Travel tips
Before you go
- Check your passport — must be valid for at least 6 months after your return date (1 February 2027 or later).
- No visa required for US citizens for trips under 90 days in the Schengen zone.
- Phone plan — call your carrier and ask about international roaming or grab an eSIM (Airalo, Holafly) before flying. WiFi is everywhere, but cellular is reassuring.
- Bank — let your bank know you're traveling. ATM cards work everywhere; check foreign-transaction fees on credit cards.
- Adapters — Europe uses Type C/F (round two-prong). Bring at least two per hotel room.
Language
- Learn six words in each language: hello, please, thank you, yes, no, excuse-me. It goes a long way.
- Google Translate works offline if you download the language packs before you travel.
Meal times — country by country
Each country has its own rhythm. Show up at the wrong hour and the kitchen's closed, no matter how welcoming the staff looks.
🇫🇷 France (Paris)
- Breakfast light and brief — coffee + a viennoiserie at a café counter. 07:00–10:00.
- Lunch is 12:00–14:00 sharp. Many real restaurants close their kitchens at 14:30 and don't reopen until dinner. Cafés and brasseries stay open all afternoon.
- Apéro (pre-dinner drink + snack) — 18:00–19:30.
- Dinner — 19:30–22:00. Showing up at 18:00 is too early; the kitchen isn't open yet. Reservations typically open at 19:30 or 20:00 for the first seating.
🇨🇭 Switzerland (Lucerne)
- Breakfast included at most hotels — 06:30–10:00.
- Lunch — 12:00–13:30. Look for the Tagesmenü (daily set menu) — typically half the price of the same dish at dinner.
- Dinner — 18:00–21:00. The Swiss eat earlier than the French. Kitchens close at 21:00 or 21:30 in many places, so a 20:30 sit-down is the latest comfortable arrival. Sunday closures are common.
🇨🇿 Czechia (Prague)
- Breakfast at the hotel, or pastries from a cukrárna — 07:00–10:00.
- Lunch — 11:30–14:00. Look for the polední menu (~150–250 CZK for soup + main, sometimes a drink). The same dish at dinner is roughly double.
- Dinner — 18:00–22:00. Prague tourism keeps kitchens flexible; you can usually get a table until 22:00. Czechs themselves tend to eat earlier (~18:30–19:30).
🇵🇱 Poland (Kraków)
- Breakfast (śniadanie) — 07:00–10:00.
- Obiad is the big meal of the day, eaten between 13:00 and 17:00 — a quirk of Polish life. Traditional milk bars (bar mleczny) serve obiad all afternoon, cheap and excellent.
- Kolacja (supper) is lighter, 18:00–21:00 — soup, cold cuts, bread, salad. Modern Kraków restaurants serve full dinner late, but the traditional rhythm is obiad-as-main, kolacja-as-light.
A few things that apply everywhere
- Sundays — many small/family-run places are closed, especially in Switzerland.
- August — some French restaurants close for vacation in late July through August. Berthillon famously does this. Sanity-check specific spots the week before.
- Coffee comes after the meal, not with it. Asking for a cappuccino alongside your main flags you as a tourist anywhere on this trip.
- Tipping is light (5–10%, or just round up). Servers are paid a living wage.
Messaging & calling Europe
- Install WhatsApp before you fly. It's one of the most-used messaging apps in Europe (80%+ adoption in most western European countries), and many smaller businesses — especially tour operators, taxi services, small B&Bs, and casual restaurants — list a WhatsApp number as their primary or only contact channel. It's free over Wi-Fi or cellular, uses your existing US phone number, and works for messages, voice calls, and video calls.
- Hotels, big restaurants, and museums still answer phones and email the normal way. You don't have to use WhatsApp for everything — it's just the easy fallback when a small place lists a WhatsApp number instead of (or in addition to) a phone.
- iMessage and FaceTime work fine person-to-person if everyone in the chat has an iPhone, but anyone non-iOS in a thread will be unreachable. Use WhatsApp for any cross-platform group.
- Calling home to the US from Europe: WhatsApp voice, FaceTime, or Wi-Fi calling on most modern US plans all work over hotel Wi-Fi for free.
On the trains (Days 5 and 9)
Two long train days: Day 5 Paris → Lucerne, Day 9 Prague → Kraków.
- Show up 10 minutes early, find your platform on the station departure board.
- Coach numbers are printed on the side of each car — match yours to your ticket.
- Carry-on luggage goes overhead; big bags in the rack at the end of the car.
- French stations close train doors 2 minutes before departure. Be at your coach early on the Paris → Lucerne morning.
- Trains in Switzerland and Czechia are punctual to the minute. Don't dawdle on the platform.
On the intra-Europe flight (Day 7)
One short flight: Zürich → Prague on Saturday 25 July.
- Liquids: 3-1-1 rule (under 100 mL each, single quart bag in carry-on).
- Carry-on size: Economy Light gets 1 personal item + 1 carry-on up to 8 kg (18 lb), max 55×40×23 cm. SWISS does enforce.
- Schengen leg (Switzerland → Czechia): no passport check on arrival, just a domestic-style exit from the gate.
- Arrive 90 minutes early if everyone has carry-on only; 120 minutes if anyone added a checked bag.