Backpacking: Europe in 2.5 Months | Itinerary, Budget, and Expenses | Solo Female Traveller from Indonesia

welcome-to-mishajohanna

Right after I finished my so-called ♠ 77 Days of Euro Trip in the end of 2016, a lot of people were asking me about my itinerarybudget, and expenses for the whole 2.5 months. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I should share about the budget and expenses – as I know these 2 things can really depend on HOW you want to travel… but I guess I’ll just talk about it anyway – cause obviously I’m here to share my PERSONAL experience.

So either you think my itinerary, budget, and expenses make sense or not, that’s okay. I think everyone should plan their own and one can’t just copy someone else’s. Therefore, please note that the content of this article is just for reference. It is not a recommendation. You might get inspired, or you might not. At least you get an idea of how I’ve done my travel.

euro-trip-collage-with-title
Use hashtag #MJ77DaysofEuroTrip to see the photos from my trip on Instagram!

♥ Itinerary ♥

Below I’m outlining my journey from 12 September to 27 November 2016, along with the transportation used to get from one city to another 😀

SEPTEMBER 2016

12 | Bangkok, Thailand ⇒ Helsinki, Finland (by plane [Aeroflot] via Moscow, Russia)
13 – 17 | Helsinki, Finland
18 | Day trip to Tallinn, Estonia (by ferry [Eckerö Line – M/s Finlandia])
19 – 20 | Helsinki, Finland
21 | Helsinki, Findland  Stockholm, Sweden (by ferry [Viking Line – M/s Mariella]*)
22 | Stockholm, Sweden
23 | Stockholm, Sweden ⇒ Copenhagen, Denmark (by bus [FlixBus]*)
24 – 25 | Copenhagen, Denmark
26 | Copenhagen, Denmark ⇒ Hamburg, Germany (by bus [FlixBus]*)
27 – 30 | Hamburg, Germany

europe-itinerary-september-2016-mj

OCTOBER 2016

1 | Hamburg, Germany ⇒ Amsterdam, Netherlands (by bus [FlixBus]*)
2 – 3 | Amsterdam, Netherlands
4 | Amsterdam, Netherlands ⇒ Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands (by train [NS Sprinter] to Beverwijk, Netherlands + local bus to Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands)
5 | Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands
6 | Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands ⇒ Amsterdam, Netherlands (by local bus to Beverwijk, Netherlands + train [NS Sprinter] to Amsterdam, Netherlands)
7 | Amsterdam, Netherlands ⇒ The Hague, Netherlands (by bus [FlixBus])
8 | The Hague, Netherlands ⇒ Antwerp, Belgium (by bus [FlixBus])
9 | Antwerp, Belgium ⇒ Paris, France (by bus [FlixBus])
10 – 11 | Paris, France
12 | Paris, France ⇒ Les Herbiers, France (by train [TGV] to Angers, France via St. Pierre Tours, France + friend’s car to Les Herbiers, France)
13 | Day trip to Nantes, France (by friend’s car)
14 | Les Herbiers, France ⇒ Paris, France (by friend’s car to Cholet, France + train [TGV] to Paris, France via Angers & Le Mans, France) ⇒ Zürich, Switzerland (by bus [FlixBus]*)
15 – 18 | Zürich, Switzerland
19 | Zürich, Switzerland ⇒ Prague, Czech Republic (by bus [FlixBus]*)
20 – 21 | Prague, Czech Republic
22 | Prague – Czech Republic ⇒ Vienna, Austria (by bus [FlixBus])
23 | Vienna, Austria
24 | Vienna, Austria ⇒ Bratislava, Slovakia (by bus [FlixBus])
25 | Bratislava, Slovakia ⇒ Budapest, Hungary (by bus [FlixBus])
26 | Budapest, Hungary
27 | Budapest, Hungary ⇒ Zagreb, Croatia (by bus [FlixBus])
28 | Zagreb, Croatia ⇒ Ljubljana, Slovenia (by bus [FlixBus])
29 | Day trip to Bled, Slovenia (by local bus)
30 | Ljubljana, Slovenia ⇒ Florence, Italy (by bus [FlixBus] to Trieste, Italy + train [Regionale Veloce] to Venice, Italy + train [Frecciargento] to Florence, Italy)
31 | Florence, Italy

