The third level includes guest rooms, a library and other seating, and the lounge. The top level is an open-air deck with a walking track, herb garden, solar panels, shuffleboard and a golf putting area.

The Room

We chose the most affordable room, 101. It had two twin beds, a full bathroom, a small closet, three drawers, a mini fridge and a TV. We had a small window and were eye-level with the water. Other rooms offer more space, or balconies, or other combinations of luxuries and perks.

The Trip

We chose the Romantic Danube, October 2–9, including Budapest, Hungary; Vienna and Krems in Austria; and Passau and Regensburg in Germany.

Day One

Arrival in Budapest. If you arrive as scheduled, then you can embark at 3 p.m., leave your luggage and go into the city to see the sights on your own, or sleep off some jet lag. We missed this part of the trip, arriving after midnight thanks to our flight delays.

Day Two: Budapest, Hungary

An included excursion to Budapest (pronounced Bu-da-pesht). At 8 a.m. we boarded motorcoaches in four groups with four tour guides to the heart of the city. Along the way, our guide explained the basics of the Hungarian language and the large concrete buildings, a holdover from communist days, in which many of the citizens of the Pest side of Budapest live. Our first stop was Heroes Square, where we disembarked for a history lesson. We then boarded the buses for a driving tour of the Buda side of the city, enjoying views of the Danube, its many bridges and the Parliament Building.

Our second stop was Inner City Parish Church back on the Pest side; from there our guide led us on a walking tour through the retail corridor and gave us time to wander the Central Market Hall, where they sell everything from embroidered table runners to made-in-China plastic to spectacular meats and meals. There’s even an Aldi in the basement. I bought some authentic paprika from an upstairs stall. 

After a short visit, we boarded the buses to meet up with the boat, which had already set sail west for Visegrad shortly after we left. After we boarded the boat and headed to the dining room for lunch, the ship continued west. With less than four hours’ sleep the night before, I slept off some of my jet lag and did some writing before catching the tail end of a presentation on Viennese coffeehouse culture in the lounge, followed by the chef’s Champagne reception, dinner in the restaurant, and drinks and live music in the lounge. 

Day 3: Vienna, Austria

An included excursion to Vienna. I should have gone to bed earlier. I should have had fewer cocktails. I was dragging again the next morning, and jet lag and early morning noise from the boat’s mechanical systems didn’t help. (Our room, the cheapest on board, was under the boat’s gangway.) The ship was forced by local police to conduct a passport check — a sometimes occurrence — so those of us going into Vienna left the boat about 20 minutes after our scheduled 9:15 a.m. departure.  

We again boarded motorcoaches in groups; this time, some were going on different types of day tours. Our included excursion took us to the Ringstrasse, the broad boulevard through the city center, where we disembarked and walked with our guide through the historic area of Vienna, soaking up his stories of history, buildings and people along the way. 

Our guide left us in front of Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, reiterating directions for the metro and the nearest toilettes for those who wanted to stay in the city for the afternoon rather than take the coach back to the boat. Mom and I had already been armed with maps, and our guide even had euros on hand for those who needed to use the restroom and forgot to bring money. (It typically costs 0.50 euros to 1 euro to use a public restroom, known as a toilette or WC/water closest.)

Mom and I strolled inside Saint Stephen’s and took the elevator to the tower on top; after, we visited Sluka for its authentic Vienna coffeehouse culture and the restroom. We made our way back to the Spanish Riding School to inquire about tours of the Lippezaner horse facility, pausing along the way to gape in awe at the interiors of Saint Peter’s and Saint Michael’s churches, but the next ticket wasn’t until 4 p.m., so we meandered around the Hapsburg Palace area, then made our way back to the metro near Saint Stephen’s; a short ride on the train put us within a 10-minute walk of the boat. 

Drowsy, I explored the boat a bit and wrote for a while, until the port talk previewing the next day’s activities and then dinner.

Day 4: Vienna, Austria

We were on our own this day, so Mom and I booked a self-guided Grand Tour of the Schonbrunn Palace, the fantastical “hunting lodge” built at the end of the sixteenth century for Emperor Joseph I and his family. The website for the palace says the tour is 50 to 60 minutes, but allow at least two hours. You’ll want to gawk, and you’ll want to walk the grounds. 

I had the great idea that we should get off the U-Bahn (Vienna’s subway) at the Karlsplatz stop on the green line, versus the St. Stephen’s stop on the red line, to see a different part of the city before our tour of the Lippizaner training center, but we ended up lost in the maze of residential streets and missed our tour time. (I’m so sorry, Mom!)

