A regular school size backpack usually does the trick for daybags.  For girls you may also want to pack an extra small purse for evening outings.  Nothing looks sillier than walking around with a backpack in your evening dinner outfit.

One thing to keep in mind is that your day bag should be as light as possible! You will be carrying the bag whenever you are out of the bus. A bottle of water, light jacket, and room for your camera and sunglasses is all you really need to carry with you. 

Make sure to bring a combination lock to lock your main compartments to keep pick pockets away!  Also, in extreme cases, if you’re in a large crowd and really don’t feel safe with your valuables hanging behind you, you can always wear your bag in the front.  You may look like a kangaroo, but at least you know no one will cut the bag while you’re distracted.

Remember, you’re only allowed 20kg, depending on the number of days you’re going, it isn’t much.  Pack a few items that coordinate well, colors such as black, blue, beige.  Don’t bring your favorite or most expensive clothes, it could get damaged in the public washers, get permantly stained or lost in the wash services. Stick to stuff that does not need to be ironed, bleed or shrink. Solid colors is good and one nice top for the group pictures and dinners. You will not have time in the morning and will be too busy at night to prep your clothes before they are worn (ie iron). but for special occasions some places do have irons avaliable.

Shoes:
Bring one good broken in walking shoes.
Bring a pair of casual/dress shoes.
Bring a pair of sandal/slipper/thongs to wear in the showers.

A lot of people email me with this worry, my only answer, don’t worry!  Imagine the excitement and energy of everyone in your tour on the first day, everyone wants to make new friends and have the trip of a lifetime, afterall lots of personal time, money, planning has been invested.  Typically, there is a large group of single people, and from day one they start eying each other.  Those who are already paired up or have signifigant others back home will find each other and naturally groups will form. Also, the first day you board your bus your tour manager will encourage everyone to find someone new to sit with.  If you’re on a long trip your tour manager will also encourage sitting with new people during the long bus rides.

Suitcase!

They have wheels, they keep your breakables safer, they can be expandable. It’s easier to find items (you don’t have to dig or dump out your entire backpack). Easier to load on the coach…they stack suitcases and backpacks.

Do they really enforce the luggage weight ristriction? Yes, they do weigh your bag right before you leave!

But, they don’t weigh your bag afterwards. So buy whatever you can carry.

Yes. Travel insurance is something that all travelers should get.  It insures against things such as illnesses, delays and lost items.The contiki one is good and should be good enough for most travel related issues. I didn’t need mine but one person on the trip did and it was a good thing he had insurance.

It depends, if you drink, drinks ranges from €4-8.  Lunches can go as low as €4 if you eat cheap or live on Pringles, but I would average €8 for lunch to be safe….worst comes to worst, grab some extra bread and jam during breakfast and eat that for lunch.

Not all dinners are covered by your tour so plan to spend €10-15 for a decent meal.

Make sure to budget tips for your coach driver and tour manager they work very hard for you so showing some generosity would be nice…~$100-$150 (total).

Beware/be glad that drinking is a large part of Contiki trips.   If you don’t drink you will not be pressured to, but if you do drink, then this is the trip for you :D.  Most evenings there will be opportunities to buy drinks.  Many of the tours also include visits to wineries and beer halls.

ATM cards are much, much easier to use than travellers checks, ATM machines are everywhere.  If you have an account at a major bank, then the cards should work in Europe also. You can pull cash from almost any atm machine that shares the same logos on the back of your card (usually the star and plus).

Do make sure the pin is 4 digit!!! My bank use to allow 6 digit pin numbers. Another tip is to memorize the pin by the number and not by the alphebet that the number is sometimes associated with on the key pad.  Some keypads will not have the alphebet or be backwards.

Some banks require you to let them know in advance you will be using your atm cards overseas.

Banks also give you the best exchange rates. So if you can get a atm card from a major bank, that would be best.

Travellers checks need to be cashed and that takes time away from your free time to find American Express and Thomas Cooks. Your tour manager will tell you where to go in each city, but sometimes it is out of the way.

Also bring a credit card, for large purchases or just in case (visa, mastercard, american express).

What to Pack? What to bring, what to bring… I won’t go through every little item, but instead I’ll list a few must haves, especially if you signed up for the budget (camping) tours.