europe-itinerary-october-2016-mj

NOVEMBER 2016

1 | Florence, Italy
2 | Florence, Italy ⇒ Barcelona, Spain (by plane [Vueling] via Bologna, Italy**)
3 – 9 | Barcelona, Spain
10 | Barcelona, Spain ⇒ Valencia, Spain (by train [Euromed])
11 – 12 | Valencia, Spain
13 | Valencia, Spain ⇒ Granada, Spain (by bus [ALSA])
14 – 15 | Granada, Spain
16 | Granada, Spain ⇒ Lisbon, Portugal (by bus [ALSA]*)
17 – 19 | Lisbon, Portugal
20 | Lisbon, Portugal ⇒ Barcelona, Spain (by plane [TAP Portugal])
21 | Barcelona, Spain
22 | Barcelona, Spain ⇒ Helsinki, Finland (by plane [KLM] via Amsterdam, Netherlands)
23 | Helsinki, Finland
24 | Helsinki, Finland ⇒ Rovaniemi, Finland (by train [VR InterCity] via Oulu, Finland)
25 | Rovaniemi, Finland
26 | Rovaniemi, Finland ⇒ Helsinki, Finland (by train [VR InterCity] via Oulu, Finland)
27 | Helsinki, Finland ⇒ Bangkok, Thailand (by plane [Aeroflot] via Moscow, Russia*)

europe-itinerary-november-2016-mj

Note
* = Overnight
** = The airport in Florence had weather issue, so all the passengers were transferred to the airport in Bologna (by bus) to take the flight from there

4 Countries in BLUE range = Northern Europe
6 Countries in PURPLE/PINK range = Western Europe
3 Countries in GREEN range = Central Europe
5 Countries in RED/ORANGE range = Southern Europe

All countries I visited are part of Schengen area, except for Croatia. However, you can visit Croatia if you have a valid Schengen visa with Dual Entries or Multiple Entries.

Total days traveled: 77
Total countries visited: 18
Total cities visited: 26


♦ Budget ♦

I had planned this Euro Trip since long time ago. As an Indonesian passport holder, it’s not that easy for me to have a long trip in Europe. If you are coming from another third world country as I am, I know you’ll totally get what I mean 😉

First, I will need to get a visa (in this case, Schengen visa). I can’t just book a flight ticket and go. For sure I can’t just be like “Alright, I’m gonna fly to Europe and not sure when I’ll be back, so see you when I see you, guys…” and all sort of traveling style like this. I wish I could! But well, different nationalities have different conditions, eh? Just deal with it.

To get the visa, I will need to have enough savings. To have enough savings, of course, I need to save up! And so I saved up for 1.5 years. I saved 4,000,000 IDR or about 278€ every month. In the final month,

I had saved 72,000,000 IDR or about 5,000€ for the trip.

This amount is to cover: return flight tickets, visa, travel insurance, accommodation, transportation, meal, attraction entrance fees, souvenirs… basically EVERYTHING.

For the visa application itself, I wasn’t sure how much money was required. I applied from the Embassy of Finland in Jakarta, and seems like they did not state exact amount of money for the requirement anywhere in their official website. Due to this, I just referred to the amount required by Embassy of Netherlands, where Indonesians normally apply Schengen visa through, which was 34€ per day. Yes, it’s not true that they require you to have the minimum of 50,000,000 IDR in your bank account for Tourist Visa no matter how many days you’ll be traveling in Europe – in case you’ve heard this rumour. This seems to be the requirement set by travel agencies, but not by embassies. Embassies set daily fund requirement. So if you plan to travel, let’s say, only for 2 weeks, you can count by yourself how much money is required for your visa application. Of course, it would be much wiser if you have more than what’s required – just to be safe. According to the length of my trip, I would only be required to have 77 days × 34€ = 2,618€ in my bank account. I prepared 5,000€ as I mentioned earlier, which is almost double.


♣ Expenses ♣

Here I broke down my expenses for visa, travel insurance, return flight tickets, accommodation, transportation (inter city), and miscellaneous/other 🙂

Visa
Schengen Tourist Visa (valid up to 90 days)
obtained from Embassy of Finland – Jakarta, Indonesia
= 900,000 IDR
= 64€

Travel Insurance
AXA Travel Insurance – Schengen (for 77 days)
covering up to 30,000€ medical expenses in the Schengen zone
1,331,393 IDR
= 89€

Return Flight Tickets
Aeroflot (Bangkok, Thailand ⇔ Helsinki, Finland via Moscow, Russia)
= 44,573 RUB
= 9,449,577 IDR
= 667€