Instead, after we found our way back to the city center we returned to Sluka for coffee and a sacher torte, then headed back to the boat for dinner. We finished our day with an add-on excursion to an orchestral concert of Mozart and Strauss, including dancers and opera singers. It was short and sweet and surprisingly spectacular.

Day 5: Krems, Austria

An included walking tour of Gottweig Abbey. We docked in Krems sometime during the night. In the morning we boarded buses for a short ride to Gottweig Abbey. Parts medieval, parts baroque and thoroughly gorgeous, the monastery is famous for its apricot wines and brandy. While there are roughly 35 monks still living and working there and in the surrounding community, one of the primary sources of revenue for upkeep, aside from leasing the surrounding lands, is tourism. In addition to a visit and wine tasting, you can book a stay on the grounds, which are rich with views and gardens. 

We returned to the boat for lunch, then sailed the Wachau Valley, a picturesque and rustic section of the Danube famous for its wines. Our program director narrated the sights and identified the small towns along the way while we basked in the warm October sun and sipped Viennese coffee. The day included other talks and a cooking demonstration, along with the usual entertainment in the lounge before and after dinner. There also was a presentation featuring discounts on future Viking River Cruises.

Day 6: Passau, Germany

It was incredibly foggy when we arrived in Passau. The sun soon burned the soft filter off of the Italian-designed pastel buildings to reveal brilliant blue skies, cobblestones and charming passageways at the confluence of three rivers. There were many, many university students, children, dogs and babies in the Old Town area; it made my heart so happy. I had beer at a ratskellar, visited a castle and petted puppies after the included walking tour. 

Passau might have been my favorite place on our cruise. People lined the waterways with their friends, families, pups, toddlers, beers and musical instruments to watch the golden hour bathe the picturesque pathways.

Day 7: Regensburg, Germany

The walking tours that morning included a Jewish history option. It was a gut punch in a lot of ways. Our marvelous tour guide, Sylvia Seifert, MA, showed us tiles built into the sidewalk that represent victims of the Holocaust. Part of an art program throughout Europe, they’re called stumbling stones — not to catch the feet, but the mind — and they’re placed in front of the homes where the victims last lived. She is working on a book to compile information about each of the stumbling stones memorials.

We also learned about the Jewish quarter versus the Jewish ghetto, as well as the various times Jews were wrongly blamed for crises over the centuries, persecuted and expelled. We learned that people destroyed Jewish cemeteries, and we saw the gravestones used as trophy architecture. Our tour included Emilie and Oskar Schindler’s home in Regensburg.

TRIP TIP

| To arrange your own walking tour of the historic Jewish Quarter in Regensburg, you can reach Sylvia Seifert, our guide, at Shalom in Regensburg. |

It was a cold, gray, impactful morning. After a warmup in a coffee shop, we ventured back out into Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We saw weddings in the square and German-made Christmas ornaments by the truckload and indulged in some retail therapy, as it was our final day. 

Of course we *had* to have sausage and (for me) a beer at Historische Wurestkuche, the Regensburg kitchen serving the workers who constructed the 12th century Stone Bridge and the oldest sausage kitchen in the world. It hasn’t changed a bit, judging from our peek inside! We also stumbled upon the centuries-old abbey … and a bit of a creepy saint altar within … before walking back to the boat.

Our final dinner on the ship was magnificent. There was entertainment afterward, but we opted to return to our room and pack. Even though our departure from Munich (about 1.5 hours away) wasn’t until 1:30 p.m. the next day, Viking wanted our luggage in the hall at 5:30 a.m. and us on the bus at 6 a.m. with others who were leaving around the same time. In fact, there were departures scheduled as early as 2:30 a.m. If you book your airfare with Viking, there’s no way around this. At the same time, it was very nice to have included transportation, and our wait in Munich wasn’t onerous. I dozed on the bus. 

Viking River Cruise FAQs

Do you have to dress for dinner?

No. You can if you want to; some people put on a more dressy top and jewelry before dinner, and some people came in casual dress. And some people wore the same jeans they’d had on all day.

Do you have to sit with the same people at dinner every day?

No, you’re free to move about the cabin. Mom and I sat with several very different groups of people, only similar in their charming conversation skills and warmth.

Can you store your luggage in your room?

Yes, I had a full-sized suitcase clocking in at just under 50 pounds, plus a large carry-on, and I was able to stash both underneath my bed.

Do you have to share a bed?

