During the last remaining days of summer, my father, my brother and I decided to travel to the Czech Republic and Austria. We booked the flight, rented a car and reserved a hotel for our first night’s stay in Prague and set out from suburban New Jersey. It was only six days, but between late nights without a hotel and wandering through palace gardens, we witnessed much of the countries’ beauty. Reflecting on those days now, I've made a few key realizations about traveling.

1) Not everything has to be planned, and that’s okay.

The itinerary for that day was to stop by Melk, a pretty town an hour away from Vienna, and spend the night there after touring the impressive Melk Abbey on the Danube River. However, after stopping by an information booth for visitors, I gathered that many travellers and locals cycle along the bike trails near the river. After proposing the idea to my father and convincing him using a map of the river in my hands, we rented bikes for one Euro per hour and were on our way.

The impromptu idea ended up being my favorite day of the whole trip; we spent four hours spent weaving in and out of small Austrian towns and impressive terraces of grapevines, stopping by every so often to taste local wines. We turned back from Durnstein as the sun was setting, full from the platter of bread, cheese and meats that was served with the wines and were exhilarated from the wind and the incredible view. My brother and I looked for the constellations in the stars that became visible just after arriving back, and I remember falling asleep happily in the car afterwards.

2) But a little planning never hurt anyone.

Ironically, that same day, we had neglected booking a hotel for the night until very late. After driving for two hours to the hotel that was finally chosen, we arrived to a dark apartment complex with no lobby or receptionist in sight (though later, we found out that check-in ended at ten at night, and the building was more of an apartment than a hotel). Thus, we abandoned that town and searched further for any sign of an open hotel as we headed closer to our next day’s destination at Dresden, where we would embark back to America.

The other issue was the lack of water. It was very late on a Sunday, a day when apparently all stores are closed in the Czech Republic, and we had no access to a place to buy water after forgetting to store extra in the car. So there we were, three very thirsty Americans looking for a hotel past midnight. Naturally, when we finally found a hotel that would take us in at three in the morning, I told my fellow travellers that we really should have planned that night a little better.

3) It’s okay to have expectations, but don’t expect them to be met.

When we first arrived in Prague, I thought to myself, “cute, but a little too toursity.” before heading to the newer parts of the city. When we came to Vienna, I thought, “this is too much like New York City” because we were staying in the tallest building in Vienna. Then, I realized that I shouldn’t expect each town to be the perfect place I imagined; instead, I began to revel in the fact that I was able to travel over the ocean at all, and that each sign I looked at on the shops was written in a language that was not my own. That was when I really began to appreciate my trip.

4) Feel free to sightsee and do tourist activities, but remember to relax and enjoy the little pleasures of each location.

Trips may seem hectic, especially when there is so much to do at each destination. During this stay, I tried to make sure there was a balance between the constant movement for sightseeing and relaxing in parks or cafés. For example, in Vienna, while we did go see the magnificent opera house and the Schonbrunn palace, we also spent mornings drinking coffee at Viennese cafés and afternoons reading on the park benches between the history museum and the art museum.

Wherever your travels may take you, remember to travel often and stay safe!