Accommodation
To be honest, half of the trip, I didn’t have to pay for accommodation – thanks to my dear ♥FRIENDS and FAMILY♥ who invited me to stay in their houses/apartments in Europe. I also did Couchsurfing twice. The rest, I stayed in hostels, guest house, hotel, and Airbnb accommodations.

accommodation-in-europe-by-misha-johanna

Check the PDF file here: accommodation-in-europe-by-misha-johanna

Total expenses for accommodation
= 8,219,049 IDR
= 561.87€

Note
I booked using HostelWorld for all the hostels. I love their app!
For the remaining 8 nights that are not covered in the accommodation table, I spent them in overnight public transportation.

Transportation (Inter City)
Below is the inter city transportation expenses table. Kindly note that (  ) refers to one way and (  ) refers to return trips.

inter-city-transportation-in-europe-by-misha-johanna

Check the PDF file here: inter-city-transportation-in-europe-by-misha-johanna

Total expenses for transportation (inter city)
= 16,605,180 IDR
= 1,124.48€

Miscellaneous/Other
I’m really sorry that I don’t have the detailed breakdown for my other expenses including in-city transportation, meals, attraction entrance fees, souvenirs, etc – just because I didn’t take notes for every single purchase I had for this expense category. BUT! I can give you examples so you can estimate the price range.

♣ For in-city transportation, Northern and Western European countries tend to be more expensive than Central and Southern European ones. Examples:
• 1-day pass in Helsinki, Finland (Northern Europe) = 8€ / ± 115,000 IDR
• 2-days pass in Amsterdam, Netherlands (Western Europe) = 12.50€ / ± 180,000 IDR
• 1-day pass in Prague, Czech Republic (Central Europe) = 110 CZK / ± 4€ / ± 58,000 IDR
• 10-trips ticket (I used it for 3 days) in Valencia, Spain (Southern Europe) = 8.35€ / ± 120,000 IDR

♣ For meals, I’d say “The more south you go, the better the food, the cheaper the price!” One dish in a restaurant in Northern or Western European countries will cost about 20+€ / ± 285,000+ IDR per person. Whereas in Central or Southern European countries, you can have 2 meals with the same amount! Spain is my favourite when it comes to dining out. There’s a lot of restaurants with set menu (appetizer, main course, dessert, and wine) that only cost 10€ / ± 142,000 IDR – how awesome is that?!

♣ For attraction entrance fees… 🙂 I believe you can just Google it, one by one. It really depends on which attractions you wanna visit. Some attractions are also free to enter.

♣ For souvenirs, personally, I collect fridge magnets. I bought at least 2 magnets from each country I visited. The prices vary from 1€ / ± 14,200 IDR to almost 10€ / ± 142,000 IDR. The cheapest magnets I bought were the ones I found in Tallinn, Estonia. They were only 1€ / ± 14,200 IDR each. The most expensive one was the magnet I bought in Zürich, Switzerland – it was 7€ / ± 100,000 IDR.

When I was hosted by my friends and family, they often cooked for me – or let me use their kitchen to make something for myself. Some of them also drove me around, and in smaller cities I preferred to just walk instead of using public transportation. Thanks to them, again, I saved quite a lot for meals and in-city transportation…

By the way, I normally have more details for this miscellaneous expenses in the other blog posts for each city. So, feel free to browse my blog around! 😉

EXPENSES SUMMARY

In IDR/Rp. (Indonesian Rupiah)

Visa, Travel Insurance, Return Flight Tickets, Accommodation, 
Transportation (Inter City) = 36,505,199 IDR
Other Expenses = ± 28,494,801 IDR
Total Expenses = 65,000,000 IDR [round up]
In EUR/€ (Euro)

Visa, Travel Insurance, Return Flight Tickets, Accommodation, 
Transportation (Inter City) = 2,506.35€
Other Expenses = ± 1,993.65€
Total Expenses = 4,500€ [round up]

♠♠♠ ♠♠♠ ♠♠♠ Additional Note ♠♠♠ ♠♠♠ ♠♠♠

I’m actually lucky enough that I didn’t have to quit my job to be able to travel for 2.5 months. All my work is done online and my boss gave me permission to do a workation = working while on vacation – this is the term we use in where I work. I did take a 3-week leave, though – but the rest, I just managed my time to do my tasks and travel around every day. If you pay careful attention on my itinerary, you’ll see that I have the highest mobility in October – and that’s when I took most of my leaves.