No. When you fill out your profile online on My Viking Journey before your trip, you can ask for the two twins to be split apart. It’s tight, but doable.

Do you need a converter and adapter for the outlets?

On our ship, you didn’t have to have them, but it would be helpful. There are several 110-volt plugs in the room. But if you have multiple devices, they’ll be used up in a heartbeat. I alternated charging my watch and my phone with the 110-volt plug using a regular Apple block, or with the one USB charger built into the wall. I brought an Apple Europe adapter for my laptop, and I brought the European hair dryer that I purchased in Milan several years ago, because the last time I traveled overseas with my American hair dryer, it conked out. I used the European plugs for those.

Is it an older crowd?

I’d peg the average at 70 on our Viking River Cruise, but that’s not to say that there aren’t any much younger people. There was a 20-something newlywed couple on their honeymoon on our trip, and several couples in their 50s and 60s. Children aren’t permitted on Viking River Cruises. There’s no pool, no casino, no disco, no umbrella drinks, no photography sales, no thumping late-night bass on their river cruises. The joy of this crowd, I discovered, is that they’re avid lifelong travelers — not vacationers. They’re curious and informed and gentle and friendly. 

Is it all-inclusive?

It can be. The price of our Viking River Cruise, the Romantic Danube in early October 2022, was $2,499. That included our airfare, thanks to a special promotion that comes along fairly regularly. For that price, we had transfers to and from the airport; daily walking tours of each new city; all of our meals plus snacks; beer and wine at meals; (spotty) wifi; and travel support. 

Our total trip came in at just under $2,949 per person with the fully refundable (for any reason) Allianz travel insurance provided by Viking; prepaid gratuities for the ship staff (though not bus drivers and tour guides); and the Silver Spirits package, which upgraded our booze. (It was embedded in the free airfare promotion, so we couldn’t peel it off). Our trip was six full days of tours and travel, plus the day before and the day after to and from the airport.

Any other tips?

• You can extend your trip through Viking before or after your cruise by a few days and see some other cities. We had so many delays on the way to Budapest that we wished we had arrived a day or two early. This also would have alleviated some jet lag.
• Bring Advil PM, an eye mask and ear buds. There’s ship noise, there are early tours and there’s jet lag. I barely slept. I came home in desperate need of a solid eight hours (plus a facial scrub and a food-and-alcohol detox).
• Bring tennis shoes. Though there’s no gym, the walking track on the open-air deck is an awesome way to get in some miles. You can make your own workout from there: push-ups, jumping jacks, triceps dips, walking lunges, etc.
• Don’t count on the wifi. This was the most disappointing surprise of the trip. I don’t usually travel with a SIM card or any other means of accessing wifi or cell service, and I thought that the ship would mean better connectivity than I usually enjoy. I’m glad I’d arranged to be free of my social media duties during my trip.
• Many people book second, third and more trips on Viking. Not only are their Viking River Cruises wildly popular, but their Ocean Cruises and their new Expedition Cruises draw repeat guests. To a person, the people with whom I spoke said that every experience they’ve had was exceptional. Service wins top remarks, followed by the food and the boats, as well as the excursions. Honestly, I agree. And I don’t get paid a dime to say that. They seem to treat their staff really well too. Our program director, a veteran of other ocean lines, had only worked for Viking for a week when the COVID pandemic shut down cruising; the company looked after her, as she said, through the duration of the pandemic. 
• Go to the port talks. Each night, they’ll prep you for the following day’s destination with a port talk, explaining times, procedures and key sights to see in the next city. There’s also detailed information in the Viking Daily, a printed document that arrives in your room during dinner each night. 

While it never felt like a hard sell, Viking arms you with literature about their other cruise offerings before you go home, and provides a limited-time discount on future trips. They didn’t need to sell me at all; the experience itself was enough to convince me that I should take another trip whenever I have the time and money again. (When my ship comes in, so to speak.) Apparently I’m not the only one: In 2022, Viking was voted the number one ocean line and the number one river line in the Condé Nast Traveler’s 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards for the second year in a row, as well as number one for both rivers and oceans by Travel + Leisure.

I don’t have experience with other river cruise providers, but I can say that my first experience with Viking made me a fan of that mode of travel. I haven’t traveled with other ocean cruise providers either, but my first Viking cruise made me eager to try one of their ocean itineraries as well. I have my eye on the 33-day cruise to Hawaii and Polynesia (Tahiti!). And the 138-day world cruise is an absolute dream. I need to start playing the lottery. 

I won’t forgo my other means of travel. But this was a bit of luxury that I’d love to do again.

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