Also, cause I kept my job, I didn’t have to spend all my savings. I withdrew cash several times during the trip from my salary account, and just used my savings to pay the credit card billing. In the end, I only spent half of my Euro Trip savings, and my total expenses were even lower than what I had prepared – as you can see from the calculation.

‘Leaving everything behind’ before embarking for a long trip is not a trend for travellers from Indonesia, or I believe, many other third world countries. Even if we have enough money to do so, we are often limited by the visa regulations (please note that I’m referring to traveling to first world countries here). Embassies need to know whether the visa applicants have something back in our country that will force us to come back home – or not. It could be our job, our own business, a spouse, etc. I think the main reason is that they just don’t want to risk receiving illegal immigrants who are not returning to their home countries after arriving in the country of destination.

So yeah, in this modern era, there’s a lot of ways to travel! You can take either paid or unpaid leave… study abroad… join a volunteering program… or just get a job that will require you to travel! Basically, just make it happen 🙂

Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me here 😀

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Instagram: @mishajoh

Thank you so much for reading! xxx


59 thoughts on “Backpacking: Europe in 2.5 Months | Itinerary, Budget, and Expenses | Solo Female Traveller from Indonesia

  1. Hallo mba Misha!Salam kenal ya dari Norway
    Btw,postingan kamu bagus bgt ;),aku baru banget memasukin dunia travel blogger dan skrg lg serius2 nya design website sendiri,boleh sharing dulu waktu pertama kali melangkah bikin website sendiri apa aja yg harus di design?Thanks 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hai Mba Vita! Terima kasih udah berkunjung ke blog saya 🙂

      Saya sendiri juga masih newbie nih – blog sebenernya udah ada dari 2010, tapi baru beberapa bulan terakhir nyeriusin nulis (karena baru ada bahan banyak hehe).
      Dulu saya pindah dari Blogspot ke WordPress bulan November tahun 2015. Saya beli domain ‘mishajohanna.com’ dari WordPress juga. Untuk design, saya masih menggunakan free templates dari WordPress. Banyak kok pilihannya 🙂
      Biasanya yang lebih sophisticated gak gratis, jadi coba aja browse around dulu untuk cari template yang pas untuk kebutuhan. Happy blogging!

      PS: Pengen banget ke Norwaaayyyy…!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. ayooo,,ke Norway saya tunggu yaa sy bakal jd host deh utk stay di tempat ku,aku stay dsini sampe bln Juni 2018…tempat2 nya indah bgt
        iya aku jg dulu pake blogspot tp sempet lama bgt vakum krn sibuk kerja dan males nulis,krn abis traveling kerja,nah skrg awal tahun ini aku seriusin beli domain ke wordspress krn dpt inspirasi dr Iceland,trus jg dpt byk reviews dr senior2 utk pake wordpress utk bahan photography saya 😉
        jujur,saya masih binggung design nya seru nih ngerjain sendiri,tp memang butuh masukan juga..hehe

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Permisi numpang nyempil heheh. Kalau boleh tahu kenapa pindah daro blogspot ke worpress ya? Saya dulu awalnya blogspot, kemudian ke wordpress, balik lagi ke blogspot, ke wordpress lagi, sekarang blogspot, heheh. Saya sih lebih nyaman pakai blogspot, tapi emang ahrus diakuin wordpress itu lebih interaktif di kolom komentar.

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    1. Masih belum puas nih sebenernya…! Next time kayaknya mau lebih explore Eropa Timur sama Selatan. Lebih gak mainstream and yang penting sih jauh lebih murahnya ituuu :p
      Thanks for visiting my blog! :*

      Like

    1. Hai Neng Ayuuu salam kenal juga 🙂 Pasti bisa! Fokus aja nabungnya, gak kerasa duit kekumpul and baaamm you’re in Europe (or wherever you wanna be!) 🙂 Thanks udah mampir ke blog saya ya 🙂

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    1. OMG, yaass! Kita sama2 pake theme “Dyad” hahaha..!! Mbak, saya dari tadi ngakak baca tulisan2 Mbak di blog. Gooosh! Kocak and seru bangeeettttt… we have to connect!!

      Like

  2. I’m just planning my solo europe trip yesterday and then your blog link appears on my facebook feed 😍

    Surprisingly you dont need to quit job for that such a looooong trip like what i have planned for myself.

    You must be working in IT area, right? If yes then i have the opportunity.

    Thank you for sharing!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Not exactly in IT department-nya but yes, in IT industry (kerja di perusahaan yg bikin mobile application).
      Good luck for your solo Euro trip! It’s gonna be UH-MAY-ZINK!!! *alay hahah

      Like

    1. Hi Arnetta! Thanks udah mampir ke blog saya yaa :*
      Pasti saya tulis lagi cerita2 perjalanan lainnya. Ditunggu yaah.. so far baru bisa nulis sekitar seminggu sekali nih :p
      Cheers!

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  3. Waah… ini keren banget mba misha! Jadi banyak belajar soal travelling dan blogging nih… terutama soal nabungnya dan mempercantik blognya. Memang harus serius ya nabungnya kalo kita punya niat travelling. Sukses mba misha!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hai Mba Vira! Thanks udah mampir di sini 🙂 Betul Mba, nabung memang the hardest part-nya sih, apalagi knowing that kita bakal ngabisin itu dalam waktu singkat padahal ngumpulinnya lama banget hahahah!! But it’s all worth it kok! The experience, the memories, the things we learn while traveling… Lifetime investment! Sukses terus juga, Mbak Vira!

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  4. Haloo mba misha…salam kenal 🙂 Seneng bgt baca blognya mbak misha. Sangat menginspirasi sekali loh…. Mba ,mau tanya selama perjalanan aman aja ya? Trus gmn bisa dpt ijin dr ortu n keluarga? Sy mau ke daerah d indo aja susah bgt dpt ijin dr emak kl mau solo traveling apalg kalo ke europe… Pdhl pgn bgt ke europe tp blm ada temannya krn susahnya mengatur jadwal dll hiks , minta saran2 dan pencerahannya donk mba hehe

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    1. Hai Lena, thanks udah mampir ke blog saya 🙂 Selama perjalanan di Eropa kemarin sih aman2 aja walau sempet ketemu beberapa orang yang aneh hihi… Kalo utk ijin, karena sebelumnya udah lumayan sering pergi2 juga jadinya dari ortu sih gak comment apa2. Mereka agak mikir saya gila sih karena mau ke 18 negara haha, tapi ya saya buktiin juga kalo bisa :p

      Less than 2 weeks sebelum saya berangkat, saya sebenernya baru married. Tapi suami saya emang udah tau saya ngerencanain solo travel ini sejak 1.5 tahun yang lalu, jadi married gak married tetep berangkat wkwkwk.. Mungkin kuncinya sih, tunjukin aja dulu kalo kita bisa traveling ke tempat2 yang deket dulu (biar keluarga percaya & ngerasa kita bisa jaga diri), baru makin lama makin jauh :p

      Sekarang Lena posisinya masih tinggal dengan ortu atau gimana? Masih sekolah/kuliah atau udah bekerja? Kalau menurut pengalaman saya (dan sahabat saya), kalo masih tinggal sama ortu dan secara finansial masih bergantung sm mereka tentunya akan susah untuk minta ijin. Tapi kalau sudah tinggal sendiri dan punya penghasilan sendiri – lebih gampang. Kalo saya agak ekstrim nih: bagi saya kalo udah mandiri, mau ngapa2in aku ga pernah minta ijin ortu lagi. Nah, ini tergantung ke posisi & budaya keluarga Lena aja sekarang gimana 🙂

      Semoga bermanfaat and happy traveling! xxx

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    1. Salam kenal juga, Mba Ainun, thanks udah mampir ke blog saya. Kalau udah agak lama kerja di perusahaan tmpt Mba skrg kerja, coba aja tanya apakah bisa unpaid leave gak. Kalau saya kemarin cutinya cuma 3 minggu, sisanya saya kerja sambil traveling (kerjaan saya online).

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  5. Halo Kak Misha,
    makasih udah sharing di blognyaaa. ini ngebantu banget buat yg mau eurotrip first-timer termasuk aku :”)
    Boleh nanya kak? waktu kakak book tiket Flixbus itu belinya yg seperate atau yang Interflix pass 99Euro?
    Dan aman kan ya kak kalau yg long-journey gitu..?
    Soalnya aku bakal solo traveling juga dan tertarik buat pake flixbus, cuma masih ada ragu dan insecure karena sendirian :”)
    Terima kasih banyak kak x

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi Nerissa, thanks for visiting my blog!

      Waktu itu aku beli ketengan, biasanya H-1 atau H-2 aja, pake mobile app FlixBus-nya. Sebenernya malah baru tau nih ada Interflix pass dari kamu. Tadi aku liat2 bisa untuk 5 trips ya? Menurutku itu baru worth it kalau dipake untuk long / overnight trip sih, dari 1 kota ke kota lain yang cukup jauh (6-8 jam-an perjalanan misalnya), soalnya kalau kotanya deket2, harga tiket FlixBus paling cuma 5-10 Euros.
      Jadi baru kerasa hemat kalo dipake untuk trips yang mungkin harganya udah di atas 20 Euro / trip.

      FlixBus aman dan nyaman kok, ada Wi-Fi juga, dan sering jual snack juga di dalam bis, cuma minusnya, sering gak on time hehe, sama kadang2 terminalnya itu kurang jelas di mana (walau nempel sama terminal2 besar, tapi kadang sign-nya gak jelas atau malah gak ada), jadi kalau dateng jangan mepet karena takutnya masih perlu waktu juga buat cari si bus stop-nya 🙂

      -Misha

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    1. Hi Justine, somehow I just saw your comment here, I didn’t get any notification in my email, sorry.
      To answer your question: No, I didn’t book it in advance. I normally booked 1-3 days before the departure.

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  6. Wow, kereeennnn… Penjelasannya komplit. Btw, teman kantor nggak ada yang protes gitu ya? Dapat ijin kerja diluar kantor #ngiri Salam kenal mbak

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    1. Hai Sarah, salam kenal juga! Makasih udah mampir di blog saya 🙂
      Hehehe kalo temen kantor gak ada yang protes sih waktu itu, soalnya sebenernya udah jadi company culture juga untuk ‘workation’ ini, jadi aku bukan satu-satunya yang pernah izin workation… makanya so far fine2 aja 🙂

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  7. halo mbak.. salam kenal,

    cmiiw, mbak apply visa schengen via finland ya? karena negara terlama didatangi atau negara pertama mba? buat referensi aja si mba 🙂
    yang saya pernah baca, 2 syarat pengajuan visa, antara negara telama atau negara yang pertama didatangi, kalau misal durasi tinggal di negara schengen nya sama, boleh apply di negara yang pertama kali didatangi ya mba? tapi kalau ada 1 atau beberapa negara telama masa tinggalnya, kita harus apply visa di negara tersebut, meskipun kedatangan pertamanya bukan di negara itu.. gitu bukan ya mba? hiihiii, kira2 ada link yang bisa saya baca ga ya? saya cari di VFS kayanya engga ada..

    makasih banyak

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    1. Hai Agy, salam kenal juga 🙂

      Memang katanya begitu sih, harus apply di negara terlama yang dikunjungi. Menurutku sih lebih baik kalo negara terlama itu juga negara yang pertama dikunjungin, biar gak ribet aja. Tapi kalo gak gitu juga gpp kok.

      In my case, aku apply lewat kedutaan Finland karena:
      1) Finland adalah negara pertama yang aku datengin,
      2) Pengundangku tinggal di Finland (dia orang Indonesia yang kerja di sana),
      3) Finland adalah negara terlama yang aku kunjungin versi itinerary yang aku submit pas apply visanya*

      *Kenyataannya, negara terlama yang aku kunjungin pas trip ini adalah Spain. Finland jadi negara kedua terlama. Bukan bermaksud bohong waktu bikin itinerary ya, tapi namanya itin kan emang bisa berubah-ubah tergantung mood pas trip (dan Spain bikin agak susah move on) hehe :p

      Saranku sih, kalau negara terlama yang kamu kunjungin bukan negara pertama yang kamu datengin dan jumlah hari kunjungannya cuma beda 1-2 hari nih ya, bikin aja visa di negara pertama dan di itinerary kamu cut dikit aja jumlah harinya, samain dengan negara yang pertama. Kan nantinya kalo berubah kan juga gpp. Antar negara Schengen kalo keluar-masuk mereka ga akan ngecek passport atau itin yang kita submit pas bikin visa. Supaya gak ribet aja pas sampe di imigrasi sana…

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  8. keren bgt kakkkkkkk 65 jt bt 18 negara T.T
    Btw Kak mau tanya, boleh? hehe. Gini kak, gimana kalo status saya itu masih mahasiswa? Tapi, saya belajar S2 di negara tiongkok alias china bukan di indonesia. Saya gk pnya kerja, itu gimana? Kan di minta surat keterangan kerja?
    Apa kira2 visa saya bisa gol dgn bukti surat keterangan kalau saya berstatus mahasiswa di china (di keluarkan oleh kampus, di stempel dll) bahwa saya tdk akan mencari kerja dsna dan pst akan kembali?
    Katakanlah uang di tabungan 40 juta utk 1 bln disana.
    Makasih sbelumnya kak.

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    1. Hi Winata, thanks for stopping by here! Mengenai persyaratan aplikasi visa Schengen di China, aku sendiri kurang tau nih lengkapnya harus provide dokumen apa aja. I would say sebenernya memang gak ada formula yang menjamin visa itu 100% guaranteed. Baru aja beberapa hari yang lalu ada temen dari komunitas traveling di FB bilang ke aku kalau aplikasi visa Schengen-nya ditolak, dia sendiri mahasiswa S3 di China (juga), dan dia apply lewat kedutaan Prancis di sana kalau gak salah. Padahal kan kalau dipikir, ya masa iya dia gak balik sih nyelesein studi S3-nya? Aku sendiri juga pernah ditolak visa Australia tahun 2015 lalu, waktu masih kerja di Thailand. Aku apply di AVAC di Bangkok, dan ditolak dengan alasan aku baru kerja 2-3 bulan di Thailand, jadi mereka gak yakin aku bakal kembali ke Thailand setelah arrive di Australia. Nyesek banget, soalnya aku udah beli tiket PP yang non-refundable (promo soalnya, hiks). Padahal aku cuma apply untuk 1 minggu, dan aku juga kerja di Thailand ada work permit-nya, dan ada surat dari kantor juga.

      So, intinya sih, secara persyaratan, punya surat dari kampus yang menerangkan bahwa kamu mahasiswa S2 di sana dan akan kembali ke China untuk menyelesaikan studi, dan apalagi ada tabungan 40 juta untuk 1 bulan – itu sudah sangat sangat cukup (tentunya kamu harus provide juga semua dokumen lain yang diminta ya, dan jangan sampai ada yang missing). But then again, result memang cuma Tuhan dan yang ngurus visa yang menentukan hehe, jadi saranku sih: coba aja. Untuk tiket, sertakan flght itinerary saja, tapi jangan dibayar/dibeli dulu. Untuk travel insurance, aku pakai AXA waktu ke Schengen. Seingetku, bisa full refund kalau misalnya aplikasi visa ditolak.

      Let me know if you need any further info, dear. Good day there! -Misha

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  9. Hi, Misha. I just came across your blog when I was searching for europe holiday blog for reference. It’s amazing you were able to travel solo for so long on your own and planned it so well. I am an Indonesian but have been staying in Malaysia for very long time (got the Permanent Resident here cos I married a Malaysian). I plan to go to Europe for a holiday somewhere next year. I can apply for the Schengen visa in Kuala Lumpur. May I know how do you decide on which embassy to apply from? Applying from Malaysia seems to be more troublesome cos we have to have the documents translated and then certified by certain department appointed by the embassy and that costs extra money too. I remember recently I read that we need to have chest x-ray and medical insurance. Did you have to provide that too? May I know what are the documents that you submitted when applying (I’m just a housewife). What about invitation letter from friends or relatives, I don’t have any there. For Australia Visa, I have a friend who provided me the letter for the Embassy and my visa was approved last year. Finally, I would like to know if it is easy to get around with public transport in Europe cos this is my first time there. The only western country I’ve been too is Australia for holiday lately and I only used the free tram and cab. Did you use Google map there? Thank you and sorry to bother you with so many questions. You can reply to me in either Indonesia or English. But my Indonesia is a bit “karatan” since I seldom use it here.

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    1. Hi Teresia! Thanks for visiting my blog. I don’t mind at all answering all your questions, I’m excited to know a fellow Indonesian who loves traveling as well! I’m gonna address your questions one by one here:

      1) I applied for the Schengen visa through Finland Embassy in Jakarta. I chose this embassy because I got an invitation from a friend (Indonesian, too) who was living there as a resident and had a valid work permit. I also chose to apply in Indonesia even though I was living in Bangkok-Thailand that time. I had an experience getting my Australian tourist visa application rejected when I applied in Bangkok, and the refusal letter stated that one of the reasons was because I had only worked in Bangkok for 2-3 months only (even though I had a valid work permit!) so they were not convinced I’d be back to Thailand once arriving in Australia. So I thought, applying in Indonesia might be better.

      2) I was not required to provide any medical documents. I just checked the Finland Embassy – Jakarta website, and noticed now they have transferred the whole visa application process to a Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) or a Visa application centre in Jakarta and Bali. Last year, I could still apply directly at the embassy. Here you can find the required documents: http://www.vfsglobal.com/finland/indonesia/english/Schengen-Visas.html#Schengen_documents
      PS: If you don’t have any invitation letter from someone living in Europe, you just need to provide hotel/accommodation booking in your visa application.

      3) Getting around in Europe is very easy, either in the cities, inter-cities, or between countries. They have very good transportation system there, even the poorer European countries. And yes, I check GoogleMaps all the time. Somehow it still works even though I don’t have internet service (only the pins where you can locate yourself, but you can’t really search route suggestions between 1 point to another unless you have Wi-Fi or internet service from your SIM card).

      Hope this helps 🙂 Let me know if you have any other question! Cheers xxx

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      1. Thanks Misha for your prompt reply. You know that we Indonesian are very pity when it comes to going overseas. Others can just book the ticket and go but we still have to apply for visa. Apart from the tedious procedures, we still have to worry about getting rejected. Sometimes this reason will dampen my spirit of going for holiday. Anyway, I am so happy that I’ve come across a website of an Indonesian traveller sharing all this very useful information. It’s very hard to find travel blog from Indonesian. You are doing us a big favour and you write very well. Do share more of your travelling or other relevant information with us. Really helpful. I’ll read some more and try and see if I can work out an itinerary. Should I encounter any problems, I will write to you again. Anyway, I’m planning to go next year. So, still plenty of time. Thank you very much.

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    2. Hi Teresia, somehow I just noticed that you replied back! So sorry for this late response. Just wanna thank you for your kind words and your support! I definitely look forward to post more content that can be useful for my fellow Indonesian readers. I think it’s very important for nowadays generation to travel more… to open mind and see the diversity this world offers… Cheers x

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  10. hai misha. suka banget !!!!
    aku dr dulu emg uda target pngen k eropa tp blm ksampaian.
    rekomendasi dong, aku rencana mau tgl di 1 negara aja untuk 1 bulan pengen ny sih ke jerman. ada saran ga? maaci misha ♡

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    1. Hai Bebs! Thanks udah mampir ke blog-ku x
      Kalo aku pribadi sih kalo ada kesempatan ke Eropa lagi selama sebulan, aku bakal stay di Spanyol. Aku suka banget sama makanannya, bahasanya, culture-nya, pemandangannya… semuanya deh, hehe. Kebetulan aku belom sempet nulis tentang trip-ku pas ke Spanyol, jadi kayaknya belom keliatan ya di blog ini kenapa aku cinta banget sama negara itu.
      As for Germany, sayangnya aku cuma pernah ke Hamburg, jadi gak bisa recommend banyak, and I think 1 month in Hamburg would be too much. Kalo menurut banyak temenku, baik yg org Asia maupun Eropa, kalo ke Jerman paling bagus Berlin sih. Kotanya cantik, banyak makanan enak, things to do-nya juga beragam. So, seems like it’s where you should go, and then mungkin dari sana baru ke kota2 lainnya. Jangan lupa ke Neuschwanstein Castle 🙂

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    1. Not really! I used English almost throughout the trip. I know a bit of Spanish so I used it when I was in Spain, also when I was in Portugal as the people who don’t speak English would at least know a bit of Spanish, too.

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  11. haiii ka mishaa jujur baru nemu ini di 2022 wkwkwk tapi menarik banget bacanya, aku mau nanya kaa kalo misalnya kita study abroad ke europe (aamiin) belanda/germany misalnya kita kan weekdays harus sekolah kan terus ada waktu pas weekend itu ka mishaa ada saran ngga buat travelling nya mesti gimana murmer dan bisa ke banyak negara hehehe

    thank you so much for the insightt 😀

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    1. Hi Alifah, sering2 aja cek promo di budget airlines e.g. Wizz Air, AirBaltic, Norwegian Air, dan Ryanair. Banyak affordable flights throughout Europe, kadang2 bahkan one way ticket can cost less than EUR 10. Kalau mainnya ke negara2 tetangga yang deket bisa juga naik kereta atau bus antar negara seperti FlixBus, Lux Express.

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